Do you remember Joshua Holm ??

[robodad]

Friday morning comes and the guys are exhausted from walking mile after mile in the snow and ice but not discouraged, in fact kind of excited to get back on the trail but still kinda weak from lack of sleep and the long cold hours spent looking and searching for this masher !! They found themselves back on the RR grade a little later then they would have liked, the roads were icy and the weather was changing but not for the better in fact although the temp was still around the 20's the news was calling for rain in the area which caused a sense of urgency into every step hoping to be on the track and find the deer before all sign of him was forever washed into the ground never to be seen again. After the 2.5 miles on the RR grade they push off into the woodlot locating the last "pin drop" on the GPS and finding the last fresh blood sign from the evening before they started searching and the snow is now really crunchy and not making the search easy, it isn't like they can sweep away the top 2 inches to see whats underneath but determined they press on and basically just walk around and then look into their boot tracks to see if anything shows up which in my opinion is a really crappy way to follow a blood trail but given the circumstances I think they were doing the right thing especially with neither of them having not the least bit of experience between them. as they press on the sign just basically dwindles to a stop and this now becomes a guessing game in which 99% of your guesses are wrong, and doing a sort of grid search once again to find the next bed or blood which ever came first turned up nothing they make the tough decision to go home, by this time its 11:00am and the rain is coming down and anyone that has spent time in the midwest knows that when it rains there in just flat out rains so before they got soaked to the bone and ended up with pneumonia they make the long 2.5 mile walk back to the truck with their heads hung low they knew that the possibility existed that they were just not going to find this buck, but they also knew they needed rest badly and clear their head and take a step back to assess the situation and come up with a last ditch plan for Thursday morning.

Some of the images he sent me from the trail:
















No jokes about their being a buck in some of those pics either, the situation is still kinda raw !! 

[robodad]

couple more:







Here is the thing, Pete is trying to make this experience the best he can for his now only son who is a first year brand new hunter so its really important that nothing is overlooked when it comes to the situation we find ourselves in and I am in constant communication with them as they study the sign and help interpret what I see to help make the next move so I too am on the edge of my seat and in just as much agony as some of you are reading this adventure, I must sit back and study 200x200 pixel image because the At&T service coverage is so spotty there in the woods and getting a message out to them is like pushing a piece of rope uphill from the wrong end if you know what I mean, I just want to drop everything and hop on a flight to Wisconsin to find this thing already without having to suffer through another day of these ups and downs and highs and lows and rejoice to despair etc... Its KILLING ME !!!

[jasnt]

Tagging along. Edge of my seat too

[DIYARCHERYJUNKIE]

Tag

[robodad]

You may notice that I had the days wrong on my previous posts and has since been corrected !!

Saturday morning finally rolls around and Jamie is unable to accompany Dad to the field because of a prior appointment and slightly discouraged Pete jumps in the rig and motors his way to the parking area which is 1hr 20min away to give a last ditch effort to uncover some sign that there is still hope of finding his deer. Hoping that from the rain coming down the day before it would slightly melt that new layer of snow that came down revealing the blood trail he knew was there just covered in 2 inches of icy crunchy snow and as it turns out the rain from yesterday had stopped shortly after they beat feet out of the area and things appeared to be looking relatively the same so back to the last place blood was located however on the way there he came across a set of new tracks that were not there the day before and followed them for quite a ways thinking that this was his deers tracks but never finding even a speck of blood or piece of hair or anything decided to head back to the RR grade and continue on to the mission at hand, now he is getting close to where he last found blood maybe 200-250yds and There it is, another set of fresh tracks or at least from after the rain yesterday leading right into the area where he lost the blood trail. Now comes a decision weather to follow these tracks and hope its the right one or continue on to the last blood sign and start there.

After mulling it over to all of 2 seconds its off the RR grade and into the woods to see if this new set of tracks leads to something and what did he find !!



Some tracks that looked like there could be some blood in them perhaps, Ok so this trail looks promising but given the small amount of what looked like it could be some blood he was still thinking he would be better off starting back at the last place he found a significant definite deer blood trail so after the almost 2.5mi hike he sat down on a log to weigh his options then decided he would follow this new set for just a while longer and if nothing is found return to the last known blood trail and it turns out to be the right choice because not more then 50' later another track with definite blood and confirmation that his buck had made these tracks and now once again he is getting excited because this is the first real sign they had found since yesterday morning when the rain started falling so looking ahead he could see another track with blood then another and coming up to a log in the trail he found a fairly large smear of blood on the log and a few pieces of hair like this deer struggled to hop over and basically just dragged himself over so he must be getting really weak at this point having lost so much blood and not more then 30' past that log THERE HE IS !!! Piled up DEAD !!

OH MY GOSH the rush of emotion that passed through Pete was just a bit overwhelming as he slumped to his knees and just stared ahead at the deer from a short distance thanking God for allowing him the opportunity to harvest such a critter and also thanking the deer for giving his life and giving a huge sigh of relief that this deer was no longer walking around wounded and to eventually to  become coyote and wolf horderves and after a few minutes just reflecting on what has transpired over the last few days picked himself up and went over to the deer and held its rack in his hands and just gave another silent thank you to the son he had lost so many years ago for looking out after him over the last couple days and guiding his way !!

He then snapped a few pics and gave Jamie a call on the phone and told him to come out and help then he called me and I was able to direct him through the gutting process over the phone which he handled quite nicely and they were able to load it onto a sled and make the long trek back to the truck both completely exhausted and elated at the same time !! 

[robodad]

OK even Pete admits that this isn't the Masher he thought it was but what can you expect being his first buck !! I think its a Masher !!




As he lay subtract the rifle !!



On the RR Grade headed for the truck !!


At home finally in the tree



Thanks guys for enjoying this story, I am very proud of them guys for sticking with it and "Getting it Done" and not giving up when it looked hopeless and circumstances were not ideal. Just a little story into the lives of Josh's family as I am sure some of you may be wondering what ever happened to them !!

[lokidog]

That is a nice buck in WI, and on public land to boot.  Great job sticking with it.

[boneaddict]

Way to stick with it!    Thanks for sharing the story with it and I am glad it had a happy ending.

[Widgeondeke]

Congrats to all involved. Great that they stuck with it and found their "trophy" 

[DOUBLELUNG]

Props to their efforts for sure.  A lot of "experienced" hunters would have given up long before.

[jackelope]

Awesome. Happy for those guys.

[jasnt]

[runningboard]

persistence pays off, good on them for seeing it through  thanks for sharing the story

[DIYARCHERYJUNKIE]

That is a remarkable effort to find that deer.  I admire the persistence.  I will think back on this story the next time I can't locate the animal.

[Turner89]

Great story! I love reading posts like this    Nice buck, and way to stick with it. Great hunting story they have.