Dubya, a young wirehaired dachshund, and his tracking season in Missouri

This e-mail and pictures came from Matt Willis from Missouri (thank you Matt!). Matt and Jenny are a young couple who own Dubya, a year-and-a-half-old son of Moose and Paika (Strut von Moosbach-Zuzelek).

Jenny Willis with Dubya (Strut von Moosbach-Zuzelek, Sky's littermate)

Jolanta, I hope this message finds you and yours well.  It is amazing how fast the time flies, it is hard for me to believe we are approaching the third month of 2013 already.

2012 presented some unexpected challenges for our tracking training. We were generally able to get 2 tracks per week with Dubya the early part of the year until the heat hit us. It is generally warm here during the summer months and not uncommon to see highs in the 90s with humidity above 90% to match in July and August. This year was unusually hot. We coped with this by training earlier and earlier in the morning, sometimes beginning at or before daylight. Eventually the temps even early in the morning were in the 80s and we began to wonder if we should continue the training as it seemed to get less fun for Dubya. Needless to say we were thankful for your post about training in hot weather and made us feel better about taking a break during the heat wave. We spent as many of the hot days as possible in the water, which Dubya has decided he really likes.

Dubya and I got our first call during youth firearm season. It was a 7 year old boy who shot his first deer and wasn't able to find it. Our interview revealed the track would be 24 hours old by the time we were on it and had been tromped on by every person the hunter and his family know. The scenting condition was very dry, we weren't very optimistic but really wanted to give it a try. We arrived on site and learned the shot had been about 50 yards through some very thick stuff. The deer took 30 minutes to move 60 yards where it bedded down, eventually got up and "crawled" over the hill. It was at this point the hunters Dad went after the deer expecting to find it over the hill. Feeling less confident at this point we decided to begin the track at the bed site. Dubya wondered around the bed for a couple minutes then began working in the direction the hunter said the deer travelled. Dubya seemed to have the track for about 250 yards and then he just turned around never seemed to find it again. We tried to restart a couple times but that didn't yield any better results. We only found blood about ten yards from the bed and then nothing.

I enclosed a couple pictures of a bow kill of mine that Dubya tracked through a bean field. It was the first time we had tracked through beans and was interesting to see him navigate through. It was not an old track and he completed it with little difficulty.

 Dubya also got some work at deer camp this past year. One of the tracks I thought was particularly notable. The shot was taken right at dark and not marked well. It was about 2 hours later we came back to the hit site and couldn't find any blood. We walked around the hit site looking for some sign when Dubya looked like he'd found the track, which I was able to confirm with a small spot of blood. He continued down the line for about 100 yards and just as I was feeling really good about it he turned around 180 degrees and headed back the way we came. At this point I was wondering what was going on but I decided to keep going because his body language was telling me he was still on the correct line. After walking 50 yards back the way we came he shot off to the right and continued on, another 50 yards and my light hit a white belly. I have never been on a track like that before and was really impressed with the way Dubya handled it. I really enjoy watching him sort these tracks out. He continues to remind me I am the one doing the learning.

A great tracking season for Tim Nichols and his Bavarian Bruno

Tim Nichols from Granville, NY, a member of United Blood Trackers and Deer Search, went on 97 searches and recovered 38 deer (while holding a full-time job). Huge congratulations to Tim and his tracking partner Bruno (a Bavarian Mountain Bloodhound)! This is just first part of his pictures.

Last recovery of the 2012 season: Tommy and John find a nice buck

Yesterday was our last day of deer hunting season. On Sunday John and Tommy recovered their 12th deer, and John reported:

This call offered a lot of excitement for the three hunters present. Certainly it was good exercise and a challenge for the old man handling Tommy, his young tracking dog. The ten pointer had been shot in the hip with a muzzle-loader, and we were able to shorten his suffering from days down to a few hours.
 
For Tommy it was a relatively fresh and easy track, although the buck left almost no blood as he traveled 700 yards from the hunter’s point of loss. It was where he traveled that amazed the hunters and even me. Tommy led us down a steep ravine, through a creek and up the other side, not once but three times. We were grabbing trees and roots to keep from tumbling down to the rocks and water below. The terrain was best for four legged critters like Tommy. The buck, with only three legs was truly amazing. It was not a place for poor two-legged humans.
 
I really enjoyed hearing the hunters marvel over Tommy every time he found another drop of blood in an improbable place. Then I saw the glowing eyes and yelled “There he is!” The buck could go no farther.
 
How the hunters got the buck up out of that deep gorge can only be explained by adrenaline and an easing of the force of gravity. We arrived appropriately enough in a cemetery where a farmer friend gathered us all up in his pick-up. He drove us back, with the buck, to our own vehicles. I was very glad we didn’t have to walk.

****

 

BTW, this year Tommy got to track John's own deer. Even though it was a perfect shot placement, the deer went 400 yards without leaving any blood at all. We would not be able to find this deer without a tracking dog. Young dogs such as Tuesday and Mielikki got an opportunity to get a good chew.

 

 

A gut-shot buck recovered by John and Tommy in Berne

On November 21 John and Tommy recovered a gut-shot deer in Berne. It was around 0.5 mile track. At the beginning it was not obvious that the deer was gut-shot. There was a stretch of no-blood, and later every few yards or so there was a small speck. Tommy jumped a deer, and followed it well. John had to dispatch the buck at the end of the trail, which was around 6 hours old. This was 10th recovery for the team.

Tommy finds a wounded deer with a broken leg

This was Tommy's recovery #9. The line was 16 hours old, and the deer had its hind leg broken above the hock. Tommy cold trailed the buck for 300 yards in very thick brush, jumped the deer and took it 250 yards to where Doug, the hunter, could finish it. John was very pleased with Tommy's work.

The picture shows John and our friend Michael Relyea, who is the hunter's nephew.

Michael Relyea is holding Tommy. To the right Doug, Michael's uncle.

Being in the woods is a good therapy

A big thank you to all for your support, encouragement and offer to help with Joeri. Yesterday he was worse than on Thursday, his hind legs completely immobile, his bladder had to be expressed. So far he has not responded to the meds: high dose of prednisone, tramadol, methocarbamol, pepcid. But his tail is still wagging. He has an appointment on Wednesday for acupuncture. We are going to give him some time and see what happens. Today he has a better appetite and his eyes look brighter. He is a hunting dog through and through, and for him to spend the rest of life paralyzed, in a cart, is just not an option. 

Today we were in the woods and it has helped both of us. John was tracking and I was hunting. John found his buck, and I shot a doe. All in all today was a better day than Friday.

Tommy found this nice 8-pointer in Cairo, NY

John was prouder of me than I was. While he was tracking in Cairo, I was hunting. I actually managed to stalk this doe, so now we will have some venison for the freezer.

Pictures of deer recovered by blood tracking dachshunds

This is just first part of  pictures showing deer recovered by blood tracking dachshunds in the last few weeks. More pics will be posted tomorrow. It is difficult to keep up with all the recoveries, when there are so many of them :D Congratulations to all the handlers!



This Ohio monster was recovered by a UBT member Rex Marshall and his dachshund Radar (Oak von Moosbach-Zuzelek). Rex wrote: Radar tracked a buck Friday night for over half a mile around the perimeter of a corn field. The hunter kept saying "he didn't think the buck went this way." At the half mile point, Radar took a 90 degree turn into a wood lot, at which the hunter told me "I don't know who owns this property". I called it off because we didn't have permission to go on this property. All night I tossed and turned, t hinking about how strong Radar was pulling the leash, silent & confident all the way. Next morning, I called the hunter and told him this & said he might want to go back to that last spot and have another look. 24 hours later, the hunter called me & said he found the buck...just 10 yards into the woods from where we stopped!! All I could think of was: "yeh but, he didn't go this way". Way to go Radar!!!!

Another buck recovered by Radar handled by Rex Marshall from Ohio. "Radar found this buck today during rain showers...went over half mile. Found him in a good sized stream." Radar is a son of Joeri and Emma.

 

What a great tracking season it has been for a 15-month-old Tucker (Storm von Moosbach-Zuzelek) owned by Ray Maurier and Pam Maurier from New Hampshire. Huge congrats!

 

Scott Meyer from Michigan: This track was very tough one we tracked through a 4 ft tall grass field and finally found him in a brush pile next to a small pound.

A UBT member Scott Meyer from Michigan with his tracking teckel Bear. Bear was sired by Chuck Collier's Moose (Nurmi von Moosbach-Zuzelek).

Kevin Armstrong and his wirehaired dachshund Karma von Moosbach-Zuzelek: This deer must have been pushed too early. The hunter called last evening when he run out of blood. Karma and I took up the track at daylight. The trail was about 500 yards long, it crossed a creek, and made several beds. It was a downright joy to track for and help educate the fine young hunter. He and his hunting partner were both 17 year old high school seniors. This was his first deer. I had a tear of joy when the hunting partner took out his cell phone and said "grandpa, we found it!"

Kevin with Karma's recovery #5. "Tracking is so much easier when the hunter listens to the tracker and does as I suggest. I got a call for this gut shot deer yesterday shortly after dark. The hunter knew he had hit too far back and had the wrong angle. That was all confirmed it by the evidence on the arrow. I advised him to back out quietly and do not disturb the deer over night. He followed my advice. We had a quick and easy recovery at daylight in the morning."

Ohio tracker David Bell recovered this buck with his Quella von Moosbach-Zuzelek. It was a gut-shot deer, the line was 27 hour old and it went for over .5 mile. Quella is a daughter of Joeri and Keena.



John and Tommy track and find a wounded deer in the thicket

John's report on the November 1 track says:

 

This 184 pound buck was bowshot the previous afternoon. The broadhead hit near the edge of one lung, then through the diaphragm and through a lobe of the liver, through the stomach and out. The hunter tracked it about 200 yards with decent blood and into a very dense thicket, the kind that requires clipping vines and briars to get make progress. The hunter ran out of line about 50 yards into the thicket, but did he mark the blood that he saw well.

 

Tommy and I tracked from the hit site 21 hours after the shot. We went into the thicket and to the dead end of the trail.. Tommy worked around at the point of loss, and then worked what was apparently a back track for about 50 yards to a spot of blood in a new direction.

 

There was not casting around for the new line. I was on my hands and knees or cutting vines most of the way. Once we were on the new line it was easy for Tommy. More beds and vines to cut for 200 yards, and then there was the deer dead. Not much of a rack, but the photo does not do justice to the size of the body. This was Tommy's 6th recovery of the season.

 

John and Tommy at the end of successful track.

 

Our own blood tracking team, John Jeanneney and a wirehaired dachshund Tommy

We have been extremely lucky here in the Capital Region of NY:  Hurricane Sandy produced very gusty winds and only one inch of rain. We have not suffered any damage to our property, and never lost electricity. Unfortunately, the impact of Sandy was devastating in many areas and communities in the Northeast. It will take weeks, months and years to rebuild what has been destroyed in such a short time. Millions of people still do not have power. If you can help through donations to Red Cross, please consider doing so.

I am running way behind with posting reports, stories and pictures documenting the 2012 blood tracking season. Today I realized that I have posted anything about our own tracking team - John and Tommy. So let me post some pictures with captions starting with most recent ones.

After a string of calls that did not produce the deer, the winds have shifted into a nice Northeaster. On the 28^th Tommy found a gut shot deer that left only two drops of visible blood. He worked calmly and patiently over a winding track of 500 yards and there was the deer.

Today, the 30^th, Tommy found another one despite a little side-pissing from Hurricane Sandy. The hunter had shot the deer late the afternoon before, and he called at 10:45 last night. He had run out of blood, but he knew it was a good hit. “Could the dog track in the rain?” We got on the line at noon today. From the hit site Tom worked over the line tracked by the hunter and then kept on going. We wound back and forth through the thick stuff, crossed a road and there was the deer, dead. He was hit a good deal farther back than the hunter had thought. (Those quartering away shots can be deceptive.) This second deer is the one shown in the above photo. 

In the case of both of these finds the hunters confessed that they thought Tommy was just going for a walk. They doubted that Tommy was really following their deer. I could see subtle signs that he was onto something, but he did seem pretty laid back. These two deer went 500 and 400 yards, much too far for it to have been an accident. There were total changes of direction in each case.

Jim F. Hens with Tommy who found his buck.

On October 25 John and Tommy found a nice 8-pointer for Jim F. Hens in our home town of Berne. It was an angling down shot through a lobe of the liver, through the stomach and out. There was almost no blood. Tommy got off the line once on another deer that had walked the same trail. When John saw no sign for 300 yards he bought him back to last blood and this time he figured it out. It was a good learning experience for Tommy has excellent abilities, but needs the experience of natural tracks. In the meantime Joeri, back in the house, is getting restless.

On October 15 Tommy recovered a deer in the town of Glen, Montgomery County. This was an 18 hour old track, unfortunately, coyotes arrived there first.

On October 13 I accompanied John on a track and had an opportunity to take some pictures. We did not recover the deer but advanced the trail and finally ran out of blood and scent.

The cover was very thick and John had to crawl through a wall of multiflora rose.

At one point John scratched his hand badly and the blood started to drip. The picture shows the deer blood at the beginning of track and then John's blood at the end of it.

Tommy never quit but basically ran out of blood and scent to follow.

It is very tough to track in the thick cover of dry leaves.

First successful recovery of the 2012 tracking season by Andy Bensing and Eibe: Spike buck in velvet in Maryland

In some states deer hunters have started their pursuit of whitetails already and we received Andy Bensing's  first report of successful recovery in Maryland. A big thank you to Andy for such a nice presentation of the call. Make sure that you check out his video.

By Andy Bensing

I headed out Friday night to take what sounded like a liver/gut shot so the odds were real good of recovering it. Normally I would let it sit until morning but with the temperature almost 80 overnight, a high fox population and the deer being gut shot, the meat would likely be gone by morning. I gave it 5 hours after the shot before tracking it with the dog. The hunter could find no blood trail at all. He saw deer run up over a hill 70 meters in a field but when he went to the crest, the deer was not visible down the other side. Hopefully I'd find him just inside the woods on the other side of the field.

It turned out that the buck was shot too far back just in front of the back leg.  Eibe jumped him from his initial wound bed about 285 meters from the hit site having found only a few drops of blood along the way.  After we put him out of his wound bed, we slowly tracked him for another 165 meters getting within a few feet of him 3 times until the fourth time when he did not get up and I was able to dispatch him.

An interesting note when you look at the map. Notice how he goes basically in a straight line. When we track we see this all the time. Severely wounded deer most of the time head as directly as they can for a place they feel safe, typically their bedding area, usually regardless of the difficulty of the terrain. Also notice how each time we jumped the deer he kind of cut back on us but then re-oriented himself to the original line of travel.

I had some interesting dog work from my Eibe on this line after we jumped the deer. I wanted to track slowly and carefully so as not to push the deer and keep him as calm as possible to make it easy to slip up to him and finish him off. Of course at the first jump my Eibe went crazy but I was able to calm her down with an "easy" command. After about 50 yards and for the rest of the hot track she stayed almost completely quiet and did not pull crazily but just tracked very slowly and matched MY slow careful pace. This enabled the hunter and me to walk very quietly and scan the darkness ahead with our lights and get close to the deer several times.

Another interesting point. Neither the hunter nor the landowner could reach the neighbor on the one side before we set out to track. I always try to get that done before I ever leave the house to meet the hunter. I knew that property lines might end up stopping this track but with the deer being gut shot there was a good chance it would not travel too far. It ended up being real close but the deer stayed on the landowner's property and died just a few feet short of the property line. It's frustrating but several times a year I end up having to give up on deer when we either can't locate the landowner or sometimes they won't grant permission. Check out in this photo I snapped with my iphone how close we almost were to loosing this one! Of course we could have waited until morning if it had crossed the line and went up to the neighbor's house but the deer would have been rotten and eaten by foxes. Just glad the deer died on the correct side of the line.
 

 

Here's a video depicting the recovery process for this call. There's some video of the dispatch of the deer with a spear at the end that you might find educational.

Spike Buck in Velvet Recovery https://vimeo.com/49090672