Congratulations to Brigitte Walkey on Naya's Canadian Championship

We don't venture into a show ring but can appreciate a good looking dog. 

Congratulations to Brigitte Walkey and her new Canadian Champion  Springwood's Naya Everdeen, who was sired by our Billy. Naya is out of Can & Aust Ch Ozbree Penelope Spring Wire JE bred by Brigitte. You can get more information about Springwoods dachshunds at http://springwoodkennel.weebly.com/

Damian and Dachs von Tierspur - two very promising young blood trackers

I have a lot of catching up to with all the material that you, our patient readers, have been sending to us. This coming weekend, again, I will be at field trials in Maryland, but after I get back I hope to find more time for the blog.

This blog post talks about two brothers Damian and Dachs, who were bred by Genti and Beth Shero. The parents of these two very promising males are our Billy and the Sheros' Mae. A big thank you to Shaun and Walt for writing about the two brothers!

The first part of the post  is written by Shaun Brandenburg, a United Blood Trackers member from Winchester, OH. Shaun is an owner of Damian von Tierspur, whom he calls Buddy. The pictures were taken when Buddy was 6 months old. I have to say that in these pictures Buddy looks just like Billy, his sire.

This is what Shaun wrote:
 Just wanted to give you an update on Damian (aka Buddy) son of your Billy and The Sheros' Mae. He is now almost 9 months old and is just amazing in the field and the family. He is my first tracking dog, and I couldn't be happier with where we are at this point in the adventure. We have worked very hard and continue to do so as we enjoy what we are training for. We have had great support from our breeder and other trackers as well and give a great big thanks to all who have contributed to what we feel is success in training up to this point. Many who don't even know that they have been a great help and also drive for us to grow as a team. I am always checking your blog for new info in the story's in which you report, and you guys do a wonderful job and contribute a lot to the tracking community.

Shaun Brandenburg from Ohio with Buddy

A little info on the way we have trained up to this point, and then I will tell you how we have done it. In the beginning we did some liver drags and then we went to blood. He did very well with both most of the time. We had a few bumps, and I bet we will have a few more. From that point I went to hooves at about 4 1/2 months old and also diluted my blood 50/50 with water. Naturally was using less and less blood and things just seem to slowly get better and better as we worked each line week in and week out. 

Buddy at the age of 6 months

Now when I first started using the hooves all I had was tobacco sticks to attach the hooves to and that was no fun at all but it worked. I then designed and made my own shoes and I must say that was a game changer for me. It let myself open up and make some serious training lines for us to work. We have done 1,000 yard lines and we have done 300 yard lines. I try to mix it up and not just keep running those longer lines. It seems to work good for the pup and I feel it keeps it more real and not like we are just training for competitions. He has no problem going 1,000 yards and farther. I know a 1,000 yards isn't all that far but I feel very good about his ability to track to the next town if needed. 

Our last line was 24 hrs old and was laid with hooves with approximately 2 oz of blood watered down 50/50. This line was 600 + yards and started in the woods by a creek. At the hit site I always have some blood and hair, I forgot to mention that I use deer hair. I take the pup out to our starting point and tie him up about 20 ft or so from the hit site. I then walk to the site and stand there like I am investigating the area. I won't track until he calms down and is sitting there focused on the task at hand. This took awhile but it really seems to be paying off. 

I now go and get the pup and carry him over to the hit site and set him directly on the area. He sniffs around and we are off. Now he will usually go off track within the first 20 yards and smell up the area for a minute, then he picks it right back up and it's over after that. He works the turns like he is on a rail most of the time. When he does miss it puts a smile on my face to watch him figure out that the deer went another direction. He will make a circle until he picks up the line and that is all him. We cleared the first woods that had one creek to cross that is very steep and 5 or 6 turns in it. At this point we come to an open hay field that is 250 yards across. No problem for the pup even with a slight breeze. We leave the hay field and cross a old fence row (no fence there) into a soybean field from last year, another 200 yards across it with no problem and to the next small creek and back into the woods. I was very pleased, more liked thrilled the way he was working. We had a hill to cross and two more turns to recover our deer. The time on the track was just a few seconds over 13 min. I just wanted to share our progress and the way we have been training on our lines. A big thanks once again to all who have helped along the way.

Sincerely,

Shaun Brandenburg Winchester,OH

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Damian's brother Dachs lives in Tully, NY with Walt Dixon, who is a veteran Deer Search tracker and UBT member. Dachs has done very well in his training, and on April 16 was certified by Deer Search of Finger Lakes on a 20-hour-old line. He was not even 9 months old at the time. Walt continues to work with Dachs and recently had him on another blood trail, which was 22 hours old. He did well. Although Dachs is Deer Search Certified will continue his training and development.

Dachs is a handsome young dog

Seven month old wirehaired teckels sired by FC Billy von Moosbach-Zuzelek

 

These are seven-month-old puppies that were bred by Brigitte Walkey from British Columbia, Canada. The dam of the pups is  "Penny" - Can & Aust Ch Ozbree Penelope Spring Wire JE. The sire is our FC Billy von Moosbach-Zuzelek, SchwhK, Wa.-T, BHP-1, BHP-2, BHP-3,  natural Deer Search certified tracker of wounded deer and bear. The pups are great looking and show good potential for tracking, and Billy is proud of them :) This litter is going to be repeated soon. 

 

 

Billybob and Naya



Billy's son is called Billybob

Naya picked up a first point at a show.

A tracking dachshund Gerti finds her buddy Oscar when he gets into trouble

Last weekend brought this interesting e-mail from Chris Barr from Indiana, and the story will put a smile on your face. Chris owns Gerti , who is going to be four years old in April (Gwen von Moosbach-Zuzelek, a daughter of Billy and Gilda)). He also has a younger adopted black and tan shorthaired dachshund Oscar.

 

Chris writes:

 

I hope your new year is off to a great start!

 

Gerti and I made the February edition of The Gadabout. Page 6. In the January issue they reported on the large buck taken by Todd Wallace. It was a liver shot and Gerti and I tracked it 10 hours after the hit. .52 Miles. The author of the article wanted to do a quick article about Gerti for the next edition. Follow the link: http://www.thegadabout.com/

I have to tell you a quick story. Yesterday Gerti, Oscar and I were on a run. As you know, when off leash Gerti wears a GPS collar as she’s always on “the hunt”. Oscar is really good about staying within eyesight and he checks in frequently, so I’ve never equipped him with one. Well Gerti had just run a rabbit under an old barn and lost it. We started out across an open field and I started to call for Oscar. I realized that it had been about 5 minutes since I’d seen him. I continued to call thinking I’d see him any second. I was starting to get pretty concerned at this point. I was calling Oscar pretty feverishly when Gerti came around. I looked at her and said, “where’s Oscar?”. She looked at me like she knew exactly what I’d said. Very firmly I said, “Gerti find Oscar”. The command “find it” is what I always use when putting her on a deer or rabbit. Well she spun on a dime and ran on a sprint across the open field about 150 yards to the barn where she’d lost the rabbit. I followed her across the field and into the barn. There was Oscar in an old corn crib. Somehow he’d gotten into the crib, but it was about a 3 foot jump to the ground and he didn’t want to make it so he just stayed there. Gerti knew he was there the whole time. I had not seen Oscar when Gerti was running the rabbit. The last I’d seen him he was not near the barn so I did not expect him to be there.

So I’ll add that to her resume…”tracks black and tan adopted dachshunds”

Take care,

Chris and Gerti…….and Oscar.

Joe Walters and Chris Barr with Gerti

 

Three deer recovered in one day: Andy Pedersen and his tracking dog Ruby are an experienced and successful team

Andy Pedersen, a United Blood Trackers member from Southern Maryland has been tracking with his wirehaired dachshund Ruby for three years now. Ruby will be four years old this December; she was bred by Gail Berger, and she was sired by our Billy. What a great tracking days he had just a few days ago! Congratulations!

Andy reports:

This past Friday, October 12, was the first time I have taken Ruby out on three calls. It was a great day, as we went 3 for 3!

I got two calls Thursday night, and after the phone interviews, ended up telling both hunters that Ruby and I would help them track Friday morning. The first track of the day was straight forward. The hunter had arrowed a small doe in the late afternoon that he saw bed down 60 yds away. After less than 30 minutes, the doe got up and walked away. The hunter quietly backed out and called me for assistance. I took Ruby to the hit site early next morning, and she immediately acquired the track. We found the dead doe ~120 yds from the temporary bed in just a few minutes. The arrow angled towards the rear from the entrance wound in this photo.

I then headed over to the local Navy Base where the hunter told me he didn't sleep that night as he had hit his largest buck ever. The hunter shot the buck quartering away with a rage-tipped crossbow bolt that didn't get full penetration. He and his friends found only 60 yds of light blood trail; I had my doubts about the outcome. Ruby followed the track up to where the hunter had recovered the bolt, and shortly afterwards took an unexpected sharp left turn to the general bearing of the track. Another experienced sight-tracker was with me, and we both thought that it was unlikely that Ruby was on the buck's track. I gave Ruby her way, and we went through a marshy swale and continued on for several hundred yards. I decided to re-start Ruby back at the bolt, and she again took the left bearing towards the swale. We followed the line and the sight-tracker spotted a very small smear of blood near the swale. Confidence was restored and again we re-entered the swale - and before I knew it, Ruby was chewing on the buck! - Ruby missed a turn the buck had made when he augured into the weeds and got half-submerged. The hunter was almost as happy with his buck as I was with Ruby. Ruby's initial miss was quickly forgiven, it was likely the buck would have never been recovered.

I thought tracking was over for the day, and went out hunting in the afternoon. I shot a doe at very close range in the late afternoon, and started to sight-track her. I had tried for a heart shot, but was pretty sure after a bit that I had likely caught just a single-lung. So I called my wife to bring Ruby to my hunting spot, and we began the track. Ruby locked onto the blood trail that ebbed and flowed over a long run. I was so happy with the outcome that I promised Ruby some fillet - we found the doe over 600 yds from where I had hit it. Again the outcome would have been in doubt without Ruby's help.

We were both tired from the long day, but the day carried a lot of the satisfaction that comes with hunting and tracking. Ruby did herself (and her daddy) proud!

Andy Pedersen

Seven blood tracking puppies will be going to their new homes soon

Yesterday we drove to Poughkeepsie, NY to visit our friends Genti and Beth Shero and see their puppies that were sired by our FC Billy von Moosbach-Zuzelek. Seven puppies were born on August 1, five males and two females. This is a "D" litter so all pups' names start with a letter D. We could not be happier with the litter. They look really, really nice, and we were impressed by their temperaments. The pups are all spoken for and will be going to tracking homes.

What an exquisite head this male pup called has!

Genti is getting puppy kisses

 

After spending time with puppies we had a wonderful lunch - thank you Genti and Beth!. From the left: Genti, John, Beth and her father John Robinson

Blood tracking dachshunds - reports from the field

Stories and pictures of dogs finding wounded deer for hunters keep coming in - thank you!!! Congratulations to handlers and their dogs!

First picture came from Dave Weaver whose tracking partner is eight and a half year old Arlo (Alfi/Elli son). Dave wrote: Well, here's Arlo's first deer of the season, a 24hr gut shot. Just wanted to drop a line and let you all know we are still at it. I hope to get another year or two out of him. He seems to still want to go so I'll be taking him. He's feeling his age some days but other days he acts like a puppy.

_____

Kevin Lutz sent this super nice e-mail:

John and Jolanta, I met you guys at the trackfest this year in Pocahontas, AR, and had a great time hanging out with you all and learning all I could about this exciting world of tracking deer. Archie (Billy's son) found his first deer the other night, I received a call from a guy who said he only had blood for about 50 yards. So we got together and put Archie on the line and he did great even out past were there was no blood for about the last 100 yards. When we found the deer it was still alive 12 hrs after the first shot. We made the decision to jump the deer figuring it wouldn't go too far after having laid for 12 hours. We were right as the deer didn't travel too far but we had to jump it two more times before it expired. The hunter never brought his bow thinking the deer would be dead. All along Archie did great showing a great will to get this deer so thanks for the great blood lines that Archie has. His desire to track deer is incredible, never relenting he would have gone all night long if we needed to. So thanks again John for writing the book, you guys should be so proud of starting all this. It's you have this big extended family. Thanks.

Kevin
PS. Archie also doubles as my granddaughter's friend.

_____

Chris Barr from Indiana reported on Gerti's (Billy/Gilda daughter) another successful track:

Our 5^th track was shot right at dusk. The hunter thought his hit was questionable so he just slipped out as quietly as possible and called a friend who called me. We gave the deer 4 hours and returned with Gerti. The evidence at the hit site was pretty good and it appeared that he’d smoked this deer. I put her down and 60 yards later, Gerti was tugging on a rump. She didn’t even have time to settle into the track before it was over. Oh well, I’m not complaining. The deer green-scored 133”.

Take care, Chris

A liver-hit doe recovered by wirehaired dachshund Ava

On Saturday and Sunday I was away at field trials in Batavia, NY and will be posting more information about it later today. When I got back home last night I found my Inbox full of good material for the blog - a big thank you to those who submitted pictures and stories. I will be posting them in the next few days.

This picture came from Dean Davenport from South Carolina who a year and a half ago had a litter of pups sired by our Billy. He kept the only female in the litter for himself, and her name is Ava Vom Tiefen Suden. Dean wrote: "Hey Jolanta and John. Hope all is well in Berne. I enjoy the information and blog yall produce. It is very helpful. This doe is Ms. Ava's first deer of the 2011 season. It was my first deer with traditional equipment and knew it was liver hit at best. I made the choice to look for her sooner than usual because the temperature was at 93 degrees. Our weather has been the opposite of yours with no rain and yours too much. Ava was a trooper and had no problems. The doe only went 120 yards and bedded. Ava is good tracker and has unbelievable grit. Saturday morning we tracked a buck that the hunter said he gut shot. The line was 16 hours old. We found small drops of blood with in 45 yards of the shot but then blood was sparse. I would see tiny specs at 100 yards or so. We went about 850 yards on the track with no beds where the buck bedded or anything. I felt it was still going. Take care. Talk to you soon. Thanks"

Thanks Dean for sharing. Good to hear good things about Ava. Good luck this hunting and tracking season!

Dean with Ava, who recovered his liver-hit doe.