A liver-hit doe recovered by wirehaired dachshund Ava

On Saturday and Sunday I was away at field trials in Batavia, NY and will be posting more information about it later today. When I got back home last night I found my Inbox full of good material for the blog - a big thank you to those who submitted pictures and stories. I will be posting them in the next few days.

This picture came from Dean Davenport from South Carolina who a year and a half ago had a litter of pups sired by our Billy. He kept the only female in the litter for himself, and her name is Ava Vom Tiefen Suden. Dean wrote: "Hey Jolanta and John. Hope all is well in Berne. I enjoy the information and blog yall produce. It is very helpful. This doe is Ms. Ava's first deer of the 2011 season. It was my first deer with traditional equipment and knew it was liver hit at best. I made the choice to look for her sooner than usual because the temperature was at 93 degrees. Our weather has been the opposite of yours with no rain and yours too much. Ava was a trooper and had no problems. The doe only went 120 yards and bedded. Ava is good tracker and has unbelievable grit. Saturday morning we tracked a buck that the hunter said he gut shot. The line was 16 hours old. We found small drops of blood with in 45 yards of the shot but then blood was sparse. I would see tiny specs at 100 yards or so. We went about 850 yards on the track with no beds where the buck bedded or anything. I felt it was still going. Take care. Talk to you soon. Thanks"

Thanks Dean for sharing. Good to hear good things about Ava. Good luck this hunting and tracking season!

Dean with Ava, who recovered his liver-hit doe.