12/17/2025
The Black Friday Buck, AKA The Leg Bone Buck
Finally going back to catch up on some of the recovery’s from Team Jewel earlier in this season. This track was the second one that Team Jewel had up north on night of Nov. 28th. Actually it was nice having two tracks in somewhat close proximity of each other on this night, it makes the long drive worth it. Jewel had found the arrow that struck the deer on the first track fairly quickly on the first track. All present on that track decided to call off the track once the evidence on the arrow revealed only 3-4” of pe*******on.
The next track, the deer shown the pic with Jewel became one of those marathon tracks. The hunter, Andrew, had called to inform me that he had struck a buck at approximately 35-40 yards with his bow at approximately 3:45PM. Unfortunately the buck had made an unexpected split second spin/turn right when Andrew pulled the trigger to his release, which of course caused the arrow not to hit where he was aiming. Andrew informed me that the arrow with its mechanical broadhead had hit the deer in the rear leg/hip area. After the arrow struck the deer Andrew said the deer dropped to the ground, rolled around a bit then drug itself off out of sight in a huge thick CRP field that was in a river bottom. Feeling absolutely horrible about the situation, Andrew remained in his stand till dark in disbelief of what had happened. After dark Andrew went over to the area where the deer was struck, finding some 🩸 and tracked the deer a short distance. Andrew not really sure what to do at this point, did the ole “when in doubt back out” thing!
Andrew then called Team Jewel for advice. After Andrew gave me most of the details, I was hoping that the femoral artery might have gotten severed by the arrow. Unfortunately it didn’t sound like that the femoral was severed in this case, the big sign was Andrew didnt find excessively large amounts of 🩸 in the distance he tracked the deer. Some of you may have witnessed yourself what a severed femoral artery wound looks like, there will be absolute buckets of 🩸 in the area where the deer went and the deer will likely be found expired within a couple hundred yards. Another thing Andrew informed me about and was very concerning to him, was the fact that he had heard coyotes howling in the area of the direction wounded deer ran. In circumstances such as this I usually recommend an overnight wait and to track the deer the following morning. Since Team Jewel would already be “in the area” and the fact it sounded like the coyotes may have possibly finished off the deer, I informed Andrew Team Jewel could be there to assist him after the other track near him was completed. I could hear the sense of worry ease up in Andrews voice when I said to him that Team Jewel would be there to assist him.
It was approximately 8:30PM when Team Jewel arrived to meet Andrew and his dad at the hunting location. Andrew had surprised Team Jewel with a nice big ole plate of leftovers from Thanksgiving, which absolutely hit the spot! We all walked to area in the woods where the deer was struck, once there I had said a prayer aloud while Gary harnessed Jewel up and got the teamwork high five from her. Jewel immediately took to the track leading the way for us, quickly heading in the direction of the large CRP field where Andrew heard the coyotes earlier. Jewel was for sure on the track of the wounded deer, as we all saw the sporadic drops of 🩸 on the ground and the occasional smear on a w**d or blade of tall grass. Before entering the CRP I happen to notice a large piece of leg bone, femur bone (see pic). I had stopped in shock to see such a large piece of bone like this, in all the tracks I’ve been on through the years I had never found such a large piece of bone lying on a track. I have absolutely no idea how an arrow could knockout such a big piece of bone, but there it was right on the deers path it took! I immediately bent down to pick up and examine the bone (see pic in comments), afterward I stuck it in my jacket pocket.
Since this was such a “hot track” (a lil over 4 hrs old at this point) and the deer obviously having a broken leg, which does leave a lot of scent, Jewel was on a very fast pace. Jewel was now leaving the wooded area and now entering the large CRP field which consisted of thick shoulder high w**ds and grasses, areas of young saplings scattered about, and the occasional briar thicket that were mixed all about. This CRP was a perfect place for a wounded deer to hide in! We all remained behind Gary and Jewel it was our job to advise Gary when we saw more 🩸. Gary had his hands full holding on to super amped up Jewel, all the time looking ahead of her to keep her safe if the deer was still alive. Tracking with a dog in thick areas such as this with limited visibility, especially at night, can be very dangerous to the dog. A dog can very quickly come up on a bedded wounded deer quickly and be charged, sometimes it can be an unexpected headbutt or it could be much worse where the deer gores the dog with an antler. There was simply no way Gary could see all the 🩸 along the way to confirm whether Jewel was absolutely locked onto the right deer. This deer would 🩸 consistently for a distance and then quit for a ways. With the extended distance that Jewel had now tracked the deer within the CRP, I was beginning to think that the deer was likely yet alive. However on the other hand in the back of my mind, I kept thinking there was a possibility of the coyotes getting on the track of the wounded deer and finishing it off. I’ve said it before, coyotes might be the best tracking dogs out there.
Finally Jewel found a wound bed within the CRP in some tall grass, the mystery now was why did the buck leave this wound bed? The 🩸 here within the bed did not appear to be wet, so that indicated that we likely didn’t likely jump the deer off the bed. Jewel circled this wound bed to discover that the deer had backtracked a short distance and then cut off in a direction taking us deeper within the CRP. Again Jewel was super amped up and was on a very quick pace, we all knew she was on this buck once again. After going 70-80 yards from the wound bed Jewel strangely came to a quick halt within the CRP? It was like the deer just disappeared, Jewel worked and worked in search of the scent and direction the deer went in this area. At this point it was totally up to Jewel to figure things out, as the 🩸was a lot more infrequent after the deer had left that wound bed. Jewel is not one to give up, after 10-15 minutes of circling and constant checking she finally figured out what the deer had done. The deer again backtracked on itself approximately 20 yards and cut off in a direction to the our right. The deer now seemed to be heading towards the woods that ran along the river. As before Jewel was taking us all over a spot of or an occasional smear of 🩸 on the w**ds to confirm she was still on the deer.
Jewel was now tracking in the woods somewhat and began paralleling the river, going through and around brush piles, briars, and fallen trees. The deer appeared to be zig zagging all about the woods now. Suddenly, as before, Jewel abruptly stopped hitting the brakes in a very thick part of the woods. Once again it seemed like the deer had seemed to vanish. Actually in a way the deer did vanish, it had actually slid down the riverbank to disappear and the river. Now when I said slid down the riverbank, I mean slid! Where the deer entered the river from the woods, it was like one of the steepest childhood slides you never seen, that was 30 feet in length. Gary and Andrew actually slid on her butts down to the river bank to the river. Actually, if you can picture a tube slide, that is more what the “slide” looked like when Gary and Andrew went down it. There were sticks and briars that crossed over the top of where they slid, giving it an appearance of a tunnel or a tube like structure.
Once at the river’s edge, Jewel kept wanting to enter the water directly right there at the bottom of where she came down. The river here was pretty deep and very wide. We all were 100% certain that the deer did not cross the river here, as there was a vertical cliff that was approximately 30 to 40 feet tall directly opposite where the deer entered the river. Gary and Andrew then went as far as they could along the side of the riverbank both ways, shining their lights to see if they could see the deer, but no deer was found. We all assumed at this point that the deer may have drowned and might be downstream somewhere. I then assisted Gary and Andrew up the steep riverbank, where we all stood, debating what to do next.
We all knew that the buck went into the river, but incase it made it on the other side either upstream or downstream we thought maybe we should all drive around to the other side to investigate. A call was made to the neighbor across the river and permission was granted. Before we all went to the other side Gary thought it would be best to go upstream on the side we were now standing on and to go where we had not yet been, just to cover our bases. Meanwhile the rest of us remained near the area of where the deer slid down the bank into the river looking for more 🩸 in the area, just incase the deer might have once again backtracked as it had done so before. It was highly unlikely though that the deer backtracked here in this area due to the steep river bank it had went down to get into the river, but you honestly cannot rule anything out when it comes to a wounded mature whitetail buck.
Approximately 20 minutes after Gary and Jewel had left us all to investigate where we hadn’t been yet, Gary transmitted over the radio to me that they had found him but we can’t get him. I remember looking at Andrew and seeing a what the F look on his face, but I’m sure I had a just as confused look on my face as well!?!? All I knew is Gary and Jewel had found the buck! I didn’t care and I’m sure Andrew didn’t care, we were gonna get his buck. I informed Andrew and his dad to follow me, I knew exactly where Gary and Jewel were by my Garmin handheld. After a hundred yards or so walk through some heavy brush and briars, we all arrived to Gary and Jewel. I asked Gary what the heck he meant by they found it, but we can’t get him? Gary immediately then shined his helmet light forty yards across the deep river and said there he is at the bottom of that steep river bank, lying on the shore on the other side. I immediately saw the tall riverbank and thought there is no way we could pull the buck up that. I mean that river bank appeared to be 25-30 feet in height and straight up! That steep river bank wasn’t our only obstacle though, there was the major issue of the wide and deep river to get across to the other side. No one had immediate access to a boat, so that was ruled out. The only thing any of us could do was to walk further up stream, in hopes to find a shallow enough place to walk across. We all then began the walk along the river heading upstream, glancing at the river as we were walking hoping to find a spot to cross. Approximately 60 yards upstream from where the expired buck laid, we finally found an area of the river that appeared to have a ripply surface to it. Ripples can indicate that there is likely something fairly close under surface of the water, meaning it might be shallow enough to cross. Andrew led the way of course, after all it was his deer on the opposite side of the river! Thankfully we were able to make it across to the other side of the river here and walk the approximate 60 yards distance on the rivers edge on that side of the river back to where Andrews deer was.
It was another Corn Dragon in The Wagon by Miss Jewel, the deer was tagged and then dragged along the rivers edge upstream to cross where we had all crossed earlier. Gary and I then helped pull the deer out of the river on to the land which Andrew was hunting on.
Team Jewel celebrated in discussion how well Jewel performed to find this buck. We all agreed that certainly the buck wouldn’t had been found without Jewel. Jewel got her deer tongue treat, Gary and I shook hands with Andrew and his dad and then parted ways.
We all surmised before Team Jewel left that the coyotes had likely pushed the deer into the water or possibly the deer felt that the water might had been the safest place for it, away from the coyotes. Thankfully for all of us the deer was expired when Jewel and Gary found it, likely due to blood loss/shock. The femoral artery may had been nicked or cut by either the broadhead or a sharp/jagged piece of bone. I’m sure the coyotes Andrew heard after he had struck the deer were upset that Team Jewel had cheated them out of their meal! Oh and at picture time we done a group photo. Jewel was driving me nuts, about knocking me over nudging at me. It took a while for me to realize that Jewel was trying to get that leg bone out of my coat pocket I had put in there earlier.
The time was now fairly late and Team Jewel had a lengthy drive back home. Not only was the drive home a long one, but the walk back to the vehicles was a long one too. Tired and exhausted from this track it was still a satisfying walk back to the vehicles, knowing what a great job the Team did for Andrew. Don’t feel Team Jewel left Andrew and his dad abandoned, Andrew had contacted a freind to bring his side by side to them to assist them in getting the deer out of the woods. Team Jewel actually met the friend while driving out of the woods, stopped to shake hands and briefly talk with him as well. Thank goodness for friends like that, huh!
I would say that Andrew had gotten quite The Black Friday Deal on this night. Congrats Andrew and thank you for allowing Team Jewel to partake in your hunt/recovery of this fine IL Corn Dragon, you definitely have a cool story to tell around how it all ended. 😜🤘
