Of course I was walking so I couldn't keep up with them because they were moving it pretty fast. I circled back to the truck and leap frogged ahead of them to where I thought they were headed. Things started looking up because that warm nose dog of mine was really starting to move out on this track. Well as we started to work down into a pretty nice little slot canyon I had a couple dogs fall out of the race. One older dog who had just spent the last 3 days trailing and fighting a stock killer and two of my younger dogs.
Now I had my 2.5 year old dog a 5 year old dog and a 7 month old pup still in the race. I watched as the pup stayed with the older dog and she was trailing like a champ. I couldn't believe how well this pup was doing. My 2.5 year old was staying consistently about 1 mile ahead of the other two.
Now here is where the Garmin saved me a bunch of leg work. I looked at the screen and see that the lead dog broke off to the east up a side canyon. The older dog and the pup kept heading on the same route. I decided that maybe my 2.5 year old was falling out of the race so my buddy and I decided to head over to the canyon he was working up. This was my mistake as I learned a few hours later. I got into the area of where that dog was working the track and he must of heard me and broke off the track and came back down to see what was going on. I forgot to mention I was toting my 4 year old son along who insisted on riding on my backpack.
So that took me down to 2 dogs still in the race. I went back up to where we had seen the older dog and my pup trailing and couldn’t get a signal from either one. I run both GPS and the radio collars but in these slot canyons neither one was working. I decided the only way to make any progress on these dogs was to get my ATV and head down the trail to where the canyon meets the river. I had seen some pretty big tracks in that area in the past.
As I rode down the trail I kept stopping and checking for signal but couldn’t get any. So now is when I learned what a mistake I had made earlier. I went over to the area where my 2.5 year old had broken off of the trail and to my surprise I found another track. The original bigger track that we had started was headed down the canyon where the other two hounds were headed and now a smaller track headed up that slot canyon that the other dog had followed. Should of trusted my dog, lesson learned.
So next I make it all the way down to where the river is and I can finally get a very faint signal. The hounds are up another slot canyon leading back the direction we originally came from. I quickly headed up that canyon and found those two hounds tracks right on top of the bigger track that we had started now over 8 hours earlier. I couldn’t believe that little pup was still in there.
I make my way up the canyon and find those two hounds the 7month old pup and that 5 year old still trailing up the canyon. It was dark now and had been 11 hours since we first started that track. Neither of those two dogs wanted to give up I had to drag them out of there.
Now for the Kudos, Thanks Chris Todd for such a great pup, she is amazing!
Garmin Astro allowed me to go to the exact spot where the trail split and made me realize what a mistake I had made. It also allowed me to download those two dogs’ collars and discover that they had trailed for just under 11 hours and 30 miles.
Thanks to Coop for letting me hang around him and his dogs I have learned so much from him and the dogs.
I would have liked to tell you all that I caught up to this lion and he was huge but just as well this was one heck of a hunt.
Thanks
My Hunting partner of the day.
