We can't recover all the deer tracked but we can educate hunters.

Genti Shero has an interesting post Blood Tracking Success Depends On?, where he speaks of his frustration of getting only one deer recovered of seven deer and one bear tracked. Also a couple of weeks ago, I received an e-mail from one of our 2010 puppy buyers who wrote:

"Jolanta and John,
Hello. We were wondering if you could offer some pointers or advice. Buford has went on two tracks that were successful finding deer but the last 2 have been unsuccessful. Is this common? Should we be doing something different? We understand that he is young, but we just want to make sure that this is not an uncommon thing. Or if there is something different we should be doing.

One of the tracks there was very little blood, the other he was tracking for miles and we kept seeing blood but then we came to a 20 acre cornfield and lost the trail. Can you offer any suggestions on what to do in these situations?"

Yesterday I talked to Tim Nichols, an outstanding Deer Search blood tracker, who just had gone through a dry spell of 0 recoveries per 8 calls; then on the weekend he recovered two difficult deer. We talked for a long time, and we both came to the conclusion that perhaps inexperienced trackers and people who are just getting into this sport don't realize how tough blood tracking really is. Maybe images and stories  of successful recoveries do not show a realistic pictures what is involved in tracking wounded game with dogs. For every successful track you usually go on many trails that don't not end with a dead deer and celebration.

I recall an e-mail that Kevin Armstrong sent to Chris Barr last year, when Chris was frustrated with his puppy. I really like what Kevin wrote:

In Deer Search we think of our mission in terms of education. Of course finding the deer is important but there will be 3 or 4 or 5 we do not recover for every one we do recover. We gain experience in a single season that will surpass what most hunters experience in a lifetime of hunting. We have an opportunity to teach hunters a great deal about shot placement and game anatomy. I'm learning to take a great satisfaction in the education I pass along on deer calls. It sounds like your getting plenty of experience for your dog. I think that field experience is the key to unlock a hunting dogs natural ability and potential. Keep at em!

I think that reading John's old post from 2008 http://borntotracknews.blogspot.com/2008/12/what-is-your-success-recovery-rate.html might be very helpful for those who have not seen it.

To illustrate trackers' inability to find all the deer that they track, I'd like to close with Larry Gohlke's recent e-mail. He received this message and picture from Mike Crist, a hunter that three weeks ago he tracked this particular deer (and did not find) for. Even though Larry could not find the deer first time around (it was not gettable), his time was not wasted. Read on...

Good morning Larry,

Just wanted to forward a picture of the deer you and Nix were on the trail of back on October 20th. I was lucky enough to shoot this deer on November 1st for the second time. As I mentioned in our brief phone conversation the deer was hit low and just in front of the front legs, this by no means was a fatal wound and it was healing good.

Thanks again for helping me out, you can't possible imagine how terrible I felt after making such a poor shot. I'm surprised I was even out there hunting as that had taken all the air out of my sails.

I just received my book on trailing wound deer and I'm going to be contacting you again after I finish it up ( If that's alright with you). Meeting someone like yourself is a real treat and makes a guy like myself look at things a little differently. I have always been interested in how dogs or any animal use their nose to track and find things. I believe I most likely going to be in the market for a good German Wired Hair Dachshund in the future as what we did on October 20th was really fun and I could see myself doing this more in the future……...
Again, thanks so much!

Mike Christ with the deer he shot for the second time on November 1. Larry Gohlke and Nix tracked this deer when he was shot for the first time on October 20; it was a brisket wound and the deer was not gettable.

By the way, if you'd like to educate hunters about shot placement and right tactics for finding wounded deer, consider pointing them to John's book  Dead On! Deer Anatomy and Shot Placement for Bow and Gun Hunters. Tracking Techniques for Wounded Whitetails.  It was written for hunters who have no access to tracking dogs.