Saturday, November 29, 2014

Winter has arrived

On Wednesday, a day before Thanksgiving, first winter storm arrived. We probably got around 8-10 inches of snow, enough to affect travel plants for many. We were invited by friends who live 35 minutes from us and on Thursday afternoon roads were in a good condition. The snow is still with us and it still covers trees and bushes. The sight is magical.


This is our dogs' yard during the storm.
A view from our kitchen window on Wednesday afternoon.

Thanksgiving morning, just after sunrise.
On Friday morning we realized that we must have quite a few deer around here judging by the number of their tracks in the snow.
If the snow stays on the ground, it will be pretty much the end of tracking season for. We will continue to hunt if it does not get too cold.

Thursday, November 27, 2014

Happy Thanksgiving To All!


On Thanksgiving Day we're thankful for
Our blessings all year through,
For family we dearly love,
For good friends, old and new.


For sun to light and warm our days,
For stars that glow at night,
For trees of green and skies of blue,
And puffy clouds of white.


We're grateful for our eyes that see
The beauty all around,
For arms to hug, and legs to walk,
And ears to hear each sound.


The list of all we're grateful for
Would fill a great big book;
Our thankful hearts find new delights
Everywhere we look!


By Joanna Fuchs

Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Tommy works out a back track and recovers a great 10 pointer

by John Jeanneney


The hunter's phone call on this ten pointer was not too promising. He reported it as an 8 pointer that stopped bleeding pretty quickly from a pass-through. I couldn't be sure, one way or the other, that it was a "gettable" deer. So I took it. The line was 22 hours old.

The buck had back-tracked after it had stopped bleeding, but Tommy figured it out and took us a 100 yards though  thick stuff to the deer. When I saw that pale white antler sticking up, I thought it was a shed. But no, there was a big buck attached!

John Jeanneney and Tommy recover this really nice bow-shot buck in Slingerlands, NY

Monday, November 24, 2014

We did not need a tracking dog to find John's doe

We finally have some venison to feed this human and canine family! Yesterday afternoon John shot a nice mature doe on our property, and it was a perfect shot. She ran 50 yards from the hit site and expired right away. We brought Kunox and did the short track with him. He really liked the doe but showed no sign of possessiveness towards us. Good boy Kunox! 





Then we brought two pups, Volt and Luna, and let them find the doe too. Volt was much more aggressive towards the deer than Luna was, and even though he was fine with us he really did not like Luna to be too close to "his" deer. 

Mielikki got to inspect the doe too.

Saturday, November 22, 2014

Walt Dixon and his two tracking dachshunds are helping local deer hunters

A Deer Search and United Blood Trackers member, Walt Dixon from Tully, NY has been tracking for many years. These days he tracks with two wirehaired dachshunds, Ari and Dachs. Ari von Moosbach-Zuzelek is 11.5 and Dachs von Tierspur, Ari's nephew, turned two in August. The picture shows their seven recoveries so far this year. Walt is having some problems with his back and it is amazing that he gets to track as much as he does.


On this track Walt's friend Chris Daley handled Ari in the lead position and they recovered the buck 47 hours after it had been shot with a rifle. Congratulations!!!

Friday, November 21, 2014

A nice 9 pointer recovered by John Jeanneney and his tracking dachshund Tommy


Yesterday John and Tommy found this nice 9 pointer in Rensselaerville, NY.  The line was only about 7 hours old, but there was no blood to verify. The hunter started John and Tommy in the wrong direction and it took them a while to pick up the right scent line.
 

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

A leg-shot deer gets away and a hunter harvests another buck...by mistake

 By Judy Catrett (a Georgia owner of  a seven-month-old "Mossy Brooke" aka Viola von Moosbach-Zuzelek)

This little girl, Mossy is addicted to tracking wounded deer.  We received a call yesterday from a hunter who had wounded a deer 5 hours earlier that morning.  There was blood at the spot that the deer was shot and an occasional drop for approx. 100 yards.  Mossy tracked from the initial blood and then continued on strongly after the point of no blood.  She was tracking off leash on this occasion.  

She was 100 yards in front of us when she started yipping. I told the hunter, Rod, that we had to hurry to her as she had just  jumped the deer.  When we got to the yipping, there were two bucks trotting slowly with Mossy behind them. Rod was about 10 yards to my right and both deer stopped. The deer in the lead and the larger of the two had a broken front leg. I knew that this would be our only chance to have a shot at the wounded deer and Mossy was not close enough to be in danger, so I told Rod to shoot the one on the left. He shot and immediately said I got it. I responded, no you didn't, the wounded deer just ran off.  

From Rod's view 10 yds from me, he never saw but one deer and did not understand what I saying about two deer.  He did kill the 8 point in the picture, and was quite proud of it, but was upset about having wounded the other deer. We loaded the deer he killed and got it out of the area. I explained to Rod that it would be very unlikely that the wounded deer was anywhere near and that it would more than likely live with the wound I saw.  

I again asked Mossy to find another dead deer. There was no blood, but I knew the direction the buck had run.  It took Mossy 10 minutes to straighten the track out, but she then started strong on a track. She trailed for 600 yards at which time I called her back.  I explained again to Rod that this wound would not be lethal and the deer could travel miles on 3 legs. Craig had a hunter at the plantation wound a deer last year in the same fashion. The deer was killed out of the same stand 3 weeks later. The front leg was completely severed except for being attached by hide on one side. Basically, the deer was carrying a necrotic leg which was a burden to him, but he was alive and working scrapes.

So the deer in the picture was not the wounded deer, but for some reason was with the wounded deer. Mossy took us to the wounded deer, so I consider her as having done her job.  It was me who did not control the situation at that point as I should have.  I have learned from this experience that in the woods 2 feet can change a persons view and that should we run into this situation again, the hunter should be very close to me.

Off leash tracking is definitely different from tracking on leash. Had Mossy been on leash I do not think that we would have ever seen the wounded deer.  I think that the deer would have detected humans and would have immediately left when we got close to where it was bedded.  Because of Mossy's small size, she does not intimidate the bucks and most wounded bucks do not run from her. They stand their ground and look at her. She is a distraction to the buck and the hunter is usually presented with a shot.  I had the same experience with Bear due to his small size also. Mossy is intelligent enough to know that the buck could hurt her and always keeps her distance when baying, which I am very thankful for.  Bear would get a little closer to the deer than I  have observed with Mossy.  Don't know if this is a male/female --testosterone--issue or just the difference in the two pups. 

I will continue to learn from every tracking experience that Mossy and I have.  I counted  this as #23 as Mossy took us to the wounded deer even though the hunter shot the wrong deer.  I have never tracked a wounded buck that had a healthy buck with him.

Hope you don't freeze the next few days.  We are getting weather that is very cold to us, but probably considered warm by you.

Thanks Again,

Judy


Sunday, November 16, 2014

The beauty of hunting season


15 minutes after sunrise on the opening day of gun season: a view from our blind

Saturday, November 15, 2014

How to find deer tracking services in the New York State?

Today deer and bear gun season opened in the Southern Zone of New York. For more details on dates and length of hunting season for various types of game go to:
http://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/wildlife_pdf/huntingseasons14.pdf

If you are wound a deer and need assistance from a handler with a leashed tracking dog, you have several options depending on your location:

1. The United Blood Trackers is a national organization, who has several members in New York. For NY listings click here
2. Deer Search of Western NY call (716) 648-4355
3. Deer Search of Finger Lakes call (585) 935-5220
4. Deer Search in Eastern and Central NY call (845) 227-5099

In New York handlers are required to obtained a leashed tracking dog license from DEC. For detailed regulations associated with the license click here.

Below are just few pictures showing bow-shot deer recovered in 2014 by wirehaired dachshunds. There are many other talented handlers and dogs of various breeds who recover a lot of deer in the New York State. We will try to showcase them later on. These pics represent just a small sample, and because they show dogs out of our or related breeding, they were easily available to us.

Karma is owned by Kevin Armstrong from South Bristol.
He is a member of the United Blood Trackers
Again Kevin Armstrong with Karma
This is a first tracking season for Rob Carlton and Vinnie. Rob is a member of the United Blood Trackers and Deer Search of Finger Lakes.
Walt Dixon owns two wirehaired dachshunds.This doe was recovered by a young Dachs.
Walt Dixon, a member of the United Blood Trackers and Deer Search of Finger Lakes,
resides in Tully. This deer was recovered by his 11-year-old Ari.
This gorgeous buck was recovered by Walt Dixon and his Dachs.
Matt Sacco, a member of the United Blood Trackers and Deer Search of Finger Lakes, tracks with a young Heidi. Matt lives in Ithaca.
Bob Yax, a member of Deer Search of Finger Lakes, tracks with with Thor.
Another deer recovered by Bob Yax and Thor.

Friday, November 14, 2014

United Blood Trackers Trackfest 2015


February 28 – March 2, 2015
Covered Gate Ranch, Uvalde, Texas

The United Blood Trackers is holding a three day Blood Tracking Workshop on February 28 – March 2, 2015 at Covered Gate Ranch in Uvalde, TX, approximately 2 hours west of San Antonio, TX .

The UBT annual Trackfest has been held in various states throughout the country. UBT has provided testing at several Texas Blood Tracking Events, and now this will be the first actual UBT Trackfest held in Texas.

This workshop is for beginner and advanced dogs and handlers as well as anyone else interested in learning more about the use of blood tracking dogs for the recovery of wounded big game. There will be plenty of hands-on training in the field for dogs and handlers as well as presentations on topics such as Training Techniques, Working with Puppies, Equipment Choices, GPS Use, and Working with Hunters. Again this year we will also be holding the popular Hit Site Evaluation Seminar. This section of the seminar will focus on reading sign at the hit site as well as reading sign found along the trail in order to develop the proper strategy for tracking that particular animal.

The United Blood Trackers will offer evaluations for UBT-I and UBT-II on Monday, March 2, 2015. All individuals interested in signing up for evaluations, please check out http://www.unitedbloodtrackers.org/tracking-tests/ , for more information. Another announcement will posted when a premium list for the event is finalized.


Here are some pictures taken at Trackfest 2014 in North Carolina:






















Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Advanced blood tracking training is paying off for this outstanding tracking team

by Darren Doran

I took a call from an experienced hunter who had made a good hit on a buck last evening, but bumped him out of his bed and across a road. The hunter had followed good blood to a dead fall and green briar thicket and found multiple beds there very close together. After he had put the buck up he left the area. This is usually a good sign and I figured we would find the deer dead right on the other side of the road and I told the hunter that. Being somewhat superstitious I certainly jinxed myself with that statement. 

We met at 7:30 next morning and went to the hit site. There had been turkeys everywhere and they were right in front of us. Theo got a whiff of them, and I corrected him hard right away. This was our first exposure to them this year and I needed him to know I wanted nothing to do with them. We started tracking and the blood was just as the hunter said. We tracked through to the road, which was so busy that I carried Theo across. I set him down on the other side, which was an old dilapidated house. Theo went around back and across the front yard and into the woods. After some searching he showed me some blood and we were off tracking. I kept looking ahead expecting to see the buck at any minute but it didn’t happen and I hadn’t seen any blood in a while. We were tracking to a thicket and I thought this is where he is. Theo checked all the runs into it but didn’t take a line. He went back into the woods then across a rail road track into a brushy field next to an occupied house. We didn’t have any weapons because the road we crossed was the dividing line of two hunting zones. The hunter didn’t have a permit to hunt on this side of the road. I really didn’t think this dear was alive anyway so it didn’t matter to me. The way Theo was working I actually thought the deer would be in this field.

Theo searched every inch of this area and went to the backyard of the house and started pulling across the mowed yard. I told the hunter that we couldn’t cross without permission, but I would pick up Theo and walk down the tracks and set him down in a controlled search on the other side of the yard. Theo worked the brush along the yard and in about 10 yards took a hard right into the woods. We hadn’t seen blood in a long while but he was tracking like he does when he’s got it so I went with him.


All of a sudden the hunter called out that he found blood. He had found a pin drop on a yellow maple leaf. I don’t know if he was good or just lucky but it didn’t matter -- we had the deer. Just when I was feeling good I looked up and the woods looked like someone had gone through it with a leaf blower. The turkeys had torn this part of the woods apart, there was no leaf left untouched. This worried me more than Theo and he tracked through it like it wasn't there. 

We were soon heading back into thick swampy brush and green briars. I thought any time now the leash will stop and he’ll be on the deer, but it didn’t happen. He did track to a bed with blood in it and I knew we had to be close. I was working through the briars and all of a sudden the leash stopped. Finally I thought we got him. I worked around a corner in the briars and Theo’s standing on the bank of a river. There was blood at the bank and Theo jumped in. He went right under and I knew it was deep. He popped up and swam back to the bank. There was no way across. We would have to go back out of the woods to the train tracks and cross the trestle to get on the other side. 


I marked the spot on the GPS and hung a ribbon but before I left I told Theo to “search”. I wanted to make sure the deer crossed and didn’t back track away from the deep water. Theo went up and down the briar choked bank and didn’t find anything he liked. He came back to the crossing so we made our way out of the wood and to the trestle. I carried Theo across and we started to navigate to the spot where the deer had crossed. 


The rail road had cut all the trees at the bottom of the tracks and killed all the vegetation on the slopes. It was nasty but we found a spot we could get down to the river and we slid down the bank of the tracks. We got to about where the crossing was and I started Theo. He went down a run away from the river and in twenty yards the leash stopped. I wasn’t even paying attention and I walked right up to Theo and the deer. 


When I called out “I got em” I don’t think the hunter believed me. This track was almost 2 miles including the searching and the river crossing. I believe the deer actually traveled 9ths of a mile before dying. When we gutted this deer it was hit through 1 lung, through the center of the liver, and the 2 inch rage had cut the back lobe of the second lung. The deer was dead for a while. I firmly believe the rut plays an important part on their ability to stay alive when they should be dead.

Those of you who know me from this blog know I’m big on training. Some of the things I train for I used today. Theo is 2 ½ now and try as I might I can’t duplicate on a training line the experience he’s getting this season. The only way to finish a dog is to get him in the field and work him. This is his second tracking season and we’ve taken 39 calls so far. We’re getting to the point that we’re becoming a true team. He knows what is going on when we cross roads. He understands when we have a live deer why we stop and wait. He understands how to restart a line after he’s been picked up and set down. He knows how to do a controlled search. He knows how to stay with the right deer and search till he finds the right deer. He knows how to accept my help when he needs it, and I know what is going through his mind while he’s working. This season is going to truly develop and cement Theo’s foundation as a tracking dog and "us" as a team. 
Recovery #27 of the 39 tracks.