Should Paulene, a Deer Search handler, trust her tracking dog's nose?

Paulene Eggers, a member of Deer Search of the Finger Lakes, learned a lot on the track that lead to her 3rd recovery of the season. She says:

On this track, I learned to NOT direct your dog away from her original course. The hunter stated to me that had a 10 yard shot through the mid section while he was on the ground. At the hit site there was the broken broadhead end of the arrow on the ground with some hair nearby in a large field of very tall goldenrod. Braylee proceeded to plod thru the field cutting through a thick hedgerow going into another field of tall goldenrod. The hunter stated to me that the deer went that way pointing in a different direction, and I replied that we could check that area after I let Braylee go her way. Braylee went into a half circle and came to another hedgerow where I saw an arrow....I said "there is someone's arrow" and the hunter exclaimed "That's my arrow"! I looked at the arrow realizing it was the fletching half of the broken arrow.

                    

Braylee proceeded to go downhill now and I urged her to "come check over here". She detoured going uphill now at my request. We went around in a circle until I realized she came back to the exact same spot where we just found the fletching half of arrow, feeling foolish now; I allowed her to go the exact same way she wanted to go just ten minutes earlier. Only 15-20 yards away Braylee found the buck!

I am still learning about tracking and I certainly learned to not direct your dog away from their intended course!! The track would have been just 30 minutes if I had allowed her to just go the way she wanted to!

 

 

The story made it to the outdoor Syracuse blog, where the hunter's wife posted this comment (edited for the ease of reading)

 

That was my husband's deer that Paulene & Braylee found. He called me that morning and was beside himself that he thought he had lost the deer. My husband has been hunting for over twenty years and he knew after looking for the deer he would never have found it due to no blood trail. Without the article posted in the paper on Paulene & Braylee, he would have never found the deer without their help. Thank you to the Post Standard for writing that article! He is so happy & proud of Braylee for finding his deer. Jeff has been bragging about that amazing dog & her owner to everyone he can! He is so grateful for Paulene to take time out of her life to help him. Congrats to all of them! Jill hurd

 

Related post: http://borntotracknews.blogspot.com/2009/10/trust-your-dog.html