Going into a countdown for the November 15 opening day of Michigan’s Firearms Deer season is a tradition of mine, and I was in that mode with only 4 days to go on Tuesday evening. I was in the process of tossing hay to my horses in the pasture with my female GSP shorthair, Zelda, at my side. I’m assuming she spotted a rabbit in our nearby orchard and gave chase while I was looking the other way. All I knew when I turned around, she was gone.
What I call my “rabbitat” borders the orchard and I immediately knew she was most likely in there and I yelled out her name several times, in which she usually returns on the double, but this time she didn’t. She was wearing her e-collar, and I hit the tone button, soon followed by the buzzing vibrator, which is the clue, that it is best to return on the double.
Zelda knows how to bark but rarely does so, even when strangers show up and she only becomes a wiggly, tail wagging greeter. Figuring Zelda was being a bit stubborn, I sent out a short “zap” to the e-collar and heard a “yipe” deep in the rabbitat, but Zelda didn’t return on the double as is her norm.
Well, folks, let me describe my rabbitat. It is a dense maze of briars, thorny-equipped autumn olives, red osier dogwood laying all about, cedars, spruces, countless saplings, logs and numerous deadfalls comprised of fallen limbs. A real challenge is the large clumps of wild black raspberries which protrudes up or lays on the ground and resembles snagging and tearing “living barbwire”. Travelling in a straight line to reach an objective in that atmosphere is impossible. When Zelda’s “yikes” remained in the same place, I knew immediately her collar was probably snagged on something, trapping her in place.
Although I wasn’t wearing the proper rough country garb, I headed right in and would continually yell Zelda’s name, and never once got a response. Only when she yiped at a quick zap, was I able to keep my bearings. I felt I was almost on top of her location, when she suddenly wouldn’t respond to a zap. I did my best to scour the area where I knew she had been, but to no avail, and I was running out of daylight. Already thoroughly scratched up and bit bruised from taking a couple headers (yep, folks, landing face first in a wild raspberry patch and getting back up is a memorable experience), I went to the house and donned the right garb and grabbed up a hiking staff to help maintain my balance while forcing my way through the “nasties” or crossing over logs and deadfalls. My son Joe arrived to help, and we were soon probing through the rabbitat with our headlamps and flashlights for a missing solid black Zelda but had no luck.
Fearing our trapped dog might be discovered by coyotes which I knew were continually about, I went back alone near midnight for another probe by flashlight, not only to find Zelda, but also to let any coyotes in the vicinity know that I was regularly out and about. Due to the moon being hidden by overcast skies with a howling wind picking up, I realized I should have brought a compass, because I became totally disorientated in the dense maze. Hooking my foot on something and making a crash and burn which wrenched my lower back didn’t help much then. Being a bit long in the tooth, I don’t bounce like I used to!
Thinking I was heading due west for the quickest way out, it turned out I was heading due south and ended up with a bit of a hike to circle around my wildlife pond and return to the house. Yep, folks it was a long and slow haul, one hobbling step at a time.
We would leave our yard lights on while Ginny and I took turns stepping out on our deck and yelling out Zelda’s name, but we never heard a response, making it a long sleepless night. Daylight found me scouring the rabbitat, as best as I could, with the help of my redbone coonhound, Annie, who is Zelda’s best buddy, but we came up dry. That is when Ginny told me to settle down and take a break when she called Jamie Panduren of Ariel Solutions in Imlay City (810-358-2584), and he came right away to use his specialized drone for search and recovery.
This was my first drone-related experience and I had high hopes of solving the missing Zelda mystery with a good ending. Jamie assured me that if Zelda was out there, he would find her. After showing him on the satellite picture of my property where I was sure Zelda was, the drone was going straight up as fast as a rocket and then leveling out to begin the search. Despite high winds, the buzzing drone had no problem hovering around with a dedicated purpose.
The only thing the drone picked up with thermal readings in the area I last knew Zelda was in, was a couple coyotes chasing after a rooster pheasant. Panduren then started to spread out his search and targeted the area around my large farm pond behind our house. He soon called out and asked me to come and look, because he had picked up a heat signature in our gazebo. While I was looking, he zoomed in on a black dot, which turned out to be Zelda staring through the gazebo’s screen up at the buzzing drone! It took only 30 minutes to discover her, thanks to amazing new rescue technology.
How she ever opened the gazebo door will be a mystery. Probably my continually yelling out her name and sending a zap had her seeking refuge because she knew she was probably in deep doo-doo! I think a lucky, panicked paw unlatched the door, but when it automatically closed behind her, she was unable to get out. I’m sure she was able to see and hear us coming out on the deck not far away and calling her name off and on all night long, but she never responded with a bark.
Well folks, this was a new experience for Ginny and me, and we now know what to do more effectively if it ever happens again. It was a reasonable fee well worth it. Zelda’s first spot when going back into our house was to lay in front of a warm fireplace, and to emit an obvious occasional sigh of relief.
The eve of opening day finally arrived, and as is my case, I never slept a wink in anticipation. I was ready and waiting along with family members when the skies began to lighten and the annual deer season began.
Yep, some deer were decorating our family deer tree, but matters are just beginning, it is what deer hunting in its entirety is all about, and there will be much more to talk about.
Safe and happy hunting folks!
than 40 years and has had his weekly radio show, “Tom Lounsbury
Outdoors” for more than 20 years. Tom grew up on a farm in
Michigan’s Thumb, and it is where his first outdoor adventures began
as a kid accompanying visiting pheasant hunters into the field during
the “pheasant hunting heyday” of the 1950’s and 1960’s. It is a passion
he still has to this day and being the 4 th generation to own the family
farm, he has put most of it into conservation programs with a focus on
wild pheasants, which in turn helps all wildlife.
Being an outdoor communicator, Tom appreciates all the outdoor
adventures he experiences in different places, and especially the
people he meets in which to share them.
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