Ten years ago, Timothy Pearson was hunting with his service dog Rebel when he shot a deer, but couldn’t locate it. But, it was Rebel to the rescue when the dog located the deer! Pearson said it’s something that’s happened to him before and people have charged upwards to $400.
It dawned on him, why pay for a service that he can do for free.
“And I’ve been doing it ever since,” he said.
This is how Pearson’s tracking service was born. Pearson’s company, T.A.S.K Blood Trailing has found deer, people, and even other dogs.
“That’s kind of hard because they lose the scent of the dog,” he said.
But, he doesn’t do it alone. Pearson, Travis Johnson, Michael Bevis and Johnathan Hollifield go out on a volunteer basis.
He said they’ve backed by local businesses like Nail’s Exxon, the Kountry Store, GraphiX Etc., and the Winona Veterinary Clinic.
Just this year alone, Pearson said they’ve been on 92 tracks, and found 69 deer, some still alive. He said this is like a second career for him. He said he tracked for a 10-year-old boy who couldn’t find his deer to 80 to 90 year old men and have found anything from bucks to does to everything in between.
He said the 10-year-old was from Little Rock, Ark. and had heard of his service from family and friends.
“Word of Mouth spreads we’ve been everywhere from Holmes County, up to Southaven, to Starkville, all the way to the Mississippi River,” he said. “I’ve put like 20 to 30,000 miles on my truck in a couple of months.”
He said they travel together for safety reasons. Pearson told of another track. He said he tracked a deer in Goodman from 2,100 ft. from the shot sight.
“There was no blood sighted,” he said. Pearson said the coyotes or buzzards could have eaten the deer but they were able to locate it.
Before tracking, Pearson served in the Air Force for four and a half years. He said he got Rebel when he was six weeks old.
“He was rescued from a Dollar General in New Orleans,” he said. Pearson said Rebel had some training but had to be sent through classes to be federally certified to be a PTSD service dog.
“He one of the best dogs,” he said. Pearson said he’s also done work for locals in the community as well over the years.
“Any way that I can help, just call or text me and I’ll do what I can,” Pearson said.
