The wind is an important factor in tracking

Michael Harrell from Georgia has shared an important lesson he learned recently. Michael, thank you for writing!

I did not expect to write to ya'll again so soon, but I am. This time, it is a learning experience for me, not my Lab, Pi. I am located in South Georgia and this is Pi's first year tracking and I was able to put her on her third and fourth track of the year yesterday.

Well, I have over 40 years of hunting experience. Most of that is deer hunting. So I have had a lot of hands on, on the job training of tracking deer. I have also worked with various gun dogs in the past so I know to trust your dog. But occasionally I still have flashes of stupidity.

This past Saturday I shot a doe. It was a good hit and should have been an easy track for my dog Pi, except for the dope on the rope. First, the set up.

I was hunting the same stand I shot a buck eight days earlier. There was fresh hog sign up and down the logging road where the blind was set up. There was also a fresh hog wallow about 50 yards from the blind, on the side of the road. In addition, there was a good bit of wind coming from the Northwest. It was a steady around 10 m.p.h., with gusts up to 20 m.p.h.

Around 8 a.m., a mature doe stepped out from the left into the road. She was not interested in the acorns on the ground, walked straight across the road to the right. The doe was about 75 yards down the road. Just a couple of minutes later, a yearling stepped out at the same spot, went into the road then turned and went back where it came from. Almost immediately, the yearling and another mature doe stepped out. Both began feeding on the acorns, gradually moving towards me. 

After a few minutes, I decided there was not a buck following them so I decided to take the mature doe. I waited until she was almost broadside at about 60 yards. I shot her with a 30-30 behind the shoulder. It was decent hit and the doe ran to the right side of the road, angling towards me. It hit the brush just before the hog wallow and ran into the planted pines. I lost sight of the doe but based on the direction she was running, I assumed the doe would continue to run to my right. Then, to my immediate right in some very thick brush, I heard it crashing through brush. I assumed it was the doe. By the way,  the doe would have been running with the wind if it continued with a gradual turn to the right.

I waited about 20 minutes, walked down to where the doe hit the woods and found some drops of blood. I went back to the camp and got my dog for what I thought would be a short, sweet track. Excellent training for her. Turns out it was excellent training for me.

Once we got back, Pi went straight to the area where I had shot the buck earlier. I called her back to the new hit site and she made some sniffs, then followed the trail into the brush. I found more spots of blood. Then the dog, instead of turning with the wind, stopped and turned into the wind. Pi stuck her nose in the wind, did some big zig zags, occasionally sniffing the ground and occasionally smelling the wind. It was “obvious” to me Pi had picked up some hog scent or the scent from the first doe. I followed her for a bit, looking for blood but did not find any.

Pi went behind an old blow down tree that was covered in vines. I was only about 15 feet from the blow down and called Pi back to the hit site. She started again and repeated her behavior, but veered a little further off from the first track but headed back to the blow down. Again, I called her back, but this time, I took her downwind of the spot I thought the doe fell. Pi went through this area and found deer poop, turkey poop, fresh armadillo rootings and such. But no blood.

By this time, I was really frustrated with her. So I took her back to the hit site and let Pi go again. Again, she turned into the wind. I followed her again, but took a different route than I did earlier. As I went across an old thinned pine lane, I saw blood. Then, more blood. At this time, it dawned on me. Pi was following the scent the whole time. Finally, I got to the old blow down and behind it was the doe. The deer had only gone maybe 20 yards total. But as soon as the doe hit the brush and I could no longer see her, the doe turned directly away from me and into the wind. What I heard can only be a guess, but it could have been the other doe I observed earlier. I don't know.

Pi's behavior in tracking had to be due to the wind. I believe she winded the doe in the gusting wind. She did not follow the ground blood trail because she did not have to. The wind was bringing the scent right to her. When I tried to follow her, I was not on the blood trail so that is why I could not find any blood. When I did look for blood from the hit site, I looked in the direction where I thought the deer had run and couldn't find any. I was making all kinds of assumptions on why the doe was not bleeding.

When I thought about this experience. I realized if the hunter had told me the story and I put the dog on the trail and the dog went in another direction, I would have followed the dog. I would not have trusted in the hunter's opinion.

Pi must think I was an idiot, pulling her off the doe twice. Trust your dog, even if it is young and inexperienced.

By the way, late that afternoon, I had the opportunity to put her on another blood trail. A small buck was shot. It was a good hit and we did not need the dog, but it was a good training trail. The wind had quit blowing by this time and Pi stuck her nose to the ground and followed the short blood trail right to the buck.

The next time the wind is blowing, I must realize she might not be following the exact trail but the scent being blown by the wind. Saturday was a good learning experience, for me!