Steadfast Big Game Recovery

11/20/2025

Halee babe was out making friends today and stealing hearts. Literally and figuratively. Left picture is her at 5 months, and the right one is this morning at 17 months. Good job girly.

11/17/2025

11/17/2025

#50

11/11/2025

Happy Veteran's Day to my husband and all those who have served or are still currently serving. We love and appreciate you all!!
Also grateful the hubby is back in the US this year and we are able to celebrate together this afternoon with another good friend.

11/08/2025

Some tracks you'll never forget. This was one of them. Nick knew he hit his buck, but had zero blood to go off and no arrow either. We made a plan to go in the next morning.
Got there and put Halee on the hit site. She tracked out the way they saw the deer run, but her body language bothered me. Come to find out that turkeys had rototilled our line and even worse, we caught up to them right as a landowner on a neighboring property came out to ask what we were doing. Nick went to talk to him while I sat H down and let her settle her noggin (this is the first time she's run into turkeys, let alone tracked a line that had been wrecked by them).
Nick finished talking to the landowner and we continued the track. Halee continued the line, but was tracking in the same direction as the turkeys had run. I told everyone she was in for a correction if she was turkey hunting. Another hundred yards or more and she brought us to a bed with the first blood we'd seen the whole track. After we all stopped inspecting, we look up and there is the buck, another 30ish yards out.

What makes this track so bittersweet is that this is the last year Nick will be hunting this land. It's all marked off and taped into tiny lots for tons of houses. It is an eerie and heartbreaking feeling tracking through woods you know will soon cease to exist. I am so grateful we were able to help Nick recover what will be his last buck here. Thank you for having patience while H picked through the track. And for not laughing too much when I had absolutely no clue where I was. 😅❤️

Congrats to Nick on one hell of a nice Buck!

11/07/2025

Halee girl and I were happy to help Ben locate this buck on Thurs morning. He had tracked it a ways the night before but backed out to wait for daylight and a dog as it was going to need another shot. We got things sorted and he was able to get a 2nd shot and dispatch this buck. Congrats on a nice buck!

11/03/2025

Halee initially tracked this buck last Sat and C finished it on Monday. Grateful it was close so we could go back 1.5 days later to retry. Those low belly hits are insane and can take a couple days to week or more to expire.

11/02/2025

Man, it literally can't get more gorgeous than this. As we get into the busy part of rut, many of us trackers are tired, emotionally and physically. It's hard to see our dogs do well one track and struggle the next. (Yes, that is just tracking during the rut.) We spend more time and energy on what was easy in September. And we see a LOT of crazy stuff. Bucks are not dying like they should due to hormones. Deer in general are tough creatures!

So just a reminder, to give your tracking team a bit of extra compassion. We know you are having a hard day (you wouldn't call a tracker if you were able to locate that deer on your own) but realize we may also be having a hard day. We all care deeply about each and every track; we are not robots. We can't just brush off the hard ones and they do stick with you. They eat at you. And you are left wondering till you finally get proof of life or death.

So, some hot coffee. A treat for the dogs who work hard and make it all possible (that goes straight to a handler's heart). Even a tiny bit of kindness goes a LONG way this time of year. We don't do this for money (no such thing as a rich tracker at least here, but tips are appreciated and usually go straight back into training, dog care, or gear). We do this out of care and respect for the hunting community and desire to aid in conservation efforts. Shoot straight y'all! And be safe next weekend! ❤️

11/01/2025

Still catching up. Korey's Archie was out of commission for a few days so he came out tracking with us. Got to help a capable partners hunter with finding his doe. David also brought his pup in training and he got to sniff a dead deer! Not gonna lie, it's super cool when a couple trackers get together to work.
Now, if only the coyotes could follow the rules and quit getting to the deer so dang fast! 😞💔