Harold Barry, a UBT member from Florida, sent us this picture with a note: "Trust your dog! Trust your dog! Trust your dog! I tracked this fine buck a few days ago for a close friend of mines daughter. She shot the deer with a .223 and from the deer's reaction, it was definitely hit. I tracked for 600-700 yards with "Marley" and my tracking partner David. At no point from shot site to where we called it off was there any blood evidence. Marley showed extreme confidence, but I as a human didn't trust or believe in what I couldn't see, no blood. I've tracked too long to let my human instincts come in the way of my dog's extremely talented nose and mind. A couple of days later, my friend returned to where we stopped and found this magnificent buck about 50 yards passed where we stopped. Moral of my story, "The nose knows!".
Occasionally we hear this kind of story, usually with the conclusion "Trust you dog!" or "The nose knows". However, the other kind of story is rarely shared by handlers - when a handler was taken by a tracking dog on a wild goose chase. Remember that even tracking dogs have their limitations; an experienced dog can make a mistake or have a day off. And this is especially true for young dogs. So trust your dog but don't trust your dog blindly! Examine the evidence, keep looking for that speck of blood to confirm your trust. And read your dog.
2 comments:
Jolanta great story , Last night I shot a deer and had Claudia bring Razen to track it. After the shot I watched where the deer ran. We started Razen at hit site found a couple of drops of blood at about 50 yrds. then nothing. Well the dog kept going in another direction then I saw the deer go. I told Claudia that she was wrong and to restart her at the blood. After the third time of restarting her ,I just let the two of them go, while I stayed and look for blood in the direction I saw the deer go ,Knowing I was right. WEll after 15inutes of looking for blood I here Claudia yell "blood". So I went where she was and Razen was on the trail and we found the buck a short time later. Once again I heard "trust your dog" I,m a handler and know what I thought I saw and I was wrong. I think this taught me a good lesson about trusting your dog. So from now on I will use this story when the hunter insist that the deer went a certain way
Jolanta great story , Last night I shot a deer and had Claudia bring Razen to track it. After the shot I watched where the deer ran. We started Razen at hit site found a couple of drops of blood at about 50 yrds. then nothing. Well the dog kept going in another direction then I saw the deer go. I told Claudia that she was wrong and to restart her at the blood. After the third time of restarting her ,I just let the two of them go, while I stayed and look for blood in the direction I saw the deer go ,Knowing I was right. WEll after 15inutes of looking for blood I here Claudia yell "blood". So I went where she was and Razen was on the trail and we found the buck a short time later. Once again I heard "trust your dog" I,m a handler and know what I thought I saw and I was wrong. I think this taught me a good lesson about trusting your dog. So from now on I will use this story when the hunter insist that the deer went a certain way
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