Hoffman Deer Recovery & Training Kennel LLC

Hoffman Deer Recovery & Training Kennel LLC Reach out if you have any questions!

Our services include tracking wounded game with our dogs, training dogs to track, thermal drone recovery, herd analysis/surveys, locating lost pets, and real estate photography.

We had two tracks lined up for this morning that I was going to put Freya on the first they tracked 200 yards already wh...
09/13/2026

We had two tracks lined up for this morning that I was going to put Freya on the first they tracked 200 yards already when blood ran out and knew the shot was low and forward but wanted to make sure nothing vital was hit. We put Freya on their last blood and she advanced this track another 350 yards before losing it. We re set her and she went step for step to the same spot where she just couldn’t pick him up anymore. This deer will live to see another day.

The second hunter who we confirmed was going to be the second track of the morning the night before. Had called in a drone guy while we were on the first track and they did not find it and no longer wanted a dog on it. For one don’t be this guy. It’s plenty cool out rn if you schedule me stick to it. Second I also have a drone and have found a lot of deer with it and I will throw it up from time to time early season depending on terrain. Mostly when permission becomes an issue but I’m pretty honest with my clients that it’s not a tool that I believe is efficient or effective in what it covers early in the season with foilage. There are great operators out there who will find deer early season and those operators also know their limitations and have been in the game for awhile. But even more so a lot of drone guys itching to get out and make money and try and find deer early season. Dog vs drone early season isn’t even comparable take it from someone who finds plenty with both. I want to give you the best tool to find your deer. It was bad last year the amount of deer I found behind them early season and you’ll only see it get worse this year with the amount of new operators. Half my tracks already this year with the dog have been behind drones including my last recovery.

Here’s some examples already on the FIRST day of Wisconsin’s archery season. And you’ll see plenty more of these examples from myself and other dogs. But here’s just some pics of a few of my Wisconsin client dogs that I’ve trained in the past year or years. All deer shot on opening day here and two of these client dogs already found deer that had drones out on before the dog was put on it. Stay tuned for a lot more client dogs pics as well from some other states as for a lot of them season doesn’t open until September 15th or October 1st. Nice cold front today I expect the deer to be moving!

Took two tracks tonight the first one the hunter felt pretty confident it was a shoulder shot as the arrow was still in ...
09/13/2026

Took two tracks tonight the first one the hunter felt pretty confident it was a shoulder shot as the arrow was still in the deer with little pe*******on but wanted to do his due diligence and put the dog on it just to make sure. They had already tracked this deer 400 yards before blood ran out. We started Freya close to their end point and she advanced this track another hundred yards or so past their point of loss and she had to work quite hard for it before petering out and losing it as this deer was just not a stressed animal. Which confirmed what the hunter had thought.

Second track we knew was hit back and was unpushed with lack of blood. It sounded pretty straight forward so I gave Raven the green light on this one and it was also about what we thought. Typical unpushed gut shot dead in her first bed just no visible sign for the hunter to follow.

Couple more scheduled for tomorrow already so we will see what tomorrow brings!

Well I let everyone wait long enough to see if they were right or not on their guesses. I do get about a dozen very clea...
09/11/2026

Well I let everyone wait long enough to see if they were right or not on their guesses. I do get about a dozen very clear videos of shots hunters send me that I end up tracking every season and I’d like to do more of this and see what people think and follow up on what actually happened. Recovery or not. Sometimes it’s pretty cut and dry and sometimes it’s not what most of us would think including myself. Since I made you all guess I’ll tell you what I told the hunter when I saw the video as well. It’s clear from the video comments we all agreed on this one that it was a dead bear. I told the hunter I thought this was back of both lungs or possibly liver and lung. (The camera man was off to the left of the hunter which where the camera guy is sitting can really make it hard to tell from their pov) I told him I don’t like to make guarantees because arrows deflect and I’ve seen weird stuff happen taking as many tracks as I do but I said if I was the one who made that shot I would be pretty confident in it. If anything it was a couple inches back from where I would want it. But all in all a pretty good shot. I see way too many people tuck it to the shoulder on bears and hit leg or shoot in front of the lungs and we jump these bears a long long ways from the hit site and they are never seen again. I was wrong with both guesses this bear was hit straight liver I did not see any stomach hit and we looked the lungs over good and no holes there either. If this bear was hit an inch or two more forward I highly doubt this bear makes it 50 yards.

I did not add they tracked it 2 hours after because I didn’t want to influence what people thought or hint at what happened but they did track 2 hours after and the only blood they found was one pea sized spec about 130 yards from hit site on the top of a stick. Quite impressed they got that far with no sign before it to be honest. I’m sure that took them quite awhile. We put Freya on the hit site and she took us to where they had the blood spec and she made a hard 90 degree turn from the trail into a very dense clearcut where we could not see 6 inches in front of us so I thought for sure the bear would be dead just inside of there. About 200 yards in Freya took a nice roll in the bear bed which had a little bit of blood in it and you could tell the bear spent a good chunk of time laying there. I’d guess the two hours until they tracked it where they pushed it out of that bed. Another 20 yards from that bed leaving the dense clearcut there was a probably 1 inch chunk of fat hanging from a low limb so I knew she picked out the right direction from the bed right away. This was another hard 90 from the direction he had been going then he decided to walk a heavy run way for another probably 20 yards and take another hard 90 back the other way and straight down to a pond. Freya went up to the edge and slightly went into the water a bit and I was like here we go the bear went swimming and then she came back out walked the edge for another 70 yards along the pond and then took a hard 90 up into some thick brush just off the edge of the pond opening and there was the bear so all in all a little over 350 yards. No blood after the bed. As you can see in the pic and from the video earlier the fat plugged the hole tight right at impact. I showed the exit as you all got to see entrance already. You could tell from the coat of the bear it had rolled in the water and mud shortly before bedding up in its final bed as well.

I really doubt this bear is ever seen again without Freya even if grid searched for hard with the direction changes he made from their last blood. This was by no means a super hard track for Freya she put us on this bear pretty quick and I’ve seen her recover 3 day old shots, a dozen animals over a mile, one over 3 miles but I really missed walking behind this dog. I’ve handled 100+ tracking dogs at this point between my own,clients, and one on one sessions over the years and she is one of one without a doubt. This dog’s problem solving abilities are so sharp and beyond normal and I soak in every track I get to watch more and more I’m behind her. The pins on my onyx are the actual exact pins of the hit site their blood spec the bloody bed and the chunk of fat. I copied the lines the best I could over from my garmin of the route Freya took us.

Congrats Casey on your first bear and an archery one at that! This bear picked an absolutely beautiful spot to end up in with the pond and open grass in the background.

09/10/2026

Here’s a video of a bear shot yesterday that we tracked this morning. Since there’s always a lot of debate on where to shoot bears heres one for those guys and gals. What’s your thoughts on if we found this bear or not? How far till it was jumped or recovered if it was? What was hit if anything? Since it was such a nice clear video I wanted to post it as well to show how quickly that fat plugs holes on these guys and why there is usually almost no visual sign at all. As soon as this bear is hit you can see the fat plug the hole.

Goodluck to all the bear hunters tomorrow and the deer hunters this weekend! We are locked in and ready to go as always ...
09/09/2026

Goodluck to all the bear hunters tomorrow and the deer hunters this weekend! We are locked in and ready to go as always and expect another big year here.

As my cameras are showing most of the deer still in full velvet I expect we may run into a few velvet bucks here early on which is exciting and not common for us here. Some things to keep in mind. With the absolute explosion in drone operators the last few years and the number of people who think they have a tracking dog because it found a deer once that are on these tracks before I get there. KNOW WHO YOU ARE GETTING!!!! The number of drone guys and even dog guys I found deer behind last year was absurd. Some even having 2-3 operators or dogs on before I got there and we still find the deer. Do your research!! Drones are not effective early season and I seen it a ton last year with drone operators flying mid day full foilage full sun early in the year. You are throwing away your money I promise you. Don’t get the guy who can get there the fastest. We are busy and there’s a reason for it. I get back to everyone and I find everyone help if I can’t get there myself. It may take a few hours for me to get back to you if I’m on a track but I’ll get back to you don’t worry. And I will find you expert help. I have a solid group of trackers and operators I work with closely throughout the season. And if I reference someone you can bet they are legit and honest about their work. Quicker is not better I promise you. Don’t let the early season heat affect your wait times. Deer that aren’t dead don’t spoil. Gut and liver hits do die quicker early season due to the heat that is a fact and I’ve seen them die fairly quick. But I’ve also jumped them on those shots at 18+ hours in 90 degree weather. And if you look at the weather here the first week it may be one of the coolest early seasons I’ve seen and temps are getting down there at night.

WAIT TIMES MATTER. I’m pretty conservative when it comes to my wait times and there’s a reason for it. Tracking too soon is a great way to lose your animal and the most common mistake. We can’t cross property lines without permission and you won’t always get permission if you push your deer into the next county. Advice is free as always. If you are unsure get ahold of me and I’ll give you my best advice. I see and am on more tracks then 99% of people. I won’t come if I don’t think I’m needed and I have no problem talking to you and giving you my time even if you want to look first. I’d much rather give you your best chance of recovery even if it doesn’t involve me physically being there for it. If I think that deer is smoked I’ll tell you to go get your deer. I can help guide you to an appropriate wait time regarding your shot or your animals reaction or the sign we have available to us. If you run out of visible sign to track don’t grid search it. Grid searches are a last ditch effort and rarely work. I find a pile of deer through grid searches every year and Freya may make it look easy sometimes even with 10 guys walking around for half a day but it can also absolutely ruin every chance we have of finding your animal. It is the quickest way to ruin your odds is to go stomping around aimlessly with no visible blood to track.

Good luck to everyone and stay safe and most importantly have fun. The best time of the year is upon us here finally! I can’t wait to see my client dogs tailgating deer and I so look forward to seeing everyone’s deer and smiles plastered all over social media and talking deer hunting 24/7 for the next 4 months with new and old faces! Go get em!

The most common question I get asked every year by client dogs or newer handlers is how much do I have to run my dog aft...
09/05/2026

The most common question I get asked every year by client dogs or newer handlers is how much do I have to run my dog after leaving training with me or before next season during the summer. And I train 12-18 dogs every spring and summer. Well that question can really vary depending on how comfortable you are at reading your dog and how much experience you have behind a lead. A bad handler can really mess up a solid dog on a track. Especially a young dog who’s still building confidence and is easily swayed by what the handler is doing. And then there’s experienced handlers that can make a dog look better than what they actually are by being able to read that dog. So I usually tell them don’t go crazy with it and overtrain them after they have it they don’t lose it. Experience matters on both ends of the lead. Train until you’re comfortable reading your dog. They don’t have to be perfect the entire track to get the job done efficiently. Lay some blind tracks and lay some known tracks so you can pick up what your dog is doing on the line and off the line. I like to get my own dogs out a few weeks before season because they both have experience already and it’s mainly just to knock the initial excitement out of them after not tracking for 7-8 months. This year I was so tied up and busy with client dogs that today was the first day I got my two pups out. And bear season starts in 4 days and deer season starts in 7 days. Two separate tracks both 1000+ yards and both aged 26+ hours. Anyone who has watched Freya track before knows it’s a work of art and so enjoyable to watch her. She was step for step with my track the entire way. If she believes she is right there’s no taking her off the line or influencing where she wants to go. But she has a ton of experience and I’ve spent a ton of time handling her over the past few seasons so I expected nothing less. Raven who doesn’t have nearly the experience Freya has also cranked this track out with no real issues. Just a little more time. She was a bit excited the first couple turns and made more work for herself then she needed to but self corrected beautifully on her own. I didn’t help her one bit and followed her wherever she wanted to go as a newer handler who can’t necessarily read their dog would do just to see what she would do and she cranked this track out no issues. She’s becoming more and more confident every season. No blood hoof only tracks. I’ll get Raven out a few more times before season to tone down that initial excitement and turn it more into focus. But these two hide pulling monsters are locked and ready to go. The time we have all been waiting for is just about here!

08/18/2026

I know I said I was going to draw Saturday night or Monday at some point for the Deerfest raffle but the days got away from me a bit. Here are our 2026 Deerfest winners:

Colton Hansen: Free dog/drone recovery or herd analysis

LeRoy Duda: Free dog/drone recovery or herd analysis

Roland Coonen: $100 gift card for apparel

Amy Lukaszewski: $50 gift card for apparel

For the apparel winners just FYI the apparel store for the year closes September 15th so just get your orders in before then. All winners can reach out to me with any questions of what the recovery or herd analysis all entails and the apparel gift card winners can reach out to me and I can walk you through how to do that. I appreciate everyone who stopped in at the booth and chatted whether new or familiar faces. Here’s a little reel of a past recovery of a 173” deer that went 3/4s of a mile from hit site that Freya put us on in no time to get everyone fired up to chase some deer here shortly! Get ready to watch Freya show off all fall once again and see more of Raven as well this year!

Stop on down at Deerfest in Stevens point today and tomorrow I’ll be here. 2-7pm today and 10am-6pm Saturday. Sunday I w...
08/14/2026

Stop on down at Deerfest in Stevens point today and tomorrow I’ll be here. 2-7pm today and 10am-6pm Saturday. Sunday I will not be here I’ll be playing baseball. Reminder if you follow the page and stop in to the booth you’ll be entered for prizes such as $50-100 gift certificates to the apparel store(which is pinned on the page), free herd analysis or free dog or drone recovery. I will announce these prizes Saturday or Monday depending on what time allows. And if I’ve tracked one for you and you can find yourself on the picture boards you can get yourself a free hat. I tried to get most everyone I recovered for last year but not everyone fit.

07/31/2026

Another horse located and returned home safely! We had quite a nice group put together to get this one done quickly and efficiently! A few sightings several miles from the park he was lost at by locals got us in the right area. The ladies on the horses found us a footprint giving us a solid direction from the last sighting. Once located he took off on us and the park ranger sped off after him down the road with the lights on until he decided it was time to give up and come home. I had to move last minute to make sure I could get enough range in case he decided he didn’t want to stop. So didn’t get to quite catch the ranger chasing after him but got the capture! Second horse returned home in the last 10 days. Never know what the day will bring!

07/28/2026

VENDOR SPOTLIGHT. 🦌

Hoffman Deer Recovery & Training Kennel is coming to DeerFest 2026!

Trained tracking dogs to recover wounded deer when the blood trail runs cold — plus dog training services for hunters who want to build their own tracker.

Find them at Booth 26.

August 14–16 · Holiday Inn Convention Center · Stevens Point, WI

👉 deerfest.com/exhibitors

Address

Iola, WI
54945

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+17158515945

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