Odds and ends

The conversation about Kevin and Karma's recovery has continued today.

John wrote to Kevin: "Congratulations on that 80+ hours find! Now we have to make new trackers realize that this is not a routine thing that they can expect to pull off with their puppy."

Kevin replied: "This find was far from routine. The way we found this deer was because we refused to not find the deer. Karma gave us good leads but the scent line was at the limits of her abilities. I refused to give up because the hunter had convinced me that he had a body hit and all the evidence we had indicated a body hit. I knew the deer could not have gone far. I hope I've not set unrealistic expectations for new trackers and/or young dogs. Had I not gained a lot of experience tracking hundreds of wounded deer before I ever had a dog it is somewhat doubtful we could have made this recovery with the dog alone. "

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I said "First snow storm of the season - no deer tracking today and tomorrow", and I was wrong. Last evening, during the snow storm, a call came from a deer hunter who lives in Westerlo; he needed help in finding the deer he had shot. I learned long time ago that hunters and trackers can be irrational creatures but I just could not believe that somebody would be hunting in the weather conditions we had. And John... well... it took some convincing to keep him home.

Today, in the morning our yard looked like this. We got a foot of wet and heavy snow.

After a quick breakfast and his "dog chores" John drove to Westerlo to look for the deer. He did not find it, but he certainly got his exercise for the day (or two).

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Our blog got a nice plug at Terrierman's Daily Dose. Thank you Patrick!