Promotion of blood tracking dogs at its best: a big thank you to Ray and Joe

 

Ray Holohan, a United Blood Trackers member from Ashkum, Illinois, wrote:

Hi Jolanta, I  thought I would send you a picture of the outdoor show that Joe Walters and myself  did this past weekend representing the UBT. The show was a spinoff of the GOTCHA show that we have done the past few years.  This show was put on by the Kankakee Valley Park District and was called  2013 Ultimate Outdoor Show; it was a two day event. The show wasn't really put together well and wasn't well advertised, making the attendance pretty low. We were still able to get the word out about the UBT and tracking wounded deer with dogs. Everbody thought it was a great concept and  were all for it. We also got a chance to show off our new puppies Ruff and Maddy, they were very well behaved and did a good job considering the temperature was in the high 80s. Joe's tracking season will start this weekend, Indiana has a early urban hunt, I have to wait till October 1st. Well that's all for now, good luck this season

Ray, Claudia, Rosco, Razen, and Ruff

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

 

Too high expectations might spoil your tracking experience

This e-mail came from Chris Barr, a United Blood Tracker member from Indiana whose tracking partner is Gerti (Gwen von Moosbach-Zuzelek), a 3.5-year-old daughter of Billy and Gilda:

Jolanta,
So far we’re up to only 6 tracks for this season. EHD is suspected of killing many deer in IN this year and I suspect that this is a significant contributor to our lack of tracks. Attached is a pic of a buck that Gerti recovered Saturday evening on our 5th track.

The hunter shot this deer at 8:30 Saturday morning. He gave the deer 2 ½ hours prior to taking up the track. 100 yards in, he jumped the buck from a wound bed. He wisely backed out immediately. Being a fellow Trooper from the eastern part of the state, he remembered me telling him about Gerti so he gave me a call at 11:00 a.m. I was not available to go to scene until 6:00 p.m. that the evening. He felt confident that it was a liver hit. We took up the track at the hit site and with only one distraction at the beginning, Gerti seemed to lock in pretty quickly. We were getting confirmation with occasional sightings of blood and a few more wound beds. The track extended .52 miles and I only remember Gerti making two looses. She corrected herself both times and lined it out pretty quickly. On the final 30 yards, Gerti raised her head into the wind and I told the hunter that I thought she was air scenting. A few seconds later we were standing over his deer. The entire track lasted about 35 minutes.

One thing that is helping me as Gerti and I mature together, is to not have any expectations going in. We’re just fact finders that are occasionally rewarded with a warm liver to chew on…at least Gerti is. When I started out I wanted a specific number of tracks for the season and hoped for a specific number of finds. I found that this put pressure on myself, and I think in turn, I was putting pressure on Gerti. I’m trying to take more of a “I’ll take what I get and we’ll do what we can” approach. I think I’m more relaxed and I know I’m enjoying it more. Gerti, at 3 ½ , seems to be settling in to what her purpose in life is. I guess a guy never knows unless he’s stared it in the face, but I don’t think I’d take a million dollars for her.

We had about a hour and fifteen minute ride home and I let Gerti ride in the front seat like a queen. I think she was pretty proud of herself. The hunter and his family and friends that accompanied us on the track sure were. And you know I was.

Take care,

Chris and Gerti….and Oscar

Indiana handlers and hunters can't leave deer in the woods overnight because of the coyote situation

Joe Walters from Indiana wrote:

After three good tracks and no finds due to different circumstances, we finally scored.

This was a 26-hour-old track about a quarter mile long.  Hunter was looking for last blood and Doc found it first and came out of weeds and down along side of woods.  He made one short side check of about three feet into woods, then continued along edge of woods and then made an abrupt turn into woods for about 75 yards and there lay the doe.  No blood seen from last sighting in weeds.  As you can see the coyotes beat us to it.  I'm very happy with his performance this year.  The hunter said he had his doubts, but now is a believer. He told his buddy, "This dog is bad."

"Doc" (Magnum v Moosbach-Zuzelek, a Buster/Keena son) with the deer he found

 ---------

Chris Barr who also tracks in Indiana wrote recently:

Gerti found her first deer for me that I’d shot over the weekend. I’ve taken her on some “set-ups” of mine, but until Saturday, I’d not needed her since bringing her home in ’09. I shot this doe behind the ribs and in the upper 1/3 of the deer. Our area is riddled with coyotes, so if you want the meat, leaving a deer over night is no longer an option. I returned 3 ½ hours after the shot. Gerti had a little trouble getting started, but the landowner found some blood about 60 yards from the hit in the corn so I just took her and started her there. She took the track, with very little blood, about 300 yards through a partially picked corn field to the edge of the woods where the deer was laying. It was very limp indicating that it had not been dead long. Also pictured for the first time is Oscar, Gerti’s side-kick.

 

  

 

The second pic shows a friend who’d shot this deer behind the ribs at 6:00 on Sunday night.  The track was only about 200 yards. At one point as we were crossing a creek, Gerti turned and raised her head and wanted to go up the creek. The hunter was sure that the deer had gone up the hill so I “corrected” Gerti and she tracked up over the hill, made a big circle back down to……you guessed it, THE CREEK, where the deer was laying. Unfortunately, the coyotes had done their work overnight.

 

I was very pleased with both tracks. We’ve had 7 tracks so far. I’m expecting to get really busy in the next 3 weeks.

Take care,

Chris, Gerti…..and Oscar.

Chris Barr is holding Gerti (Gwen von Moosbach-Zuzelek, a Billy/Gilda daughter)

Gerti's terrific tracking season and hunters' gratitude

This report came from Chris Barr from Indiana whose tracking partner is Gerti, (Gwen von Moosbach-Zuzelek), a 2009 daughter of Billy and Gilda.

Jolanta,

I have three stories to share. The first is below. I need to start carrying my own camera as I’m having trouble getting the hunters to send me pictures.

Gerti’s 11th track of the season was her 5th find, and largest deer to date. A lifelong friend called me about 3:00 yesterday and advised he’d shot a buck through the ribs at about 9:45 a.m. He thought it was most likely a liver shot. He had the wind in his face so he just got down and snuck out without attempting a track or even looking for his arrow. I arrived at his house at about 3:30 and he took me to the hit site. There was a small amount of dried blood but it was enough for Gerti to get a start. The track was less than dramatic. It was about 150 yards and took about 5-10 minutes to run. There was not much visible blood throughout the entire track. I thought Gerti did well considering how dry it is here.

This spectacular buck was Gerti's fifth recovery of the season.

The funniest part was about midway through the track we came to a large, gray rock in the creek about ½ the size of a Volkswagen. It must have looked like the biggest deer Gerti had ever seen because she literally did a low-crawl, cat-like creep up to it and wouldn’t get over it until she touched her nose to it and realized it was not, MO-BIGLEY. If I’d have goosed her she’d probably have come out of her skin, or taken my arm off, one or the other.

This was a nice track for us as the hunter, as I said, is a lifelong friend, but one I don’t get to spend much time with anymore as our children go to different schools and we’re both just very busy. This was only the second time he’d seen Gerti, and a first to watch her work. I’m glad we could help him out although I’m sure he and his hunting partner would have found the deer without our help.

-----

Last night I took another call, her 12th of the season, for doe shot through the guts. We tracked for 200 yards through a horse pasture when we jumped the doe. When she took off I could tell by the sound of her gait in the thicket that she was hurting pretty badly. We tracked several hundred yards through a cut bean field finding blood periodically. We hit a stopping point when we tracked to a county road. In front of us was a housing subdivision, to our left was property we could not enter, and to our right, wide open cut beans. I let her track through the corner of the thicket to the road. After some head scratching and debating, I finally walked to the edge of the road and shined my headlamp into a creek at the edge of the addition and there laid the doe. A really nice mature deer. When I called the hunter over, he said all in one breath, “Can I give her a kiss, will she bite me?” Gerti doesn’t get mean at the find so he was able to kiss her on the head and love on her without fear of her biting. Below is the e-mail I received from him today.

From: Hines, Kenneth L.
Sent: Thursday, November 04, 2010 11:02 AM
To: Barr, Chris
Cc: Sorrells, Charles
Subject: Many Thanks!!!

Chris,
I wanted to take a moment and personally thank you guys again for coming out last night to help me find my deer. I would have never found that deer without Girdy’s help. I personally started to get sick to my stomach when I initially started tracking last night because I knew in my heart that deer was going to expire at some point and time, and I am very conscious about respecting game and making sure you make every effort as possible to recover the animal so there is no waste. Not only did I recover my the deer, but I also had the privilege of having an amazing experience with a trained K-9 that was incredible to witness.

I know you have not asked for this, but I would like to get something special for my new friend, Girdy. I would like to buy a bag of her favorite treats or even some type of rag doll/toy or something. With that much training invested, I understand your need to be particular about what she plays with or eats. If you can let me know, I really would like to do this. I wanted it to be a surprise, but I didn’t want to get something that would not be good for her.

BTW – I hope that she enjoyed her “treat” (liver) we set aside for her last night and she is more than welcome to tug on the hide of any deer that she helps me find. That didn’t bother me a bit and I actually thought it was the neatest thing to see. I got a huge kick out of that. The way I see it, if she finds the deer, and that is what she likes for a reward, let her have at it.

Thanks

Kenny
I am not sure if that is how you spell “Girdy”, I just guessed.

-----

The third call in two days came today. Unfortunately, I could not get out of work and could not go. My friend had shot a very nice 7 point, pictured below. Within five minutes of the shot two coyotes came through and jumped his bedded deer. He asked if he could get Gerti and track him since I could not be there. He has been with me on probably at least ½ of all the tracks Gerti has taken in her first two tracking seasons so I let him.

He and a neighbor got on the deer and went roughly 2 miles through every conceivable terrain. Gerti even swam a pretty good sized creek while air scenting the deer where he’d crossed. All in all, both hunters were ecstatic with her performance and believe that they’d have never found the deer without her. I showed up just in time to snap a picture below. This is the only picture I’ve gotten so far from the three tracks listed. If I get more pics, I’ll send them.

So far this season Gerti’s had 13 tracks, and I credit her with 7 finds.

This wonderful seven-pointer went 2 miles and would have never been found without Gerti's help.

Tracking dogs Quella and Gerti help hunters recover their wounded deer

Monday was a busy day as reports of successful recoveries were pouring in. We are still catching up. The first report is from David Bell from Ohio who wrote:

Hi Jolanta, I wasn't planning on doing any tracking tonight because of the hot weather, but I got one anyways from a die hard hunter, and off me and Quella went. The big doe ran into a field of briars which I love so much considering that I haven't bought my briar pants or jacket yet. But we went on to find this nice doe with sparse blood here and there, which was hard to see even with my big coon light. I had to restart her on blood when I noticed that she was checking for blood and clearly lost her track, but she prevailed shortly to find this nice deer. This was the young ladies first deer ever harvested and she did it with a hoyt bow.

Quella is just four and a half months old but she is already helping Ohio hunters to recover their wounded deer.

Quella with her doe.
----

The second report came from Chris Barr from Indiana who tracks with Gerti (a Billy/Gilda daughter):
 
Gerti and I had our 7th track of the season yesterday. The hunter was sure he had a rear gut/paunch hit that struck the far rear leg and broke it. He backed out without attempting to eye track. Gerti and I got there 2 hours later. With the broken leg, and predicted record heat for our area, it made it an easy decision to get right on it. It was 11:00 a.m.

The hunter wasn’t exactly sure where the deer was standing and there was no blood, so Gerti and I just started working the area. Gerti picked up the track within a few minutes, and after 50 yards with no blood, we found the arrow, confirming to me that Gerti was on it. In another 50 or so yards, we jumped the deer. We took it another 100 yards or so before the hunter was able cut the deer off and put a finishing shot on her.

This was Gerti’s 7th track, 6th deer to chew, 3rd “find”. The other three were already found, or surely would have been without our help. I guess you’d call this one a find?? The hunter just wasn’t sure how far the deer might go, which is why he called us. As it turns out, the whole thing was over within 200 yards.

The coolest thing is that this is Gerti’s 3rd “jumper” of the year.  I feel like I’m starting to read her better, and I’m definitely building confidence in her.

Gerti was instrumental in the recovery of this Indiana deer.

We love to hear that dogs out of our breeding are used for the purpose we bred them for. Thanks David and Chris, and congratulations!

Young blood tracking dachshunds at work

Last weekend John and I were at field trials in New Jersey and after we got back we had to face a high volume of phone calls and e-mails that awaited us. When we go away to field trials we usually unplug and take a break from instant communications. We pay a price for this as we have to catch up with "stuff" later. Anyway, every day brings new reports of how useful blood tracking dogs are in the field. The following reports tell stories of recovered deer by young dachshunds, all of them under two years.

First blood tracking story comes from Chris Barr from Indiana:

Sunday night Gerti and I took our 6th track of the 2010 hunting season in Indiana. I was supposed to go hunting with 2 buddies, but opted not to so that I could stay home and watch the Colts....ultimately lose.

I got the call from them at 8:00. Gerti and I arrived at the hit site at 8:30. Hunter was sure he hit the deer just behind the shoulder, but did not get a pass-through with his mechanical broad head. Before I arrived the hunters eye-tracked for 50 yards to the arrow, but could not advance it any further. I put Gerti on the hit site and after a few re-starts, she tracked right to the arrow and beyond. To that point there was maybe a tea spoon of blood dribbled on the trail. Away we went with Gerti pulling very confidently for 200 yards....but I had not seen a drop of blood since the arrow. Thinking she was not on the right deer I pulled her off and circled back to the hit site. I re-started her and she went directly to the arrow and took the same route we'd just taken. I called the hunters on the two-way radio and told them that I was just going to let her go and see where we went as she seemed very sure of herself.

This time in the same 200 yard stretch that we'd just covered, I found 2 very small drops of blood. (I'd missed them the first time through). This was the confirmation that I'd been hoping for. I called the hunters to my location and kept on going blindly following Gerti. Ten yards beyond the point where I'd pulled her off the first time, the deer opened up and started bleeding pretty well. We pushed on into some thick brush when Gerti must have nearly put her nose on the deer because it exploded from the brush and took off. At the wound bed there was gut material and the strong odor of a gut shot. Gerti went ballistic! Since the doe had let us get so close before bolting, I felt safe in pushing her hard. She went another 200 yards before making a semi-circle, going back the direction we'd just come before collapsing. With some additional drama at the end waiting for the hunters to catch up, we finally dispatched the deer, nearly 800 yards from the hit site.

Gerti (Gwen von Moosbach-Zuzelek) was born in April 2009 and she is out of FC Gilda v Moosbach-Zuzelek, sired by FC Billy von Moosbach-Zuzelek

Ultimately, the deer had been hit in the paunch, but all the blood was red, not dark or muddy. The funny thing is, we evaluated all three potential hits, shoulder, lung, gut. We’d have never jumped on the trail so quickly if the hunter had not been so sure of his shot placement. As it worked out, I’m glad we did. I have the whole track on my GPS but have not put the software on my computer yet and thus can’t share it. That’s my next move.

This was Gerti's 20th live track of her life, and without a doubt her best yet. She had no assistance (except for the prayer I said before we left). John J and everything you read, and everyone you talk to says to trust your dog, trust your dog. Until last night I just hadn't developed that "blind faith". At 18 months old, Gerti still likes to track everything and has taken me on some goose-chases. I had never had the opportunity to follow her for a considerable distance, and then finally find that tiny drop of blood that confirmed to me that Gerti was right on. From that point, I knew that all I had to do was hang on and keep up. I was truly just the dope on the rope.

I’ve never been so happy with a dog in my life. Yesterday, still on my adrenaline rush from the night before, I was taking nap on the floor when Gerti came over to me, licked me on the face and then crawled under my blanket and went to sleep. Total experience of owning a Von Moosbach Zuzelek…..PRICELESS!!

Thank you Chris for sharing the exciting story and giving Gerti good opportunities to work.

The next report comes from Greg Accardo from Louisiana. Regular readers of this blog might recall a horrific loss Greg suffered in April when his premier tracker Ariel was killed by coyotes. When Greg bred Ariel (Ariel von der Pfauenbrucke) to Tully Mars last year, she had 8 puppies, and Greg kept one male for himself. His name is Axel vom Feliciana, and he is almost a year and a half old now. Yesterday Greg wrote about this first solo find for Axel:

The hunter made a decent shot but the buck was quartering to him so the arrow exited the rear of the gut. Consequently, there was not blood at the hit site and none to be found in the direction of travel. Axel locked on to the scent where they found the arrow. At about 100 yds I started seeing lots of blood that looked like the buck was stopping and bleeding out badly. About another 30 yds we walked up on the nice 11pt buck. The young hunter thought he shot a 4 pt. Needless to say, he was very excited to have his 1st bow kill to be an 11pt.

Greg Accardo (right) and Axel found this 11-pointer for the young hunter. It was hunter's first bow kill and Axel's first solo recovery. Congratulations!

Another short report comes from Andy Pedersen from Maryland, who tracks with Ruby. Ruby will be two years old in December and she was bred by Gail Berger, and is out of Pepper Berger von Arno Yergz and our Billy. Actually this breeding was repeated recently and puppies are due in two weeks.

10/03/2010: This was Ruby's second successful track of the 2010 Season (first was 10/02 - a doe but no pics). The deer was gut-shot and we started at 0600 the next morning - Ruby took 8 minutes to cover the ~140 yd trail that had very little blood.


Andy Pedersen with Ruby who recovered this gut-shot deer.

Congratulations to all the three trackers and their young dogs! Great job!

First track of the 2010 season for Chris and Gerti

Chris Barr with Gerti (Gwen von Moosbach-Zuzelek) who found the young hunter's doe

Chris Barr from Indiana wrote:

Doe shot at 5:30 p.m. Saturday night. Suspicious of a possible gut shot, hunters did not attempt to track until 11:00p.m. After 100 yards they bumped the deer. They took a nap under a tree until 1:00a.m. at which time they tracked for another 100 yards or so before backing out for the night. Light rain most of the night. Gerti and I got called and went to the scene Sunday morning at 10:00a.m. Began at hit site and took first 200 yards without much problem. Lost blood, eventually picked up, took another 100 yards or so to point of loss. Incredibly thick cover laced with Autumn Olive and Multiflora Rose. Gerti and I would move out about 50 yards and needed GPS to get back to hit site because it was so thick. Eventually made 150 yard semi circle checking soybean field and creek. As I, Gerti and 14 year old hunter were working back to the hit site we “stumbled” across some blood. Eventually Gerti took me to the bedded deer, still alive 20 hours after shot. As I was attempting to get hunters in place for a killing shot, deer took off. Gerti and I pursued with her opening the entire way. Deer went another 65 yards before expiring. It ended up being a slight liver/one lung hit. Attached is me, Gerti and 14 year old hunter with already his 5th bow kill of his life.

Blood tracking adventures of Ryan and Oskar (standard smooth dachshund) from Indiana

I saw Ryan's post about Oskar on one of the archery forums and asked for permission to post it here. He agreed and actually expanded it. Thank you Ryan! And congratulations to awesome Oskar!

In Ryan's words:

"Thanks for letting me brag on Oskar a bit - he has been all we hoped for and more. Getting into a tracking dog has been a work in progress for us - I think I bought John's book 4-5 years ago and have read through it at least 3 times. Our research into the right dog for us has taken the last couple of years, and we couldn't be more happy with the outcome.

Oskar is a standard smooth coat dachshund from Sian Kwa's July 2009 litter. We brought him home from North Carolina to Indiana at 8 weeks old (Sian had started the pups on short blood tracks at 6 weeks) and began our serious training with him right away. We used a combination of techniques from John's book and advice from Sian to direct his training. We were very pleasantly surprised with his progress (this is our first experience training a blood tracking dog), and he was soon working artificial lines up to 300 yards long with several 90 degree turns.

Oskar at 9 weeks

Oskar tracked his first deer at 12 weeks - a doe I harvested in the early Indiana archery season - and took to it like a champ.

Throughout the fall/winter he has tracked a total of 12 fatally wounded bowshot deer (with 12 recoveries), 6 of which were easy tracks - 30-70 yards long, 4 were moderate difficulty - 200-300 yards long, and 2 were difficult - 500 and 800 yards long. The last two deer would likely not have been found without the dog. Not bad for a 5 month old pup!

He also tracked one non-fatally hit deer (brisket shot) and was pulled from the track at 200 yards upon confirmation of the non-fatal injury. One unknown track was attempted for a gun hunter that did not know hit location and had 2 small spots of visible blood and only minimal knowledge of the flight path of the deer. This track was a non-starter.

Oskar's final track of the year was a real eye opener for me with 25 years of serious archery experience and participation in probably 80-100 blood trailing situations without a dog. I shot a good sized doe - hit looked good, maybe just a tad back, but a solid passthrough shot in the ribs with a big 160 grain Snuffer on a 7 yard broadside deer. Gave her a couple of hours to be sure, then went back with a two helpers and Oskar. Figured this would be a simple 75-100 yard track in the snow, then load her up and bring her home.

We started the track at approx 10 degrees F in several inches of snow and a very high deer traffic area about 3 h after the hit. Tracking went well with moderate blood for the first 75 yards, then got into a tall (3-5 ft) grass field and things became interesting. Two hours later we had found 6-8 wound beds with decreasing blood and covered around 450 yards of trail in the grass field before the dog took me across a county road. After the first approx 150 yards in the grass the blood was very spotty, even in the snow. After crossing the road I heard the deer jump and go off - keep in mind I had watched the (shaving sharp) Snuffer tipped arrow go through her ribs several hours before this.

Oskar started tracking hot at this point and we took her another 200 yards and came upon her bedded down 10 yards away, still alive. We are not allowed to carry a weapon when tracking with a dog so at this point things were at a dead end. After 20-30 min the doe jumped up and ran into the timber. Assessment of the wound bed showed only a couple of spots of blood and no visible blood on the flight path.

I decided to back out at that point, and my helpers convinced me that I had a non-fatal hit (shoulder or back) and that the deer would live. I was very pleased with Oskar's performance on this track considering that my previous working dog experience (beagles) has convinced me that scenting becomes problematic around 10 degrees F and below. He also maintained focus and drive for the entire track of several hours in these temperature and snow cover conditions.

That night I kept thinking about the situation and I was convinced that this deer was mortally wounded - I knew what I saw at the hit. I went back in the morning with Oskar and put him in the deer's last bed. There was an additional 1-1.5 inches of new snow, so there was no visible trail, but he tracked directly to the dead deer approx 75-100 yards further into the timber. The coyotes took one hind quarter, but I salvaged the rest of the deer and got closure for myself (and Oskar) on the track.

This is a virtually unbelievable situation to me - the deer was hit 3-4 inches forward of the diaphragm through the chest and there was a visible broadhead hole through the back lobe of both lungs. I can only attribute this deer living so long (around 5h) and travelling so far (approx 800 yards) to very bad luck in evidently not striking a major vessel/artery in the back of the lungs.

The top picture is the entry wound, and the bottom is the exit wound.

We are extremely pleased with Oskar and he is becoming a great tracker as well as a great pet and gets along well with our other dogs (rat terrier, beagle, and basset hound). The only caution I would give to prospective owners is that these dogs are definitely hunting dogs, not couch dogs, and someone expecting the stereotypical American dachshund might not be the best fit for one of these dynamos.

Ryan"

Trust your dog? part 3

Joe Walters from Indiana wrote yesterday:

"Hunter thought he had hit too far back. After checking his arrow and hair, we determined he had made a good hit. Starting at the hit site Doc took it out of the woods and north along the edge of a bean field for a long ways and then back into the woods with blood starting to get sparse. He then opened and started north again opening a lot as we went to the north end of woods with no blood. I pulled him off and we went back to blood trail and farther west about 200 yds to dead buck. He had gotten on a live deer. A 3/4 mile track had turned into a 1 1/2 mile jaunt. I hope he doesn't start doing this as it was a wild goose chase."

This is a good example of what might happen when you track wounded deer. There will be tracks of live deer in the area, and a dog will be tempted to leave an old blood line, especially when it is a difficult line. It takes experience, maturity, focus and self-control on dog's part not to give in to the temptation. As John stated before: "Even dogs have their limitations; even a dog can make a mistake, and this is especially true for young dogs. Don’t blindly trust your dog for 100s of yards; keep looking for that speck of blood to confirm your trust. And read your dog."

First blood tracking season for young dogs and puppies

There is no better way to train a pup or a young blood tracking dog than to take her on easy tracks of real wounded deer. We have already had a number of posts on this topic this year:
http://borntotracknews.blogspot.com/2009/10/training-young-or-inexperienced.html
http://borntotracknews.blogspot.com/2009/10/working-with-young-blood-tracking-dog.html

Below are the examples of young dogs and puppies working in the field:


Chris Barr from Indiana wrote a week ago:

Today I shot a small buck and as luck would have it, it only ran about 40 yards before going down. I wanted another good training track for Gerti so while my buddy went to my house to pick up Gerti and my tracking gear, I took some of the blood that I collected from the deer when I gutted it and extended the blood trail another 80 yards or so in the direction the deer came from. Gerti didn’t seem to mind that the blood track started 80 yards prior to the hit site, she was just tickled to have another deer to maul. It was 9th natural track, 3rd deer to chew.

***

Kyle Stiffler from Michigan has a young puppy Misty (Berta v. Pfauenbrucke bred by Andy Bensing) and you can see her working an easy track here. His more experienced tracking dog is two and a half years old Moose (Moose v Moosbach-Zuzelek).

Kyle says: The track in the video was only 2 hrs old & about 150 yards long. Fortunately for me the heart shot was not a challenge. But she followed it with very good accuracy & she loved the find. She knows when it is tracking time as does Moose when ever I put on my tracking pants. She even got another track for me last night, also an easy track with too much blood. She has worked 7 tracks so far.

Misty is a sweetheart with a very good tracking drive. It is great having an opportunity to only track her on found deer as Moose tackles the hard tracks. We have been having alot of fun with a new baby in the house. Although sometimes the extra energy at bed time is a little too much.

Kyle, Kelli, Misty and Misty's buck

Great week for Joe and Doc, a blood tracking team from Indiana

Joe Walters and his two and a half years old tracking dog Doc (Magnum von Moosbach-Zuzelek) had a good week and recovered two deer. The picture below shows the buck recovered on November 3. What a great shot! Thanks Joe for sending it to us.

"Yesterday morning Doc located his third find on a buck after making a loss and me having to take him back to last blood. Track without loss would have been about 1/4 mile. I have to slow him down. He works entirely too fast."

The other buck was recovered on October 29 and this is what Joe wrote:

"I got a call at 7pm from the same two guys that I tracked for before. A Rage broadhead pass through on lungs and the deer went 200 yds. Doc tracked it out of weed field across cut beans into a woods and found it. I'll send you some pics later. I couldn't believe the deer could go that far with such a big hole through it's chest. The entrance was small but the exit hole was two inches. More blood the last five yds that on the entire track. In fact I only saw blood once before we got real close. I was looking down at rope on ground to see which way Doc went and told hunter that deer was headed back out to bean field when I spotted deer with Doc latched onto it. Good boy."

As you can see from the pictures Doc wears Garmin Astro and Ruffwear harness when is tracking.

Joe asked how to slow Doc down as his tracking speed is excessive. First, a dog has to be trained to "slow" down away from any tracking situation. Just like you would not start to teach your dog to sit when he is busy tracking you would not start training him to slow down in such a situation. The command "slow" or "easy" has to be first introduced when you heel your dog on a regular leash, and then set-by-step progressively implemented into more complicated situations.

Trust your dog?

posted by John Jeanneney

I like these stories about the good things that happen when you trust your dog. Almost always I will take my dog’s opinion about where the deer went before I blindly trust a hunter. I still don’t understand how hunters can be wrong so often. You have to be diplomatic and let the dog, not you as handler, point out his mistake.

But even dogs have their limitations; even a dog can make a mistake, and this is especially true for young dogs. Don’t blindly trust your dog for 100s of yards; keep looking for that speck of blood to confirm your trust. And read your dog.

I remember when Sabina tracked a bear from the hit site for a half mile. Then she gave me a look that said, “This isn’t the right bear.” We went back to the hit sight and this time she took a line in another direction….to the right bear.

Chris Barr from Indiana send us this report from his last deer call. He is tracking with Gerti (Gwen von Moosbach-Zuzelek), a six and a half month old daughter of Billy and Gilda.

"Saturday night we finally got the call we'd been waiting for. The hunter, a good buddy, was sure he had a double lung on a broad side deer 15 yds away. Shooting from a tree stand the hunter was sure entry was high on right side and anticipated exit low on left side. We gave the deer almost 3 hours before getting to the hit site. The deer took off to the south in standing corn after the shot. The only blood was about elbow high on corn leaves on the right side of the row. We found about 10 inches of the fletched end of the arrow shaft at the hit site.

Gerti and I took off on the track with her pulling hard. We went about 220 yards when the deer left the row and we lost the blood. The hunter was "100% sure" that he heard the deer go to the right towards the middle of the field while he was still on stand after the shot. We marked the point of loss and the 2 hunters started fanning the rows to the right. I backed Gerti up 20 yards or so on the known track and let her go again. This time at the point of loss she turned hard left and headed out of the corn. Did I mention that the hunter had said that he was "100% sure" that he'd heard the deer make a right turn?

Anyway, Gerti was pulling as hard as ever when I found a drop of blood on a corn leaf as we were leaving the field. When I found a spot of blood on the leaves about 10 yards into the woods I called the hunters over. This was the last visible blood. Gerti took us another 50 or so yards into the woods right to the deer.You can imagine my excitement. Some things I was happy about first of all was that the only visible blood in the corn was about 3 feet above Gerti's head. As we found out later, there was no exit hole!!! Surely there was some blood on the ground but you couldn't see it so I give Gerti some props for that.

Second, Gerti took the track the polar opposite direction out of the corn than the hunter swore he heard the deer run. This point I must gloat about for a second. My buddy was afraid that Gerti was destroying evidence at the point of loss by winding up the corn leaves with her leash. The second time he voiced his disapproval over this it kind of ticked me off which is why I picked her up and backed up the known line and re-started her. He's a very accomplished hunter but he lacks much confidence in Gerti, at least before tonight. I'm not sure what puzzled him more, the fact that he was wrong, or that Gerti was right?? He'll never tell.I feel that we'd have found this deer eventually without a dog but Gerti definitely found it first and much more quickly than we would have, so I'm calling it a find.

Chris Barr with Gerti and a doe she found

Don Dickerson from Michigan shared another story along the theme "trust your dog". Don is tracking with Gerti's brother, Gunther.

"I got a call from a good friend on Tuesday morning. He had hit what he described as a very nice big buck at 8 am Tuesday morning. The shot was 35 yards with a crossbow. He thought he had hit the deer to far back, no lungs but also had what he described as a lot of dark blood and was almost sure had hit the liver. He tracked the blood for 300 yards before losing it and called me.

I wanted to get tracking right away because the weather was suppose to get dry, hot and windy, not good tracking weather at all. I left the office and drove home and picked up Gunther (6 1/2 mo Billy/Gilda pup). Gunther picked up the blood trail right away and tracked the first 300 yards right to the spot where the blood trial was lost by the hunter. My buddy was amazed at how fast Gunther and I got there, he said it took him and another guy 45 minutes to track what Gunther did in about 10 minutes.

There where no bubbles in the blood, the blood was fairly dark and there was a fair amount of blood, but it tapered off quickly after the first 300 yards. I was convinced and convinced my buddy that it was not a liver shoot, the deer just went to far for it to be hit in the liver. Gunther veered to the North across a short grass open field, not on a deer trail, although there were several trails crossing at the last blood sight. All of the heavy cover was to the South of the last blood. We were all convinced that the deer had to have gone to the South towards the heavy cover and not crossed the open field where Gunther was taking us. But I allowed him to go that way about 100 yards or so past a small bush, right up to 3 coyote dens! At that point I was convinced that he was on the coyote track and not the deer, having seen no blood and not being on a deer trail, so I pulled him off the line and took him back to last blood at the 300 yard mark and started him again, only to have him take the same line right past the bush right up to the coyote dens again.

At this point, thinking we were all smarter than the dogs nose, I took Gunther down into the South swamp, after finding nothing after an or so search I took him back to the 300 yard mark and he again took the line to the small bush right by the coyote dens.....and low and behold this time we found a small drop of blood on a piece of grass next to the bush right by the coyote dens! Guess what? We were wrong and Gunther's nose was right! "Trust your dog...trust your dog...trust your dog" I have read it over and over in John's book and on these blogs....now I will...trust my dog. I let Gunther continue on the line up a hill down a deer trail and guess what? More blood about 200 yards further, Gunther was right on.

To make a long story short, Gunther tracked the buck over 1/2 mile, and the buck did eventually go to a swamp and near a creek. We lost all sight of blood and after about 5 1/2 hours of tracking at 3 pm, after looking in all the swamps and bedding areas, the weather now hot, dry and windy, we called the search but also now convinced that the buck was not mortally wounded. I at one point found a fair amount of muscle tissue, I am convinced the shot was high on the deer, likely not hitting any vitals. John says"...the next best thing to not finding a hunter's deer is being able to assure him/her that the deer is alive and will likely live". Thus, although we did not find the buck, the hunter was happy to know it was still alive, Gunther got a lot of valuable tracking time and he never gave up and I learned a valuable lesson....TRUST YOUR DOG!!!!!

Joe and Doc - a tracking team from Indiana; a vest for a blood tracking dog

The picture of Doc and Carl came from Joe Walters from Indiana, who wrote:

The tracking was excellent. After last blood nothing for about 75 yds. He went past the deer on the down wind side by about 10 yds and raised his head to wind it and circled back to it. Chewed on the tail. And after hunter gutted it out, I gave Doc a piece of liver and he chewed on it for a second and spit it out and started barking and wanting back on the deer. If you can't find Doc in the pic, look for his red harness.

Just few days later I talked to Susanne Hamilton who was on her way back from a weekend of blood tracking in Vermont. Susanne and Buster recovered two deer out of four, but what she raved most about was Buster's harness. Two of their calls were in a swamp, and in situations like this she finds this harness/vest invaluable. Actually, Susanne was the first who started to use this particular type of vest, and since then other handlers have started to use it too. The DiPietro family from Vermont swears by it. The picture below show Chris DiPietro handling Scout at the August workshop in NH, and Scout is sporting the red vest.

This particular harness/vest is carried by Ruffwear and more info and pics are posted here.

Handlers who use the vest for their dogs point out the advantages:

- ease of pulling the dog out of swamp or river thanks to the handle mounted on the top
- when a dogs pulls a lot, there is no pressure exerted on his windpipe as it is the case with a collar
- a dog's chest is somewhat protected from getting scratched and cut; as Susanne says: the soft underbelly flannel somehow keeps Buster from having his entire belly scratched up.

I am looking forward to hearing Andy Bensing's review of the custom made vest he ordered from Wild Boar USA/Ugly Dog Ranch store. One of his dogs has a pretty thin hair and gets all torn up on the chest, sides and belly when she squeezes through the briars. I think that his vest might provide a better protection from scratches than the Ruffwear harness.

10/18/2009
Joe Walters sent me this e-mail after he had seen the post about the Ruffwear vest:
I was tracking a gut shot deer for a hunter the other morning and the track ended at a ditch. It only had about three or four inches of water in it so I picked Doc up by his harness and proceeded across. Under the water was about three feet of black muck and I went in over my "frog legs", chaps over knee boots. Doc came out unscaithed, but I came out smelling pretty awful and very wet. Oh, the joys of tracking. I love it. Joe and Doc

Susanne Hamilton added:

With all the tracking I've done, I have not had a single issue with injuries to the skin at all, (amazing enough no scratches whatsoever). The thing that's most valuable is the handle... heck I pick Buster up by it all the time. The other good thing is that the actual clip where I use the leash seems just in the right place to relieve stress of the dogs back.
Buster has been less tired and less sore since using the ruffwear harness. Sometimes too much harness can cause rubbing, so until the new vest is proven and put through the ringer, like the ruffwear one has, and by several trackers, I think it's not really right to say that Andy's vest is going to be even better.

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It looks like handlers love the Ruffwear harness/vest.

Blood tracking reports from Indiana and Maine

INDIANA

In Indiana Joe Walters blood tracks with Doc (Magnum v Moosbach-Zuzelek), who was born on March 19, 2007. Doc comes from our "M" litter - his parents are Buster and Keena.

Joe wrote:

Doc found this buck yesterday after a 2.4 mile track, which was 14 hours old. Buck was hit high and back with little external bleeding. It wasn't a very pretty tracking job but accomplished the mission. As we started track two deer crossed in front. Later a pheasant flushed and then three turkeys flushed right in front of Doc. I wrongly assumed he was tracking turkeys and pulled him off track for a restart at last blood sign. He tracked to fence and then turned right and proceeded about 175 yds. The hunters behind me yelled they had found blood going straight to fence and said there was water about 50 yds beyond. I wrongly pulled him off track again and crossed fence for a fruitless search on other side. I told hunter Doc wanted to continue down other side of fence and we proceeded over the 175 yds and after another 200 yds found buck. The gentleman in the picture is the owner of two sporting goods stores that I had dropped off fliers before the season. Good publicity.

Congratulations Joe - this sounds like a very demanding track with a lot of distractions. Great job!

MAINE

Susanne Hamilton wrapped up her tracking season in Maine with two long difficult tracks, which both ended with recoveries. She is a dressage trainer, and now is on her way to Florida, where she spends her winter training horses. She told me that the last two successful tracks resulted in 3 marriage proposals! I am not surprised. It is not uncommon that hunters' wives and girlfriends don't support their men's passion for hunting and spending so much time in the woods. Male hunters must be surprised when they call Susanne for her tracking services first time. They see this beautiful blond who is ready to track regardless the weather and terrain conditions, carries a gun, has a great dog... and finds their deer.

Susanne tracks with Buster, who is now 6 years old and is in his prime. The November 24 trail was a very long one, and took 3.5 hours of fast tracking. The deer had a leg injury, and injuries like this call for immediate tracking and fast action. There were very long stretches where there was no visible blood on the ground at all. Few times Susanne wanted to verify whether Buster was on a right line and restarted him, but Buster always pulled in the right direction. This is Susanne's description of the second half of the track.

Buster had to work really hard at a spot in the pasture, where the deer had crossed, and where a truck with three barking Great Danes had just driven over it. Buster worked up and down the tire tracks, and eventually went bouncing back into the woods… now again almost 300 yards with absolutely no blood. I hoped that we would find something, and low and behold, as Buster took a right turn into the woods, Andy told me he had found a little bit of blood.

Buster then went yet another 200 yards with no blood, and crossed a paved road, went alongside the paved road, and went back into the woods. At this point, we started to find a little drop of blood about every 20–50 yards. We went through the woods, and then through a Christmas tree farm, went across the paved road, back into the woods, and at this point, the deer started to bleed stronger.

By the time we crossed the next Christmas tree farm the deer bled a lot. Andy, KC and I entered the woods. Big smears and patches, and even a piece of bone indicated that we where successfully pushing that deer. I had talked to Tracker Tom to ask his advice, and he encouraged me to really push this buck. He figured that if he bled now, and if we managed to bump him, that we’d likely eventually catch up with him.

Tracking through this woods was really easy going, when eventually things turned boggy. We entered Plymouth Bog, it was dark and mossy and frozen, except for the places that the ice was not strong enough, and we almost went through. It was the place where I figured we’d eventually get him. However, the bog was getting really difficult to go through, and really thick, but we saw places where the buck had fallen and slid on the ice. I thought I heard a crash, but wasn’t sure, but about five minutes later, we finally bumped the deer. We saw this large buck about 25 yards away leap away through the trees and bog. At this point I told Andy to go ahead and load his rifle.

About ten minutes later, looking only at my dog, trying to keep up and trying to keep the sticks out of my eyes, I see my dog latching on to a deer tail. Seeing that the buck was still alive, but down and slightly stuck with his antlers between two trees, I pulled Buster back, and gave Andy the go ahead to shoot.

It took us almost an hour and a half to get the deer out of the swamp, and on that way out, is where we found all the weak spots in the ice, and kept sinking through it getting really wet feet (in 25 degree weather). By that time, KC and Andy got sweaty from dragging, and I was freezing. Maynard caught up with us in the bog, and Scotty and Skip had the four wheeler and the truck waiting for us, as soon as we got out of the bog.

Buster was super tired, but still digging into that deer any time they took a break. They dragged about a 180 pound deer with my 20 pound dog hanging at the end of it.

Back at the cabin we took some pictures, gave Buster some heart, and warmed up by the wood stove, reliving this speedy 3 ½ hour track. Anyone who knows Buster (or has his kids) knows that he tracks at a pretty good clip… too fast for some people's taste. We covered an enormous distance, and reliving the track in the cozy cabin, made it a special event.

I found out that this cabin is a taboo to girls, and that I am now considered a life long “honorary dude”. We had some beer, some good laughs, and molasses cookies, and Buster was the “king”. What a GREAT day !!!!

The next day Susanne was tracking again - this was a 24 hour old trail. It took 2.5 hours of tracking to find this deer at the end:

Susanne with Buster - the last deer of the tracking season in Maine