Sunday was a busy day for Old Man John. In the morning Tommy and I went out on a call
to track a buck that had been liver shot the day before. There was good
evidence on the pass-through arrow, but almost no blood on the ground. After
the first bed I saw no blood at all. Twice Tommy followed the same track out
for 200 yards paralleling a high tension electric line . The buck crossed the
line at some point, but we could never find the track. Very frustrating! And
this sort of thing has happened to me before. My theory is that the
magnetic field generated by the high tension power line ionizes the scent
particles, so that the dog can't scent them. We worked 4 hours through thick
brush and clinging vines, and then gave up. I hate to quit.
At four I met Jolanta at the Beagle Club Pork Roast and got a few leftovers before heading back home to feed Tommy, and get the lights for the next call that was nearby. This time Old John was accompanied by Jolanta. On this call she expanded her role from companion to tracker-in-chief!
We started out on blood near the hit site, but there was very little of it considering that we were dealing with a wound by a two inch expandable that had passed though the guts and then one lung. Tommy got off on another line, and since I was moving pretty slowly on a steep hill Jolanta took over handling Tommy. After 200 yards we decided this couldn't be the right deer, and went back to known blood that we had marked.
This time Tommy got off on the right line that we could confirm by a few specks of blood. Within a 100 yards Jolanta yelled, "Here he is!" Jolanta handled beautifully, and I was very proud of her. I have to admit that I was a little ashamed of myself and my tired, cramping legs. I haven't prepared myself psychologically to be an Old Man.
It was very rewarding to see Jolanta glowing with happiness as she experienced the find. In the future we shall go on together. Very often I will be the one marking the line and carrying water for Tommy and Jolanta.
At four I met Jolanta at the Beagle Club Pork Roast and got a few leftovers before heading back home to feed Tommy, and get the lights for the next call that was nearby. This time Old John was accompanied by Jolanta. On this call she expanded her role from companion to tracker-in-chief!
We started out on blood near the hit site, but there was very little of it considering that we were dealing with a wound by a two inch expandable that had passed though the guts and then one lung. Tommy got off on another line, and since I was moving pretty slowly on a steep hill Jolanta took over handling Tommy. After 200 yards we decided this couldn't be the right deer, and went back to known blood that we had marked.
This time Tommy got off on the right line that we could confirm by a few specks of blood. Within a 100 yards Jolanta yelled, "Here he is!" Jolanta handled beautifully, and I was very proud of her. I have to admit that I was a little ashamed of myself and my tired, cramping legs. I haven't prepared myself psychologically to be an Old Man.
It was very rewarding to see Jolanta glowing with happiness as she experienced the find. In the future we shall go on together. Very often I will be the one marking the line and carrying water for Tommy and Jolanta.
John,oddly perhaps,in view of your experience, but some of my best hawking places for rabbits is in the brush under power lines. The heavy cover offers habitat for the conies. My dogs have never had a problem tracking rabbits in those places. I have read that folks who do human tracking via AKC rules have also found the scenting poor under power lines. Wonder if rabbit scent is so different than deer?
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