Compiled by Jolanta Jeanneney
The need for a national organization of blood trackers
became evident in March 2005 when Henry Holt ran into problems regarding using
tracking dogs on public land in Illinois. In his email circulated within
borntotrack group (for owners of dogs bred by John and Jolanta Jeanneney),
hosted by smartgroups, he wrote:
“Last season here in Illinois there was an emergency
administrative rule issued prohibiting tracking on public land. Just before the
season opened, Larry Gohlke, Cheri Faust, Al Diehl and I all attended a meeting
in Springfield with Tim Hickman, the DNR head of public lands, Jack Price the
DNR attorney in charge of wildlife and administrative rules, and Mike Kennedy a
Captain in Law Enforcement (and also a Drahthaar trainer). It looked as though
everything was on track until I saw a new rule published on the DNR website.
1) Tracking on public land has to be conducted outside of
legal shooting hours which are 1/2 hour after sunset to 1/2 hour before
sunrise.
2) Dogs must be certified as deer tracking dogs by a
national dog tracking organization.”
At the time there was no national organization able to
provide this kind of certification. After many emails and lively discussion,
several members of borntotrack yahoo group decided to go ahead and form the organization.
Ken Parker, an owner of Bavarian Mountain Hounds, was invited as well.
An organizational meeting was held July 21-22, 2005 at the home
of John and Jolanta Jeanneney in Berne, NY.
 |
| Top row from left: John Jeanneney, Henry Holt, Larry Golhke; bottom row: Andy Bensing, Cheri Faust and Ken Parker. Jolanta Jeanneney was behind camera. |
Present were John Jeanneney, Jolanta Jeanneney, Henry Holt,
Ken Parker, Andy Bensing, Cheri Faust, Larry Gohlke, Tim Nichols (Friday).
We discussed: Bylaws,
Deer Search, Inc., Testing, Judges, Benefits of Membership, Membership
Application and Dues.
The following were
selected to serve on the Board of Directors:
Larry Gohlke (2006) – appointed Director of Testing
John Jeanneney (2006) – appointed Director of Education
Cheri Faust (2007) – elected as Secretary
Henry Holt (2007) – appointed as Director of Membership
and elected as Vice President
Susanne Hamilton (2007)
Ken Parker (2008) – elected as Treasurer
Andy Bensing (2008) – elected as President
Jolanta Jeanneney (2008) – appointed as Director of
Publicity
Initial UBT-approved judges were:
• Larry
Gohlke
• John
Jeanneney
• Jolanta
Jeanneney
• Henry
Holt
• Andy
Bensing
A Board of Directors meeting was held September 23, 2005 at
the Black Horse in Denver, PA, and on September 25, 2005 at
D-Bar-W Equestrian Center in Reinholds, PA. Present were: Andy Bensing (President/Director-2008), Cheri
Faust (Secretary/Director-2007), John Jeanneney (Director of Education-2006),
Jolanta Jeanneney (Director of Publicity-2008) and Larry Gohlke (Director of
Testing-2006)
The Secretary received a letter from Henry Holt, who resigned
as an Officer and Director. Dave Johnson
was elected for the Board of Directors to serve as Director of Publicity. John Jeanneney was selected to fill the
vacancy of Vice President. Jolanta
Jeanneney was appointed as Director of Membership.
In 2005 Bylaws were drafted, finalized and incorporation was
filed with the State of Illinois. A
website (www.unitedbloodtrackers.org) was established. The Board of Directors has exchanged over
1,600 messages via the email group list, in addition to private emails,
telephone communications and discussions at other events for organizational
purposes. Even though the organization was started mainly by handlers of
tracking dachshunds, it has never discriminated against other breeds. From the
beginning handlers of all kind of tracking dogs have been accepted, regardless
whether their tracking dogs were purebred or not.
The next meeting of the Board of Directors was held on June
12, 2006 at Neal and Debbie Meyer’s, Quincy, Illinois, the site of Trackfest
2006. Even though this event was not officially affiliated with the United
Blood Trackers, it was organized by the core of the UBT and everybody present
was encouraged to join the organization. The report from this events is at http://www.born-to-track.com/trackfest.html. Neal Meyer’s dachshund Chloe was the first
dog certified by the UBT. This was a press release describing it:
First Dog Certified
To Track Wounded Deer On State Lands
Chloe, a wirehaired dachshund owned by outfitter Neal Meyer,
was the first dog tested and approved to track wounded deer on state-owned
lands in Illinois. The bill passed in 2004 legalized the use of leashed
tracking dogs. The associated regulations require that any dog tracking on
Illinois state lands must pass a test demonstrating basic ability and training.
Chloe’s blood tracking test was administered by United Blood
Trackers (www.unitedbloodtrackers.org), a national organization, on June 11,
2006. The dog was required to track a blood line with two sharp turns for a
quarter of a mile to part of a deer that was placed at the end of the line. The
small amount of blood used for the simulated trail, combined with the heavy
ground cover, would have made the line very difficult or impossible for a
hunter to track by eye.
Dachshund Chloe has little in common with the beloved wiener
dogs of cartoonists. She is bred from German hunting stock, has longer legs and
a harsh, wirey double coat. Chloe weighs only 20 pounds, but in her own mind
she is a “big dog”, big enough to track those huge Illinois bucks, even if they
are still alive.