Another deer recovered by Mossy Brooke (Viola von Moosbach-Zuzelek) from Georgia

Mossy's recovery #29 for the season took place on Sunday night, the last day of hunting. As it turned out it was not her last track of the season but we will have another post about that. A big thank you to Judy Catrett, Mossy's owner and handler from Georgia, who reported:  

The hunter had shot a doe quartering to him and had found blood and hair, 3 foot diameter area, at the site of the shot. The most hair I had ever seen at a shot site. Mossy tracked the blood trail easily into the woods and through a swamp for 200 yards with visible blood being seen by me as we tracked. She then tracked for another 600 yards, total of 800 yards, with me seeing no blood the last 600 yds. Craig was with us on this track, having stayed at the truck, so I called for him to pick us up and let Mossy start over. She again tracked 200 yards, but at this point went in a different direction than our initial track and within 100 yards, I began seeing blood again. She tracked for 300 more yards into a clear cut with thick briars.  

She jumped the deer which I could not see, but could hear. We then tracked very fast thru the briars which were chest high, with me seeing blood the entire time. I had shortened her leash to 6 feet so that she would be in no danger of again coming up on the deer without me seeing it and being hurt by the deer. Within 100 yards, the deer had bedded again and was unable to jump up and run. I was able to dispatch the deer with my pistol.  

This deer had sustained an open wound to the left side of its abdomen and had run 600 yards per GPS from the shot site with its stomach and intestines hanging out. I really had empathy for the suffering this deer had already endured and was so glad that Mossy had found it so that its misery could be shortened. Evidently, no major arteries had been hit and the deer could have lived for a while longer had we not found it. The deer had made several turns, so I am not sure how far she actually was able to run with this massive injury, probably 700-800 yards as GPS showed 600 yds straight line. Deer are very tough animals, being able to exert this type of energy with this injury.  

There were 5 other deer in the field when this deer was shot, and I assume that Mossy, in her haste to find the wounded deer, took the track of one of the other deer initially after 200 yards. I knew after 800 yards and no blood that we were probably on the wrong track, so we tried again and she straightened herself out. She is still very young in her tracking career, and things of this type are to be expected. She continues to excel in her tracking abilities.  

The picture is not pretty with all of the blood involved and Craig burst out laughing when he saw me in the picture. He said I honestly looked like I had been dragged through a swamp. Mossy was the only one who endured this track without any change of her looks. She is always rewarded with the tongue once she finds the deer. She swallowed this tongue whole, but is doing fine this morning. Could not believe that she just gulped it down as she normally chews them. She also supplied heart for supper for herself, Pache, Tiny Tink, and Buddy. Her sibs love having her around so that they can all feast on heart when she comes home from tracking--something they have come to expect when we get home from a track.

A busy Thanksgiving weekend of deer tracking for Judy and and her dachshund Mossy Brooke

Mossy has had a busy week again this past week.  The only problem has been that most of our tracks have ended up with no dead deer being recovered, much to Mossy's disappointment.  The majority of these have been after a front leg shot, having found bone consistent with an upper long bone of the leg at the sight of the shot.  The areas these deer were shot were so thick that Mossy on leash dragging me could not move fast enough to catch the deer. And, at this point in Mossy's career, running off leash is just not yet an option.  We are getting closer to that point, but this will probably take a few more seasons of tracking. She is too vulnerable at this age to the dangers she has no idea exist, and she can move too fast.  When I was tracking off leash with Bear, he could make a deer with a leg wound move fast enough that it would usually bed down or stop and stand to defend himself once Bear had run it a mile or more, giving me time to get to them and dispatch the deer. Same scenario on a couple of occasions last year when Mossy ran off leash. As she became older and more sure of herself, she would venture further away and I am now concerned about her safety--highways, coyotes, wild dogs, snakes, etc--so on leash she will be for a while longer.

This young man, Jason had been deer hunting on several occasions, but had never had the opportunity to shoot a deer.  I have a stand that I take kids and have had a camera on it, but deer were coming by only during the night with an occasional doe during the day.  I explained to Jason that we could go and if we were lucky, we might see a deer. And, so we did.  After being in the stand for an hour with Jason sitting perfectly still and quiet, this 8 point walked out.  On the way to the stand, I had gone over the things we should and should not do to keep from spooking the deer.  His actions in the stand were those of a young man who had listened to everything we discussed and then followed through with them. I was very impressed.  When the deer was broadside, Jason took the shot. The deer hunched as if it had been hit.  When we walked to the site of the shot, my heart dropped when I saw bone--thinking--oh NO, another leg wound.  On closer inspection, the bone did not resemble a long bone.  So, I called Craig to bring Mossy as we could find no blood or the deer.  Mossy to the rescue.  She immediately picked up the trail--going in a direction in the woods I knew the deer did not go--but I allowed her to continue to track.  Glad I did because she had found Jason's deer very shortly. The deer was hit low in the brisket, but caused enough damage for the shot to be fatal. 

So, Mossy's and my Thanksgiving weekend turned out perfect.  A young man with his first deer and Mossy finally finding her reward at the end of the track. Life does not get any better for a WHD than this.  She guarded this deer with her entire body, but allowed Jason to act like his was his for a few minutes. 

*****

Mossy Brooke received another call this AM.  The hunter had shot the deer 3 hours previous, had found blood for 50 yards and then had lost the trail of blood.  He and his buddy had walked in the woods for 2 hours searching for the deer.  They then ran into another hunter up town who told them about Mossy. We arrived and after talking with the hunter found that the deer was quartering toward the hunter who had made an app. 150 yd shot with the deer going down on his front legs, then jumping up, crossing a fence, and running off. The hunter had gone down to the site the deer was standing when he shot and found blood.  He heard a crash about 75 yds to his left and assumed this was the deer.  

Mossy started on the blood trail, went directly uphill and then to the right. The hunter advised me the deer did not go that way--he heard him crash to his left.   "When will she ever learn?"--were Mossy's thoughts at this point I am sure as I pulled her off the track and took her back to the area of the crashing noise. She appeased me for a few minutes and then we were off on Mossy's track again. 

Within 100 yards, I began seeing large pools of gut shot blood, then thru a thicket losing my glasses, and across the creek.  Now, Mossy is pulling hard, I have lost my glasses and cannot see very well, and the hunter has gotten behind. I am calling him to catch up so he can be my eyes and shortly Mossy is standing over the dead deer.  Thank goodness the deer was dead as without glasses I did not see the deer until she was touching it. Three blows from the whistle and the hunter comes running to us. Mossy is awesome, awesome, awesome. And, I have learned that along with extra batteries, flashlites, etc., I will have an extra pair of glasses.  Another awesome morning with my little Mossy Brooke.

Mossy Brooke, a tracking dachshund, recovers a deer for newlywed hunters in Georgia

Judy Catrett from Georgia owns Mossy Brooke whose registered name is Viola von Moosbach-Zuzelek. Mossy is a 19-month-old daughter of our Tommy (FC Tom vom Linteler-Forst) and FC Tuesday von Moosbach-Zuzelek. This is Mossy's second tracking season. She gets a lot of tracking opportunities at a hunting plantation managed by Craig, Judy's husband. I get a lot of pictures and stories from Judy (thank you Judy!) and will try to share some of them here. This one came yesterday.

Mossy and I have been so busy tracking wounded deer this past week, I have had very little time to email. She has recovered 15 deer so far this year and most of these have been for hunters in the area who have heard about Mossy Brooke. The majority of her recent tracks have been more difficult--ranging from several hours to 24 plus hours old. 

The buck in the picture was several hours old.  This young lady was just engaged 2 weeks ago, was shooting her new rifle given to her by her future husband, and could not find the buck she had shot.  Mossy Brooke to the rescue.  Mossy was shown the site at which the buck was shot, and she immediately picked up the track and started through the woods.  The lady told Craig that she did not think the buck went the way Mossy was tracking. Craig assured her that Mossy should be allowed to track the direction her nose was leading her.  Mossy continued with confidence and I began seeing blood. Mossy tracked to the edge of a beaver pond, which I knew we could not cross due to the depth of the water and I could not see a floating deer anywhere near.  Mossy then turned and began tracking up the edge of the pond.  Within a few minutes, Mossy had found the buck. Craig had already told Stephanie that 3 blows from the whistle meant that Mossy had found the buck.  Craig said that when they heard the whistle, Stephanie began screaming with joy and dancing. They made their way into the woods to Mossy and me.  

After some celebrating and pictures, Craig asked Stephanie's fiancé to help him pull the deer out of the woods.  Stephanie immediately interrupted and informed Craig that she would help him pull the deer out.  As it turned out, everyone had a turn pulling the deer.  This makes mine, Craig's and Mossy's day.  We helped load the deer on the 4 wheeler and then left the newly engaged couple in the woods celebrating. To make things even better, Bubba, Stephanie's fiancé had killed a buck that morning--much smaller than Stephanie's.

We have had about 5 tracks that we have not recovered the deer during the past week. Mossy tracked and worked hard, but after going about 1/2 mile without blood, I stopped her. I continue to learn from other trackers posts and definitely from John.  We plan to be quite busy this weekend as Craig has hunters and our little town is full of hunters right now.   I think Mossy has had 8 tracks this past week.

Mossy sleeps on pillow beside me every night like a little human pup. We love her so much. Thank you again for choosing us as Mossy's family.

Judy

Some of Mossy's recoveries from 2015.

Not all wounded deer can be recovered, even if you use a tracking dog

Time to get back to the topic of tracking dogs because we really fell behind with our blogging and emails. I apologize to all our contributors and those who are still waiting for our replies.

We received this letter from Judy Catrett on December 10. As you recall Judy lives in Georgia where it is legal to track with a dog off-leash. Mossy (aka Viola von Moosbach-Zuzelek) is an eight-month-old daughter of Tommy and Tuesday. Thank you Judy!

Just a note to let you know how Mossy is progressing.  We have now started doing a fair amount of tracking for hunters other than those that are guests of the plantation which Craig manages.  I had read John's books, Dead On!  and Tracking Dogs for Wounded Deer prior to tracking season, but have found myself using them as a reference after several tracks recently.  I am always wondering what we (Mossy and I) did not do when we were unable to retrieve a wounded deer--so I dig into the books hoping to obtain a little more knowledge along with rethinking what we did and could have done differently on each track. 

Mossy Brooke continues to be an excellent tracker and her name has become well known around our little town and county as well as into some neighboring counties.  Since I last emailed you, we have been on several tracks that we were unable to find the deer.  One deer had a broken front leg--the hunter shot the deer straight on into the brisket area. Leg bone, a fragment of the bullet, and muscle tissue were found at the site of the shot.  Mossy and I arrived approx. 5 hours after the deer had been shot and after 2 inches of rain.  She immediately picked up the trail and actually jumped the deer within 100 yards of the last blood the hunter had found (this had been washed away by the time we arrived).  She was tracking off leash as she was in an area that was safe for her to do this and the briars were so thick and tall that it was almost impossible for me to keep her on leash.  I was 40 yards behind her when she bayed the deer. The deer immediately ran and she bayed it twice more during her trailing, for only a few seconds each time.   The deer had stopped bleeding and crossed 2 creeks during this tracking.  We trailed this deer for 1 1/2 miles and it was showing no signs of slowing down, so I stopped Mossy as I felt that this was another wound that would not slow the deer enough for us to retrieve it.

We had a similar experience with a buck that I think was shot above the spine and stunned for a few minutes.  This was the second buck that we have tracked this year with this type of injury.  Mossy tracked it on leash for over 1 mile. This track was 11 hours old when we arrived.  On arrival, she immediately picked up on the blood trail which dwindled to no blood within 150 yards.  She continued to pull strong on the leash throughout the entire track.  I finally had to stop her around midnight as this seemed to be a nonfatal injury with no bleeding being noted along the trail past the first 150 yards and I had to work the next day.

We then tracked a deer that was gut shot 24 hours previous to our arrival.  This deer was probably shot in the stomach as acorns and corn were noted at the shot site.  I certainly thought that this buck would be found.  There had been 2 to 3 inches of rain during the 24 hours that had passed since the shot.  She trailed the buck for approx. 1 to 1 1/4 miles total, off leash. She bayed the buck in a very thick pine thicket with terrible briars for a few seconds, but when the buck heard me coming it ran.  Mossy trailed it to a large pond which neither she nor I could cross.  The hunter's (age 12) father owned this land and decided that there was no easy way to get to where the buck may have gone if he was able to cross the water and that he would watch for a floating deer or buzzards in the next few days.  This is one track that I am still puzzled over.  I certainly thought that the deer would be in the edge of the water and that the wound would be significant enough that Mossy and I could catch up with the deer.  I am still mulling this over in my head trying to decide what should have been done differently.

Craig took Mossy on a track in which the deer was tracked for 1 1/2 miles.  She was on leash on this track and Craig did not have a gun as the hunter was carrying a rifle and going with them.  After 3/4 mile, Mossy walked into a briar thicket and actually put her nose on the deer's hip.  The deer was still alive --shot through the flank areas (gut shot)--and it stood up when Mossy touched it.  The hunter had been unable to keep up with Craig and Mossy in the briars and when Craig had to yell for him to come with the gun, the deer ran another 3/4 of a mile at which time Craig had to stop tracking due to property lines.  Craig has not tracked as much as I have and did not realize the importance of being self sufficient and having his own gun.  A lesson well learned he said after being dragged through 1 1/2 miles of briars by Mossy.

I am realizing that wounded bucks will let Mossy Brooke get fairly close to them and they will have a stand off with her if they still have enough life left in them to possibly survive. This I think occurs because of her small size and bucks detecting her as not being threatening.  If I try to approach a buck with a wound that may not be fatal, it immediately bolts as soon as it detects a larger creature approaching.  It is almost impossible for me to get to the buck without making noise due to the thick vegetation and briars.  I would appreciate any feedback on how to handle these situations.  I think that this is one reason a lot of trackers in the south use larger dogs who actually catch the deer and keep them at bay until the person with a gun can get there.  Don't worry, I would never trade my Mossy Brooke for a larger dog.

Mossy Brooke is an awesome little dog with a love for tracking that cannot be described.  I consider myself very lucky to have her--for tracking and more so as a companion.   She is almost 8 months old and has now found a total of 26 deer (December 10).  

Hope you and John have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year,

Judy

Mossy modeling her camo jacket with Erin prior to going hunting. Mossy stays in the car very quietly with her camo jacket when I take the kids hunting. I am also sending a picture of the buck that Erin killed on our hunt a couple of hours after this picture was taken. Mossy was not in the picture because Erin dropped the deer in its tracks. Mossy still had fun acting like she found it. All of the kids love Mossy as she does them. I take most of these kids turkey hunting in the spring also, so, if Mossy finds a deer for anyone, when they ask what they owe for her services, I request the favor of being able to bring one kid to their property for a turkey hunt next spring.  I am now having to keep a list of the places Mossy has earned us the opportunity to turkey hunt.  When I sit back and look at all Mossy has done here in Georgia--in addition to tracking wounded deer--I am overwhelmed. Introducing kids to hunting, the outdoors, and WHDs is awesome.

Five deer recovered in one day by Mossy Brooke, an off-lead tracking puppy in Georgia

by Judy Catrett (owner of Mossy Brooke, registered as Viola von Moosbach-Zuzelek)

Jolanta,

Well Mossy had to endure a few days without being able to track--it was difficult for all of us, but we made it through the week.  Mossy had a very busy day yesterday--finding 5 total deer in 1 day.  She was exhausted last night for a couple of hours, but then was ready to go again. She is already following me around the house whining for her collar to be put on this morning.  She continues to amaze both me and the hunters--her love for tracking is astronomical.  I began to doubt Mossy last night when as we were running through the woods, she stopped, stood on her hind legs with her front feet on a fallen branch about 2 feet off the ground, sniffing the branch.  I told her we were not squirrel hunting and about that time I saw blood on the branch. Of course I offered my apologies to Mossy and we were off running again.  Shortly we found the buck. 

Mossy is one little awesome tracker.  I have watched her ability to track progress with each track she works. She is a very intelligent and loving pup as you will see in one of the pictures I send.

Mossy's total deer finds is now up to 19.  I consider myself so fortunate to have Mossy.  I have told the hunters that once she finds a deer from a 24 hour old track that has been rained in, she can join the elite trackers in her family---Tommy, Theo, Thor---just to name a few. 

Tell John that I have to agree that the WHD's noses are a bit better than the JRT's.  Bear was a great tracker, but had to work a little harder at picking up the scent than Mossy seems to.

Thanks again for Mossy.

Mossy enjoying her deer with one of the hunters.

Mossy thanking the hunter for killing the deer. 

Mossy with her 2nd buck for the day.  This is the deer that she was up on her hind legs smelling the branch. 

Mossy with the hunter who killed the 2nd buck of the day. I try to let each hunter hold Mossy so that she gets acquainted with a wide variety of people. She loves it. 

Congratulations to Randy Vick on his outstanding tracking season!

Randy Vick is a veteran tracker from Pavo, GA. During the 2013/14 hunting/tracking season he recovered 66 deer out of 113 calls he took. His tracking partners are Annie, a Mountain Cur, and Pepper, a young Drahthaar. Most of his tracking is done off-leash.

There is much to be learned from Annie's work. Few would expect that a Mountain Cur, bred to tree squirrels and coons, would be a "natural" for tracking old, cold ground scent of a wounded deer. This shows that we can't go by breed labels when we select a tracking dog. Ability is where your find it! Your chances of getting a good one may be better with some breeds than with others, but in tracking there is no "rule" or generalization that doesn't have its exceptions.

Of course Annie's handler, Randy Vick, is exceptional too. Both Randy and Annie have the ability, the passion and the endurance that we all admire.

Below pictures are just a small sample of Randy's tracking accomplishments.

 

 

 

Two different deer tracking strategies produced different results

Thank you to Ken Parker, a UBT member from Georgia, for the report on two tracks he did with Mirko and Baby, his Bavarians.

Tuesday morning around 10 AM I got a call from a hunter stating that he had shot a big buck around 8:30 with his crossbow but backed out when he realized he had gut shot the deer. I advised him that we needed to wait 6-8 hrs after the shot before we took up the track. I was going to try to get off around 2:30 to head his way.
Well around lunch I got a second call of a deer down that could not be found. The hunter could not find any more blood after a few hundred yards and he had spent the morning walking the woods looking for his deer. We talked some and I told him that I should be able to get to him between 9 and 10 that night.  He said that he had someone coming in a few hours and they were going to be looking some more.

I was not able to get off until 3:30 so that would put me getting to the first track around 5. We were able to get in and get started quickly. Mirko, my male BGS, was the one who was up for this track. He quickly worked the line out to the hunter's stopping point and out into an old grown up field. The wind was swirling some and he kept putting his head up like he was winding the deer. He finally picked a line and off we went down into a swamp. There was so much deer sign it was hard to to tell if he was on the right deer or not.

I decided to pull him off the track and restart him to see if he brought us back to the same spot. In the meantime I also got a call from the second hunter stating that they had found a wound bed and were going to bring in a bloodhound. If they did, would it be an issue for my dogs if I was till needed? I said no problem, go for it.

Returning to the hit site I restarted Mirko and he took us right down to the same opening and started working with his head up again. Off we went down the same trail again for about 50 yards, then we turn left, OK, new spot, lets go. Mirko took me across the old field and over near the road and power line. Here he turned up toward an industrial building. At this point I was just letting him drag the lead around as I did not want to crawl into the thicket he was in. That is when the world came alive.

A big deer came barreling by me and I knew right away we had the hunter's deer up and moving. It was now 6:30 and it had been 10 hrs since the shot. We decided to give the deer some time and went to move the trucks around to where we were now. Boy I did not know it was going to take us so long to get started again. As I was getting ready to go back in the woods I realized I did not have my GPS tracker for the dogs. I must have dropped it when we were getting back in the trucks. So off we went back to the other side but no gps. Now I was mad as that was a lot of money, then it hit me. The controller beeps when the dog trees so we could check if we heard it.

I started to think when the last time was when we had it. So we went back to the spot where the deer about ran me over and started our search. Sure enough, we heard the beep so it was close but where? We spent the next 30-45 minutes walking in a 20 yard circle hearing the beep but not finding the unit. Finally, we all agreed that we were within 10 ft but still could not find it  because of very tall briars. Then Derek looked down and low and behold we had been standing on it in the trail.

Back to work - did the deer go to the swamp or cross the road. Mirko was so ready that when I hooked him back up and told him to "find it" that he about pulled my arm out of the socket going after the fresh track that was now a little over 1 1/2 hrs old. Well this is the lucky hunter as we came up on the deer in about 150 yards as it was taking its last breath. When it got up and ran that was the last bit of energy it had.

So back to what we all knew would be the unlucky hunter. I gave him a call and told him that I could be there at 9 PM if they had not found the deer. They did not find it and wanted us to come. I got there at 9 and we got down to the hit sight. As it turned out the hunter had waited only 20 minutes before he started to look for his deer. That is when we heard a large pack of coyotes off in the direction I was told the deer had gone. I wanted to start at the beginning of the track since they had spent the better part of the day looking near the point of loss and later another dog had been on the track.

This time it was Baby's turn to track. She is getting old and is easy to follow so I just let her drag the lead instead of holding onto it. We quickly worked the line out to the point of loss and then out to were the hunter's friend had found a wound bed. Baby was slow and steady and not only showed us the wound bed but the other two wound beds also. So we kept going and the deer turned and went under a fence. I was told that the bloodhound did that too but he turned and went back down the fence the way we came. Baby ignored this and went straight across the open area into the next wood lot. Here things got a little weird and we lost the track. I decided to work her around the field to see if we cut the track or could wind the deer in the field.

We worked all the way around the field and came back to the track at the wound beds. But this time I spotted the fourth wound bed. There were 4 in 50 yards. This deer was hit hard to keep getting up and moving like that. So again under the fence and into the woods but this time we took an immediate right just inside the woods. It was now getting close to 11 and the hunter's was about to drop from being so tired and worn out from looking all day. I was also getting tired. But that is when we noticed, more blood. So here we were with new sign to guide us. Baby continued finding a few more spots and then took me out across this wood lot into another field across it and into the next section of woods that holds two house and the road. Well this was where the track ended for us. The deer crossed the road and went where we could not go at that time.

 

The difference in recovering and not was pretty straight forward.

•  The first hunter recognized he gut shot and backed out following my instructions not to go back in there as he might push the deer. Second hunter only waited 20 minutes and searched all day walking and disturbing the woods.
• If the deer runs out of sight wait at least 2 hrs. If you even think there is a chance of gut or liver wait 6 hours or more if you can. I know weather plays a big factor in how long you can wait.
• If you go more than a few hundred yards and have not found the deer, back out and wait a while.
• If you do jump the deer wait another 4 hrs.
• None of this will guarantee a recovery but it will increase your odds. It will also be less likely that you have to call in a tracking dog. But if you do and have done everything right, then hopefully your deer will be found within a few hundred yards instead of a mile or more because you were in to big a rush and pushed the deer.

Here is Derek Snyder and his boy with Derek's perfect 10. This was a very tall and heavy racked 10. Not a lot of spread on him but a very symmetrical rack.

News from Georgia where the handlers and their tracking dogs have to be tough

Randy Vick is an outstanding handler and UBT member based in Pavo, Georgia. We have written about him and his blood tracking dogs before. His primary tracking dog is an eight-year-old Annie, a Kemmer Stock Mountain Cur. This year he was also using his young Drahthaar Pepper.

Randy Vick is holding Annie, his outstanding Kemmer Stock Mountain Cur

In Randy's own words:

Here are some pictures of the 41 deer that we recovered in south Georgia and north Florida during the '12-'13 season.

The picture was taken at the end of the outstanding 70-hour old track that had been rained on for 3 hours the night before we tracked it. It was a gut shot and all blood was washed away but Annie followed it 1200 yards on lead. The only sign was a half dozen drops of intestinal matter along the track and finally 6-8 beds along a 100 yard stretch. The buck had only been dead a short time when found.

Several deer were bayed alive, off lead, and though we did not know it when this picture was taken, my Drahthaar, Pepper, had been gored by the buck pictured in the cypress swamp (picture above, which is showing Annie with the buck). She quickly recovered from her wounds.

On one track I did shoot wrong deer that Annie jumped on the trail, but the hunter excused me and we went on to recover his wounded deer. He paid to have my buck processed.

Pepper was gored in the back and hip, Annie lost one front upper tooth, somehow, and I have fell and bruised/tore my kneecap twice.

Luckily, all fairly minor injuries, and we are all healed and ready to go tracking. At a 46% (41 for 91) recovery rate, we were blessed with another great tracking season.