Ritter Tracks

12/28/2025

We had another first this morning!
I took a call from a previous deer-track client yesterday evening wondering if Ritter would track a coyote. We discussed it and he sent me a video through his thermal scope of the shots (2).
We decided to meet up this morning for the recovery and put Ritter on the shot site. He quickly worked through a thicket with multiple streams and standing water just as the rain was starting.
10min and 125yds later he found the "coyote ".

This beautiful gray fox soaked up two high power bullets and went much further than i would have guessed.
Ritter worked the whole track like a seasoned veteran and made it look easy.

Add predator recovery to his resume.

12/14/2025

11/22/2025

The big show is over...that's a wrap for the 2025 archery season.
A big THANK YOU to everyone who helped spread the word about what we do, and everyone who had us out this season so far.

I didn't get into this for the fame and fortune 😂 I just really love to work my dog and help to make him the best that he can be. We love helping hunters recover their animals that might otherwise go to waste. Nothing more, nothing less...I don't think that we are perfect, although I strive to never leave a deer in the woods....inevitably it will happen.

We took 62 deer tracks this archery season. I tried to go on every track that we possibly could. There were some overly busy days where folks were turned down.
Out of those 62, we recovered 18 dead deer.
We jumped and physically saw 8 alive deer out of their beds.
We have confirmed proof of life on 13 of those remaining deer.
2 deer were recovered dead at a later date after we tracked them.
That leaves us with 21 deer unaccounted for and most of those I suspect are still alive.

We took 2 archery bear tracks.
Ritter found his first bear and we tracked another one 1000+ yds

We had a great season. I got to meet a lot of good people, as well as reconnect with others from last season.

We aren't going anywhere. We'll be there if you need us in rifle season or second season.
Shoot straight
724-525-6190

11/19/2025

Monday November 17th

We took a call from a local hunter on Sunday evening. It was around 7:00 pm and Ritter and I were just getting started on another track. He mentioned that a big buck was hit that evening and they needed some assistance.
On the way home from that track, I called him back. He explained that this buck was a lone traveler. It just showed itself for the first time on Sunday afternoon and the hunting party made a plan to hunt him while he was in the area. A deer like this one doesn't show up too often so you have to strike while the iron is hot.
Sunday afternoon the hunters climbed into their stands for the evening hunt. They didn't have to wait long. Soon after getting settled in, the buck made his appearance. He fed across the food plot that the were sitting on and right past the upper stand, where this lucky hunter was perched. At the shot, the deer was hard-quartering away. The hunter felt like the hit was good. The bolt was a complete pass through, but little blood was found during the initial examination.
We decided to wait until Monday morning to track the deer. Unsure of exact hit location and lack of blood, I didn't want to risk pushing this mature buck off of the property.
Ritter and I started on the track at the hit site. I looked at the bolt and broadhead. It was covered in dark blood indicating liver.
From the hit site the deer ran slightly uphill and soon started cutting to the left of the stand down a deer trail. He made his first bed at 325yds, where we found him laying. An interesting thing about his bed is the buck was running straight north after the shot, he was bedded facing south. He bedded down watching his backtrail. A smart old buck slipped up and the hunter capitalized on his mistake. Ritter made quick work of the track, finding him in 8 minutes. There was an entry and exit wound from the bolt passing through (the entry was impressive, I think you could have fit a pop can in it), but the deer bled VERY little. I only saw 2 dime sized spots of blood on the track.
We are getting to the end of the archery season.
Shoot straight
724-525-6190 if you need us

11/18/2025

November 6th
Score 1 for the Traditional Bowhunter Guys

We took a call from a local hunter to help recover an antleless deer (yep, equal opportunity...we do these too sometimes)
At the shot, he realized that the hit was farther back than ideal. The deer ran slightly and bedded down within eyesight of his treestand. Able to keep an eye on things, the hunter decided to stay put and wait it out. After some time, some nearby horses agitated the wounded deer. It got up out of its bed and started walking the woodline until it finally disappeared into the thicket at the far end of the field that his stand was on.
The hunter climbed down and made the trek back to his truck and called me. We made the decision to wait until that evening to meet up for the recovery.
Ritter worked the shot site and quickly went to the bed location. From there he made a diagonal right through the goldenrod field that the deer was bedded in (directly away from the area that the hunter saw the deer go). Ritter was working a scent pool in the low lying goldenrod field. The cooler evening air had the deers scent accumulated in the low laying ground nearby where it had bedded.
Ritter worked that area and then we looped around for a restart. He bypassed the bed and went straight to the woodline where the deer walked. We went into the corner of the thicket and through one of the deer trails that cut through this almost impenetrable wall of briars. Ritter continued through and quickly found the deer at 326 yds past the shot site.
This shows that anything can happen. It always doesn't mean that hunters bump wounded deer from their beds. Curious horses had this deer up and moving.
Glad we could help with the recovery!

11/16/2025

We took a week off for some mid-season rest. Ritter will be back in service and ready to rock. Looking forward to a strong finish.
Shoot straight
724-525-6190 if you need us

11/07/2025

PSA of the day
Hunters, stay off of the shoulder!!!!
Shoulder shots/Single lung have such a LOW chance of recovery, especially now during the rut
The last 5 of 6 calls that I have have taken were shoulder hits.
Stay back from the shoulder!!!

11/06/2025

Wednesday November 5th
We went 2 for 2 after being skunked 0 for 4 the previous day.

Our first track landed us in the Sugarcreek area where a hunter shot his buck the previous morning. The hit was a little far back and he wisely made the decision to back out after finding his arrow. The arrow was coated with gut matter and he just stuck in in the ground where he found it and made the trip home. We talked about the hit and made a game plan for the next morning.
Ritter and I made our way in, along with the hunter shortly after first light. We started at the shot site where Ritter methodically worked through and soon passed the arrow marker. We continued on through a thicket of grapevine and greenbrier where i saw his first bed, at around 100yds. We worked through that site slowly, as Ritter was really trying to stay on corse. We dropped down over an embankment and onto a bench where Ritter continued forward and down another embankment. I could see the deer tucked into a thick patch of grass where he was dead in his 2nd bed at 372yds beyond the shot site.
This hunter did everything right on a marginal shot and was rewarded for it.

Our second track of the day found us in the Chicora area. A hunter also hit a buck far back. The previous morning, after tracking and locating a buck that his son shot, he went back into the hunting area. There was a hot doe in the area and a rut-frenzy was happening. Multiple bucks chasing each other and chasing the doe around. They were circling his stand running around frantically. He made his decision to choose one of them and shoot.
As the shot released, the deer stepped and was hit just rear of his last rib. This hunter also found his arrow to be coated with guts and backed out.
Ritter and I along with the hunters made our way to the shot site. Unlike the previous track where he really had to pick things apart, he was like a little rocket ship on this one. He practically ran the 139yds to this deer. We lost the hunters in the thicket and they were surprised that he had already found it.

Everything was done correctly on these 2 tracks resulting in recovered deer.
If you have any questions on wait times or shot placement don't hesitate to call or text.

Also, I've been VERY busy. If you did make a less than ideal shot, call early in order to get on my list of tracks for the day.

724-525-6190

11/05/2025

Wise insight from another local tracker

Can we discuss the term “good blood” real quick. We get pictures like this all day attached to a text that says something like “had good blood for 200 yards then it stopped, he has to be dead”. Theres many factors involved. Ppl somehow look at deer losing blood in comparison to a human and it makes them think it’s just going to bleed out. That’s not the case. Deer have an extraordinary ability to clot a wound quickly. They have high levels of vitamin K which is huge in clotting. They also carry Factor 1 which is converted into fibrin during the clotting process. Fibrin actually forms a mesh at the wound site and allows large wounds to clot easier. From a perspective of someone who sees a lot of blood pictures and does alot of zooming in on them, I’ve only had maybe 10 pics sent to me that I would consider “good blood” enough to say I’m 100% confident that deer is dead without ANY doubts. I’ll explain why. A deer has to lose over 35% of the blood in its body to stop functioning from blood loss alone. The average whitetail deer holds around a gallon of blood. A blood trail that consists of 1/3 gallons of blood would be visible from a helicopter and you would never need a dog to track it. One study actually showed that a deer can in some cases lose 2/3 of the blood in its body and continue to function. So when you go on facebook and post a blood pic and the anti tracking dog super hunters tell you to keep pushing because it’s a dead deer, remember who to blame when there’s no hope for a tracking dog because humans stomped out the area.

11/04/2025

If you make it questionable shot.... back out, back out, back out
Give us a fighting chance
On a buck A liver shot needs 10 hours minimum
An gut shot needs 16 hours minimum

I had so many calls today for people pushing deer too early
2 hours is not enough time on a questionable shot. These buck are fueled up on adrenaline and testosterone right now and ready to fight to the death they are taking a lot to be killed

11/04/2025

We only took one track today and it was a special one.
Around 11 o'clock this morning I took a call from a young hunter's dad. He explained to me how yesterday evening they were in their double ladder stand. A buck came into range and they were both filled with excitement. The tree stand was shaking. The breathing was heavy with anticipation. They waited for the perfect shot. As the shot opportunity came, he realized that the hit was a little far back.
The deer ran about 50 yards and bedded down within sight of their tree stand. As they waited for himto expire, the opposite happened....He eventually regained enough strength to stand up and walk away, out of sight.
When the coast was clear, they went to the shot site and examined the arrow. There was a substantial amount of blood along with some stomach matter, indicating a stomach shot.
The decision was made to back out and wait until this morning. After a sleepless night, the crew went back to the shot site and started tracking the blood. They made it the entire way through the woods, but when the deer entered a goldenrod field, the trail got too hard to follow. Once again they backed out and decided to make the call to see if Ritter and I could meet them. We made the drive to the Shelocta area and met the hunters just after lunch time. We walked into the tree stand area where the shot site was and Ritter quickly locked on to the track. He blazed through the 400 yards that the hunters already tracked and continued into the goldenrod field, looping down a well-established deer trail and back up towards the woods.... where his leash went slack.... as I caught up with Ritter I could see that this was going to be joyous track! This deer made it 556yds from the shot site and Ritter covered that ground in under 10min. It took a minute for the hunters to catch up with us, but when they did it was all smiles and hugs from there on out!
We celebrated and Ritter and I got to be a part of this young man's first buck! This is the reason why I wanted to get into tracking. Finding this deer meant more to me than standing over 150"+ giant. To witness the raw excitement that this little guy had when he saw his deer, how happy a dad was for his son, it was just very awesome!
Ritter was able to close the chapter on that book and I was very proud of him for doing that. To him it was just another deer but for those two hunters and myself, it meant a lot! Congratulations to this young man!
This track has been a highlight of my season so far, one that I won't forget anytime soon.

Just a side note, I have been first hand witnessing the progression of Ritter. In my opinion, he is on his way to becoming an expert on what he is doing. I am so proud of him and I am grateful for all of the folks who have had us out this season and last to help us get better. Thank You!

724-525-6190