Grove couple willing to help hunters with deer processing, tracking game

In October 2012, Grove resident Jon Saylor shot a buck that dropped in his tracks. He texted his wife Melissa and the celebration began.

Unfortunately, before Saylor could get out of his stand, the “deceased” buck sprang back to life and the couple spent the next 12 hours tracking the buck with very little blood to go by. To top it off, it was during a thunderstorm.

“I found out what it was like to be tick-bombed at the ankles, still to this day I have scars,” Melissa said.

Two weeks later, the buck appeared on trail camera with a high back “no man’s land” injury, and this is where their story begins. As it turns out, the buck was only temporarily stunned and had jumped up to live another day.

“The muscles in the back strap vibrate and temporarily paralyze the deer,” Melissa said. “If we had known that, we wouldn’t have searched all that time.”

When using dogs became legal in Oklahoma, the Saylors took advantage of their new litter of pups. They had already been training dogs to coon hunt and so they were able to use that knowledge and that is where their story takes off.

They joined United Blood Trackers in 2017 and connected with tracker Jerry Gregston here in Oklahoma. Gregston mailed them the book, “Tracking Dogs for Finding Wounded Animals” by John Jeanneney — one of the founders of United Blood Trackers.

Whiskey, a half yellow lab and half black and tan lab, was the only pup that showed interest in the blood trail they laid through the yard.

In November 2018, Whiskey made his first recovery at the Cherokee WMA non-ambulatory hunt for Mike Burge, who became a life-long friend.

Both Saylors love to hunt, and Melissa believes that Opening Day should be a federal holiday. They have processed all of their meat since 2012, and even have a barn — complete with a winch in the ceiling and air conditioners, called “The Saylor Chop Shop.”

The Saylors won’t do processing for anyone but will teach them how to process their own deer.

Tracking is not for the faint of heart and tracking with large breed dogs has some disadvantages when navigating steep mountain-like terrain.

Their friend and fellow tracker Katie Sanderson said, “We all look like we’ve been in fights with feral cats.”

“Injuries don’t stop us,” Melissa said. One concern for one of the teams this season has been being called to track after drones have been flown. Of the three tracks a man had agreed to take after a drone had come out and flown for a hunter, he recovered two deer. More and more drone services are popping up and charging more than many tracking dog teams request for their services.

After that much time has passed, the meat isn’t going to be any good and, likely, the coyotes have taken their share.

The Saylors don’t charge for their services of tracking deer, just asking for gas money and a tip. Generally, they stay close to the four county Grand Lake area. Their Facebook page is Whiskey Bent Tracking, and you can follow their exploits there. Recently, they posted that Whiskey had tracked his first feral hog.

The Saylors have made friends with many hunters and game wardens as a result of their hobby.

As of mid-October, the Oklahoma Blood Tracking Association teams have reported taking 226 deer tracks. Of those,125 deer have been recovered. Four bears were tracked with one recovered. Five tracks could not be completed due to the land owners denying the consent for teams to track.

“Contrary to popular assumption, everyone must obtain consent to track deer on someone else’s property,” Melissa said. “Otherwise, it is trespassing.”

The Saylors conveyed how rewarding it is to have helped fill freezers with meat prices as high as they are.

For the Saylors, the goal is to get the meat to the table and the memories on the wall.

A job well done.

John Kilgore is the former Greenleaf State Park manager. He can be reached by emailing him at jkilgoreoutdoors@yahoo.com.