Learning from experiences of other trackers is invaluable!

A big thank you to Brady Hensington, a UBT member from Missouri. I think we all can learn something from your stories!

by Brady Hensington

I have included some photos from a couple of this year's tracks.  One of the photos is from a Dept of Natural Resources Special Handicap Hunt where we volunteered to track this season.  The hunt was unusually slow this year with only 3 deer being taken during the entire weekend.  Two of those fell within sight of the hunter.

The 3rd deer was shot by John Mease, a young man with cerebral palsy.  John shot the deer with a muzzleloader from about 60 yards away.  The deer was angled towards him, and due to the smoke of the muzzleloader, neither he nor his guide were sure of where the bullet had struck, but they were convinced that the deer was hit as it bolted from the food plot.  An initial search of the area did not reveal any blood or other sign, so they radioed for us to help out.

I had brought along both Caliber, my 3 year old wachtelhund and Chloe, my 14 month old BMH (Bavarian Mountain Hound).  I opted to start the track with Chloe in order to continue her training.  I started her where the deer had been standing at the time of the shot.  She made quick work of picking up the trail, and following the deer's path into the woodline 50 yards away.  We traveled on course another 50 yards into the thick timber when we jumped up the bedded doe.  I was encouraged that the deer had bedded so close to the shot sight, so we continued on.  In another 50 yards we jumped the deer again.  Chloe tried to give chase, but I held her back.  Up to this point the only evident blood was in the wound beds and appeared to be consistent with a muscle hit.  We decided to back out and take up the track later.

After an hour I restarted Chloe at the second bed.  She took the trail up well, but angled sharply right just after starting.  I was sure that I had seen the deer run further ahead, so I was concerned with her change of course.  We had also jumped several turkeys in this area about the same time the deer had jumped up.  I decided to let her figure things out on her own and followed along.  She led into some 6' tall Johnson grass and began running through it excitedly.  I was concerned that she was scenting some small game, and as I suspected she flushed a rabbit from the grass.  My 13 year old son, Caleb was also helping on the track, and he called out to me as the cottontail flew past him.  Still, Chloe seemed undeterred and remained in the grass.  After a minute or two, I pulled her from the tangle of Johnson grass and attempted to restart her where I thought the deer had gone.  She had a difficult time restarting and took a few different paths, but kept wanting to "play" in the Johnson grass.  Eventually, I became frustrated and took her back to the truck.

I decided to restart my more experienced wachtelhund at the hit sight as well.  He tracked well up to the point of the second bed.  He became momentarily distracted by the turkey scent, but quickly corrected when I verbally questioned him.  Then, he too made a hard right turn into the Johnson grass.  At this point I believed that he was "cheating" by following our earlier trail rather than the deer's trail.  Again, I humored him and let him work out the track on his own, while my own frustration level was rising.  When he entered the Johnson grass and began pushing through it, I thought that I saw something run out the back side of the thicket into the adjacent corn field.  Caliber apparently did not notice and continued to track.  When he got to the edge of the field he became noticeably excited and began tracking at a very quick pace into the standing corn.  That's when I saw the deer run through the corn!  At that point I saw the wound, which was a large hole along the deer's right shoulder blade.  The leg was completely severed, though no vital organs were struck.  I called for the guides to come up with the gun, but they were still 100 yards behind us in the woods.

Let me note that typically in Missouri, neither tracker nor hunter can carry a bow or firearm, however on this DNR sponsored hunt, we had received clearance by the Department that wounded animals could be dispatched with a muzzleloading firearm.  In the meantime, the deer broke off deeper into the corn.  Caliber and I were in hot pursuit and he aggressively bayed up the deer.  While the deer was bayed and the guide tried to hurry to our position, I got the bright idea that I would slip up behind the deer and make a fatal wound with my hunting knife.  I closed to within a few feet before the deer turned and hit me in the chest like an NFL linebacker.  That was enough for me to back away and count my blessings that it was a doe, rather than a buck!  When the guide arrived moments later, I was able to call of Caliber, allowing him a shot.  Retrospectively, Chloe was on the right track all the time.  However, Caliber was instrumental in the recovery as he had the determination to bay up this wounded deer.   I think that it is safe to say that this deer would likely never have been recovered without the use of a tracking dog.  Everybody was elated that we had recovered John's much deserved deer.

The picture includes both of my dogs, Caliber and Chloe, as well as my 13 y/o son, Caleb
and the hunter John Mease.

The other picture is of my BMH Chloe with her first recovery.  After several difficult tracks without a recovery, we were finally able to make a successful recovery.  I had shot this doe earlier in the morning with my recurve.  The shot looked very solid, and I thought the track would be a simple ego booster for the dog.  I waited 2-3 hours after the shot before putting Chloe on the track.  Because I  thought that the track would be too simple for her, I started her where I had seen the deer enter the woods about 50 yards away from the hit sight.  Chloe quickly sorted out the trail and tracked up to my arrow.  Smelling the blood on the arrow obviously excited her and she progressed another 50 yards or so before we jumped up the deer.  I was very surprised to see it alive.  We backed out of the area and returned a couple of hours later.  It was nearly 90 degrees on that day, and we had worked on some projects while waiting on the deer to expire.  When I put Chloe back on the track she refused to track.  Instead she kept crawling into the bushes to lay down.  No matter how hard I tried I could not get her to progress.  Looking back, I think that she was hot and tired from our work out in the heat.  After combing the area for sign unsuccessfully, I decided to walk Chloe beside me as I searched for sign.  Several minutes into our search I looked over to see and hear her sniffing at a spot on the ground.  She had found blood!  She took up the trail immediately and led me another 100 yards or so to the liver shot doe who was long dead by the time we found her.  Chloe had found her first deer and again had recovered a deer that due to the thickness of the area where it had expired would likely have gone to the coyotes without her assistance.

Chloe, a Bavarian Mountain Hound, with her first recovery

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tracking with a Lab in Missouri

John received this super nice e-mail from Vince Crawford. Thank you Vince for writing!

 

John,

I wanted to leave you this message and thank you SO much for writing your blood tracking books (your dog book and Dead On). Both my pup and I have really enjoyed them. 

 

Here in Missouri, we are dealing with drought conditions, and it has made for some tough tracking! We made out first call today where we went to help someone we did not know. I am a Conservation Agent in Missouri and Hunting Incident Investigator by trade, so using my learned investigative skills teamed up with your book's suggestions really prepared me well for asking the right questions of the hunter. 

 

My 11 month old lab, Goose made pretty short work of the track job. I could not be happier for her! She is 4 for 6 this year, and I am not convinced the two she did not find died within a reasonable time frame, or at all.

 

Here is a picture of Goose with her new friend Matt, the hunter. He had a one lung and liver shot as was expected by the sign we found on the trail and the arrow. This was a 24 hour old trail.

 

I can't believe how much fun Goose and I are having tracking John. I really wonder how this will all change my own archery deer hunting in the next couple years.

 

Again, thank you very much for sharing your experiences with others through your books.

Eleven-month-old Lab Goose with the beautiful buck she recovered for Matt

Brady and Caliber, blood trackers from Missouri, are ready to help hunters find their wounded deer

We met Brady Hensington at the 2011 Trackfest in Pocahontas, and were most impressed by him and his Wachtelhund Caliber. He is a physician who resides in Monett, Missouri, and he has been diligently training Caliber for blood tracking with the goal of helping local deer hunters recover wounded game.

Blood tracking is one of the many hunting tasks that Caliber, a Wachtelhund, 
has been bred for.

Several days ago I received a nice e-mail from Brady:

Hey Jolanta,
Just wanted to say "hello," and let you know how are season has started. This year I had a job change which will allow me much more time to blood track. Prior to the season opener I left fliers with several of our local sporting good and archery shops, as well as posting on Craigslist and the United Blood Trackers website. 

 

The first week I only received calls from Kansas which as you know still hasn't legalized blood tracking with dogs. I typically receive about 3 times as many calls from Kansas as from Missouri where I reside. Last week I arrowed a nice mature doe with my recurve. The shot looked good, but due to a rather steep angle and the behavior of the deer I thought that I may have single lunged her. I watched her walk off in the woods a few minutes after the hit, and felt like this would be a good track for my 2 year old wachtelhund, Caliber. I typically crate him and take him with me when hunting away from home. I allowed about an hour to pass prior to grabbing him from the truck. As you can imagine, a trail that fresh was about all that he could handle after a long, hot summer of practice tracks. He steadily pulled me along the trail. At first I felt like he had passed the turn where I had watched the deer enter the woods, but of course he was right and I was wrong. He zipped along between alternating areas of heavy blood and minimal blood. After crossing a fence, he dragged me down a steep ravine and half way up the other side where the deer was laying, long dead. It was a joy to see his enthusiasm at finding an actual animal at the end of a track.

 

Brady and Caliber - a blood tracking team from Missouri

The next day I received a call from a gentlemen who told me that his son had shot a "once in a lifetime buck" 3 days prior. Unfortunately, there was minimal blood at the hit sight, and only a drop or two after that. The arrow hit high in the back and did not exit. They had searched diligently for 3 days, even using their duck hunting lab without advancement of the line. The gentleman was actually looking to purchase a tracking dog when he came upon the United Blood Tracker's website and saw me listed on the tracker's page. I told him that it I would not be able to come up for an additional 1 1/2 days, and that it would be an extreme long shot. He wanted to exhaust every effort, and was willing to cover my expenses if I was willing to come up and track.

 

My wife and I met the hunter 5 days after the shot. We first put Caliber on the hit sight, where he proceeded to follow the path that the deer exited the field and was last seen by the hunter. Caliber advanced the track another 100 yards with good concentration and effort before he began looking like he had lost the scent. After a couple of restarts, he was unable to make any convincing headway, but he remained very concentrated on wanting to track. We had already decided to divide the 100 acre thickly wooded property into sections and do a grid search with the wind in our favor. We searched the 100 acres and some adjacent property that we had permission to search for over 5 hours. Caliber did throw his head up as we entered an overgrown field. He led me 80 yards up the hill to the scarce remains of a gutpile. The hunter told me that this was from a deer killed about 2 weeks prior. I was encouraged that Caliber had picked up and alerted on what amounted to a handful of deer sign. He definitely was focused on the right task. Unfortunately, we were unable to recover the hunter's deer. Despite the lack of a "find," I was greatly encouraged to see Caliber's steadfast determination in tracking for over 5 hours with minimal sign. The hunter commented that my "dog looked as determined now (4+ hours into the track) as when we started." I was extremely proud of his effort. Also, the hunter was very thankful that we were able to put some closure on this for him. He was very interested and engaged in the blood tracking, and his father later called me to inquire about obtaining a blood tracking dog of his own. I gave him my opinions on breeds, and recommended John's book enthusiastically. I actually brought my copy along to show him as he had already expressed some interest. I have little doubt that he will be a future blood tracker and member of the UBT. I have attached a picture of Caliber with this year's first "recovery."

 

Caliber with "his" doe