following tracks

[lonetracker]

A couple of years ago i read How to bag the biggest buck of your life,by larry benoit.this book changed the way i will hunt forever.i have allways been interested in tracking,but thought it would be a waste of time.i decided to commit to it last year.to track you need snow,i live in iron mountain,snow is an iffy thing during rifle season so idecided to go were the snow was.i bought plat books to find large chunks were i could hunt.i studyed sat. photos and topos,then there was weakends during bow season to go scout .my biggest opsticle was were would i stay?i decided to try sleeping in my hammock tent,with my 20below bag,no heat.if it didnt work icould go home and stand hunt again.this was last year i ended up staying 10 nights in tent down to10deg.i stayed warm in the bag,but getting up and getting dressed was a chalenge.however i was in snow every day,and tracking deer.i loved it.idid not conect last year but i learned a lot.you see things tracking that you dont see on stand .like a fresh buck rub,bark all shredded on the snow,made by the deer thats somewere on the other end of the tracks you are following.like when abuck sticks his nose into the snow to smell the pee left by a doe,and you smell it to to learn what a hot doe really smells like.like finding his bed and smelling his tarsal musk in it.like seeing what he eats prior to bedding.like finding a moose bed and having the bull crash away out of a differant bed 50 yds away.
this year the fever is strong as ever.icamped the same but explored some other counties.i spent 9 days in the snow and ended up with two 3.5 yr olds( dnr aged)one was a 7 pt.and one is a8 pt.neither were the biggest tracks i followed..next year i will find them again.i cant wait.any other trackers out there,i get a little lonley and wouldnt mind stopping by a camp to talk tracking at the end of a day.ive been hunting midwest up.

[fishx65]

Wow, I thought I was a motivated buck hunter until I read this! Could you give us more details on the kills themselves? Did you sneek up on them? Did you get any of the bucks who's tracks you were on?

[lonetracker]

nov 18,snow finally slowed down enough to find a track.started following about 9am could tell he was following a doe.luckily this doe seemed to want to stay in hardwoods were tracking is much easier.i saw him 3 times and covered about three miles before i got a shot.i was still on the track,easing over a ridge when i saw him,about 75 yds away.by the tracks i think he had just run a differant buck off,and maybe thought i was another challenger.anyway he was facing me head down,looking me over good,i didnt waste this oppertunity,and shot quick into his vitals dropping him.(turned out to be 100yd from my tent).he was 7pt 17in inside spread,i figure between 160to170lb.
the next day i missed a long running shot at a bigger one,also chasing a doe.followed them 6 more hrs and about 5 miles,saw the doe bedded once,but couldnt see buck.they ended up crossing a beaver dam at 4oclock,leaving me to walk 2 miles back to my truck.exhausted.
deer no2was taken mon 24nov.i followed a real nice track into some oaks with alot of under brush,were he comensed to chase a doe all around every were possible.i decided to circle around and try to pick up tracks were there was less confusion.while i was circleing i saw a deer headed right toward me,turn out to be a 4 pt.he kept looking up the knob i was circleing so i did to and spotted a doe and then another deer almost completely hidden by trees.he finally moved his head and i could see he had at least a decent rack.i threaded a shot through the 100yd of trees,and connected he went 50 yd perfect lung shot.to be honest ithought i missed,i let out quite a woop when i found him.8pt 14.5inside long thick tines perfect rackabout 150lb,however he was not the deer i was tracking,he had much smaller feet,and i found the bigger tracks heading off the back side off knob were i shot this guy.

[Joeker51]

Nice job and good read.;) Wish I could have made it up there this year.

[fishx65]

Awesome Lonetracker! Thanks for the read. Nice to have all that stateland to roam up there. I got a brother who lives in I.M. and I spent the gun opener up by Bush Lake this year. Not many hunters at all!

[Joeker51]

fishx.you ever get the time check out that Felch area. Neat country in there.
Yup, got family up there too.:)

[Mightymouse]

That has always seemed like a great way to hunt to me, what a rush to be right on the trail of a buck. So much excitement and anticipation, waiting to see what is at the end of the trail.

Unfortunately for me the area's where I do my gun hunting are largely small tracts of private land and not good for tracking like that. I would love to do it in the UP once during our bow camp but we rarely get enough snow to really partake in any tracking.

Good stories lonetracker and congrats on your success.

[baf75]

I have read a few books by them and have watched all of their videos and I am ready to try it. I am still in the process of finding the land to lend itself to this kind of hunt. Your story shows there is hope for me yet. Maybe next year.

Thanks for the post.

[yooperkenny]

Great read, lonetracker! That's hunting in da UP at its best! In fact I do believe you've inspired me to do some tracking this weekend myself - our location in southern Houghton County is ideal for it.

....wouldnt mind stopping by a camp to talk tracking at the end of a day.ive been hunting midwest up.

You're welcome at our fire any time :)

[Big Buck]

How are you able to directly tell the differance in a doe track and a buck, I have a spot im going to this weekend, that I would like to try this in.

And I want to make sure im reading the tracks the same as some one else.

Great read

Thanks

[lonetracker]

mike,ive only been doing this a couple years and just now have some measure of confidence in my ability to judge a buck from a doe.this is an important point,you must commit to the track with confidence and much determination.so you might end up on a doe track,maybe,it dont hurt to stay on the track you will learn more about tracking,also she may be in heat and you may track her to some bigger tracks that is almost surly a buck also tracking her.most likely the track will take you to some new areas were there are other deer and more sign you would never have found had you not tracked her/him?
ok here is the physical signs i look for,that i find while walking or driving.1st ,BIG WIDE if you find a2.5in. or wider track,its allmost positivilly a buck over 150lbs.some does have big feet but very very few.i use my chew can to measure a track it is 2.5in. wide.if you find a3in. track follow as your life depended on it,its over200lb.
2nd bucks walk with agression at this time of year and it shows in their tracks,feet angle out a little,making the line of tracks in snow look jagged with more snow kicked around.
the most important way to tell is following track,dos it lead thru a bunch of brush were a buck with a rack would have to fight to get thru? bucks circle thick brush were the does go thru.did he walk between 2 trees 1 foot apart if so if it has a rack its most likely smaller than a foot.also you might see a fresh scrape,as i did sunday,or a fresh rub made by deer your tracking thats a sure sign.if you find a bed study it look for tine marks these are rare but i noticed some one time.smell the bed were his rearknee is,you know what tarsal smells like,right,cant mistake it.to me thats one of surest signs
follow the track and have fun,live it ,buck or doe you will learn something,the first bedded deer i tracked up to was a big doe,i can still see her,and remember my astonishment that i snuck up on her and she had no idea. enjoy

[Joeker51]

Keep the info coming...........good stuff here.;)

[Scott K]

How fast do you go following the track?

[fishx65]

Lonetracker, your starting to remind me of that story of the boy raised by wolves! Sounds like, if you keep getting better at this, your gonna walk into the woods one day and never come back. We will hear stories of a man running with a deer herd in the U.P.! Stay away from those bait piles!!!

[bmoffit]

What a great read...That is definitely taking deer hunting to the next level...Lets see some photos of your deer!!!!

[mike the pike]

run lonetracker ,run;) They call him ,,, dances with deer

[Roosevelt]

That sounds so cool. I did it once, but never connected w' the buck. He always stayed just outta range and ended up on private land. I never woulda thought to sniff the pee though or the beds. LOL! that's almost too much. Nice stories! :cool:

[Viking6]

today i coverd 5 miles and not one track any were, zip zero. last year was the first time i had sucsess with tracking. today was the day i have been waiting on all week. i walked to were i have been seeing deer all week and nothing no where. no tracks nothing................:mad:

[lonetracker]

you have to go fast enough to catch up but slow enough not to spook them.to vague?thats allmost what i feel when im tracking sometimes.it all depends on the conditions,age of track,what deer was,is doing ect,ect.unless it is snowing and i know for sure the track is fire hot fresh,i go fast as i can without making to much noise,keep one eye on track,one eye roaming looking for deer,mostly look for deer.keep reading sign,did he start browsing buds?wandering?these two are to important to miss.they mean he is going to bed,so you have to sloooowww down and start searching,he could be anywere.i am still not to good at this part i allmost allways jump them,go slower next time darn it.dont worry he will bolt out about 100 mile an hour,giving you at least 100yd to1/2 mile to go as fast as you can to try to catch up and maybe warm up after freezeing during your slow stalk.this is usually were you find out you dressed way to warm for tracking as the sweat is running down your nose.watch the track when he slows you slow,sure enough pretty soon he sarts browsing and wandering,and you go into creeper mode again,feeling all you'r recently gained sweat freeze to your back.ive jumped them out of three beds before,seems they allmost allways forget you'r back there.
speed is also dictaded by terraine.if you'r in hardwoods and can see far,go faster.if theres ridges and knobs use them.creep up to just below top of knob and survey next valley or bowl,if its empty hurry thru till next ridge repeat.
windy go faster.deep powdery snow go faster.
slow down when you cant see far,or are making noise.
most times i never catch up,but the few times i did made it worth it.
another thing to try,that worked one time for me.i felt the deer was bedded,but didnt think i could sneak up so after every 50yd i grunted and bleated,sure enough he came out to see,bang my 1st tracked deer a sm 5 pt.
there is a lot more that goes into this.i still have lots to learn myself,so i cant offer to much more than this.dont worry there will be more tracks.

[lonetracker]

i cant figure out how to post photos.could i email them to someone who knows how and they could post them?

[lonetracker]

http://www.michigan-sportsman.com/photopost/data/500/medium/DSCN04570001.JPG (http://www.michigan-sportsman.com/photopost/data/500/DSCN04570001.JPG)

[lonetracker]

http://www.michigan-sportsman.com/photopost/data/500/medium/DSCN04780001.JPG (http://www.michigan-sportsman.com/photopost/data/500/DSCN04780001.JPG)

[lonetracker]

http://www.michigan-sportsman.com/photopost/data/500/medium/DSCN04550001.JPG (http://www.michigan-sportsman.com/photopost/data/500/DSCN04550001.JPG)

[lonetracker]

http://www.michigan-sportsman.com/photopost/data/500/medium/DSCN04790001.JPG (http://www.michigan-sportsman.com/photopost/data/500/DSCN04790001.JPG)

[Whit1]

Thanks for the photos and the stories and tips.

[Sparky23]

Great bucks and great post, goes to show if you put your time in you will be rewarded. Makes me wish I had more snow down here:)

[Wishin_Fish]

Excellent tips lonetracker! I love to still hunt, yaknow the step...wait...step... fun, and I have always wanted to start on a track and see where it goes. This year I did just that the morning of Nov.16th after we got some fresh snow. I have seen many deer bedded near one of my stand locations and that day was no different. I was able to stalk within bow distance twice of two does and a spike, the second time the big doe busted me they were 50 feet away bedded again in some close small pines. Just before I found them they started to wander and back track like you said.

Im stoked for some more I got to see two other does acting normally only 20 yards from me on the same hike.

[oncorhynchus]

Great deer!! Now thats what hunting is all about!;)

I actually tried this before by chance.

Several years ago during ML season, a friend and me went to the NLP in a large tract of federal land that i bowhunt every year, but rarely gun hunt. This was back when they were VERY liberal with antlerless tags in this particular area... so needless to say,there was a massive turnout for the regular gun season and the deer were very spooky to say the least.... We were seeing almost ZILCH for sign(and absolute zilch for actual deer)! So i told my buddy that the next set of tracks we see, we're following!
So we were driving along a log road that kind of follows a ceder swamp and saw some fairly fresh tracks (2 deer) crossing the road towards the swamp so off we went.
We followed the tracks for quite a ways into the swamp for most of the day and ended up at the river were the deer had apparently swan across (or boarded a small raft) :confused:
So no deer:( but what i gained in learning deer behavior and the way the deer were using the given area was priceless...It really opened my eyes :SHOCKED:
I've been itching to try it again every since...Maybe now that they give out ZERO doe tags in that area, it may be a better time to try it...

[GrizzlyHunter]

Lonetracker,

Way to go! That sounds like a blast. I have one of Larry's original books and then both of the follow up books by Bryce T. All a very good read.

Grizzly Hunter

[uptracker]

I've tracked a bit. I've also read all the books on it and own all the videos. I'll say one thing though, have fun finding a 3 1/4 wide inch track in MI. On my out of State hunts, I see 3 1/4 inch wide track every where. I shot one this year still hunting....8 point with a 20" IS spread.

[lonetracker]

I'll say one thing though, have fun finding a 3 1/4 wide inch track in MI.
i will have fun searching.if i never find another one that big my life will still be complete.i will be more than satisfied with 2 3/4 to 3 in. which i am positive i will find.right now tracking is my passion,not huge deer.(although i would really love to get one)if the time comes when tracking only huge deer is all that floats my boat i will move to canada and make it happen.

[DEDGOOSE]

I had a buddy whom did it in the U.P. He said "dedgoose, it gives a whole new perspective on stand hunting, he said instead of thinking why a deer moves through a particular area trail funnel etc or instead of a magazine telling you where they are going to move, you get to see how they actually move from a deers perspective." He said you see so many awesome stand sights that you would normally look over, until you actually track a deer and see how they move through the woods.

[uptracker]

I had a buddy whom did it in the U.P. He said "dedgoose, it gives a whole new perspective on stand hunting, he said instead of thinking why a deer moves through a particular area trail funnel etc or instead of a magazine telling you where they are going to move, you get to see how they actually move from a deers perspective." He said you see so many awesome stand sights that you would normally look over, until you actually track a deer and see how they move through the woods.

Exactly.....I did this just last Thursday with a few inches of powder....no buck tracks to be seen though, but I did follow some does araound. You never know when they're gonna take you into "that hub".

Lone tracker: Go out in the spring and measure every track you find. It's tough to find any that are different from the next up here, so when you actually do find one out of the norm, it's usually "the one".

I should have mentioned I shot my buck on bare ground this year.

[uptracker]

Alright, I just read all the posts and have a few things to add....

When you're on a track and it seems to slow down and wander, begins feeding and wandering again, watch for the "J-hook". A buck with make a half circle off to one side and walk maybe ten yards and then back track his trail paralleling his original track. He'll walk maybe 50 yards a lot of times and bed down so he can watch his original set of tracks to see if anything is following up the rear. He usually hooks into the wind so he can bed with the wind at his back and his trail in front of him. When you start to realize this, it's often too late unless you can see his track way up ahead of you.

As for telling a buck from a doe....the width does tell you a lot, but, a bucks shoulders are wider then his hips, therefore; his rear track often times lands inside of his front track. The oppisite is true for does because they have wider hips for fawn rearing capabilities.

Pee....does often urinate in a tiny little hole, right between their rea tracks, as they squat. Bucks often urinate as the walk, or at least dribble a considerable amount as they go.

A doe will hug tight to a tree as she goes around, but a buck will side step it a bit if he has a wide rack.

The stride is also important. Going back to the big chest or big hips theory.....a distance of over 10-12" wide is usually a buck. A distance of over 2' in length is usually a buck.

This is the one I shot on bare ground this year:

http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q71/n8line1978/Ontario%202008/Ontario2008022.jpg

I still haven't shot one by tacking in MI. I have a high standard though and the past few seasons I haven't been able to go at it hard in MI due to taking my vaction for out of State trips. But, a fews years back I was poking around on some logging trails up by Lake Superior and I actually came across a 3"+ track. I followed it for probably 2 miles before I jumped him in a tamarack swamp. Never got a shot, but I bet he was 22" wide and 140"+".

[uptracker]

This one was shot while tracking a year or two ago:

http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q71/n8line1978/General%20Pics/BigBuckfromUp.jpg

This is in an area of MI I still have yet to hunt and would love to one day....so the location is CLASSIFIED! If I ever get bored of my out of State trips, something goes wrong with planning, my areas go to guided hunts only, or nobody can come along that year.....I'll be heading to that area.

[Whit1]

I had a buddy whom did it in the U.P. He said "dedgoose, it gives a whole new perspective on stand hunting, he said instead of thinking why a deer moves through a particular area trail funnel etc or instead of a magazine telling you where they are going to move, you get to see how they actually move from a deers perspective." He said you see so many awesome stand sights that you would normally look over, until you actually track a deer and see how they move through the woods.


That's a great post and makes for an interesting learning tool. Think about the reams of useful information that one could learn if they took up the track of a large deer with the goal to learn as much about deer and deer movement as they possibly could, this aside from the goal of harvesting said animal.

I've done this with deer beds when I find them. I stop to look them over as well as the positioning of the bed along with others nearby. This is especially helpful if you know the direction of recent winds.

[augustus0603]

When you're on a track and it seems to slow down and wander, begins feeding and wandering again, watch for the "J-hook". A buck with make a half circle off to one side and walk maybe ten yards and then back track his trail paralleling his original track. He'll walk maybe 50 yards a lot of times and bed down so he can watch his original set of tracks to see if anything is following up the rear. He usually hooks into the wind so he can bed with the wind at his back and his trail in front of him. When you start to realize this, it's often too late unless you can see his track way up ahead of you.



So true. Was tracking one this year and this happened to me. I knew that's what he was going to do, but he got on a ridge top and could see me way before I could see him.

If I was a better shot, I could have taken some really nice bucks tracking the last few years. One I chased for six miles before giving up. This was in Crawford County and he would have broke some records. He let me walk within 10 feet before he jumped out of his bed. My scope was covered with snow, and I missed him with my iron sights. Saw him 2 more times after that but couldn't get a shot.

[bersh]

...snip...

Pee....does often urinate in a tiny little hole, right between their rea tracks, as they squat. Bucks often urinate as the walk, or at least dribble a considerable amount as they go.


Wait for the shake!

Some good info in these posts. The only thing I'll add is that very generally, the front tracks of a good size buck the hooves will be spread open a bit, vs. does almost always are pinched tight unless they are running. Depending on the conditions, the dew claws will also be evident with a bigger buck. Finally, bucks tend to walk stiff legged, so they often have drag marks on their rear tracks. Does generally pick their feet up when they walk. Once the snow gets to be about 5-6" though, this last one is tough as most tracks will have drag marks. If there is only 3" of snow and you see drag marks on the rear tracks you can just about bet money it is a buck.

[HunterHads]

I plan on doing the Beniot thing this weekend. I have only ever been able to walk up on does tho. Maybe this will be my weekend!

Yeah 2000 post :D

[uptracker]

One other thing that is supposed to be true....big bucks walk flat footed. I've never seen it in MI bucks though because they're seldom old enough and big enough.

[twohats]

Great post,very informative.

Thank you

[buckshot-0]

Back to the subject, I got a chance to muzzleload whitetail in northern Maine 7 yrs ago. Tracking is how it gets done up there. What a hoot. 2.8 million acres to get lost in. We didn't even see any bucks, but I did get to track one for about 3 miles. ( I bumped him a couple of times). You could see prints in the snow from his rack when he bedded. I've never seen as big of beds as I did up there. I lost him as he crossed the river. That was by far the best deer hunting I've ever done. It beats the hell out of sitting in a tree all day.

[Whit1]

Off topic threads have been deleted and will continue to be deleted. If Formal Warnings are needed they will be handed out and if further steps are needed they will be taken.

[bowhuntbigbucks]

Great post! Congrats to everyone who has gotten it done while tracking! You have alot more patience than me. Very interesting, and great reading. BTW thise are some great bucks that were taken.

[MrFysch]

Awesome job on tracking those great deer. On a side note dont give any of these guys ideas that there are actually some big deer in the UP! :evil: