"Von Moosbach-Zuzelek" blood tracking dachshunds are real working dogs

Well, I ended up not going to the dachshund field trials in New Jersey. Yesterday afternoon, completely packed, I was ready to go; crates were loaded in the car. And then I decided to check our weather forecast for the last time. It sounded so bad that I decided to stay home. We were supposed to get a foot of snow, and the snow storm was going to be wide spread. As it turned out it was a right decision not to go as the conditions in new Jersey have been absolutely miserable. At the field trial they managed to run only 12 dachshunds in open stake today, and they will try to finish today's trial tomorrow. The trial actually scheduled for tomorrow has been already cancelled.

Now I have a chance to catch up with posts that have been e-mailed to me in the last week or so. Kudos to all the handlers of "von Moosbach-Zuzelek" dachshunds, who work hard recovering deer for hunters.

David Bell from Ohio who tracks with 18-month-old Quella (Joeri/Keena) reported a recovery of a monster buck:

The monster buck recovered by David Bell and Quella

Quella found this nice buck on a cool night, with a rising barometer, in a wind swept field with lots of deer in it for distraction. We started off in a bad way, with me forgetting my tracking supplies in my car and me hitching a ride to the buck paradise in the back seat of the hunter's truck with just my tracking light and Quella in hand. I was so pumped up to get another call that I didn't even realize my pack was gone until I was there. 

The landowner gave me a big strap that I used as a make shift leash because going back wasn't an option, considering we could here coyotes off in the distance howling, which were ready to make a quick meal of this buck and destroy his cape, something a hunter doesn't want, if he is going to mount his deer. I wasn't sure how this was going to work out since the industrial grade strap was very heavy, but I knew that Quella was in great shape from her daily walks, so we proceeded on. We started out on first blood, with Quella making easy work of the line up to around ten feet from where the hunter lost blood (75 yards). 

Quella wanted to go after a hot line instead of sticking to the track, so I gently scolded her, by telling her no and started her over again. I had to do this 3 times with her wanting to go in the same direction, but I knew what she was up to, so I was persistent on correcting her, so she would stick to the right line. Finally Quella realized that I wasn't happy with her decision, so she took it upon herself to do what we came for, which is to track this man's trophy . From here, Quella locked in on the monster 8 pointer and took me across the huge cut bean field to a big woodlot and down a giant ravine where I've seen multiple rubs, scrapes and hoof prints. I knew this was the buck's bed room from all the sign and that he would bed down and expire in this safe core area that he called home. 

After we hit the bottom of the ravine Quella took me straight to the deer which was all together around a 300 yard track. I called the hunter's cell phone and told him that Quella found the buck down in the ravine. From there we loaded up the buck and off we went to my car, with the hunter letting me know how pleased he was in my dogs performance. He gave me a nice tip for tracking his wall hanger. I didn't have my camera on me at the time, since it was in my pack, but once I got to my car, I quickly got it out and had the hunter's buddy (the land owner) snap some pics of me, Quella and the proud hunter.

Joe Walters from Indiana whose tracking partner Doc is a four-year-old son of Buster and Keena wrote:

Doc and I went on a track on October 22and  I thought would be easy.

We started at last blood marked with toilet paper on limb. Doc started to the south and we got into a huge mass of blown down trees from the same storm that damaged my house. We went up, over and around through this mess and nothing. We finally circled around to the downwind side of blow down and Doc threw his head up and started tracking and opening. We tracked all the way back through this mess and ran the track right by the toilet paper marker with no blood. After the two mile track and no blood, we called it off. Two tired puppies.

Then two days later we received this e-mail:

This doe track was about 200 yards long.  We started at last blood and he went south along side of hedge row and then west through it and turned back north along side of bean field.  Doc went about 30 yards and turned around and headed back south past where the doe had come through and then made a 90 into beans for about 50 yds and then back north.  I thought, "Oh no, rabbit."  I was about to call him off when I raised my light and there she lay.

Trust your dog.  Dope on a rope.

Joe and Doc 

Doc (Magnum v Moosbach-Zuzelek) with the doe he recovered

It was a treat to receive e-mail from Ben Byington who tracks with Buford (Quint v on Moosbach-Zuzelek), Quella's brother. Ben lives in Sandusky, Ohio:


I wanted to send an updated picture of a recent blood track he did. He was able to track this doe after following a blood trail for 500 yards! He took the lead and didn't stop, right to the doe. We were very pleased with his performance and ability to track for such a long distance.

Buford and his doe.

The next report came from Chris Barr from Indiana, who tracks with Gerti, a daughter of Billy and Gilda:

Friday we took a track of a deer where the hunter said that the deer was quartering away. Upon release, he said that the deer turned further away from him and that his arrow had entered in front of the rear leg, and exited behind the shoulder of the same side of the deer. I’m not sure if you’ve ever encountered this. We did not find the arrow, believed to still be in the deer, and there was almost no blood. This was the first time that we’d tracked in a area that had been stirred up by turkeys. In fact, the hunter said he killed a turkey that morning. We advanced the blood a little, but not much. There was turkey sign everywhere, not sure if this made it difficult for Gerti or not, but we sure couldn’t do much for him.

The second came Saturday night. Liver shot buck took off through standing corn. Hunters tracked to a chisel plowed field and decided to back out. We arrived 4 hours later and Gerti took the line to the chisel plowed field w/o much problem. When we hit the field, she took off to the northwest. After she began searching I decided to take her back to known blood at the fence crossing at the edge of the corn. As we were crossing the field, Gerti yanked on the end of the rope like a bass on a jig. I didn’t see anything but decided to let her go with it for a while. After 100 or so yards going southeast I was just about to pull the plug on her when I found some blood in the bare dirt of the field. I called the hunters over and exited the field down a steep embankment into a nasty thicket. Gerti tracked across that with one correction to the buck that had bailed off a three foot bank and was under water except for one side of his antlers and his rump. The 15 year old boy couldn’t help but give me a hug. Gerti had some liver and was good to go too.

Before we could get back to the truck for some hero photos, I got a call from a landowner of a farm that I hunt. A hunter had shot a doe at 5 yards, quartering to. He thought he hit her high. I was not too encouraged, but we gave it a college try. Gerti did pretty well, but I believe that if the deer dies, it won’t be for some time. The track went for several hundred yards w/o a bed. We were on blood when we decided to end the track as there was nothing to indicate that the deer was slowing down.

Chris

A Big Thank You to all who give their dogs a chance to do what they were bred for - track.