Another successful tracking season for Copper, a young Southern Black Mouth Cur from Alabama

Roger Barnhill III is a United Blood Trackers member from Loxley, Alabama. His tracking canine Copper is a two-and-a-half-year old Southern Black Mouth Cur. Roger says: This was her third tracking season. About 50% of her tracks were off-leash. She was successful with both on and off leash tracks, even though this was her first year to experience tracking on leash. Other than the 17-hour track she trailed at UBT II test, which she passed, the next oldest track has been 14 1/2 hours.

We finished the 2012/13 hunting season in South Alabama with 27 calls and 17 finds, which was similar to last year when we had 29 calls and 16 finds.  One of the finds this year was my seven-year-old son's first big 8 point.  This deer was shot in the rear hind quarter and ran off the plot.  There was no blood the first 100 yards where we found a fresh wound bed. I could tell the buck had just gotten up so I released Copper.  She ran the deer a half mile and bayed where we were able to recover the deer.  This was the most exciting track of the year, not only because it was my son's first big buck but also to see Copper work.   Another deer was tracked one mile across two county paved roads, through a yard within five feet of a house, and through a vehicle salvage yard.  The deer had been shot in the rear leg at the knee.

 

 

Every year Copper has progressed with her eagerness to please and perform.  It is apparent watching her that she gets excited about what she does.  I am looking forward to seeing what next year brings for her.

United Blood Trackers members from Alabama track with their dachshunds off-lead

Tom and Jackie Munoz are serious deer trackers from Alabama, and they own two wirehaired dachshunds, Meg and Jack, which were bred for blood tracking. Their website is located at www.alabamadeertracking.com

Below are five pictures of the deer recovered by both Meg and Jack during the 2012/2013 tracking season. The dogs recovered 17 deer in spite of the poor, rainy weather. Congratulations!

Si, a young Bavarian Mountain Bloodhound, is showing a lot of promise for blood tracking

Si, a young Bavarian Mountain Bloodhound, belongs to Art Powers, a UBT member from Alabama. Si was bred by Fred Zoeller from Cooperstown, NY; his sire is Tim Nichols' Bruno. 

 

Art writes: We went on 21 tracks and found 9 this season. We also jumped 3 other deer that we did not recover. The longest successful track was 800 yards and 17 hours old. We had two tracks of 1.28 miles and 1.2 miles when we jumped the deer. He did the best on the fresher tracks (6 hours or less), but we were able to track some that were 28 hours old. The old tracks were much more difficult. We found one that went 300 yards with no blood, only hair at the shot site. It was a fresh track. Overall, I think Si did real good.
I am going to work with him off lead this summer. Most of my tracks are in such thick cover, I am holding him back and it seems to distract him on the older tracks when we have to stop and start. I believe I can release him next year if we are not near roads and be more successful. Most trackers I talk with in the south say they have better luck tracking off lead.

 

 

Tracking wounded deer with Tom Munoz and Meg from Alabama

Jolanta and John,
We always love to read your posts. It's amazing how busy the dachshunds have been. Meg and Tom from Alabama have also been busy.

On October 15 Adam and Pastor Don (his73-year-old Grandfather) were hunting. Adam shot this 9 pointer. Meg tracked this deer for 400 yards. They were delighted. On the way back to the car on the 4 wheeler, Don driving and Tom as the passenger, the 4 wheeler flipped on a steep hill. Tom broke his finger so off to the hospital.

Pastor Don, Adam and Tom Munoz with Meg

A few days later on October 21 Cory, a hunter that had called us in past, called to let us know he gut shot a 4 pointer. Meg got right on track once we let her go with the gps. Once she bayed the deer Cory was ready with a 22 to dispatch the deer.

Cory, Tom and Meg

On October 23 Dewey and his friend Shane called Tom for help in finding a 10 pointer. Meg followed the trail for about 350 yards. She went into a wall of briars. After a couple of minutes we heard Meg barking and then whimpering. Tom decided to go in and check on her. When we arrived Meg was 10 feet from the wounded deer. The deer saw us and bolted. Meg seemed fine so we walked back out of that area.

Tom wanted to call the hunt off. No one had a gun and he was concerned for Meg. As we talked about it Meg snuck off and returned to the briars a little farther down from where we were. After a couple of minutes she started barking again, and Tom decided to go in  again. The hunters went around to the other side hoping the buck would come out and give them another bow shot. Tom found Meg 15 feet from deer. The deer was on the ground but kept picking up his head. Tom jumped on the deer and called for the hunter to come and help him. The hunter tore through the briars with knife in hand and dispatched the deer. Tom realized later that what he had done was foolish but said he was concerned for Meg and felt that the deer was giving up. The hunter wrote us this note afterwards "Thanks for turning a good hunt into a great memory. PS tell Meg I love her. Thanks so much."  Whats funny is that we feel the same way. Take a look at picture you can see the hunters arms all cut up.

Tom Munoz and Dewey.

Well hope you enjoy the stories. I'm sure you have heard them all by know.
 Tom and Jackie Munoz


Tom and Jackie,
Thank you for sharing your adventures with all of us. They sound almost too exciting!

Blood tracking services in Alabama

Alabama Outdoor News has published a list of handlers who own trained blood tracking dogs and offer their services to hunters. For the full list click here. One of the handlers listed is Will Sims who owns a two-year-old wirehaired dachshund Roscoe (Frodo von Moosbach-Zuzelek). Will tracks in Tallapoosa County and surrounding area, and his phone number is (256) 749-2894.  This is a sample of Will and Roscoe's finds:

A nice buck recovered by A.J. Niette and his tracking dog Jake

The picture shows A.J. Niette from Alabama, his tracking dog Jake and the buck they have recovered. Jake is a Kemmer Cur/Treeing Walker cross. We wrote about A.J. Niette before, and you can learn more about this highly successful bloodtracker on his website.

A.J. wrote:

"This is an Alabama buck that we found yesterday afternoon. The deer was shot Monday at 7:30 a.m. and we got there around 3pm. It took Jake 45 mins. to find and bay him. This is a nice deer for Alabama. Don`t know how old this deer was but it had to be 5 years old...it was a big deer."

Two deer recovered by Doc in one day

A week ago Doc (Pushkin v Moosbach-Zuzelek) had a very good day. His owner Stanley Thrasher from Alabama wrote:"Doc and I had a very good Sat. I shot a 13 point buck and Doc was able to track it down. In the afternoon we received a call out. This time an 11 year old boy had shot down a seven point and they could not find the buck. Doc hit the trail about 6:30 pm and within 30 minutes he had the seven pointer located. That was two recoveries in one day." Pictures show the seven pointer recovered by Doc.

Congratulations Stanley and Doc!