Sasha's Whitetail Deer Recovery

Sasha's Whitetail Deer Recovery Welcome to Sasha's Whitetail Deer Recovery! Our location is Fults, Illinois, which is located 10 miles South of Waterloo, in Monroe County!

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08/31/2026

BROGAN #39 - 607 YARDS / HOOVES
12 HOURS / 1/2 OUNCE BLOOD

Had I not edited this 29:00 minute video, it would have been impossible to view. There’s obviously something wrong with the stabilization on the GoPro camera. Every step causes a violent jitter to the movie. I was only able to show Brogan finding the target.
Full disclosure:
I gave Brogan a (Fair) on this track. At one point, he worked himself into a temporary frenzy, and went into crittering mode. I was able to convince him to shake it off, and get back to tracking, which he eventually did! There was some pretty good tracking by him on the majority of the line. So, it’s back to the drawing board with the GoPro. In the meantime, we’re gonna keep training in order to be ready for season opener.

08/26/2026

SASHA - 658 YDS/22HRS/HOOVES ONLY
She was rock solid today!

This hoof only track was laid with the front hooves of a road kill buck from this past May.
They were on their 4th use today. I’m assuming there was a bare minimum of scent left in them. Occasionally on the different tracking sites, someone will ask about the validity of road kill hooves. With four uses, these hooves were fantastic, and should clear up that question. There was a 1/2” of rain in the wee hours of the morning. I feel that it gave us an advantage as well!

It took her 10-12 minutes to acquire the scent, and advance the line. The first 100 yards was bare dirt, and a sandy/sand rock base. With the age of the hooves, her slow start was obvious. She’s not a quitter though, and once she straightened out the line, she did a fantastic job.

08/23/2026

SASHA - 700 YDS/15 HOURS/HOOVES ONLY
EDITED - GOOD/BAD/EXCELLENT

This was a 35 minute video, that had 6 minutes of footage edited out, for a rocky start that was mostly timidness. Sasha’s timidness at times is something I’ve struggled to understand, but once I finally acknowledged it, it has become much easier to recognize, and manage the tracks accordingly. While tracking with very mild winds, she seems to hear distant sounds that, how I phrase it, is it weirds her out. Not always, thank goodness, but enough, that I’m always aware of the conditions we’re starting in, and I am able to handle her accordingly. This morning started out as one of those days. This particular area we were in today, is very thick, and also has a fair size beaver/frog pond right in the midst of it. We’ve been here before, and it’s usually the same behavior. Not sure of the relevance of the pond, but it seems to produce the same results when we track in this area.

The silver lining: Once she tracked through the first 200, or so yards, and settled herself down, she ran & finished the track in fine Sasha fashion. At one point, I had laid the track 40 yards in length right down the center of a dry gravel road. I anticipated being there for awhile, searching and sorting out the track. Nope, she pretty much marched right down the road.
I was impressed with her today!
So full disclosure folks - My Sasha girl isn’t a rockstar, and she does have her own version of an achilles heel, but what I’m seeing at this point of the off-season. I’d say she’s ready for the season opener! BRING IT!

08/22/2026

Sasha and I at the end of a practice track, on a beautiful August morning. As usual, we enjoyed each others company, while tracking this morning!
SASHA SAY’S WE HAD A PRETTY GOOD DAY!

08/18/2026

SASHA - 780 yds/24 HRS/HOOVES ONLY
“2 1/2” RAIN OVERNIGHT”

My goal on this track, was to make it very difficult for her. Difficult it was, with the 150 plus yards through pooling waters, a rock hard pan, a gravelly based trail, and another creek crossing. It was fun watching Sasha work out the puzzle of all of these obstacles. She has such a natural talent of doing direct searching on her own, while eliminating possible directions the deer might have gone. On a real track I would have no problem working her up and down the banks of this stream, to pick up the line where the deer went. But today, I really wanted to see if she could sort it out on her own. She did too, she worked it out very well!
I am beyond happy with Sasha today. Her and I are ready for the opener. However, we’re gonna ramp up the training over the next six weeks.
If nothing else, to fine tune our skills, and to build some confidence with one another.
I told Sasha today, if she can get me up to speed with her, we might make a decent tracking team someday!

Absolutely in my happy place today. I’m not a rope guy. I prefer to use natural limbs for mock scrapes. Since I had a co...
08/08/2026

Absolutely in my happy place today. I’m not a rope guy. I prefer to use natural limbs for mock scrapes. Since I had a couple ropes sent to me, all rigged up, and ready to go. I thought I’d give em a try. It was pretty nice at 7:00am. The next thing I knew, it was 11:30, and I was soaked.
HOT-HOT-HOT / YUCK!

08/03/2026

BROGAN #38 - 710YDS/18HRS/HOOVES/2OZ
HE HAD A VERY GOOD DAY TRACKING!

After a two month training hiatus, largely due to the summer heat, Brogan and I enjoyed a cool, early August morning together. We encountered a live doe on the line. Brogan never laid eyes on the deer, but when we got to the ditch crossing where she was standing. He obviously heard her scampering in the woods. It took several minutes to get him settled down, and to refocus on the task at hand. This behavior never bothers me, with either one of my dogs. It’s the high prey drive that they both have in them.
Today’s track was an obvious reality, that he and I, still have a ton of work to do together. Had this been a real world track, there would have been many times, that I would have followed him in the wrong direction. With me knowing the line, I was able to hold him at one lead length of 30’ until he reacquired. On a real track, marking the blood/wound beds, etc, would be protocol. Then, after being obvious we were off the line, I would have to take him back to the last marked spot, and simply do a re-start. It’s a very normal procedure while tracking. However, as many times as he went the wrong direction today, it would have been way too many re-starts! I need him to vastly improve on staying tighter to the original line. Otherwise, we could be on a real track for hours, and would probably result in more non-recoveries than is acceptable. But, this is why we practice. I’m still very confident, we’re gonna get there eventually.
Having said all that: Brogan did a pretty decent job on this line!
WE’LL BE BACK !!!

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