Hope this message finds all well, and both of you
enjoying Christmas. Wanted to send you a
quick note on Vonnie. Things have been
really slow for us. Had 2 calls for
tracking, and both of them came while I was out of town with my work. However, we had the second live track for
Vonnie this evening.
A good friend of mine, Mark Hoffman, was hunting with his
daughter Gabby this evening, and knew I needed to give Vonnie more
experience. Gabby shot an 8 point, and
when Mark found blood, and where the deer left the food plot, he did exactly
what I wish all hunters would do, he marked the blood, and left to come get me
and Vonnie. Mark felt like the buck
wasn't hit great, and wanted to wait a little while before taking Vonnie in,
which was a good call on Mark's part.
When I put Vonnie down on the blood she immediately started following it
through the brush and down a steep hill.
I told Mark I wasn't sure she was still on it, while going down hill,
but when we made it to the bottom, we found more blood. She turned and dropped off into a small creek
bed with steep, bluff sides and went 20-30 yards, when we hit a log jam in the
creek and Vonnie started try to weave her way through it. I followed, but felt
confident she wasn't on it. Lucky for me
though, after going through the pile of limbs that looked completely
undisturbed, Vonnie stopped to sniff a leaf that had blood on it. The bluff banks on this creek were now 10-12
feet tall, and nearly impossible for me to climb, but Vonnie made a 90 degree
turn and tried going up it. After two
attempts, Vonnie came back down and went just a little further down the creek,
where another drain came into it and started her way up. While we were doing this, Clay Weeks and Mark
shined their lights up the hill from where Vonnie had tried going up the bluff,
saw the deer stand up, and finished it off.
Therefore, Vonnie has now earned my trust and I will follow her
regardless of "what I think the deer did"... The track wasn't very long, but thanks to
Mark and Gabby Hoffman, they provided an opportunity for me to gain confidence,
and Vonnie to prove her ability.
I'm attaching a photo of Gabby Hoffman with her buck and
Vonnie. Please feel free to post the
above paragraph and photo on your various sites. It'll certainly help us get more tracking
jobs, and make a little girl happy.
Vonnie is much more methodical in her tracking than Waldo was during his
first three years. She works the line
slow and close, and hasn't blown a single turn on any of her 2 tracks she's
been on. Everyone has commented on how
well she minds, and how well she reacts to being around numerous people. I know it's still early to be making a call
like this, but from what I've seen thus far, there's no doubt in my mind that
she will probably be a better tracker than Waldo, and that's a strong
statement, giving Waldo's accomplishments.
I honestly had hoped she'd just be as good as Waldo, but I believe she
just might show me that it's actually possible to be better than him. Many thanks to both of you for providing me
with such an outstanding dog!
Mike Martien's contact info is list on the UBT Find-A-Tracker site at http://www.unitedbloodtrackers.org/tracker-profile/?user=222
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