Happy New Year!

The picture was taken this morning in our field. The deer have to dig deep for their food.

May your 2013 be healthy, prosperous and happy!

Winter strikes with full force

While last winter was mild and easy this one has already produced around two feet of snow. It all started on December 26.

The night shot taken while I was standing in our garage and our yard was illuminated by outdoor lighting.

The next morning was beautiful even without sun. During the first storm of this winter we received 14-16 inches of snow. We had to postpone our post-Christmas plans to meet with the family.

No sun, no color. Everything looked monochromatic.

I put snowshoes on to make trails in the snow for our dachshunds. Young dogs love to play in the snow but for older ones like Asko, cold and snow are a challenge.

This is Sky, who raced around with Tuesday, and he ended up like a snowman covered in the snow.

This is another picture of Sky. This particular shot was a hit on Facebook, and many people commented that it should make to the next year's calendar.

Yesterday we got more snow, probably 7 inches or so. We had to cancel our travel plans again. Instead we went for a nice walk in the woods. We saw a lot of animal tracks, mainly deer, but also fox and coyote footprints.

John snowshoeing.

Jolanta: I really enjoyed the winter scenery.

Where and how to find hunters who need deer tracking services?

By Andy Bensing

 

In my last post I talked about presenting a professional appearance when dealing with hunters as a means to increase your exposure and potential calls in your tracking area. Another thing I do to generate calls is I frequent well used hunting message boards in my tracking territory. Many of my calls come from there as I have become pretty well know on the boards. But many people don't visit the boards regularly and don't know of my services so I keep at least a once a day check on the message boards for hunters posting questions about advice for shot deer they have not been able to find. Here is a link to one of those messages I "intercepted" yesterday. The hunter did not even know that there was such a thing as blood tracking dogs and even after being informed on the board about them he did not think it possible to track a deer 2 days later. If I had not contacted him via email in addition to my offer to help on the board I would never had gotten the call! According to Jolanta I may " need professional help" I think Jolanta is concerned I may be an internet stalker!

Here is a link to the thread I uncovered if you would like to see how I generated the call.

 

 

Here is the map from today's track. After interviewing Andy (the hunter's name was the same as mine) and his dad who was with him when he shot and did the blood tracking the first night I did not think there was a very good chance the deer was hit hard enough to die but especially with muzzle loaders I think it real important to follow up to be sure. With all the smoke the deer's behavior after the shot is rarely seen well if at all and often there is no exit and minimal blood on the ground on even a very fatal shot. Andy and his dad were game so I went and tracked the deer. At the hit sit the first thing I found were 20 or 30 hairs that appeared to be from the brisket and only 2 of them appeared cut off and the rest were still whole. Not absolute evidence but sure implies a less than solid hit to the body and likely a glancing blow. It had taken the hunter 2 hours to track 190 meters so you can imagine how sparse the initial blood trail was. The deer was hit over a heavily used bait station so with the track being 40 hours old and no blood at the hit site it took a little time for my dog to get it figured out but when she did she tracked pretty quickly down the line and through the hunter's point of loss. As you can see on the map the deer went right up to the edge of a residential area but then back tracked 30 yards before continuing on. After figuring out the back track Eibe tracked along quite easily to a blowdown where we eventually saw the first blood after the hunter's point of loss and there were 3 separate beds there as well. There were a very few small drops and small smears of blood in the beds but hardly anything. Definitely not enough to suggest that the deer was hit hard. With the beds being cold and easily from the day before at this point it was almost certain the deer was not hurt bad. If he was he should have been laying in these beds when we got there. To be sure I let the dog keep going just in case he got up and walked off a short distance further and finally died. After a short distance my dog and I caught sight of 4 does running across a small valley and that caused my dog some trouble. After confirming those deer were the wrong ones, I eventually got Eibe back on the correct line and we tracked 1250 meters through very open woods to another thick bedding area. As we were about to exit the bedding area Eibe stopped tracking and sat down and looked at me as she sometimes does when she knows we are not going to get the deer. I was considering quitting soon myself so we did. As is the case with 50% of the tracks we take, at the end of this day I could say with great certainty that this one will live to see another day.

The final goodbye to thirteen-year-old Agata

Agata v Moosbach-Zuzelek SW

January 18, 2000 - December 26, 2012

(FC Zuzelek's Globetrotter SW JE x Branie vom Dornenfeld)

 

Today we received a letter from Mike Vincent saying "yesterday I had to have Aggie put down, She has been slowing down for about 5 wks. A chest X-ray showed her lungs were cloudy and a possible mass behind her liver. She was having a hard time breathing and panting alot at the slightest exertion. The last few days I carried her in and out of the house and yesterday she was unable to drink or stand. Best dog I ever had, she will be cremated and kept here in the house. My Best to All. Mike Vincent".

Agata was the only female in a litter of four puppies. We sold her to Mike and Kathleen Vincent from Mc Kean, PA, when she was five months old. Mike joined Deer Search and used Agata for tracking in NY. Actually, Agata was sold on co-ownership, which stated that after Agata's first litter we would transfer her ownership completely to Mike and Kathy. For her first litter we'd choose a stud dog and get two puppies. We decided on Asko to sire Agata's first litter, and in return we got Elli. From this litter Mike and Kathy kept Kirsche. Elli was bred three times, Kirsche two times, both produced very well, and it is through their descendants Agata's legacy will live on.

I don't have too many pictures of Agata. The below picture shows her as a two-month-old puppy. She is the one on the right.

Agata at 4 months

The below picture is my favorite of her.


This picture was sent to us many years ago by Kathy and Mike and shows Agata (bottom) with her daughter Kirsche.

On April 21, 2005 Agata handled by Mike Vincent placed second in Deer Search's Blood Tracking Competition. She was awarded Prize I, 92 points.

Our heartfelt condolences go to the Vincent Family. I know that Agata will be missed greatly.

Relaxed and peaceful Christmas Day

Our Christmas Day was peaceful and quiet; it was just John, I and the dogs. We ate too much food and drank too much wine :) We enjoyed our gifts, dogs enjoyed deer bones and meat. Life is good.
In the picture John and Joeri.

A big thank you to our friends for the Christmas cards! We really enjoy and appreciate them.

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year!

 

John and I wish all of you a Very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! A big thank you to all our readers, contributors and friends for you support and encouragement. We could not do it without you.

 

Our dachshunds are grateful too for all the attention and recognition. This is who they are at present, from the oldest to the youngest:

1. FC Asko von der Drachenburg (13.5 years old)
2. FC Gilda v Moosbach-Zuzelek
3. FC Billy von Moosbach-Zuzelek
4. FC Keena v Moosbach-Zuzelek
5. FC Darin von Moosbach-Zuzelek
6. FC Joeri vom Nonnenschlag
7. FC Tom vom Linteler-Forst
8. FC Paika v Moosbach-Zuzelek
9. FC Sky von Moosbach-Zuzelek
10. FC Mielikki Raptor
11. Tuesday von Moosbach-Zuzelek (8 months)

Update on Joeri: 5 weeks after his relapse

It has been a while since our last update on Joeri. Sorry that the pics' quality is not the best as they were taken with my cell phone.

Joeri is making progress but he is improving quite slowly. Once a week he goes to Shaker Veterinary Hospital where Dr. Gabriela Varcoe performs acupuncture and cold laser treatment on him. The pictures come from one of his latest sessions. He likes his trips and visits there, maybe because he gets a lot of attention and some extra tasty cookies. We are working on reducing his prednisone dose and frequency, and this has to be done very gradually. He also gets Adequan shots and this coming week we'll be starting him on gabapentin.  His appetite is very good and altogether he acts happy and wags his tail often. We are doing everything possible to give him a a chance for recovery!
 

 

Andy Bensing's tracking analysis and feedback for the hunter

Andy Bensing likes to keep very thorough, detailed records of his deer tracking services, and this year he has added a new feature. We will let him explain what he actually does:

 

If I have time I like to get back to my hunters with a map and a short written summary of the day's events. This is a lot easier to do now that the season is winding down for me. Doing this personally adds to my enjoyment of the day's events and further builds the professional presentation of my services to the hunter. Quality presentation of a tracker's services before, during, and after the track builds reputation in your given tracking territory and therefore referrals for the future. Not to mention increasing the level of your tips!

Hi Sam and Vernon,

I enjoyed my time with you today. We were unable to recover the deer but you can rest assured that you have done everything possible. I think there is a good chance that he will recover. Let me know if he shows up anywhere, dead or alive! As we discussed, after putting everything we know together, I believe your muzzleloader hit him high in the shoulder blade and impacted on the long spinous processes that protrude above the vertebrae behind the shoulder blade. This would explain all the initial bone chips and all the crashing into trees he did in his initial run and why he was still so strong today when we chased him. To be honest, I don't have a good explanation of why the 530 meters of your initial blood trail was dark red blood as opposed to bright red. I hope he shows up on one of your cameras and we get to see for sure where he was hit. Enjoy the maps and call anytime

 

FYI:

Hit site to your last blood (hunter's point of loss, POL)- 530 meters

POL to where we jumped the deer and trail went hot- 360 meters

Chased him live in front for 2 ½ hours- 7000 meters (4.4miles)

Total tracking time- 3 ½ hours

 

 

Andy Bensing

1411 Cross Keys Road

Reading, PA 19605

610-413-7094

Last recovery of the 2012 season: Tommy and John find a nice buck

Yesterday was our last day of deer hunting season. On Sunday John and Tommy recovered their 12th deer, and John reported:

This call offered a lot of excitement for the three hunters present. Certainly it was good exercise and a challenge for the old man handling Tommy, his young tracking dog. The ten pointer had been shot in the hip with a muzzle-loader, and we were able to shorten his suffering from days down to a few hours.
 
For Tommy it was a relatively fresh and easy track, although the buck left almost no blood as he traveled 700 yards from the hunter’s point of loss. It was where he traveled that amazed the hunters and even me. Tommy led us down a steep ravine, through a creek and up the other side, not once but three times. We were grabbing trees and roots to keep from tumbling down to the rocks and water below. The terrain was best for four legged critters like Tommy. The buck, with only three legs was truly amazing. It was not a place for poor two-legged humans.
 
I really enjoyed hearing the hunters marvel over Tommy every time he found another drop of blood in an improbable place. Then I saw the glowing eyes and yelled “There he is!” The buck could go no farther.
 
How the hunters got the buck up out of that deep gorge can only be explained by adrenaline and an easing of the force of gravity. We arrived appropriately enough in a cemetery where a farmer friend gathered us all up in his pick-up. He drove us back, with the buck, to our own vehicles. I was very glad we didn’t have to walk.

****

 

BTW, this year Tommy got to track John's own deer. Even though it was a perfect shot placement, the deer went 400 yards without leaving any blood at all. We would not be able to find this deer without a tracking dog. Young dogs such as Tuesday and Mielikki got an opportunity to get a good chew.

 

 

Harold Barry's blood tracking hounds

Harold Barry is a United Blood Trackers member from Florida. Thank you Harold for sharing your tracking experiences with us.

 

I'm a 33 year old wildlife officer who works for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission. I have been blessed to have the job I'm in. I have spent every possible moment of my life in the woods. About 5 years ago, several deer were lost in my lease due to bad shots, and even when a dog was brought in, they were never successful. I began to get disgusted with it and decided to train my one year old beagle. I have a great relationship with our local deer processor and took him a 5 gallon bucket and said fill it up, lol. I began laying tracks for Marley and before I knew it, I had my very own tracking dog. Marley seemed to have been born for the sole purpose of tracking wounded deer.

 

In her first year she found 15 deer. As you well know, once the word spreads, it spreads rapidly. I would sometimes track 2-3 deer an evening. I have came to enjoy tracking for others as much as I love harvesting deer myself! I am now training a black and tan bloodhound puppy. He's only 13 weeks and will already run a 300 yard track I lay. He seems to be learning quickly and loving it! He is pictured in a few of the pics I sent. My agency has been very receptive to my tracking and as long as I'm not on an active call, they allow me to track for hunters. It's a way of giving something positive back to the general public; it shows that we care and don't necessarily just write tickets.

 

 

The 1st pic is from a mobility impaired hunt on one of our local management areas. This particular management area only allows a limited number of mobility impaired hunters the opportunity to hunt. The hunter shot the deer with a .223 and the only shot evidence was a small amount of hair. I put my 4 year old beagle, "Marley", on the hair and about 200 yards later recovered this doe. There was no visible blood at any point during the track.

The 2nd pic is from one of my co-workers son's first deer. This deer was shot with a .243 and there was no evidence of a sure hit at the shot site. From my co-worker's description of the deer's reaction to the shot, I was confident it was hit. I put Marley on this track and found a small amount of blood about 120 yards in. The blood was very little through the track, but found every 50 yards or so. After about 500 yards, we found the deer still alive but bedded down. We put the deer down with a .38 revolver carried in with us.

The 3rd pic is from from one of my lease members. The deer was shot with a .270 and there was evidence of a gut shot at the shot site. I put Marley on this track and amazingly, the gut shot deer had only run about 150 yards before bedding and dying.

The 4th picture is also from my lease. This track turned out to be very interesting. The deer was shot with a .30-.06 and there was ample blood to start with, but it stopped about 100 yards in. The blood then appeared every 40 yards or so, but when it was there, it was a large amount. Marley took us for about 3/4 of a mile to another food plot on my lease. As we tracked through the food plot, I observed small drops of blood and then discovered a pool of blood with drag sign leaving it headed to the other side of the food plot. Another one of my lease members had shot the deer and tried sneaking it out after seeing it was already shot. I had spoken with this lease member just before our track, and he apparently had the deer in his truck then and was sneaking it out. After discovering the drag marks, I immediately called and confronted the member. He confessed to taking the deer and returned it to our camp. He was subsequently terminated from the lease and the deer was given to the original shooter.

The 5th picture is from my shift partner at work. He called one evening just after dark and I could hear the excitement and anguish in his voice. He sounded like a 12 year old child trying to tell his version of the events from his evening hunt. He explained that he had shot the biggest deer of his life and could not find any blood. When I asked how big, he just replied "BIG!". I loaded Marley and headed his way. The area where he shot the deer was grassy, so finding foot sign was impossible and there was no blood at the shot site. I began cutting the area with Marley and after a few seconds, she hit on something and seemed very confident. After approximately 70 yards the blood looked as if you were slinging it with a paint brush. We discovered the deer about 200 yards in. I saw the deer first and told my shift partner to look just ahead of us. All you could see was the left main beam sticking up out of a very thick patch of briars. He hollered like a kid and hugged me before he could even realize it!

An Illinois monster buck recovered by Kevin Lutz and his tracking dachshund Arrchie.

Sorry for not posting for a week, but I had to take a break. Our hunting season will end on December 18 so we have two more days to go. After that, and especially after Christmas, I should have more time.

Let's start with a monster buck recovered by Kevin Lutz and his tracking dachshund Archie von Tierspur. Kevin is a United Blood Trackers member from Pennsylvania. Archie was bred by Genti and Beth Shero, and he was sired by our Billy.

Archie with the buck he recovered. Also in the picture Joe Wilson and a Hadley Creek Outfitters guide.

Kevin wrote: This year we had the opportunity to track for a friend who shot a good buck in Pike Co. Illinois.This friend of mine was hunting a lease that is surrounded on three sides by Hadley Creek, the largest outfitter in Illinois.The shot he made on this buck was high and the deer ran onto Hadley Creek's property so he had to obtain permission to track the deer the next morning. My friend Joe Wilson called me moments after the shot knowing that I was in Illinois hunting our lease only a few miles away. He was frantic about the situation and I tried to calm him down by asking him to text me a picture of any sign of blood. After looking at a picture of a good spot where there was a good amount of blood down, I told him I would like to bring Archie down the next morning. I thought he could help. It turned out to be an easy find, the deer only ran 150 yards.  I told my friend that I wish all hunters would do what he did - after making a bad hit he left the area until I could show up with Archie the next morning.

You can read the whole story at Lancaster Online.

Pete Martin from Deer Search and his tracking experiences with Lisa, a wirehaired dachshund

A big thank you and congratulations go to Pete Martin, a member of Deer Search, who tracks with a seven-year-old Lisa von Moosbach-Zuzelek, a daughter of Billy and Gela, for sharing his tracking experiences with us.

 

John - as predicted I received quite a number of bear calls this year in my tracking area. I believe a total of 8. Mark Niad and I found the first and only one in Orange Co. Monroe, NY. I believe Lisa and I should have found at least 2 or more of the rest. One track was called off due to darkness and 3 miles + into the forest.On this particular track the bear when shot went almost straight uphill a steep rocky mountain. I let Lisa take her time and do her checks. Some were as long as 15 mins. I have never seen her so focused and intense before. As the hunters and I climbed the mountain she was right over what little blood we found. Hunters were awestruck at the amazing work she did. This was a gun shot bear high front.

On the other bear I thought we should have recovered the hunter had good blood for about 150 yds. but only the last 8-10 in. of arrow. Again Lisa was right on top of the line showing us blood for another 150 yds. or so,  tracking right over top of the other half of the arrow (yes you guessed it - mechanical blade..(oh how I hate to see or hear bow hunters use those unreliable pieces of equipment). Hunter couldn't believe it. Again tracking conditions were very unfavorable. Hot, dry windy.No water or wet areas in sight. Hunter was very disappointed but after 3-1/2 hrs. of tracking I just was so exhausted.

There were a couple other tracks I thought we had a good chance of bear recovery and the hunters did a good job of tracking and marking their trails. I have a lot of time to think about our bear experiences this season and hope we have the opportunities in the near future and next season.

Lisa did a better job than I did as a handler today but I stuck with her and this was the result of our work as a team. The track was about 23 hrs. old and the hunter and his friend (both well experienced) just could not make his find. Very thick underbrush, muddy, watery, thorns etc. Deer was about 550yds from hit site. No wound bed, very little blood. Good job Lisa!

This deer confused me and Lisa as we must have passed it 3 times within 40 yds. Finally as we were crawling on our hands and knees (hunter right behind me) in thick nasty stuff (yeah what's new about this scenario) she started to open and pull hard. Twenty yards ahead lay the deer. Coyotes had first bite. Not much damage. Must have been just one. Tracking conditions were unfavorable...the classic warm, dry, and breezy. Hunter was so happy. Nice deer.

A challenging yet successful track for a young longhaired dachshund puppy

This came as a Facebook message from Cliff Shrader, a UBT member from Baton Rouge, LA. This is Cliff's first tracking season with his longhaired dachshund puppy Tasha, whom he imported from Denmark.What an adventure it was. Thank you for sharing it with us Cliff!

Friday evening I received a text from one of my buddies asking if I want to make a track. One of his daughters had shot her first deer and there wasn't any trail. In fact, they had conflicting opinions on which way the deer ran after the shot. There were three deer feeding when Samantha shot and they split up after the shot. Her dad Red checked out the site and found some belly hair and a small amount of gut at the hit site. After we talked, Red and his son Matt backed out of the area where they had been searching for blood and waited for Tasha to arrive. It took about and hour and a half for us to get there.

The woods are thick piney woods with dense undergrowth. When I say dense I mean an abundance of briars and thorns that had never seen mankind before. There was a light mist in the air and the temperature was in the low 70s. Less than fifty yards from the hit site, we found blood drops. Red also found some additional gut as he trailed behind us. Tasha was tracking pretty good but she was having to work going through these woods. I was having to work even harder...a fat guy with a headlamp and backpack doesn't glide through briars and thorns easily. Along the way we would hit some blood and then it would stop. We may go 50 to 100 yards before we located blood again. The blood suggested that we had a muscle hit as it was always drops falling straight down. There never was a bed site although we found a couple of spots where the deer stood but never laid down. We never heard the deer jump during the track. Our track went for 1.37 miles and then we hit a particularly thick spot. I had to go to hands and knees at least a dozen times but here I had to go to elbows and knees. As I was clearing the briars I looked ahead and saw Tasha nose to nose with the doe, still very much alive. I yelled at Tasha and pulled back on her lead. After I got her away from the deer, the deer bounded up and away. I saw some gut hanging from a low hit as the deer ran. I was pretty exhausted and so was Tasha. We had tracked for about 2 hours and 33 minutes in rough country. We decided to back out and attempt to pick up the track in the morning. As far as I was concerned, this was a successful track even though we didn't have venison.

Tasha and I arrived Saturday morning. Samantha and Red had biscuits and sausage cooked up so we ate a nice breakfast before we ventured into the woods. We went to the last blood that I had marked on the GPS and started tracking. The track was 17 hours old at this point. Tasha picked up the trail right away even though we saw no blood. After about 60 yards we found a single drop of blood at least letting me know that she was on the same deer. Tasha took us directly to the steep bank of a swift moving bayou. I knew that the deer had jumped into the bayou here but I didn't see a thing. When I got into a spot where I could look down the 15 foot embankment, I spotted the deer dead in the water and hung up on something. This was an outstanding track for Tasha and I learned several things from it.

The recovery was particularly precarious. Red had to go back to his house and bring back the tractor where we could pull the deer from the bayou. With the dense undergrowth and downed trees, the tractor got stuck as Red was crossing some logs. This meant another trip back to his house to get the chainsaw. After he sawed himself out of this jam, he quickly found himself in another jam that required chain sawing a big pine tree out of the way. He finally arrived at the bayou and the recovery was made. The deer had only traveled a little over a hundred yards from where we jumped her. Tasha never voiced until Red was driving out with the deer on the tractor. She started raising cane! The cool bayou water had chilled the deer down just like a cooler and the meat was perfect.

 
This was one of my favorite tracks so far. Tasha is only 6 1/2 months old and she makes this tracking stuff look easy. What a great feeling to be part of someone's first deer! Congrats to Samantha, Red and Tasha. Thanks for letting me be part of it.

Cliff

Tarah helps her owner find his own deer

 

This is such a great picture of Woody and Tarah! This time Tarah tracked Woody's own deer: On 12-4-2012 I was able to arrow this nice 10 point. I put Tarah on the track one hour later I made a good shot but the buck traveled 200 yards. Tarah  made it easy but it was a lot harder for me. The last 75 yards I had to crawl as the brush was so thick, I don't no how that big buck went through it. Tarah pulled me and she was barking all the way. She did a great job.

Congratulations to Bob Yax and his dachshund Thor on their recent recoveries!

Bob Yax from Deer Search of the Finger Lakes and his almost eight-month-old puppy Thor (a Moose/Paika son) are a very busy tracking team this fall. These are the pictures of their latest recoveries. What a great first season they are having! Bob is a Pro as he used to track with Gusto, but Thor is just a puppy.

 

Bob Yax from Deer Search of Finger Lakes recovered 11th deer with his puppy Thor on December 2.

 

Bob wrote: See attached the tiny 8pt we found on Sunday (in Byron, Genesee County). Hunter hit it on Satuday evening, from the ground, 1/4 ing to him "right behind the  shoulder, about 1/2 way up and down with a 12 ga."  The deer dropped at the shot and stayed down for several minutes before he got up and ran. Before dark last night, the hunter and his brother tracked very little blood for 50 yds, and then did a grid search for 200yds. This AM (16 hrs after the hit) we found only a little blood at the hit site and then no other blood. Thor seemed to randomly search the grid search area and then a few hundred yards further. At that point he put his nose up and into the wind, coming from his right. He then started trotting in a straight line directly into the wind. After 100 yds, he broke out of the woods and into a winter wheat field. He continued in a straight line across the open field for another 100 yds towards a narrow hedgerow. When we reached the hedgerow, there was the dead buck. The shot was really to the intestines about midway up, quartering to the opposite back leg. There was no exit wound.

This was the first time he has air scented a deer from that distance - I learn something new on every track!

 

The above picture shows Bob Yax with Thor and the buck they recovered on November 25 in Honeoye Falls. The line was 16 hours old, 1500 yard long. It was a very exciting recovery as the buck was jumped and followed for a long distance.

The below pictures show Recovery #9 on November 22 in Avon, NY was pretty easy. Hunter didn't know where he hit it so he backed out last night after only tracking 20 yds with little blood. It ended up being a liver hit that bled for 100 yards and then there was no blood for another 100 yards. Thor found it in less than 10 minutes.

 

Update on Joeri

Joeri is steadily improving and today he is feeling better. Now he can walk without support, on a short leash, and even though he is a little wobbly, he loves his short potty walks. So far he has had two acupuncture sessions and one cold laser treatment. This week we will try to reduce his prednisone and try to wean him off tramadol (pain killer). He still spends most of his time in a big crate in my den. When I work on the computer, he is loose in my den, stretched on the blanket. Glad to see him doing better, that's for sure!

Kids learn about benefits of owning and using a blood tracking dog

Lynn Pierce from Cut Off, Louisiana, owns Rosette, a daughter of Joeri and Gilda. He writes: My great nephew's first deer with his bow. Rosette made a great track to find the doe. It was gut shot and ran about 200 yards in a very, very thick cutover. It seemed like 500 yards. As you can see it was a family affair. His grandmother, twin brother and sister and three of my five grandkids. Oh yes, Rosette is in there too.

Trophy bucks recovered by dachshunds in Illinois and Iowa

Great two pictures from Raymond Holohan from Ashkum, IL. He wrote: "Here is a picture of Razen and Claudia with another recovery. The hunter was Mike Wise; we tracked for him last Monday, again this was on camera. The buck was shot with a 12 ga. slug in the front shoulder. They followed until the blood ran out, then gave us a call. Claudia put Razen on last blood and she trailed for at least 500 yards. finding only 1 drop of blood right before the buck got up and they made the killing shot. Claudia said that Mike said on camera that he intends to show other hunters just how useful a tracking dog really is. He was very happy and said they wouldn't have found that buck if it weren't for Razen and Claudia. Razen also recovered a nice 9 pointer last evening. Claudia has been doing most of the tracking lately since I hurt my back last week pulling a deer out with my son. I will send you another picture of the hunter holding these 2 record book bucks. It'ss pretty impressive.
Thanks Ray, Rosco, Claudia and Razen Kane"
 

This picture came from Brian Hibbs, a United Blood Trackers member from Iowa. Brian is holding Scout, who actually is a dam of Rzen kane from the top photo.

Congratulations!

United Blood Trackers and their dogs are busy in the woods helping hunters

The hunter hit this buck at 9AM on the 15th. He trailed it half a mile through a huge corn field. Meantime his wife saw the wounded buck cross the next road, enter a bunch of blowdowns, and bed down. At 2PM the hunter went into the blowdowns and jumped the buck. He called me at that point and I advised he park the deer in that woods overnight and that we would attempt to recover it at 8AM the next morning. The deer did not leave any blood after the first bed but once I got Karma on the right line she raced down the trail and we recovered the deer at 10AM.

After a couple of bad trails this week it felt mighty nice to make another recovery. Karma retains her 50/50 recovery rate for the season collecting #6 for 12 trails. MUCH BETTER than last season! We're smiling

*****

 

Walt Dixon rfrom Tully, NY reports: Here's a photo of gun hunter Tod Avery with a nice buck he shot that Ari recovered after a tough 400 yard trail with no blood sign for the last 300 yards. She recovered this deer 19 hours after it was hit. Ari took the trail out of the woods into a winter wheat field hen cut across a corner and worked the edge checking every deer trail that entered the field until the 5th one where the buck must have reentered the woods. I noticed her change from ground scenting to air scenting within 75 yards of the dead buck found in a swamp near a pond in thick cover. This was Ari's seventh recovery.

 

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Hi Jolanta: This is a picture of Razen's 15th recovery out of 27 tracks. This track was on camera and will be shown on the TV show Southern Woods and Water, not sure when yet. At least portions of it.  The deer was shot in the neck at 52 yrds, they had a good blood trail for about a 1/2 mile. Then it started to dwindle, so they backed out and gave me a call. The guy who shot it is Mike Wise a prostaffer for the show, he had been on another track that we did and I explained to them if the shot is iffy or the blood starts to dwindle, back out and give me a call. This way they wouldn't track it all up with the blood that would be on their shoes, it made this track a lot easier to track. We are having a great season, so far we have done 38 tracks with 18 recoveries.

Ray, Rosco, Claudia, and Razen Kane (Ashkum, IL)

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Gary Huber from Hamburg, NY reports: I went tracking today with new WNY DSI member David Powis. I am his master handler. Took him out last Saturday on a rear leg with Kita and he had the lead and got his first find, a "shooter". Wow did he get pumped, but today he really got pumped because I gave him the lead again in thick red brush on what turned out a "butt" shot. Dave jumped the buck 250 yards later and quickly dispatched him. We were tracking for a son and father. The father is a good friend of mine and a NYS trooper and his son is home on vacation from USA, Arizona, border patrol. His father,trooper Ron Wolf, has not seen his son for a year and a half until yesterday when they hunted together. The deer was wounded yesterday afternoon, tracked by eye and "jumped". We met them at 10:30 am this morning. Dave did a excellent job handling Kita. Especially in thick red brush. It was great to see a father and son embrace and everyone got "high fived" and it was the first for me to get "kissed" (on the cheek) by a NYS trooper.

 

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Andy Bensing wrote on November 27:

Eibe and I went 2 for 2 today in New Jersey, in the snow. Both deer were gut shot with a 50 caliber Muzzleloader and the trails were snowed on first thing in the morning. Both hunters were worried about the snow causing a problem for the dog but as all blood trackers know, snow doesn't cause a problem for the dog. Actually, I think a reasonable amount of snow may actually make it easier. The first track was from the previous morning and the deer had traveled ½ mile and was dead. The second line was from the previous evening and we found it still alive but the short chase and dispatch was very easy. The second hunter was happy to get his deer but the look on his face tells the whole story. He was upset with himself with the poor shot he made the day before from only 30 yards on a calm deer and the buck was well below his hunting club's standards. Did I mention the hunter was a state police swat team sniper and firearms instructor? Oops!