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Hoffman Deer Recovery & Training Kennel LLC, Iola, WI (2025)

12/10/2025

My last check on this buck and update as many have become invested in him went as I hoped and expected. After 4 days he’s up and feeding I watched him digging in a foodplot for awhile and then he went and browsed in the woods for a bit. Leg is still hanging but not by much. Hopefully someone gets another opportunity at this great buck yet this season or he makes it till next season.

12/10/2025

I was able to get on two more deer this evening. Both were public land muzzleloader deer. I forgot to put the sd card back in the drone after the buck this morning to download the actual high quality pics from the drone itself but snapped one on the phone quick.

The first track was a nice 10 pt buck that we located he was shot and dropped and the hunter was able to re load his muzzleloader before the buck got back up and get a second shot. We figured the first shot was a high back spinal shock hit with him dropping for a few minutes before running off which would likely be non lethal but we were uncertain if his second shot connected on the deer. They tracked him about 700 yards to a river and we located him another 500 yards from their last blood. He tucked himself in a nice little thicket so couldn’t get a great look at him but he was alert and moving around and this was 27 hours post shot so I do not believe the second shot connected or was at least not in a lethal area if it did.

The second deer was a doe that was shot and tracked to a neighboring private land owner who did not want a dog in the property so we had to fly the drone on this one. I located 30+ does in 80+ acres and with does and the drone it’s hard to say which deer is for sure the one that was shot but none of these does looked to be sick and this was about 11 hours post shot.

12/09/2025

Since there was a lot of interest in this deer that was posted the other day I’ll share an update on him. I probably blocked close to 500 ignorant people who commented on the post. Plenty of people thinking they know the laws around deer recovery better then someone who’s tracks deer for a living and tracks more deer in 3 months then they likely will in a lifetime. The ones that think they can chase down a 3 legged deer when they probably get winded going to get the mail in the morning. But it also sparked a lot of good conversation, education and interest with the post which was nice to see. So for the ones who became invested in this deer heres an update. This is the 6th time I’ve checked on this deer in a 3 day span. He’s honestly looked very alert everytime I flew on him and in great shape other than the obvious broken leg and he moved every flight I checked on him. Further and further away from the previous bed before each time. This morning he was taking a nap so I couldn’t get a good read on his condition so I checked on him a bit ago and he moved again. I checked his previous bed from this morning zero blood in the bed and he moved into a group of about 10 does where he had originally been laying by himself. He was feeding on some woody browse the entire time I was watching him this last flight. As you can see his bottom half of his leg isn’t hanging on by much anymore I’d assume just some skin. This will most likely fall off and he will have a stump. I’ll address this one right away for those who think a 3 legged deer is going to be coyote food. I’ve seen several 3 legged deer running around and you’d never even know they were missing a leg with how they could move. All signs are indicating this deer will live to give another hunter an oppotunity as long as he can stay clear of infection. Which he’s been tending to this wound the last 3 days and this last flight was the first time he wasn’t tending to it as I was watching him but he was also feeding. I will plan to give him one last check in the morning tomorrow and that may close the chapter on this buck.

To add to the story of this buck I tracked this same deer on a different property during the youth hunt with my dog and I called the track off as being a non fatal hit. Then this hunter talked to the landowner who’s property this deer is currently on incase we needed permission to go in if the deer ended up dieing and he shot this same buck with the bow high during this years bow season as well. Just goes to show how resilient these animals really are. How many deer are harvested out there that have survived old wounds that we never know about because they have healed over so well? I’m betting it’s a lot more than we all think.

12/08/2025

Here’s a buck that was shot two nights ago and a different dog tracker had tracked for him as he knew the hunter personally. They tracked him yesterday morning down to a river and had called it off and referred the hunter to me for the drone. I located him last night a little over half a mile away I came back and checked on him this morning as well and you can see the bed in front of him that he was in all night so he moved a couple feet. The hunter believed he hit the deer low and back after shooting his gun as the sight must of been bumped. He seems very alert so I don’t believe this bullet entered the stomach/intestine area and the way his back leg is cocked out to the side I believe his leg is snapped on the opposite side so I believe he will live to see another day will just have a hitch in the step. But I’ll continue to check on him to make sure. Not too often you see a main frame 7x6 buck with no splits. Also put up a pic of the thermal and you can see all the deer trails on which has been pretty cool to see in the snow the last several flights.

12/06/2025

The best proof of life’s to get. One we tracked back on October 30th. Was a deer that was shot and dropped and ran away. Blood everywhere where it was flopping around. It really looked like a murder scene and I’m not usally impressed by blood. But sounded like a spinal shock hit to me. Freyja took this buck a couple hundred yards through a hardwoods into a swamp across a blacktop road and across a river to eventually lose interest where I called it and said this deer would live another day. The group had never used a dog before and they were pretty impressed but weren’t 100% convinced this deer would live but I was very confident someone else would get a chance at this deer and just so happens the same hunter got another chance at him. You can see the old bow wound from October 30th on the top of the back. Between locating plenty of alive deer with the drone and the number of proof of life’s behind Freyja this season and several of the deer we tracked earlier getting killed during gun there really are not many unaccounted for deer this season and we passed over 150 tracks this season several days ago. It will be interesting to see total numbers of deer accounted for when I put them all together after season. The drone sure has added a nice tool in the tool bag espeically for non fatal hits but can’t beat that nose.

12/04/2025

Freyja made another friend today! Malcome reached out to us this morning about a buck he had shot last night. He shot the buck it fell over and he was able to re load his muzzleloader and get a second shot on the buck. No blood where this deer fell over and thrashed and where the deer ran. He asked if we could fly the drone for it as where this deer was it wasn’t very friendly territory to walk. We put the drone up and there was more water then land let’s just say so I couldn’t pick anything up confidently with the thermals even after trying several different settings as all the water was still holding heat. So we put Freyja on it. When we started this track real feel was -4 degrees. Even though it was this cold most of this water was not frozen yet and we would break through. I could now see why he preferred the drone. Freyja marched us to this deer which was a bloodless track besides the beds and who in his 5th bed was still very much alive. He stood up and was nose to nose with the dog. We went back and got the muzzleloader and were able to finish him off. The deers front right leg was completely busted and that was the only hole we saw. It didn’t look like the bullet went into the chest cavity but will know more upon skinning. This deer is never found without Freyja he would have simply been coyote food. We had a nice de icing car ride back where she left plenty of water in the car lol. Congrats Malcome on your first muzzleloader buck we appreciate your trust in us!

12/03/2025

Freyja got one this morning. The hunter shot it last night watched the deer lay down and ended up getting a follow up shot about 15 min after the initial shot. No blood to be seen on the trail or in the bed the deer was in last night by the hunter so he wisely called us for help. We had an additional inch or more of snow overnight as well.

I’ve stressed it all year that a drone is never better than the dog and she proves it’s time after time. The drone has its perks for sure but I flew two and a half battery sets for this deer in more than ideal conditions. I could have counted every squirrel in every tree with the thermal on this property for this hunter. This deer headed down into a pocket I flew over several times and never saw him on the thermal cam. He died in a 3 layered canopy of pine trees that you had no chance to see through with the drone. I even told the hunter after covering a very large chunk of area that if he’s dead he’s in that pocket of pines I could see everything else super well but couldnt pick anything up in that pocket if there was even a deer in it. I covered probably 120 acres around this pocket of pines. We even relocated for the second and third set of batteries so I could cover more ground. We then put Freyja on this track and she heads straight to this pocket of pines right to the deer. I highly doubt this deer is ever recovered without her even grid searching those pines. Entrance on this deer looked absolutely perfect. I did not see an exit but I will know more when the hunter lets me know what was hit. All the neighbors were super great about permission and one that saw us flying the drone even came out and gave us permission for his piece if we needed it with the dog. Congrats on your muzzleloader buck! This is the 60th deer recovered for us so far this year. I expect a few more yet between muzzleloader and late bow season here.

12/01/2025

Took 2 tracks tonight for 3 deer and located all 3 deer.

First one was shot this morning they had several beds close after where they had shot him. This more often then not tells me the deer is either hit liver or leg. I located him about 600 yards away watched him for a bit. He attempted to get up once and went back down. He seemed super alert other then that which makes me believe he is leg hit. He will be checked on in the morning.

Second and third track this was originally a call for just one doe that was shot and had been bumped by the tracking party and found gut material after bumping her. An hour or so after this the same group shot another doe that they believed they hit well but ran right towards where the gut shot doe was headed too and didnt want to track her and bump the gut shot one. So we located the one that was thought to be hit well right away and she was indeed hit well. Then located the other doe 100 yards from her and she was still very much alive 7 hours post shot but should be dead in the morning. She will get checked on in the am and should be in the same spot.

11/28/2025

Took 2 tracks today one on my way to Thanksgiving with my family and one on the way home.

The first one we believe was a miss on a doe. The hunter had no hair no blood and we flew the drone and covered a very large area and located plenty of deer and none that looked to be hurt at all.

The second one the hunter shot at 200 yards in an open field the deer ran to the wood line and bedded. But soon left these beds and they handled it perfectly by giving this deer time. But while they were giving this deer time a nice little snow storm covered up what visible sign they would have had so they gave us a call. We came out and located the deer a little over 200 yards from where they last had it. I believe looking at the holes this deer was hit one lung entrance and liver exit. Congrats on a beautiful buck!

11/24/2025

Had two lined up for this morning the first one we located the second went MIA so ended up just taking this one so far today.

This deer was shot at 3 times by two different hunters. They lost blood and didn’t know exactly what way it went but heard a deer crashing in one direction so figured that was this deer. So we put Freyja on it and as per usual it went a different direction then the hunters thought and she took it across their property to a black top road where I finally saw a few pin drops of blood going up the ditch. We didn’t have permission to go into this property so up went the drone and I located him about 80 acres back bedded up with a few does. He was alert and we could only see the one hole through the top of the back so this deer will live to give another hunter a chance. Another hunter gaining some closure. This deer is never located without a dog/drone team. Another great example of being able to use both to locate these deer.

Hoffman Deer Recovery & Training Kennel LLC

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