A long track for Darren Doran and his dachshund Theo leads to successful recovery

A big thank you to Darren Doran who wrote this report a week ago. Following Monday he had a rotator cuff surgery. The surgery went well and Darren is recovering home. Darren's tracking partner is Theo (FC Theo von Moosbach-Zuzelek).

A hunter called about a deer he hit on Friday morning, October 21, about 7:30 am. At the hit the deer walked off about 60 yards and lay down. The hunter thought that the deer was going to die right there. After about 20 minutes the deer got up and slowly walked away. The hunter stayed in the stand for a while, then climbed down and snuck out. He came back around noon to check the arrow and look for the deer. During this time it had rained heavily and was threatening the rest of the day.

When the hunter checked his arrow he smelled gut on it and saw white hairs on the ground. Despite the rain, there was a substantial amount of blood in the bed. He began to track the deer and eventually lost the blood alongside the creek. The hunter looked me up on the UBNJ web site and called me. It turns out that the hunter was a new resident to the town I work for and was hunting right out of his back yard.

At this point I would like to say that this swamp buck was a mature deer over 3 ½ years old. I have seen this behavior in this age class of a buck many times. At the hit the deer doesn’t run or panic. They don’t elevate their blood pressure by running, and by bedding quickly they slow their blood loss. With the onset of the rut, this type of buck with this type of hit can be very hard to kill and recover.

I made arrangements to meet the hunter after work and I was at his house by 4 p.m., 8½ hours after the shot. We went to the hit site and I got Theo ready. The arrow had a slight gut smell and the white hair was there just as the hunter had said. I started Theo and he took the track and ended up in the wound bed. I could see good blood indicating it was a liver hit. Theo tracked to the creek to where the hunter had quit and began searching. He kept going up and down the bank and then just jumped in and swam to the other side. The creek was about 15 feet wide and I just kept feeding out my lead. Theo got to the other side and after a quick check started up a little draw away from the bank. 

It looked like we were going to get wet. The creek was mid-thigh deep and a little chilly but had a pretty good bottom. We got across quickly and tracked along the top of the creek to an ox bow. Theo started down towards the creek again and stopped on a log that was in the water. He was stretching out and sniffing but hadn’t committed to taking the plunge. The creek was deep here but not wide and if we went in we were going to have to swim.

Theo came back up to the top and began searching the bank. All of a sudden he took a line right over our track in. The deer had back tracked. He bedded high on the creek bend with the deep water at his back looking over his back trail where he crossed the creek the first time. It’s quite possible that the deer saw or heard the hunter from this vantage point looking for him earlier in the day.

Theo then tracked out of the flood plain and up to higher ground. I hadn’t seen any blood since the bed at the creek and we were heading right for a housing development in the neighboring municipality. Theo was tracking right behind the backyards of the houses and I was praying that the deer stayed in the woods. All of a sudden Theo’s tempo picked up and the hunter said he saw a deer get up and go to the right. Theo was really excited and tracking left towards the road. I just held back on the lead and let him settle a bit. It was obvious that there was more than one deer here and they left in different directions. Theo took a line that was straighter, and the hunter said that the deer went right. I asked him to stand by and wait. When I saw a small drop of fresh blood 30 yards later I knew he had the right deer. I went about another 30 yards, found another spot of blood and called up the hunter. Theo was tracking towards a mowed retention basin behind the houses and he was pulling hard. I planned to track up to the edge and look across and check for the deer. The basin was about 125 yards wide and there was no dead deer in it. I pulled Theo back and it was time to discuss our strategy with the hunter.

I was afraid to push the deer because of the houses. I’ve lost big deer to the developments before and did not want it to happen now. I laid out our options. We could continue and risk losing him in the development, we could come back around midnight and re-start, or we could take our chances with the rain and start in the morning. I reassured hunter that Theo could track after a rain and it wouldn’t be a problem, but I didn’t realize how much we were going to get.

We decided to resume tracking in the morning. It had poured over night and was raining hard in the morning. I sent a text to the hunter to make sure that were still on and he said yes. I was a little apprehensive about tracking to the deer but felt confident that if it stayed in the woods we could find him. I picked up the hunter and we started at the first creek crossing. I swear when Theo saw the hunter he knew we were going to finish what we started. 

I brought Hip Boots for the crossing and just made it. Theo swam across and was dragging he short lead following the exact same track to where we stopped yesterday. I hooked up Theo about 50 yards from the edge of the basin and started. He ran down yesterday’s line and into the basin and began searching his way across.

At the other side he began checking runs. I was really hoping to find the deer just inside the edge but it didn’t happen. We had the wind in our face,a and I was sweeping Theo in a search mode from the houses to our side of the creek in an effort to pick up the trail of the deer or air scent a body. Theo was working nicely through the thick green briars and brush and we went about another 500 yards sweeping through the bottom without any luck. Now the plan was to work the creek back and have Theo check the runs leading up to a crossing. We had gotten about 150 yards from the retention basin when Theo started sniffing the briars while standing up on his hind legs. When he does this it usually means he’s confirming the scent of our deer or has caught a piece of familiar scent. Theo started to take this run towards the creek and worked down to the bank and was looking across the water. I happened to look downstream and there was the deer floating in the middle of the creek stuck against a fallen tree. As soon as I saw him I shouted out my favorite saying “I gottem”. The hunter came running over and because of the briars and the creek bank he couldn’t see him. He said “where, where “. I said "he’s in the creek, you got him".

Theo got him!

By now Theo had seen him and was swimming over to him. He climbed up on the deer and began to pull out his hair. I waded out and dragged the deer back to the bank. The deer died about 100 yards behind the hunter's stand and looked like it was headed back to where it had come from. We had a heck of a celebration, and I was genuinely happy for this hunter. He was a good guy and I’m glad we could find his deer. The deer was hit low in the liver and because of the way it acted after the hit, it lived a long time.

This kind of track makes believers out of hunters and legends out of tracking dogs. This may be my last track this season and if so it was a great one. Theo is still learning and getting better every time we track. We have developed into a team that knows what to do to get the job done. I love working this dog and finding deer with him.

Darren and Theo at the end of successful track

Darren Doran and his tracking dachshund Theo recover a deer 55 hours after the shot

By Darren Doran

A local hunter that I know called me Monday morning of November 16 after he had shot a good buck. He thought he had hit forward, and after the shot he just snuck out of the woods. He was going back after lunch to look for sign. I told him I would hold a spot for him in case he needed Theo.

He called me back and said that he tracked to a bed about 50 yds from the hit site and then he found another bed very close. The blood was wet in the second bed, and he thought he might have bumped the deer. He backed out. We discussed the hit and our options and decided that the hunter would look again the next morning and give the deer more time.

In a lot of places in New Jersey the properties are very small. A pushed deer, especially a mature buck, can cross many properties, all of which we need permission to enter before we can track. I always tell a hunter to give the deer time as if he’s dead he’ll be right there. If he’s pushed too soon and knows he’s 

being tracked by a man, the recovery can get very difficult.

The hunter called at noon on Tuesday and said he had advanced the line to another bed but thought the deer might have crossed the railroad tracks to another property. He marked his last blood and gained permission to enter the property just in case. I got there at 3:30 pm, 32 hours after the hit.

We went to the hit site and I looked at the arrow. There was white hair at the hit. The hunter described a hit forward with what looked like a long gash on his side. The shot was 32 yds from a stand about 22 feet high.

I started Theo and he circled the hit, took the trail the buck came in on, then turned around, tracked through he hit site and took the buck’s line. We tracked to the first bed and on through to the second and continued on. Theo was tracking with the intensity that usually accompanies a recovery, and he was extremely focused. The hunter pointed to his last blood as Theo tracked about 20 yds to the left and straight past it. Theo continued on and I marked another drop of blood and soon we were at the railroad tracks and on across. We tracked to a sandy deadfall, and Theo located 3 more beds. The hunter had never tracked to this point and had no idea the deer had gone this way. Theo then worked the line back to the tracks and across once again and back into the woods we just left. Theo tracked to the hunter’s last blood mark and past. It became evident that the hunter during his searching had found this blood by accident and cut of about 200 yds of the track.

We continued on paralleling the railroad and crossed a water filled ditch into some briars and swampy brush. Theo marked another bed with dried blood and then started out of the briars back to the tracks and across once more. We already had permission to enter so we just kept tracking. In a short while I heard a deer get up in front of us. I hadn’t seen any blood since the last bed and this was a typical deer bedding area. I wanted to make sure we were tracking the right deer and was holding Theo back and telling him EASY. He was barking and I had him close. All of a sudden the hunter says “I have blood”. I asked him to bring it to me and sure enough it was blood. I moved forward with Theo and soon we were on the deer’s bed. Theo was hot now and the deer started to bleed again. I also noticed a strong smell of rotten gut. The hunter could also smell this. We tracked about 300 more yds and started to lose the light. We decided to come back next day and restart the track. I marked the GPS and flagged the spot.

We started Wednesday afternoon about 3 pm and picked up where we left off. Theo started right away and we had gone about 100 yds when we ran into a large flock of about 25 turkeys. Theo jumped up on a log and looked at the birds flapping and yelping in front of us. I told him in a stern voice to “get back on the line and find the blood”. Immediately he forgot about the birds and resumed tracking. We had gone about another 100 yds right through the turkey distraction and started to turn to the left. I was familiar with this property and knew the deer was going to turn to get around the corner of a deer fence that went around a large nursery. We came to the corner of the fence and there was a T shaped water filled ditch that followed the corner and went out into the woods. Right at this spot the deer stopped for a while and there was a hand sized amount of blood. The deer has never lain back down since we jumped him yesterday.

Theo worked this check for a good while. He checked the banks of the ditch on our side. He went across and checked the other side. He came back to the blood a few times. Eventually he took a line into the woods away from the fence and in about 20 yds we found the deer next to a log.

This deer was finally recovered about 55 hours after it got shot, and would have never been found without a dog team. The arrow actually hit low on the left side just above the sternum. The arrow somehow bruised the left lung but never cut it. It went between the sections of liver and out the gut. That counts for the strong rotten smell we had when we put him up the day before.

Theo is now 3 and a half and is maturing into a very honest and efficient tracking dog. I love handling this dog and watching him work. 

New Jersey’s Leashed Tracking Dog Program: Call to Action

by Darren Doran

This article was published in the Winter 2015 issue of Tracks and Trails, publication of the United Bowhunters of New Jersey

Unlike in the Southern States dogs and deer hunting have never mixed in the Northeast. Over fifty years ago the New Jersey legislature passed a law that prevented dogs to be used to hunt deer. The law is as follows.

23:4-46. Dogs not to be used

No person shall at any time, or for any reason, hunt for, track, search for, seek, capture or kill a wild deer with a dog.

Amended by L.1957, c. 116, p. 488, s. 1, eff. July 2, 1957.

This law was enacted to protect a fragile, recovering deer population from over-hunting, and what was considered an unfair advantage with the use of dogs.

Since that time New Jersey and its whitetail population has vastly changed. The loss of habitat to development and the ability of white-tailed deer to adapt to these landscape changes has created a thriving population of deer as well as greatly increased hours of recreational hunting in order to manage this increased deer population. Bow season now starts as early as mid-September in some parts of New Jersey when it is typically hot and the forest is still in full foliage. Add the seemingly increasing presence of coyotes to the scene and it becomes extremely important to recover deer that have been shot by hunters as quickly as possible to prevent spoilage or loss of venison from scavenging.

Most deer shot by bowhunters are recovered by the hunters themselves, but every bowhunter knows that even a well placed arrow that kills quickly can produce a blood trail that is very sparse or non-existent for a human to follow. A deer is a valuable resource and every ethical hunter will do everything in their power to recover a deer they have shot. A leashed tracking dog is a conservation tool that can help recover a deer that a hunter might not have been able to recover him or herself. This law that was originally designed to aid in the restoration of whitetails never took into consideration the conservation use of a leashed tracking dog to help recover a deer for a hunter.

Currently there are 37 states that allow some kind of big game recovery with a dog. New Jersey’s experimental tracking program began in 2008 when the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife issued a special wildlife management permit to study the usefulness and feasibility of using a leashed tracking dog to recover deer that had been shot by hunters who were having issues recovering those deer on their own.

The research permit is issued to Dr. Leonard Wolgast and it is he who is tasked with compiling and analyzing the data from the sub-permitees which are the dog handlers. That first permit had only three handlers on it which covered a limited area of the state, and had a very limited scope. Today there are 11 certified handlers and dogs on the permit, and tracking by these handler/dog teams may be conducted statewide.

The tracking permit is issued before the start of the early bow season in September and a new handler must be certified by mid-August in order to be included on that permit.

In order to show credibility to the program and basic ability, a handler and dog must complete at a minimum, a United Blood Trackers UBT 1 evaluation. This evaluation is a pass fail evaluation administrated by a UBT judge and requires the dog and handler to complete an unmarked test line consisting of 8 oz. of deer blood, 400 meters long with two 90 degree turns and 1 wound bed. The line is at least 2 hours old and the dog must lead the handler to the deer skin at the end. There are currently two UBT judges in New Jersey.

Upon successful completion of the evaluation, the handler and dog team will receive a certificate from the United Blood Trackers and inclusion on New Jersey’s permit. The handler by inclusion on the permit is then required to complete the tracking data and submit it monthly to Dr Wolgast. A tracker that does not submit their monthly reports or year-end report may be removed from the permit.

Before a tracker enters the woods with a hunter a track report is started. This includes the name, address, phone, email and CID number of the hunter. The location of the property is also included on the report. The hunter then signs the top part of this report stating that he has permission to hunt this property and that tracking is allowed. The handler then calls the regional law enforcement office in that area and reports the tracking attempt to the office. If the deer is recovered the hunter must sign the report stating that the deer was recovered.

During the tracking process all Fish and Game laws and regulations pertaining to that season must be followed. The tracking of a deer does not allow trespassing on private property without permission of the land owner.

In the early years of the research permit, few New Jersey hunters knew this service was available to them. As time passed the word has spread, and today more and more hunters are taking advantage of certified tracker and dog teams to assist in the recovery of a deer they can’t find on their own.

All the trackers are volunteers and there is no cost for this service (though a tracker is allowed to accept a donation for fuel, vet bills, dog food etc.). Please keep this in mind when you call a tracker and they are unable to respond. They all have jobs, family commitments and most of them are hunters themselves.

The New Jersey permit has stood the test of time. Past and present permittees have proven that a certified leashed tracking dog can work successfully in New Jersey. There have been no incidents involving law enforcement since the study’s inception. The United Bowhunters of New Jersey, The Traditional Archers of New Jersey, the New Jersey Outdoor Alliance, the New Jersey State Federation of Sportsman Clubs, and the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife support this. So why isn’t it legal? The answer is simple. The law needs to be amended by legislators in both the state Assembly and state Senate and then signed by the Governor. This is not a law that can be changed by members of the New Jersey Fish and Game Council via a Game Code amendment.

The Division of Fish and Wildlife has proposed the added language that would legalize tracking in the state of New Jersey and is as follows,

23:4-46 Dogs not to be used

“No person shall at any time, or for any reason, hunt for, capture or kill a wild deer with a dog. This shall not preclude the use of certified tracking dogs on leads by persons permitted by the Division of Fish and Wildlife to search for and recover deer lost by hunters during the regular deer seasons.”

We have reached our goals with this permit, and it’s now time to approach our legislators and let them know this is important to us. Every hunter I have ever tracked for, whether we found the deer or not was grateful and supportive of the service. We’re here to help you and now I’m going to need to ask you for some help. In the near future, with the help of the UBNJ, I need to initiate a letter writing campaign to selected legislators to let them know this is important to voting hunters. Very few bills that are introduced are ultimately passed each year in Trenton, and in order to stand a chance of amending a bill that most legislators would consider insignificant they need to know it matters to their constituents. A flood of letters from voting hunters will get their attention.

If this amendment became law a certified tracker would still need to call the Division of Law Enforcement before tracking, track on lead, obey the game laws, and respect the private property rights of landowners.

It will be the responsibility of the handler to obtain the required UBT 1 certification for each dog they track with and have it in their possession while tracking. If asked to produce it by a Conservation Officer while tracking, the handler must produce it or risk a citation.

The reason this will be required is to insure that this amendment will not be used as a loophole to have a dog in the field actually hunting deer. Calling the track in and having the certification will insure that the use of the dog is for the ethical recovery of a deer. The handler and leashed tracking dog team is a conservation tool used for the recovery of a dead deer. A leashed tracking dog being used to recover already shot deer is no different than a retriever used for recovering upland birds or ducks. The hunting of the deer has already been done.

Currently there aren’t enough trackers permitted in the state to meet the demand. Legalization would open the doors and attract more handlers that might be interested in tracking, but aren’t really interested in doing the paper work required to be on the permit. The more trackers available the less chance a deer with no blood trail or a lost blood trail will go unrecovered. We as hunters owe the deer we hunt every legal option we can use for recovery. A certified leashed tracking dog is another conservation tool to help meet that goal.

If you have a dog that you would like to check to see if it has an aptitude for tracking you will need to get some training materials. One way to do this is to collect blood, the liver and skin from your own deer harvests. Collect the blood and liver when you gut the deer and put it in a zip lock freezer bag. Once at home put the blood in a blender, strain the blood pour into 8 oz water bottles and freeze. One bottle will be the right amount for a training line. Take a cap of the same type of bottle and drill a few small holes in it. When you are ready to dispense the blood, switch caps. The liver can be divided into thirds and used as a drag. Take a knife and poke a slit through the liver and attach a piece of parachute cord for the drag. These can be frozen and used more than once. The hide will be saved and used to represent the deer at the end of the trail. A half of hide is plenty and these can be refrozen and used over. You will need something to mark the line so when you come back with the dog you will know exactly where it is. Clothespins with strips of flagging material work well. Clip these on branches or brush at eye level. Remove the pins as you pass with the dog. Don’t make the line too hard. Remember your first step is to see if your dog has an interest in this activity. Place the skin at the end, wait a couple of hours and see if the dog can get you to the skin. You may just find that your dog is a natural.

The time to legalize the use of certified, leashed tracking dogs to recover deer in New Jersey has come, and with your commitment to help this might become a reality.

For additional information about tracking dogs in general go to www.unitedbloodtrackers.org.

For additional information about the New Jersey program or certifying a dog please contact Darren Doran at Darren@rvwsinc.com.

Advanced blood tracking training is paying off for this outstanding tracking team

by Darren Doran

I took a call from an experienced hunter who had made a good hit on a buck last evening, but bumped him out of his bed and across a road. The hunter had followed good blood to a dead fall and green briar thicket and found multiple beds there very close together. After he had put the buck up he left the area. This is usually a good sign and I figured we would find the deer dead right on the other side of the road and I told the hunter that. Being somewhat superstitious I certainly jinxed myself with that statement. 

We met at 7:30 next morning and went to the hit site. There had been turkeys everywhere and they were right in front of us. Theo got a whiff of them, and I corrected him hard right away. This was our first exposure to them this year and I needed him to know I wanted nothing to do with them. We started tracking and the blood was just as the hunter said. We tracked through to the road, which was so busy that I carried Theo across. I set him down on the other side, which was an old dilapidated house. Theo went around back and across the front yard and into the woods. After some searching he showed me some blood and we were off tracking. I kept looking ahead expecting to see the buck at any minute but it didn’t happen and I hadn’t seen any blood in a while. We were tracking to a thicket and I thought this is where he is. Theo checked all the runs into it but didn’t take a line. He went back into the woods then across a rail road track into a brushy field next to an occupied house. We didn’t have any weapons because the road we crossed was the dividing line of two hunting zones. The hunter didn’t have a permit to hunt on this side of the road. I really didn’t think this dear was alive anyway so it didn’t matter to me. The way Theo was working I actually thought the deer would be in this field.

Theo searched every inch of this area and went to the backyard of the house and started pulling across the mowed yard. I told the hunter that we couldn’t cross without permission, but I would pick up Theo and walk down the tracks and set him down in a controlled search on the other side of the yard. Theo worked the brush along the yard and in about 10 yards took a hard right into the woods. We hadn’t seen blood in a long while but he was tracking like he does when he’s got it so I went with him.

All of a sudden the hunter called out that he found blood. He had found a pin drop on a yellow maple leaf. I don’t know if he was good or just lucky but it didn’t matter -- we had the deer. Just when I was feeling good I looked up and the woods looked like someone had gone through it with a leaf blower. The turkeys had torn this part of the woods apart, there was no leaf left untouched. This worried me more than Theo and he tracked through it like it wasn't there. 

We were soon heading back into thick swampy brush and green briars. I thought any time now the leash will stop and he’ll be on the deer, but it didn’t happen. He did track to a bed with blood in it and I knew we had to be close. I was working through the briars and all of a sudden the leash stopped. Finally I thought we got him. I worked around a corner in the briars and Theo’s standing on the bank of a river. There was blood at the bank and Theo jumped in. He went right under and I knew it was deep. He popped up and swam back to the bank. There was no way across. We would have to go back out of the woods to the train tracks and cross the trestle to get on the other side. 

I marked the spot on the GPS and hung a ribbon but before I left I told Theo to “search”. I wanted to make sure the deer crossed and didn’t back track away from the deep water. Theo went up and down the briar choked bank and didn’t find anything he liked. He came back to the crossing so we made our way out of the wood and to the trestle. I carried Theo across and we started to navigate to the spot where the deer had crossed. 

The rail road had cut all the trees at the bottom of the tracks and killed all the vegetation on the slopes. It was nasty but we found a spot we could get down to the river and we slid down the bank of the tracks. We got to about where the crossing was and I started Theo. He went down a run away from the river and in twenty yards the leash stopped. I wasn’t even paying attention and I walked right up to Theo and the deer. 

When I called out “I got em” I don’t think the hunter believed me. This track was almost 2 miles including the searching and the river crossing. I believe the deer actually traveled 9^ths of a mile before dying. When we gutted this deer it was hit through 1 lung, through the center of the liver, and the 2 inch rage had cut the back lobe of the second lung. The deer was dead for a while. I firmly believe the rut plays an important part on their ability to stay alive when they should be dead.

Those of you who know me from this blog know I’m big on training. Some of the things I train for I used today. Theo is 2 ½ now and try as I might I can’t duplicate on a training line the experience he’s getting this season. The only way to finish a dog is to get him in the field and work him. This is his second tracking season and we’ve taken 39 calls so far. We’re getting to the point that we’re becoming a true team. He knows what is going on when we cross roads. He understands when we have a live deer why we stop and wait. He understands how to restart a line after he’s been picked up and set down. He knows how to do a controlled search. He knows how to stay with the right deer and search till he finds the right deer. He knows how to accept my help when he needs it, and I know what is going through his mind while he’s working. This season is going to truly develop and cement Theo’s foundation as a tracking dog and "us" as a team. 

Recovery #27 of the 39 tracks.

Practical application of "search" command in tracking wounded deer

By Darren Doran (and FC Theo von Moosbach-Zuzelek)

I finally got a chance to hunt last night for myself. I passed a small buck and when I got out of the woods there was a message from a hunter needing help to recover a deer. He had shot the buck from a ground blind at 2:10 and watched him cross an 100 yard rye field and lay down on the edge of it and a hedge row. He could see blood low on the deer’s side with his binoculars. The deer was there for about 40 minutes then got up and walked with difficulty into the hedge row.

The hunter snuck out of the blind and looped around the deer by going up the neighbor’s driveway. He tried to get another arrow into the deer but it didn’t make through the brush. The deer got up and was gone. The hunter searched until dark and found a couple drops of blood on a tractor road between the hedge row and the standing corn.

The weather forecast for today originally called for a drenching 2 inches of rain. I checked the forecast and it had been scaled back to steady rain starting in the night and ending in the afternoon. I elected to take the track in the morning to give the deer plenty of time to die.

I arrived at 7:30 and it was raining steady but not that bad and there was no wind. When I start Theo I always start at the hit site even if the is no blood there. If the hunter has an arrow, I will let Theo smell it, if not, I tell him to “search”. The reason for this is that I want Theo to end up at the hunter’s first blood sign. If he does, that I’m pretty sure he knows what deer we want before he even smells blood.

In this case there was no arrow. Theo searched around the bait piles in an ever winding circle and suddenly he tracked across the rye field right to the bed. There was still visible blood despite the rain and you could see it on both sides of where the deer had laid. Theo tracked down the hedge row through it and onto the tractor road where the hunter had found the last blood. Theo tracked down the road then turned into the corn. This seemed logical to me and I went with him. After a while he tracked out of the corn and to a large green field and into it. At this point I was starting to have my doubts. He then cut the corner and headed to another brushy hedge row and I thought, well this is better, he might be right. We got in there and it was apparent he didn’t have it. 

This problem of dropping the right line and taking the fresher line I believe has started because during the last 5 recoveries we have done, we have put out our deer and went hot. It’s almost as if now he expects it to happen. What I’ll do in this case if I think he’s wrong is I just stop on the line. I don’t say a word to him and I let him pull against the leash. This may take a half a minute but I just stand there. If he’s not right or not sure he’ll pick up his head and most times he comes back down the leash. I then tell him in a stern voice “get back on the line find the blood”. If he went too far from the know line and this command is not reasonable, I pick him up and restart. That’s what I did in this case and we went back to the first bed.

Theo tracked right to the last blood and it was obvious that this deer had spent a lot of time in this area. Theo smelled what could have been beds from this deer. He then began to systematically search every deer run in the hedge row along the corn field. We got to the end to where the corn ended and the green field began and he began searching the runs to the left of the corn in the hedge row but between the green field. He went about 100 yards and wanted to go back to the last blood and we did. This time he was searching the corn side of the hedge row. He would go in, search, come back out, go down and go back in, search and come back out. 

This went on for a while then all of a sudden he didn’t come out and the leash was still going out. We were on a different line from the first trip through the corn and I went with him. I told the hunter to look down the rows as we went through them in case the deer was laying there. I couldn’t see Theo but I could see the tops of the trees and I knew we would be out of the corn soon. I did see some white hair on the track but it could have come from any deer. I never saw any blood on the line except for the first bed. Theo tracked out of the corn and into a hedge row next to a horse corral. I stayed put at the edge of the corn and I could tell he was searching. He came out of the hedge row and down along the corral and stopped. This is where a 50 foot lead comes in handy. I asked him to “search here’’ and he came back to me and went back into the corn and in 20 yards he had the deer. I don’t know if the deer came out of the corn and back in or he just missed it, but neither the hunter nor I saw it laying in the row as we passed.

This track took almost 2 hours. I love watching this dog trying to figure out a track. He knew where he last smelled the deer and he knew the line had to be there. The way he systematically picks apart the terrain is just a pleasure to watch. The way he buries his nose in the ground under leaves or raises up to smell high weeds or brush are his natural working style. I’ve never taught him anything like this. You can almost see the thought process on his face when he’s searching and he never gives up.

Theo’s reputation in Jersey is growing. I haven’t placed an ad anywhere in the state this year and my phone doesn’t stop ringing. I have successfully tracked for the research professor in charge of our tracking permit as well as the Division of Fish and Wildlife on a game violation case. Leashed tracking dogs are starting to turn heads in the right places. I’m starting to get a good feeling about the probability of legalization in the state, but only time will tell.

Tracking mature bucks: Daren and Theo's amazing two intercrossed deer tracks

By Daren Doran

On Sunday I (Jolanta) had a chance to see Daren and Theo
when they dropped by at field trial grounds for a short visit.

On Saturday I got a call from a hunter who had hit a mature buck and needed help. His shot was slightly quartering to and he believed he hit one lung and hopefully the liver on the way out. While tracking, his deer entered another property and when he called for permission to track there he found out that the owners of that property were looking for a deer as well. That buck had been quartering away, and when the hunter shot, the deer took a step and the arrow hit it in the ham and entered forward never exiting. Both of these deer were shot Saturday morning.

Here’s where it starts to get interesting. The hunters believed that the blood trail of the two deer crossed. Hunter 1’s POL (Point of Loss) was about 50 yards from the blood trail of hunter 2. Hunter 2 had advanced their trail about 500 yards from that point to the beginning of a wide green briar choked hedge row between 2 large rye fields.

The call was about an hour and a half away, and I figured both calls had a good chance of recovery if what the hunter had told me was correct. It also gave me a chance to work Theo in a situation that I had never experienced before. If the blood trails did cross, how would he handle it? Could Theo figure it out and find the deer?

I got there about 2:30 and both groups of hunters were together. I started Theo at hunter 1’s hit site, which was on the edge of a green field. The deer had crossed the field and entered the woods about 80 yards away and this is where the hunter found his first blood. I let Theo smell the arrow and told him to “search” and “find the blood”. Theo worked a circle around the hit site that took a line towards the woods. Theo showed me blood and took the line through the woods across a road and into hunter 2’s property. He tracked to the POL and from there on it was all Theo. Hunter 2 said that he was tracking towards his line and at one point hunter 2 said Theo was on his blood line. At this point I couldn’t confirm the fact that the two deer didn’t take the same trail. We had not seen any more blood after hunter 1’s POL so I allowed Theo to continue. After a while it was apparent that Theo had left deer 1 and was now tracking deer 2. We came to the green briar hedge row at hunter 2’s POL and here it got hard for Theo. These guys and stomped all over looking for this deer, and I’m sure there was scent tracked all over in this area.

These hunters had no experience with a tracking dog and at the POL they continued to “help” by looking for more blood. I had asked them to stay with me or behind me, but pretty soon I was by myself. The logical place this deer went was into the briars in the hedge row.  I worked Theo in this area and at one point he tracked into the rye field on one side. I could see foot prints in the rye and it looked like Theo was tracking the hunters. I restarted him at the POL and he went into the briars. He was tracking but I couldn’t find any blood. I saw a deer cross the rye field about 300 yards away; I couldn’t see a rack and I didn’t really know where the deer came from. I assumed we had put out a doe while searching the hedge row. 

I re-started Theo a couple of times and he always took the same line through the briars and at one point he went hot and wanted to track into the rye field the way I had seen the deer go. I didn’t believe him and I pulled him off. I just didn’t think a hurt deer would cross a 500 yard open field. I had hunter 1 back with me by now.  I restarted Theo again and he tracked the same way and this time I saw some blood, then a bed and then a drop of blood at the edge of the rye field. I told hunter 1 about the deer I had seen and that we were going to follow the dog. Theo tracked across the rye field to a little wooded island and showed me a drop of blood. We went through the island, across another field and into the woods. Theo was showing me blood every so often and we had tracked to the edge of a small weedy standing corn field. All of a sudden Theo went hot. We were tracking along the corn and then turned into a swampy area of reeds and brush. I could see smears of blood on the reeds and visibility was limited. The next thing I know Theo is coming back at me and I see the buck get up. I sent hunter 1 around the brush to hopefully cut the deer off if he came out. Theo’s barking now, I’m holding him back and we’re right on the deer. Theo held up and then I saw the buck down in the high weeds. I called hunter 1 up and he finished the deer. We got on the phone and called hunter 2 and let him know where we were and that we had his deer.

We had deer 2 but needed to try to get deer 1. I told hunter 1 we were going back to our original start to restart Theo and see what we could do. The property owner was coming with us and after what they just witnessed there was no more second guessing me or the dog.

I started Theo and he took us right to hunter 1’s POL. I was watching the GPS to see what was going to happen. Theo was tracking the exact same line and went right over our first line and started tracking a different way. After messing up and pulling him off at the rye field, I was going wherever he took me. After a while I saw a drop of blood. I checked the GPS and we were on a new line. Theo had deer 1. We tracked to a large bed and Theo went hot. I didn’t see any blood but I knew Theo was right and went with him. After some time I started to mark blood. Theo was tracking hard at the end of the leash and we went right over deer 2’s line about 50 yards from the POL and into the second large rye field. Theo tracked across the field, across a road and into another woods. I was marking blood and I knew he was right. We went through the woods and tracked to a lake. Theo went into the water and was standing on a log looking across. I knew the deer went across. One thing I’ve learned about tracking mature bucks is once they know you’re after them they become very difficult to recover. They will use every bit of energy and smarts to put something between them and you that they think will stop you, roads, rivers, houses, horse corrals, lakes anything to stop you.

Theo went into the water
and was standing on a log looking across.

I marked the spot on the GPS and the hunters said we could go to the road and cross the lake at a bridge. We had enough daylight to try and it was about ¾ of a mile to get to the other side so off we went. When I got to about where I thought the deer crossed I started a controlled search with Theo and told him to “search and find the blood”. He knew what we were doing and immediately started searching the lake bank. Pretty soon he took a line away from the lake. I didn’t see any blood but at this point I wasn’t second guessing him. In about 100 yards he tracked to a large bed exactly like the one we found earlier and went hot. I told the hunter that we would go for a while and hopefully mark blood. We were losing daylight and I hadn’t seen any more blood and I told the hunter that we were done. I knew Theo was right, but this deer wasn’t dead and we weren’t going to catch it. They agreed and we headed back. We put on some miles today and I had some great dog work. Thankfully Theo over looked my handling mistakes at the rye field and we got the one deer. These hunters had never seen a tracking dog work before and both agreed that they would never found the deer we got or advanced the second one the way we did without a dog.

Darren Doran with Theo and Hunter 2's buck.

Tracking wounded deer with Darren Doran and his wirehaired dachshund Theo

Darren Doran from New Jersey and his 2½ year old Theo (our Tuesday's brother) are an outstanding tracking team. In spite of his young age Theo has been working as if he were much older and experienced tracker. Darren thanks to his diligent training and superb handling is getting the best out of his dog. So far this year they have made 14 recoveries.

This one, from yesterday. illustrates very well how effective this team is.

By Darren Doran (owner of FC Theo von Moosbach-Zuzelek)

This track came from a friend. The deer was shot that evening and he swore it was a good hit. The deer was slightly quartering to and the hunter couldn’t find the arrow. He told me he had found bright red thin watery blood, but not a lot and was having a hard time in the red tinted maple leaves. I didn’t like what I was hearing but he was a friend and hunting close so I loaded up Theo and went. The worst that could happen was we would confirm a muscle hit and call it.

We got to the hit site and there were a half a dozen deer in the bait. I tied up Theo and asked the hunter to show me the blood. We went about 40 yards from the shot and he showed me red thin watery blood. I started Theo and he tracked right to it and then veered left. I wasn’t seeing any blood and I asked Theo if this was right. He stopped and I told him in a stern voice to “get back on the line and find the blood”. He went back and searched some and took a different line. I marked a few drops of blood and I knew Theo was right but it still didn’t look promising. After a good while the blood started to change and increase. It was dark red and when the deer stopped it showed signs of bleeding from both sides.

We tracked into some nasty swampy brush and dead-falls and Theo went hot. We put the deer out. By this time we had tracked into a skinny part of the woods and were between two housing developments. I wasn’t sure if I could get back here in the daylight so I elected to stay with the deer.
Theo was tracking at the end of the 50 ft. line and all I could see in the light was brush moving ahead.

Then all of a sudden the leash went slack. Normally this is a good thing and I thought he was on the deer. Well he had found the deer, but the buck was bedded and still alive. Here’s where I really like my dog's good sense. He knew the deer was alive and he didn’t go in on him. He held up and circled the deer quietly out of harm’s way. If he had taken a different approach, in the dark this could have ended badly. I got to Theo's collar quickly and moved him back. When the deer saw me he got up and ran. I told the hunter we’ll turn off the lights and wait. Theo had seen the deer take off and wanted to go after him in the worst way. I told him “quiet” and called him over. I sat down with Theo and we waited about a half hour. Theo was whimpering a little but not barking and he seemed to know what we were doing. I restarted Theo and held the line close so I could see what was in front of him and in about 50 yards we had the buck and this time he was finished.

The shot had entered at about the 5th rib from the back, ¾ up the chest and out through the gut. The initial blood was from the entrance wound and it took a while for the dark liver blood to show up. The deer was still carrying the arrow and had a good cut across his front leg on the opposite side of the shot. This must have been from the protruding broad head while he was running. Not much of a photo but it was the best I could do.

Recovery #11 took place on October 10. The track was 19 hrs old liver and gut shot. It was a nice mature buck. This track was a tough one and took over 2 hours. Theo never quit searching. There were a lot of distractions including live deer, rabbits and a mysterious second blood trail that I don't think was related to this deer and didn't seem to go anywhere. Theo only tracked this blood once and searched all the surrounding area. Then he went back to the point of loss (POL) on his own and restarted on the original tack. This track went in a complete opposite direction from where we found the deer. It’s quite possible that this was a back track from our deer but there just wasn’t enough blood to confirm it. 

On our last, and what was going to be our final restart he tracked into a pokeweed field that was mixed with goldenrod and briars. At one point he rose up as high as he could balancing himself on his hind legs and sniffed a bent over goldenrod head and I knew he had the deer. Theo tracked across the field into a green briar thicket where I found a bed with blood. The deer went down through the green briars and back into the pokeweed field and died about another 75 into the field. The hunter told me he would never have found the deer without us. Aside from the other blood track I didn’t find any blood after the POL until the bed in the briars.

This track was a great learning experience for us. I got to use techniques I train for and we really had to work as a team on this one. My patience was tested as well as Theo’s stamina and focus. In the end we were successful. The dog work and the hunters gratitude made me very proud and reaffirmed my reason for tracking.

How to train your experienced blood tracking dog: a training report from Darren

This is a report from Darren Doran describing his latest training line for Theo. Regular readers of the blog are very familiar with this tracking team from New Jersey. Darren used a new design of tracking shoes, which is produced by Ray Holohan. We will have a separate post about them soon, when Ray is ready to start selling his product.

TRAINING LINE
The line is 1000 yds. long. This line was my first line using Ray Holohan's buck shock tracking shoes. 4 oz. of blood was used. Blood, feet, and articles were from the same deer. The line will be 36 hrs. old when ran and is set in an area the County burned this spring. The soil is very sandy here. The vegetation is sparse due to the burn and the woods are mostly oak and pine. Visibility is good here and the over story is somewhat open. There are numerous 90’S and one backtrack and one wound bed. Three articles were used on this line and were made from deer skin about 2 X 1 stapled to a 4 inch by 1 inch diameter dried piece of stick.

TRAINING GOAL
The goal of this exercise is to work on article identification, stopping and re-starting on the line and the backtrack. I will also start this line as a controlled search and see how Theo does.

ACTUAL LINE
It was 71 degrees, overcast and humid this morning. I started Theo in a controlled search about 80 yds. from the line and about 50 yds. into it from the hit site. I asked him to search and “find the blood”. He worked nicely in a left to right forward arc until we hit the line. He took the line back towards the hit site and through it and began searching. He looped back to the line and took it back to the hit site and was about to pass through it again when I alerted him on it. He stopped and smelled the hair and turned around. I gave him a piece of meat and we started tracking.

I thought this was going to be harder for Theo but his tracking speed told me differently. We did numerous stops on the line and I would reward him with a piece of meat and give him water. He restarted nicely. He found the articles and these were too big for him to swallow. Articles in the past were small pieces of skin and hair that he would pick up, swallow and continue tracking so fast I was not able to reward him for finding them. He took all the turns but one perfectly. The one he missed only took a minute or so to require the line. His tracking speed also caused him to miss the wound bed. The backtrack took seven minutes to work out. This line took 33 minutes to finish and does not include the controlled search.

CONCLUSION
Theo did real well on this line. What I thought was going to be difficult was very easy for him. He handled the controlled search excellent. There was no mistaking his reaction when he hit the line. Stopping and re-starting was good. The larger articles got him to stop and be rewarded for finding them. The backtrack still needs work but is getting better. Theo has a natural tendency to search forward and away from the last scent. When he circles back he doesn’t always make his circles large enough to cross back over the line. He does handle and when asked to “search here” he will respond. I’ll repeat this line and add 12 hrs. to the age and see how he does.

New Jersey handlers promote the use of blood tracking dogs

On September 14 and 15 The United Blood Trackers had a booth at the New Jersey Outdoor Expo. This event is hosted by the Division of Fish and wildlife and was held at Colliers Mills WMA. The event was attended by 8,400 visitors over the 2 days. This is a 17% increase in visitor participation from the 2012 Expo. Together with exhibitors and volunteers, a diverse crowd of more than 8,700 people participated in this successful outreach event. The event is free and has a multitude of outdoor activities that are geared towards adults and kids that don’t necessarily have allot of knowledge about the outdoors.

 

The UBT booth was manned by members of the New Jersey tracking permit. Stan Kite and Rilla, Nola Wunderlich and I with Karl and Theo were there on Saturday. Rich Stollery and Ember, John Drahos and his daughter Rylee along with two new trackers Jeremy and Arthur Garey filled in on Sunday. This was pretty good considering this was the opening weekend of our archery season.

 

Blood tracking demos were held both days and were well attended by spectators. The dogs were a real magnet to kids and adults alike and we were able explain a tracking dogs function to people that had no idea what we did. This type of positive exposure to the general public will pay off later.

 

On a side note:

Over the last three years the UBT has been a member of The New Jersey Outdoor Alliance and has a seat on the Conservation Foundation. The NJOA has been assisting the tracking dog legalization effort here in NJ. At a recent meeting with the Governor’s office, the NJOA discussed the legalization of a leashed tracking dog. A bill is being crafted and is being backed by Governor Christi. Our next step will be finalizing the language and getting a Republican and Democratic sponsor. Over the last five years our tracking permit has been issued, we have slowly won over Fish and Wildlife, the Law Enforcement component, and finally the Politicians. This has been hard work and the amount of paper work our trackers have had to submit is cumbersome. I would like to thank them all for their commitment to the cause.

 

Submitted by Darren Doran, NJ Tracking Permit Coordinator

 

Arthur Garey and Dennis

 

Stan Kite with Rilla and Karl

Jeremy Garey and Faline

Daren Doran's tracking dachshunds: Karl and Theo

Rylee Drahos with Theo and Karl

A big thank you to Darren Doran for all the work that he has put into the New Jersey tracking permit. It is starting to pay off, that's for sure!

 

Theo von Moosbach-Zuzelek, a young blood tracker with great potential

Theo von Moosbach-Zuzelek was born on April 6, 2012 so he is not a year and a half old yet. He is owned by Darren Doran from New Jersey. We can't wait to see how Theo does in the field this year as Darren's reports on his performance on artificial lines are quite extraordinary 

Coyotes completely devoured Darren's deer that was left overnight in the woods

Darren Doran from NJ shared with us his recent tracking experience:

I just thought I would tell you about Theo’s latest find. I was bow hunting Tuesday night (a week ago) and I shot a good size doe. I thought the shot was good and I watched the deer run and stop about 70 yds away by a brook. Her tail was going uncontrollably in every direction and I could see blood coming out of the exit wound low behind the right elbow with the naked eye. I thought for sure she was going down right there. She seemed to regain some composure and jumped the brook. I thought I saw her go down in a briar patch on the other side.

I still had deer milling around and I didn’t want to spook them so I waited awhile before I started to climb down. After I got down I left my gear at the tree and went right to the brook. I immediately saw a good amount of blood on my side. I got across and easily followed a good blood trail for another 125 yds. At any minute I expected to find the deer. We crossed the brook again and came to a small cut corn field. I lost the blood trail and it was getting dark. I was so sure I was going to find the deer on the other side of the first brook crossing didn’t bring my light with me. I decided to come back with Theo in the morning and see if we could find this deer. By the amount of blood I had saw on the track I felt real certain the deer was dead.
I started Theo at the hit site and he tracked easily to the brook. The brook here was about 5 ft wide and just under my calf high boots. Theo hesitated at the crossing and was having difficulty figuring out how to get across. We hadn’t done a lot of water work this summer, and I didn’t want to push him on a track so I picked him up and carried him across. He resumed tracking and took the line the next 125 yds very easily. We came to the next brook crossing and by his actions I could tell he knew the deer crossed the brook. This time he hunched up a couple of time like he was going to jump in but chickened out. I again picked him up and waded him across.

I put him down and he tracked right to the corn field and right across the lower end. I didn’t see any blood here but was relying on Theo ability. We left the field edge and tracked into a thick briar choked creek bottom. Theo came to the brook again. This part of the brook was shallower and the banks were closer together and Theo got across on his own. Up to this point I hadn’t seen any more blood, but as soon as I got on the other bank I saw more blood. I could see by the blood the track turned sharply to the right on a deer run and Theo missed the check. He came to a tractor road and started to circle to reacquire the line. He got back in the thicket and found the line and all of a sudden stopped.

A first I didn’t even realize what I was looking at. Theo was standing on what was left of our deer. The coyotes had found it overnight and devoured it. All I had was a cell phone to take the picture, but the deer was completely eaten. The coyotes even pulled the hide off the face and ate the meat off the head exposing the skull and jaw.
There wasn’t enough left of the deer to tell how it was hit and why it went as far as it did. The deer went about 260 yds. This is what I think happened. The stand was 27 or 28 ft high. The deer was broadside at 20 yds. The shot most likely hit the deer high on the left side missing the left lung. The arrow exited low in the front of the right lung. The deer still had one lung to breath with but the major blood vessels in the front of the right lung were cut so bad it finally bled to death. I don’t think a deer with both lungs hit would have went as far as it did.
I’ll never leave a deer overnight in these woods again.

A 12-year-old hunter gets his deer thanks to Darren Doran and his tracking dachshund Theo

On January 20 Darren Doran shared with us his latest tracking experience with Theo, a nine-month-old son of Paika.

Just wanted to let you know that I had another good training line with Theo today. It was 880yd, 23 hrs old and I used about 5 oz of blood. The line was made with tracking shoes with feet of a doe fawn shot in September.

It’s been windy here the last few days and we had a little problem crossing the power line and again in the open hard woods 200 yds from the end. The scent had been blown pretty far off the line, but Theo finally got it and never quit looking.

I was packing up the skin when the phone rang. It was a guy named Dave and he was asking about a tracking dog. His son, twelve years old and also named Dave had shot his first deer last night and was wondering what a tracking dog could do and if I was available to help. I gave him a little background about the dogs' general ability and after a short phone interview, I decided to come down with Theo and give it a try.

Dave and his Grand Pa (also named Dave) had been hunting at the back of their property in a double ladder stand. The shot was right at dark with a cross bow and he couldn’t see the arrow hit. At the hit site they found the bolt covered in blood and the lower half of a deer’s tail.

Grand Pa Dave is color blind and was no help tracking the deer. Young Dave hadn’t had much experience tracking, he did find some blood but lost it at beginning of a mucky creek about 50 yds from the hit. Dave’s dad looked for more blood in the morning and advanced the line about another 50 yds before losing the blood at what looked like a bed. It was real thick there and after searching around finding nothing, he called me.

I started Theo at the tail and let him sniff the bolt. He started searching around the lawn and was having difficulty finding the line. I asked Dave to take me to the first blood he had found. From there Theo tracked to and across the creek and to the last blood. From here on I did not see any more blood on the line. As Theo was tracking I would ask him “do you have it?” and he would continue on with his nose on the ground. At one point Theo actions changed and when I asked him if he had it he would change direction and start looking again. At this point I picked him up and brought him back to the last blood. He restarted and was tracking the same way when he unexpectedly left the line and circled back to within 20 yds of the last blood and restarted on his own. He continued back towards the spot I picked him up at, only this time he went straight instead of to the right. I asked him “do you got it?” and in another 50 yds we were on the deer.

The bolt hit the deer high back by the last two ribs on the left side. The expandable broad head must have deflected off a rib and came out the opposite hind quarter cutting off part of the tail as it exited.Theo did real good on this track and I especially liked the way he went back to a part of the line he knew was right on his own and re started. We’ve been training regularly, but haven’t had a real track or a find in a long time and it sure felt good today.

Two ten-pointers found by Darren Doran on one day

You might say that last Sunday tracking gods were smiling upon Darren Doran from New Jersey. In the morning he recovered a 10 point buck with his tracking dachshund Karl, and in the afternoon he found another ten pointer with his young Theo. Congratulations Darren! How are you ever going to beat that?