"Track or treat" night: Winnie and Jared's first track in pursuit of a wounded deer

Some tracks are more memorable than others but most likely every handler remembers their very first track. This week we received email from Jared Brueggeman, who got a female pup from our only 2016 litter. Winnie (Yola von Moosbach-Zuzelek) was born on July 3, 2016 so she is just turning 4 months old tomorrow.

My neighbor shot this doe on his land at approximately 5:45 pm Halloween evening. He said he heard the arrow hit but was unable to locate it or any blood at the shot site.  A few hours later Winnie, myself, the hunter and two friends took to the field. We started tracking at 9:15 pm.  It was difficult to locate the first blood as there was none at the hit site that we could see. We tracked for quite a distance.  Some heavy blood fading to some light blood and back to heavy.  After several hundred yards and it was apparent that the deer was still alive as we were finding fresh blood that was not dried like at the beginning of the trail.  We never found a single bed.  We pushed the deer to make her bleed and we ended up through the large block of timber where the deer crossed the road.  We located a few drops on the road and Winnie was anxious to push on. Shortly after crossing the road Winnie came upon her first real deer.  The deer was dead and Winnie realized what she has been training  to do. She went right over and started licking the blood and eventually she latched right on and was biting the deer with all she had. She showed no possessiveness as last night I think Winnie realized that we are working as a team.  All of the other people and the lights in the woods were a distraction at times as this was only her second time in the woods at night, once on an artificial line and then this actual call. I would reassure her with a calm tone that she needs “find the deer” and she was back to tracking. We recovered the deer at 11:28 pm. The deer was shot quartering away hitting the gut, liver and a single lung. There was an entrance and exit wound, however, the arrow was still in the deer. She had not been dead long as there were still bubbles coming out of the exit hole near the lungs. The track totaled just about a mile in distance. The Halloween deer that Winnie found will be one I will never forget. Winnie did get on Halloween a little treat of her own, a few slices of fresh deer heart.

On the track there were a few times where I needed to reset Winnie on the last blood found and then she was back on track. She persevered and did great. I was very proud of her as you know she is not even 4 months old yet! I am on cloud nine right now and I have the itch to get back out there and let the sniff hound go find another!  Thanks for being a part of all of this. 

Sincerely, your friend and now fellow tracker,

Jared Brueggeman

A new generation of canine deer trackers is born

It all started with breeding our "Tuesday" (FC Tuesday von Moosbach-Zuzelek) to "Kunox (FC Kunox von der Dohlmühle), which took place on January 4 and 6. All went well. This is going to be a second litter for Tuesday, and she has very good instincts and mates easily.  Kunox, even though inexperienced, finally figured out how to use his equipment.

Tuesday's pregnancy went smoothly. She had a good appetite for the first few weeks and towards the end she ate mainly home made food. She never got overly large and we did not bother to do an ultrasound or X-rays. We knew she was pregnant, probably with 5, tops 6 pups. Last year she whelped 5 pups, when she was bred to Tommy.

We have had a very cold and snowy winter so she did not get almost any exercise in January and February. But her spirits remained high. I love this dog, who has an excellent on/off switch - off in the house and on the field.

On Sunday night, March 8, I stayed up with Tuesday all night, and then in the morning was relieved by John.

 

We knew that the whelping would start soon. On Monday morning she started to pant heavily, shiver and she felt like she needed to go to bathroom every couple of hours. Finally her water bag emerged at 12:30 PM and the first puppy arrived at 1:40 PM. This was a female pup, dark in color and weighing 9.6 oz. We call her Willette (she has a pink collar).

Then we had a long break, which was quite nerve wracking. Just about when I was going to call our vet, the second pup was born at 4:14 PM. It was another female, Wiki (yellow) weighing 8.6 oz. Three more pups followed:
4:37 PM a female weighing 9.4 oz, whom we named Willow (lime collar)
5:37 PM an 8.8 oz male Woody (blue)
6:30 PM an 8.8 oz male Waldi (purple)
I can't believe that the whelping actually took place during the day! John had his first litter in 1965 and I had mine in 1991 so we have assisted our bitches to whelp over many decades, yet one never knows in advance how things are going to go. We were lucky this time as everything went smoothly without complications.

From left: Willette, Wiki, Woody, Waldi and Willow.

Today (Saturday, March 14) puppies are five days old and continue to do very well. Tuesday has a good appetite and pups have put already a lot of weight. Waldi put on 6 ounces!

Vonnie is starting to gain her handler's trust thanks to a good tracking job

This message from Mike Martien came on Christmas Day. Mike lives in Monroe, LA, and his puppy Vonnie came from our only 2014 litter of Tommy x Tuesday. In his message Mike refers to Waldo, who was bred by Laurel Whistance-Smith and was sired by our Asko. Thank you Mike!

Hope this message finds all well, and both of you enjoying Christmas.  Wanted to send you a quick note on Vonnie.  Things have been really slow for us.  Had 2 calls for tracking, and both of them came while I was out of town with my work.  However, we had the second live track for Vonnie this evening.

A good friend of mine, Mark Hoffman, was hunting with his daughter Gabby this evening, and knew I needed to give Vonnie more experience.  Gabby shot an 8 point, and when Mark found blood, and where the deer left the food plot, he did exactly what I wish all hunters would do, he marked the blood, and left to come get me and Vonnie.  Mark felt like the buck wasn't hit great, and wanted to wait a little while before taking Vonnie in, which was a good call on Mark's part.   

When I put Vonnie down on the blood she immediately started following it through the brush and down a steep hill.  I told Mark I wasn't sure she was still on it, while going down hill, but when we made it to the bottom, we found more blood.  She turned and dropped off into a small creek bed with steep, bluff sides and went 20-30 yards, when we hit a log jam in the creek and Vonnie started try to weave her way through it. I followed, but felt confident she wasn't on it.  Lucky for me though, after going through the pile of limbs that looked completely undisturbed, Vonnie stopped to sniff a leaf that had blood on it.  The bluff banks on this creek were now 10-12 feet tall, and nearly impossible for me to climb, but Vonnie made a 90 degree turn and tried going up it.  After two attempts, Vonnie came back down and went just a little further down the creek, where another drain came into it and started her way up.  While we were doing this, Clay Weeks and Mark shined their lights up the hill from where Vonnie had tried going up the bluff, saw the deer stand up, and finished it off.  Therefore, Vonnie has now earned my trust and I will follow her regardless of "what I think the deer did"...  The track wasn't very long, but thanks to Mark and Gabby Hoffman, they provided an opportunity for me to gain confidence, and Vonnie to prove her ability. 

 

I'm attaching a photo of Gabby Hoffman with her buck and Vonnie.  Please feel free to post the above paragraph and photo on your various sites.  It'll certainly help us get more tracking jobs, and make a little girl happy.  Vonnie is much more methodical in her tracking than Waldo was during his first three years.  She works the line slow and close, and hasn't blown a single turn on any of her 2 tracks she's been on.  Everyone has commented on how well she minds, and how well she reacts to being around numerous people.  I know it's still early to be making a call like this, but from what I've seen thus far, there's no doubt in my mind that she will probably be a better tracker than Waldo, and that's a strong statement, giving Waldo's accomplishments.  I honestly had hoped she'd just be as good as Waldo, but I believe she just might show me that it's actually possible to be better than him.  Many thanks to both of you for providing me with such an outstanding dog! 

Mike Martien's contact info is list on the UBT Find-A-Tracker site at  http://www.unitedbloodtrackers.org/tracker-profile/?user=222

A leg-shot deer gets away and a hunter harvests another buck...by mistake

 By Judy Catrett (a Georgia owner of  a seven-month-old "Mossy Brooke" aka Viola von Moosbach-Zuzelek)

This little girl, Mossy is addicted to tracking wounded deer.  We received a call yesterday from a hunter who had wounded a deer 5 hours earlier that morning.  There was blood at the spot that the deer was shot and an occasional drop for approx. 100 yards.  Mossy tracked from the initial blood and then continued on strongly after the point of no blood.  She was tracking off leash on this occasion.  

She was 100 yards in front of us when she started yipping. I told the hunter, Rod, that we had to hurry to her as she had just  jumped the deer.  When we got to the yipping, there were two bucks trotting slowly with Mossy behind them. Rod was about 10 yards to my right and both deer stopped. The deer in the lead and the larger of the two had a broken front leg. I knew that this would be our only chance to have a shot at the wounded deer and Mossy was not close enough to be in danger, so I told Rod to shoot the one on the left. He shot and immediately said I got it. I responded, no you didn't, the wounded deer just ran off.  

From Rod's view 10 yds from me, he never saw but one deer and did not understand what I saying about two deer.  He did kill the 8 point in the picture, and was quite proud of it, but was upset about having wounded the other deer. We loaded the deer he killed and got it out of the area. I explained to Rod that it would be very unlikely that the wounded deer was anywhere near and that it would more than likely live with the wound I saw.  

I again asked Mossy to find another dead deer. There was no blood, but I knew the direction the buck had run.  It took Mossy 10 minutes to straighten the track out, but she then started strong on a track. She trailed for 600 yards at which time I called her back.  I explained again to Rod that this wound would not be lethal and the deer could travel miles on 3 legs. Craig had a hunter at the plantation wound a deer last year in the same fashion. The deer was killed out of the same stand 3 weeks later. The front leg was completely severed except for being attached by hide on one side. Basically, the deer was carrying a necrotic leg which was a burden to him, but he was alive and working scrapes.

So the deer in the picture was not the wounded deer, but for some reason was with the wounded deer. Mossy took us to the wounded deer, so I consider her as having done her job.  It was me who did not control the situation at that point as I should have.  I have learned from this experience that in the woods 2 feet can change a persons view and that should we run into this situation again, the hunter should be very close to me.

Off leash tracking is definitely different from tracking on leash. Had Mossy been on leash I do not think that we would have ever seen the wounded deer.  I think that the deer would have detected humans and would have immediately left when we got close to where it was bedded.  Because of Mossy's small size, she does not intimidate the bucks and most wounded bucks do not run from her. They stand their ground and look at her. She is a distraction to the buck and the hunter is usually presented with a shot.  I had the same experience with Bear due to his small size also. Mossy is intelligent enough to know that the buck could hurt her and always keeps her distance when baying, which I am very thankful for.  Bear would get a little closer to the deer than I  have observed with Mossy.  Don't know if this is a male/female --testosterone--issue or just the difference in the two pups. 

I will continue to learn from every tracking experience that Mossy and I have.  I counted  this as #23 as Mossy took us to the wounded deer even though the hunter shot the wrong deer.  I have never tracked a wounded buck that had a healthy buck with him.

Hope you don't freeze the next few days.  We are getting weather that is very cold to us, but probably considered warm by you.

Thanks Again,

Judy

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

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

Jolanta,

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

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

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

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

Thanks again for Mossy.

Mossy enjoying her deer with one of the hunters.

Mossy thanking the hunter for killing the deer. 

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

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

Tuesday and Tommy's puppies: a new litter of wirehaired dachshund trackers

We bred our FC Tuesday von Moosbach-Zuzelek, Sfk, V, to FC Tom vom Linteler-Forst, SchwhK (Prize I/100), Deer Search cert., V, twice, on February 6 and 8. Her pregnancy went smoothly; she had a good appetite and was active. She looked actually full of puppies as this below picture shows. We chose not to X-ray her as we knew she was pregnant, and a question "how many pups" would have its answer soon enough.

A whelping box for Tuesday was set up few days in advance and she stayed in it almost constantly. She really liked it. This was a relief as with first time mothers you never know how things are going to go.

I started to take her temperature twice a day, and on April 9 it went below 99 F and stayed there. Around midnight of April 10, Tuesday started to nest and scratch the bedding in the whelping box. We knew that the whelping was coming closer. But things were not progressing, and at 4 PM I called our vet for advice. We decided to give her more time since her water still did not break.

The water bag finally appeared at 8:15 PM (April 11), and first puppy arrived 45 minutes later.

This little (7.8 oz) boy was born without any difficulties and appeared very dark.

We named him Volt (he latched to a nipple right away), and we are still not sure whether he is a very dark wild boar or black and tan. We will just wait and see.

Puppies arrived in this order:
9:05 PM Volt (lime collar), 7.8 oz
11:50 PM Viola (pink) 7.4 oz
12:04 AM Vonnie (yellow) 7.6 oz
2:45 AM Vincent (blue) 8.2 oz
3:10 AM Vivica (red) 8.8 oz

We gave Tuesday a shot of oxytocin, and as it turned out she carried only 5 puppies. At this number they should not be difficult to raise.

Tuesday is taking a great care of the pups, but she suffers from excessive milk production, a painful condition called galactostasis. According to the Merck Manual: "The affected glands are warm, swollen, and painful to the touch, but the animal is alert and healthy. Warm compresses should be applied to the affected glands 4–6 times daily, and the young should be encouraged to nurse from these glands." So for the last 24 hours I have been doing warm compresses and expressing some of the milk excess. Tuesday had a slightly elevated temperature, and to avoid mastitis, I put her on Clavamox. She is doing very well, and has a good appetite. Puppies have already put some weight.

By the way, all the puppies are spoken for. 

We do not want to monopolize this blog with reports on Tuesday's litter, so from now on we will be posting them on our puppy journal at http://borntotrackpuppies.blogspot.com/