Two Old Men in the Woods

by John Jeanneney

Yesterday  was the first day of our bow season and my first day of tracking at age 79. I have total confidence in my tracking dog Tommy, but I confess that I was a bit concerned about my own agility in  the woods. Jolanta was even more concerned and went along so that she could call in the EMS helicopter if necessary.

I was almost relieved when I met the hunter. He was slightly younger than I am, but in considerably worse  physical shape. I knew that no one was going to laugh at me in this situation. It turned out that he had brought along his own daughter/caregiver, who got along just fine with Jolanta.

Fortunately Tommy Tracker was the one who really had his act together. The start was complicated because there were no markers, and the hunter could not find any blood to verify the line. We ended up going  to the "point of loss", which is  not the ideal place to begin. Here there was  a confusing pattern of muscle blood that had been walked over by the hunter. Tommy figured the mess out and took a line. Blood... Blood.... Then a long stretch with no blood, but I could see that Tommy was confident. "Trust your dog."

The deer was a big doe, shot quartering away with a Rage expandable broadhead. We had hoped for a one-lunger at least, but had seen nothing but muscle blood. As you know, Rage broadheads have been know to deflect along a rib cage. The doe never laid down, but after a quarter mile in very dense cover, I could tell by Tommy's body language that he had jumped her. The hunter also found a drop of blood, which laid any doubts to rest.

We were on the line.

We pushed another 100 yards, and then all agreed that this big venison package was not "gettable". The hunter's family was in need of the meat, but we had to face reality. At least I could  face the reality of some fine dog work. This was enough for me and Tommy and Jolanta. We will help this hunter another day.

Muscle blood

.

Great weekend spent with trackers from Quebec

This winter is not going to quit! According to the National Weather Service we got 27 inches of snow in the last 36 hours. Of course this was on the top of the snow already on the ground. Crazy!!! When the snow is so deep logistics of managing 11 dogs (two females in heat) is not easy, especially in case of our old Asko and Joeri. John and I managed to shovel some paths for them in our yard, and today we got plowed so now our driveway is clear.

We got to spend last weekend with two trackers from Quebec, Benoit Blanchard and Steve Durocher, who came here to breed Benoit's tracking dachshund Fiona to one of our dogs. Fiona du Petit Bois de la Chapelle, an accomplished blood tracking dachshund from Quebec, has one of the best temperaments I have ever seen. She is not only talented but very good looking too. Fiona was imported from France along with her two sisters Flair, owned by Steve Durocher, and Foxy, owned by Bernard Demers. They were bred by Philippe Rainaud, an experienced blood tracker from France, who writes for Plaisirs de la Chasse.  

It was a good weekend filled with animated conversation mainly in French. Thanks to John and Steve, who speaks some English, I did not feel left out.

We ended up breeding Fiona to our Sky on February 8 and 9, 2014, and are really looking forward to seeing their puppies. Good luck Ben with the pups! By the way, I guess we should also mention that Tuesday was bred to Tommy on February 6 and 8.

Thank you Bernard for this picture showing Ben with Fiona and the buck they recovered.

Benoit Blanchard with Fiona

When a track is a success?

We all get that question, "What's your success rate?".  In the leashed tracking dog states we have to tell them, "Around 35%" because we know that what they are asking for is the frequency with which we find the deer and tag it. It goes without saying that the non-productive 65% are FAILURES.

If you have tracked for a while you come to realize that it's not that simple. Some of those FAILURES, when you didn't get the deer, actually become sources of pride and satisfaction. Our tracking adventure this afternoon is a good illustration.

We got the call this morning. The buck had been hit behind the shoulder late the previous afternoon with a Rage expandable broadhead. As happens, all too frequently, there had been inadequate penetration, four to five inches. The one thing that made me take the call was detail that the buck was occasionally blowing fine droplets of blood from his nose; a lung had been penetrated, but it was impossible to know how much damage had been done. A deer can go on one lung, and the damaged lung can eventually heal and become functional again.

Another slight complication was that the hunter's son was playing that morning in a high school football game. A good father knows that family comes first! It wasn't until 1:30 PM that Jolanta, Tommy and I  started on a long ATV ride back to where we were to begin tracking. We didn't start at the hit site, which is the normal thing to do, because the buck had been eye-tracked so far the previous night. Tommy, our tracking dog, started on a drop of blood and took off across the very dry leaves and pine needles.

Occasional drops of blood reassured us that we were on a right track.

The hunter and his buddy had done a superb  of eye-tracking, the best I've ever seen, and Tommy stayed on the line for a quarter of a mile into some very thick brush that involved crawling on my hands and knees. It was a hot mid-afternoon, but I was thankful for my heavy nylon coat and chaps. I had to plow along where Tommy  was tracking. Jolanta zoomed in whenever the brush cleared to give Tommy water and encouragement to us both. Tommy was hot, but totally focused on his  work. He was "locked in" on the scent line now 22 hours old. We broke out into an overgrown field where the deer had bedded the night before.

John's worn out tracking coat.

In the field of dry grass and goldenrod we found no blood at all, but Tommy seemed to have footprint scent to work with. Clearly the scent line was fresher now, even though scenting conditions were at their worst. Tommy worked down through the deer runs, checking carefully to make sure at each intersection. This was a hot deer area, but Tommy seemed positive that he was on the right line. "Trust your dog!"

Tommy tracking the lung-shot wounded deer that we could not get.

I began to realize that there would be no "successful find" on this call. This buck had come too far and had stayed strong for too long. If he had been fatally gut shot, things would have been different, but clearly this buck was not  losing blood now  and he was in a condition to keep going, back into the thick stuff, as long as we wanted to follow.

The decision to quit is a delicate matter. I like to have the hunter participate and  agree that there is little chance of catching up to the deer. Would the hunter believe that we were  still on his buck and not just rambling around on hot lines of healthy deer? Then the hunter's buddy, who had been following us closely, found blood, a tiny drop, but it was fresh and still wet. I checked Tommy for briar scratches, which might have left that drop. Tommy was clean, and Tommy was right. We were still on the wounded buck, and the buck was still strong after 22 hours. We pushed on for another 200 yards with Tommy pulling confidently.

We came to an ATV trail through the thickets. Tommy pushed on across but the humans were ready to stop. The hunter knew that the trail led back to where we had originally left the ATV. We called  back Tommy and he seemed to understand. There was no getting this deer even though  he had done his best. The whole tracking adventure seemed  a success, not a failure,  both for Tommy and for the folks who had supported him from  the other end of the long tracking leash.

What do you think? Success or failure?

Going back to the ATV.

Big Game Blood Trackers Ontario is a new tracking club in Canada

Tracking wounded big game with dogs is becoming more and more popular. Just recently a new club has been formed north of the border, in the province of Ontario: Big Game Blood Trackers Ontario. We wish Ontario trackers best of luck!

Bob Yax's pupy Thor is on a roll: how to harness natural instincts of a hunting dachshund

Bob Yax's e-mail came today, and it describes Thor's 5th, 6th and 7th recovery. I am going to give it a priority and post it right away for several reasons. First, Thor has turned seven months old today. Second, I have never posted reports on Thor's second and third recovery due to the lack of time. Third, he is a littermate to our Tuesday, Darren Doran's Theo and a full brother to our Sky and Ray and Pam Maurier's Tucker. The two breedings of Moose (FC Nurmi von Moosbach-Zuzelek) to our Paika (FC Paika von Moosbach-Zuzelek) have produced versatile dogs with a lot of mouth. In German it is called spurlaut, and there are several articles on this trait in the article section of our website. With time and experience Thor is going to be more discriminate about deer to be tracked, but for now Bob is using the knowledge of Thor's hunting qualities to his advantage. In our experience a teckel's hunting instinct kicks in between 6 and 7 months, and this is when the dog's desire to follow big and small game can come on really strong. It is up to a dog's  handler and trainer to mold his pup's natural instincts the way he desires. Read on...

John & Jolanta,

We had an interesting and rewarding 4 day weekend where we took 8 calls and had 3 recoveries, including Thor’s 7th before the age of seven months.

I also learned more about Thor and actually used that new info,  about a negative trait,  to successfully complete our most exciting recovery of the year.

Multiple times this year, Thor has gotten off on what seemed like a really hot trail, where he was very confident in what he was after.  In a few cases it did turn out to be the wounded deer, but in many others, it seemed that it was likely a recent trail of a  live / not wounded deer.  In these cases (not wounded deer) he would yelp a lot and pull really hard.

Our recoveries in Ossian and Honeoye this past weekend were very similar.  They both seemed like liver hits where the hunters had both bumped the deer from their first beds a few hours after the hit.  In the Honeoye case, after bumping the deer,  the hunter had done a wide area search before calling into Deer Search the next day.  We arrived to help about 40 hrs after the hit.  Thor followed the visible blood trail well, and then got into a random searching pattern (blood from the hunters boots?).  After about 30 minutes, he then started pulling and yelping on a hot trail.  I let him go for about 200 yds, before deciding it was likely not the wounded deer.  We then went back to last blood and I guided him to new thick area to search.   On the way through the very thick area, the hunter mentioned that he had noticed a turkey vulture flying earlier in the day just ahead of us – very interesting!!.   Shortly after this, while walking down a laneway, Thor stopped and made a left into dense brambles and brush.  About 50 yds later we found the well aged, 8pt.  It was liver hit.

Bob Yax and Thor with a successfully recovered deer in Honeoye

Later that day,  we took another call that seemed like a high lung or back hit with only a short blood trail.  Near the end of that hour long unsuccessful sortie, we kicked out what looked like a very healthy buck, about 100 yds ahead of us.  Thor hadn’t seen it.  I thought that this may be a good learning experience for us.  I guided him to a point where he would cross the buck's trail.  Once we hit the trail, he began yelping and pulling hard down the fresh trail.  I saw no evidence of any blood and at that point confirmed to myself that he indeed seems to only yelp/bark on the hot trail of live moving deer.  It only took me about 20 tracks to figure this out !

The Hunter in the Ossian recovery had only tracked a short way after bumping the deer from its 1st bed.  He thought it might be a liver to intestine hit, but he didn’t find his arrow.   He had stopped tracking at the last blood sign, just short of a very dense field of old tree tops and heavy brush.  We came out the morning after the hit.  Thor again followed the initial blood trail up to the dense field.  There, he followed along the outside edge (hunters boots again?) and then into an open woods.  After 10 more minutes, he again got on a hot trail and started yelping – not good I thought !   This time after about 100 yds, I pulled him off and headed back to last blood by the edge of the dense field.  My plan was to take him into the field and hope he picked up an undisturbed trail or was able to wind the dead buck, since we would be downwind of the area the deer headed into.   I led him down a line that was about 50 yds into the field in front of last blood.  The combination of old tree tops, rose bushes and berry bushes made it really tough going.  At one point Thor pulled me back towards the open woods where we had seen last blood.  I could see an old 5gal bucket that I had seen from the woods, so I pulled him back, picked him up and carried him over a tangle of thick berry bushes.  When I put him back down, 20 yds further along the path I wanted to go, he headed back towards the open woods again.  This time I looked 10 yds ahead of him and saw the beautiful 14 pointer tucked  up against one of the old tree tops.  He was only about 40 yds into the dense field.  When I called out “we found him” the hunter, who was 30 yds behind me, came hurtling over the tree tops yelling “I’m going to kiss you“.   Before he got to his trophy he gave me a bear hug and said “ this is the best moment of my life”  ----- This is why we do what we do!!

A fourteen pointer recovered in Ossian

Our 7th recovery (Avoca), was by far the most interesting and exciting of the year.  The call that came into Deer Search was not very promising.  The Hunter had hit the deer at the top of the hip, about 12 inches from the tail and only an inch or two from the spine.  The deer was coming directly at the hunters tree stand and was only 15 yds away.  The arrow penetrated about 20 inches, and there was no exit wound.  At the hit, the deer did a series of falls and tumbles down a hill for 25 yds before getting up and running off ( I believe due to sudden / rapid blood loss, the deer temporarily lost consciousness).  The back 10 inches of the arrow broke off when the deer tumbled.   When I heard the call, it reminded me if one of my own deflected hits that was broadside across the top of both hips.   That deer lost a lot of blood, mostly internally, and I was able to track it down after about an hour of pushing and only 400 yds.  I had to shoot it a second time.  While talking to the Avoca hunter he told me that the hit had occurred only 3 hrs earlier and that no one had tracked beyond the initial area where the deer had tumbled.  He said there was no blood beyond the first 30 yards. (?)  I thought that this could be a case where pushing the deer for a long time could result in a recovery and knowing Thor’s tenacity on a hot/live deer,  I thought it might work out.  While arranging a meeting place, I told the Hunter “this could be fun”.

In Avoca, the hunter drove us and one of his friends to the top of a tall hillside.  We ended up about 800 ft above the main road – we had a beautiful view of the valley below.   The hunter had arranged that two of his hunting buddies would post up on the farm road at the bottom of the hill, while we tracked down the slope in the direction the deer had run.  The slope down was about 500 yds of waist high grass with patches of thick brush.   The hit site was near the top of the hill in an open woods.  The first 30 yds after the hit had torn up leaves and blood on the trees where the deer had stumbled.  Once we crossed a barbed wire fence and got into the field, we initially found no blood.  This is the area where the deer had started running down the slope.   When Thor got past the fence and into the field he headed strongly down the hill and then took a left across the slope.  The hunter confirmed that the deer had gone straight down initially, but then lost sight of it.   

After about 150yds down this trail, with no blood sign, I decided to go back to the fence and hopefully find some visible blood.   Back at the fence, the three of us and Thor searched again for blood.  After 5 minutes without a trace, I let Thor head the way he wanted.  He began in the general direction he had gone before.  After about 100 yds, I saw big deer tracks in the muddy trail.  I had seen these before so I knew he was on the same trail he had started down.  The hunter and I continued following Thor for another 200 yds across the slope.  Most of the time we were on deer trails in tall grass between big patches of rose bushes.   After passing directly under a ladder stand in a hedgerow the hunter asked if I thought he was still on it.  I told him that it sure seemed so.  He was very focused and quiet. 

After another 100 yds  along the slope we were about halfway down the hill.  At that point I followed Thor around a thick brush patch and then noticed, about 20 yds ahead of him,  the butt end of a deer.   Thor was going right at it.  Just about the time  I told the hunter “there it is” !,  the big 8pt got up and jumped headlong down the hill.  The hunter ran around to watch the buck heading to the roads 200 yds down the hill.  I heard him yelling down the hill “we just jumped him, he’s heading down”.   When Thor got to bed, he went nuts and headed after the buck pulling and barking.  At this point I thought, we could be in for a very long track,  but I knew that Thor could follow this deer till one of them dropped.  After about 100 yds of getting pulled down the hill, the hunter yelled “they hit him down at the bottom, he’s down on the other side of the road”.  I followed Thor down the last 100 yds of the hill and could see the downed deer laying in the field on the other side of the road.  Once I knew the road was clear, I let go of the leash and watched as he ran the last 50 yds to the deer.  By the time I got there he was happily pulling hair out of its backside. 

As we stood by the deer I heard the rest of the story.  After we jumped the buck, one of the hunters posted on the farm road below heard the commotion above and saw the buck heading down the slope.  He ran down the farm road to intercept the running buck.  It was heading to the point where the farm road met the main road. When the buck jumped out of the field onto the farm road, 20 ft from the hunter!,  he proceeded to make a perfect double lung shot on it as it ran by.  The buck then proceeded across the main road, tumbled off the other side and over a fence and ended up about 20 yds off the road.  It was a very exciting finish!!    Interestingly, the original wound at the top of the hip was barely visible, there was no blood on the fur around it.  It seems that the entrance hole closed up quickly and the major bleeding occurred internally.   The four hunters were thrilled and amazed that puppy Thor had found the deer so far away from where they thought it would be.  More than any other recovery so far this year, Thor thought this deer was his.  While taking pictures, he wanted only to chew on the deer.  At one point he barred his teeth at one of the hunters and I made sure he knew that was not acceptable.  It seemed Thor couldn’t get this deer out of his head – a half hour after we left, on our way home, he was still whining and looking out the window!  This was a fun track.

It’s amazing that we seem to learn more and more on ever track we do.

Happy Hunting & Tracking,
Bob

Congratulations to Darren Doran and his four-month-old blood tracking dachshund Theo

Theo (Theo von Moosbach-Zuzelek) turned four months old on August 6, and one day later he passed a UBT I blood tracking evaluation. Andy Bensing from Reading, PA, was a United Blood Trackers judge. Now Theo's owner and handler Darren Doran from New Jersey will be able to put him on the Special NJ Permit required to track in that state.

Darren Doran from New Jersey with a four-month-old Theo at the end of successful 525 yard track. We are very proud of Theo and so pleased with this tracking team's accomplishment.

Darren has been training Theo's very diligently. I posted several of his tracking reports but not all of them. When a couple of weeks ago Theo did well on a four-hour-old 450-yard line prepared with the scent shoes and 2 ounces of blood, Darren asked me not to publish the report as he did not want people to think that all puppies can do this. He said "I've been very careful to never ask Theo to do more than he is able. But I think Theo is something special."

It's really nice to hear Darren's opinion as it confirms our experience with S- and T-puppies. After all we have Theo's brother Sky and Theo's sister and litter mate Tuesday, and we think very highly of them. It looks like the breeding of Paika (FC Paika von Moosbach-Zuzelek) to Moose (FC Nurmi von Moosbach-Zuzelek) has produced pups with a really good potential for blood tracking and hunting. But inborn talent does not guarantee that a tracking dog will succeed. A key component is a dedicated owner who takes dog training seriously and makes sure that once the dog is trained he used on a real thing.

We hope that Theo continues to do so well! In the next post we will talk more about other S- and T-pups.

Niya, a young wirehaired dachshund from Hungary shows a great potential for tracking and hunting

Last weekend was very busy and filled with fun, dachshunds and friends.We wrote about Genti and Beth Sheros' puppies in the previous post. 

We also had a chance to get to know Sherry Ruggieri's wirehaired dachshund puppy Niya, which she imported from Hungary. Niya's registered name is Tüsöksori-Ugrasztó Husniya, and she is five months old. She has a perfect tight coat with nice furnishings, and her size is quite small, just under 12 lbs.

Niya has never been exposed to water before, but she took to our pond like an otter. She did not need any encouragement at all, just entered the water and started to swim. Sherry was a little nervous to let her go all the way as Niya looked like she wanted to swim across the pond. You are a good and brave girl Niya! We finished the session with throwing a ball for her, which she promptly retrieved.

Sherry Ruggieri watching Niya, who is just about ready to swim.

 

Niya is a natural swimmer and retriever.

When we did some blood tracking work with Niya on Friday and Saturday, we quickly realized that she is ready to pass UBT I evaluation. Both John and I are United Blood Trackers judges and eligible to judge Niya. The UBT-I demonstrates the basic skills necessary to track wounded game by assessing the ability of the handler/dog team to follow an artificial blood trail. This is not a test comparable to a 20-hour-old line prepared according to the European tradition. More information about the UBT evaluation program can be accessed here.

Early Sunday morning John laid a 400 yard track for Niya with scent shoes and three ounces of deer blood. The line had two turns and one wound bed. Niya was put on the line two hours and 20 minutes later, and her performance was flawless. It took her 15 minutes to get to the deer hide placed at the end of line, and she showed a good interest and aggressiveness towards the hide.

Since Sherry, a United Blood Trackers member, lives in new Jersey, now she will be able to put Niya on a special permit required to blood track in that state.

Niya at the end of the track.

John Jeanneney, a UBT judge, and Sherry Ruggieri with Niya.

Niya wants to go back to the deer hide.

Good luck to this new blood tracking team!

NYS Leashed Tracking Dog License Guide now available online

NYS Department of Environmental Conservation released a study guide, which will help future handlers prepare for the exam needed to obtain a license in our state. The guide is now posted online at http://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/wildlife_pdf/ltdguide.pdf

This is a very positive move in a right direction. Hopefully more New York hunters become interested in obtaining a license required to recover wounded big game with assistance of leashed dogs.

NY deer and bear hunting season dates are published by DEC

It looks like our tracking season got extended by two weeks as in 2012 archery season in the Southern zone will open on October 1 (instead of mid-October). It is hard to believe that it is almost middle of July already and only 2.5 months are left before tracking starts.

The dates are available at the DEC website.

Kevin and Quenotte: a suburban year-around blood tracking team

Last night  I got a picture from Kevin Wilson showing Quenotte with a deer, which means that they must have tracked in this oppressive heat. Kevin is a year-round bowhunter and District leader for Suburban Whitetail Management of Norther Virginia. In certain northern Virginia suburbs there is year-round controlled bowhunting of nuisance deer on special depredation permits.  So Quenotte has year-round opportunities to track wounded deer. She is a lucky dog!

Several weeks ago Kevin sent some pictures with this message:

The suburban kill permit deer season continues year-round here in Northern VA. Quenotte and I were able to go out on a practice track a couple weeks ago and I thought that I would share. The picture is very blurry because we took it with a phone at night in the rain. The hunter could have found the deer without us but this particular fellow calls often to give Quenotte some practice. He knows not to walk on the scent trail and I hope someday we will help him with a difficult track. The young buck ran in a long, uphill loop and then returned downhill to expire. The total track was less than 200 yds but it certainly disproves the theory that "they always run downhill" or to water or to wherever.

 Quenotte and I also recently participated in a special hunt at the county dump last week but there were no shots that day. She was able to meet 13 of the suburban hunters who gathered after the hunt. She is a big hit with the guys.
       

I am most proud of our participation in the Fairfax County Virginia Park Hunts last fall. We tracked 3 deer and found 2. One of the finds was an easy practice run. The other find was a doe that was shot on a quartering away angle with a complete pass through. Unfortunately, the shot entered just in front of the nearside back leg and exited behind the far side rib cage. The doe expired after traveling a long distance through honey suckle thickets.

Everything else is going well. We are still working on recall but we love her to pieces. 

 

Happy 2nd Birthday to Rilla and her siblings!

I am way behind with posting, but last weekend when I was attending dachshund field trials in Batavia, NY, I got really sick. This weekend I was scheduled to judge trials in Maryland but I was not up to it so I am staying home.  I am not the only one affected, some people's bronchitis is much worse, but in the last six days I have not done much.

Anyway, a lot of material waiting for posting is not time-sensitive but this post is. Yesterday, on May 25, it was a second birthday for our R-litter (Joeri by Gilda), and Stan Kite sent a really nice update on Rilla. The story is long, so this is a shorter version. Thank you Stan!

I'll start back on the last week of November, 2011. I had laid a blood trail the day before, weaving in and out of the hedgerows of my neighbor's alfalfa fields, and took Rilla out to run it in the morning. Right from the beginning, something was wrong--she had absolutely no interest in tracking. This was the first time I'd ever seen behavior like this from her. No matter what I tried, she just preferred to walk along right next to my legs or sit down!

I called Darren Doran to vent some frustration, and he asked me if she was in heat. I knew it was close to that time, but wasn't sure...lo and behold, a few days later, Dec 5, we found drops of blood on the tile floor. Her mind and body were not focused on tracking, and now I knew why.

We are now getting close to her next heat, but last weekend we had a great track in our swampy, briar-filled woods...(She did fine, but I got so tangled up in briars, I lost a tracking shoe and didn't even know it at first) LOL. We will see if her interest is again temporarily derailed at heat time!

After the heat ran its course, we did two 24 hr lines, one after a hard rain, and she did phenomenally. On one line, I dragged a rabbit carcass perpendicular to the line in 3 different spots just before we ran it. When she turned at those points to investigate the rabbit scent, I just calmly told her "no" and directed her back to the track. I plan to continue this every so often to remind her of the business at hand.

Next, about 60 days after the blood drops we discovered, came another false pregnancy episode. It was pretty intense. She stayed in her wire crate with one of Vonnie's slippers, only wanting to leave to eat and relieve herself. Her weight increased also, up to 22 lbs. She had been staying between 20 and 20.5. She wouldn't even leave the crate to come to bed with us, which she normally loves! I even put her in the bed one night, and she tried to jump off, so we let her stay in the crate. After about 2 weeks, it started to subside, so we took the slipper away, and over the next few days, all symptoms disappeared. She returned to her former self, and actually seemed to want to make up for lost time--she was extra playful and happy!

**This brings up a question--do bitches who experience false pregnancies tend to keep on doing that after every heat?** (Stan, the answer is yes)

I had cut her food back, and she actually got down to 19 lbs, and is now hovering between 19.5 and 20.

Now I want to comment on the vocalizations of Miss Rilla.  Long story short, she makes more types of sounds than I've ever heard from a dog. She has her mean growl, play growl, mean changing to happy growl, various purring type noises, sighs, squeels, etc. It's really funny and I am still learning them all. One really neat one is in the middle of the night, when I come back to bed after a bathroom trip. I always feel to see where she is, and she gives the strangest noise, a semi-tapering off purr, which seems to mean "I'm right here, and I'm content, so please don't lay on me"! LOL It's the only time I hear her make that particular noise, and it cracks me up.

Speaking of her sleeping habits, one we really get a kick out of is this. When I first put her in bed, she immediately burrows under the covers, going down to around our knees. The funny part is, a lot of times, near morning, she comes out just enough to put her head on Vonnie's pillow. When I roll over, I see this little innocent face looking at me, just like a small child laying there. It's so cute!!

One Sunday in March, Bunk (our older son) and I were in our woods re-posting our property line and checking the fence. Rilla was along, and she usually stays pretty close. Just in case though, I had her e-collar on, with bell attached. We were about half way finished, when Rilla started a steady, chopping, guttural bark that I've never heard before. It was very rhythmic, and not real loud. I said "She's barking "tree'd", like a coonhound". She was only about 10 yds away, but I couldn't see her through the brush. Sure enough, she was peering into a hollow stump, and inside was a raccoon. I quickly scooped her up, and away we went. She seemed to have lost interest, but then went right back there. I ran to her again to see her jump back quickly; the coon must have taken a swipe at her. I could not call her off, so I gave her a quick hit on the e-collar. She came right to me then. I do not want a 20 lb dog that thinks it can tangle with 15-20 lb raccoons; don't think that would be pretty.

Through the years, I've been envious of people who always seemed to take their dogs everywhere with them. I just never had the right dog to do that, but guess what? I DO NOW! She goes everywhere we can possibly take her safely. She is my constant companion, whether working in the yard, driving in the truck, on our Polaris, golf cart, whatever--we take her anywhere we can; she's very well-behaved in other people's environments, and she gets along with most other dogs. Even when all the "people" in my family are somewhere else, I'm never alone any more! Rilla and I are a team! We have a tremendous bond. I'm constantly amazed at how she reacts to my tone of voice, and little things I say to her. She KNOWS me! If I say "this way" she knows to turn and go the way I'm going. If I tell her "over here" she knows I want her to come to me and look there, whether for scent or rabbits.

Speaking of rabbits--we avoid saying that word in the house, because she perks up, starts looking, and expects to be turned loose for the chase! She has been running rabbits almost every evening for a month or so behind our house. We seem to have a good crop, although I couldn't trap even ONE for Sherry's farm back in Feb (my total was NINE squirrels, a groundhog and a opossum). She really has a passion for running them, and opens freely on sight and hot scent, and you know I love to hear her song! Sometimes she amazes me with her accuracy, and sometimes, if she can't find the track, she runs it backwards to the start...she hasn't done that in a few weeks though. When she sees a rabbit or squirrel when she's looking out the window, she goes nuts. Funny thing is, we have turkeys in the yard a lot also, and they just don't excite her. She just looks at them with no reaction. This morning there were 13 or 14 out there; she saw them, but didn't make a sound. Funny! Last evening we were outside, and there were 4 turkeys less than 50 yds from us...she didn't even move toward them. Squirrel, rabbit or groundhog--forget it--she's off like a shot! She tracks blood with a much more business-like approach, but pulls hard when the line seems straight and easy.

Another thing we find hilarious: For some reason, it took me a long time to teach her to "roll over" for a treat. Other commands were no problem, but with that one I always had to help her roll, then treat. One day a few months ago, I was just starting to tell her to roll over, and before I could say the words, she rolled over so fast it shocked me. I laughed out loud as she sat right up for her treat. Well, since then, no words need to be spoken. If I just hold out the treat, she rolls over; sometimes so fast only her butt is touching the floor! When I don't have a treat, she sits, lays down, etc with no problem, but when she sees the treat held out, over she goes! Even though she is not technically obeying a command, it's too cute to correct! I take her to the barber with me, and the barber gives her treats--when I told her to just hold the treat out and watch, see got laughing so hard, she wanted Rilla to do it over and over. I think it made her day!

When Vonnie goes on her break at work, she usually gives me a quick call....just a habit to check in and say "I love you"...we just do that sort of thing. Anyway, she told me she also feels like giving Rilla a call to tell her she loves her, too! How priceless is that? LOL

At the end of deer season, we made about 50 lbs of raw food from deer meat scraps, and we also put livers and hearts in the mix, probably about 15% or so. It was very satisfying to me to make her food, she loves it and seems to do well on it. We still feed a mix of raw and dry twice a day.

To say she's captured our hearts seems like a cliche, but it's sooo true. Vonnie and I are extremely close to her, and it couldn't have come at a better time as our boys don't spend much time with us old farts these days! She does still growl sometimes, but much less. If we give her a type of rawhide chew that lasts a while, she gets very possessive with it. She gets very edgy around Lee sometimes too, don't know if it's a pack mentality, jealousy, or what, but it's most noticeable with him. Other times she licks all over him, wagging her tail. He's not here much compared to Vonnie and I, so that may be part of it also.

Well, I'm sure that's MORE than enough Rilla info for now, but I haven't wrote you about her for a while, so I figured I'd give you a BUNCH today! Believe me, we have been doing a lot, just not taking the time to write about it. Hope you and John, along with your pups, are doing great. I enjoy your pix and updates on the blog and Facebook. One pic in attachment is her scanning the yard for rabbits, other one is her looking none-too-happy about wearing a goofy birthday hat!

Happy Memorial Weekend!

Stan

Is the use of blood tracking dogs going to be legal in Pennsylvania soon?

Andy Bensing reports: After finally getting out of the Game and Fisheries committee where it languished for the last year our Tracking bill traveled quickly, for legislation in PA, through the House of Representatives over the last few weeks and was passed today by a vote of 197-0. Now it's on to the Senate. There is a reasonable chance we may be tracking in PA yet this year.

From Rep. Jeff  Pyle's link:

HARRISBURG – The House of Representatives today voted overwhelmingly to approve House Bill 881, legislation authored by Rep. Jeff Pyle (R-Armstrong) that would help reduce the instances of hunters losing wounded game animals.

The measure simply permits hunters to use a leashed tracking dog to locate a wounded large game animal (whitetail deer or black bear) if needed in order to conserve Pennsylvania’s wild resources and to ensure the animal does not suffer needlessly.

“The idea for this legislation came from my constituent, Susan Edwards of Buffalo Township, who was concerned about the wasted resources resulting from game animals that are wounded but never found by the hunter,” Pyle said. “It also helps make certain our game is harvested humanely.”

Two mini dachshund trackers for Samantha Allen from Salisbury, North Carolina

We wrote about Samantha Allen from Salisbury, North Carolina before. As it turned out Cabela, Ollie's sister, became avialable, and she joined Sam's four-legged family. Sam wrote:

I am so happy with Ollie and her progress this year I figured if I could get a puppy close to her I would be happy. She has found 10 deer so far this season and she is almost 1 year old. I drove 4 hours to pick her sister up for our trial run to see if we liked her. It is now one month later and she is a keeper! I have named her Cabela and we are currently up to about 300 yard lines aged at 4 hours with 3 ounces of blood and track shoes. She is a little different from Ollie as she tracks slower and with great concentration, she does not overshoot her lines very far at all!  Two young dogs keep me pretty busy with laying practice lines and also taking "adventures" to different places for hiking, playing etc. to get them comfortable with all types of settings and people.

Oh, and for Christmas I received tracking shoes, a blender for churning my tracking blood, new cabinets in my garage for all my tracking items and some camo clothing!! Not too many wives would have been happy about that but I was ecstatic!!

Samantha Allen with Ollie

Cabela

 

 

Thanks Samantha for sharing the gorgeous pictures of Ollie and Cabela!

Pictures of recent deer recovered by blood tracking dachshunds

I am just about to leave for field trials in Ohio, and I will be gone for five days.I am leaving you with the link to John's excellent article posted on the North American Teckel Club blog The Alternative to the Wiener Dog.

Also below are pictures of deer recovered by blood tracking dachshunds. Their handlers are very dedicated to tracking, and help hunters who need their services. I know that few days ago Susanne went on four calls! Congratulations and a big thank you for such a dedication.

Susanne Hamilton from Maine and her teckel  Buster found  this gut shot doe, 50 yards blood, then nothing for 300 yards through windy fields and apple orchards, saturated with deer.

Susanne and Buster found beautiful this 8 pointer, which was still alive ( leg/paunch hit).

Darren Doran's Karl followed a 300yd track past the point of loss and found this liver shot 8 pointer.

John Jeanneney and Joeri found the deer in Greenville, NY, few days ago.

The wind is an important factor in tracking

Michael Harrell from Georgia has shared an important lesson he learned recently. Michael, thank you for writing!

I did not expect to write to ya'll again so soon, but I am. This time, it is a learning experience for me, not my Lab, Pi. I am located in South Georgia and this is Pi's first year tracking and I was able to put her on her third and fourth track of the year yesterday.

Well, I have over 40 years of hunting experience. Most of that is deer hunting. So I have had a lot of hands on, on the job training of tracking deer. I have also worked with various gun dogs in the past so I know to trust your dog. But occasionally I still have flashes of stupidity.

This past Saturday I shot a doe. It was a good hit and should have been an easy track for my dog Pi, except for the dope on the rope. First, the set up.

I was hunting the same stand I shot a buck eight days earlier. There was fresh hog sign up and down the logging road where the blind was set up. There was also a fresh hog wallow about 50 yards from the blind, on the side of the road. In addition, there was a good bit of wind coming from the Northwest. It was a steady around 10 m.p.h., with gusts up to 20 m.p.h.

Around 8 a.m., a mature doe stepped out from the left into the road. She was not interested in the acorns on the ground, walked straight across the road to the right. The doe was about 75 yards down the road. Just a couple of minutes later, a yearling stepped out at the same spot, went into the road then turned and went back where it came from. Almost immediately, the yearling and another mature doe stepped out. Both began feeding on the acorns, gradually moving towards me. 

After a few minutes, I decided there was not a buck following them so I decided to take the mature doe. I waited until she was almost broadside at about 60 yards. I shot her with a 30-30 behind the shoulder. It was decent hit and the doe ran to the right side of the road, angling towards me. It hit the brush just before the hog wallow and ran into the planted pines. I lost sight of the doe but based on the direction she was running, I assumed the doe would continue to run to my right. Then, to my immediate right in some very thick brush, I heard it crashing through brush. I assumed it was the doe. By the way,  the doe would have been running with the wind if it continued with a gradual turn to the right.

I waited about 20 minutes, walked down to where the doe hit the woods and found some drops of blood. I went back to the camp and got my dog for what I thought would be a short, sweet track. Excellent training for her. Turns out it was excellent training for me.

Once we got back, Pi went straight to the area where I had shot the buck earlier. I called her back to the new hit site and she made some sniffs, then followed the trail into the brush. I found more spots of blood. Then the dog, instead of turning with the wind, stopped and turned into the wind. Pi stuck her nose in the wind, did some big zig zags, occasionally sniffing the ground and occasionally smelling the wind. It was “obvious” to me Pi had picked up some hog scent or the scent from the first doe. I followed her for a bit, looking for blood but did not find any.

Pi went behind an old blow down tree that was covered in vines. I was only about 15 feet from the blow down and called Pi back to the hit site. She started again and repeated her behavior, but veered a little further off from the first track but headed back to the blow down. Again, I called her back, but this time, I took her downwind of the spot I thought the doe fell. Pi went through this area and found deer poop, turkey poop, fresh armadillo rootings and such. But no blood.

By this time, I was really frustrated with her. So I took her back to the hit site and let Pi go again. Again, she turned into the wind. I followed her again, but took a different route than I did earlier. As I went across an old thinned pine lane, I saw blood. Then, more blood. At this time, it dawned on me. Pi was following the scent the whole time. Finally, I got to the old blow down and behind it was the doe. The deer had only gone maybe 20 yards total. But as soon as the doe hit the brush and I could no longer see her, the doe turned directly away from me and into the wind. What I heard can only be a guess, but it could have been the other doe I observed earlier. I don't know.

Pi's behavior in tracking had to be due to the wind. I believe she winded the doe in the gusting wind. She did not follow the ground blood trail because she did not have to. The wind was bringing the scent right to her. When I tried to follow her, I was not on the blood trail so that is why I could not find any blood. When I did look for blood from the hit site, I looked in the direction where I thought the deer had run and couldn't find any. I was making all kinds of assumptions on why the doe was not bleeding.

When I thought about this experience. I realized if the hunter had told me the story and I put the dog on the trail and the dog went in another direction, I would have followed the dog. I would not have trusted in the hunter's opinion.

Pi must think I was an idiot, pulling her off the doe twice. Trust your dog, even if it is young and inexperienced.

By the way, late that afternoon, I had the opportunity to put her on another blood trail. A small buck was shot. It was a good hit and we did not need the dog, but it was a good training trail. The wind had quit blowing by this time and Pi stuck her nose to the ground and followed the short blood trail right to the buck.

The next time the wind is blowing, I must realize she might not be following the exact trail but the scent being blown by the wind. Saturday was a good learning experience, for me!

Blood tracking teckels and the deer they have recovered

I apologize but I am running behind. This is a very busy time for blood trackers so submissions are coming in fast. Thank you, thank, thank you! You are a big part of the success and impact this blog has had. We will start with some teckels out of our breeding, but then ...there is so much more!

Let's start with Joe Walters from Indiana who wrote about Doc's (Buster/Keena son) third recovery on October 30:

Joe Walter's Doc

 Hunter shot this buck between the shoulder blades with a mechanical broadhead. Doc took the track to a plowed strip, where he had problems. Finally got about 100 yards north, and  it went through a tree line into a weed field. We found blood in the field and Doc took the track out and across a road where I determined he had lost the track and hunter said a doe was with the buck. We went back to last blood and Doc tracked right to the buck which was still alive. Before hunter could go back to his truck for his bow, the buck took off again. When hunter got back, we tracked it back to plowed area where Doc had problems again. He finally found where it went into weed field and found it again, and hunter put two more arrows into it. All total, it was about 400 yards of good track. Joe and Doc

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Kevin Armstrong from  Bristol, New York shared his tracking news. His tracking dog Karma is a daughter of Billy and Gilda.

Kevin Armstrong and Karma

At last, a recovery! On the 11th try we recovered a deer. Eight of the 11 turned out to be unrecoverable muscle hit deer. One was a paunch hit that had obviously been chased by something. The dogs lost the trail completely when they dropped into a gully. It was like the deer just vanished off the planet. We were unable to reestablish the trail. One was an intestine hit deer that we followed an incredibly long way with at least six beds. I spent part of three days on this big buck and lost the trail after a cluster of bloody, hair filled beds from the second day. The track covered three sides of a mile long half mile wide rectangle. Even an extensive area search yielded nothing. Had I had John's number in my cell phone I would have called him from the field for advise. I'm still completely baffled.

This paunch shot buck did not leave a drop of visible blood. I was unable to take up the track until 23 hours after the hit. The hunter had bumped the buck off a bed in a dense thicket a couple hours after the hit. Karma alerted early on that the deer was in the thicket. I made her follow the trail anyway. She took us to a road, then doubled back into the thicket. With nothing to indicate we were on the right deer except an occasional large track I pulled her off and restarted her. This time she took the trail to the point where she had alerted the first time.

She looked at me, put her head to the ground and started off, I let her have her way and she took me directly to the dead deer. I had unknowingly pulled her off the first track 50 yards from reaching the deer. It was so thick we could not see the deer 50 yards ahead of us the first time around.

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It was good to hear from Lynn and Ann Pierce from Louisiana, who track with Rosette, a daughter of Joeri and Gilda:

As you can see in the picture Rosette had her first track this year. It was youth weekend in Mississippi and my nephew gut shot a 120 pound doe which ran  into the woods several hundred yards with very little blood on the trail and it was mostly guts.

Once Rosette picked up the small amount of blood she led us right to the doe. It was a good test for her as the trail was mostly guts and hardly no blood.

Rosette is doing great down here and loving camp life.. the kids and all the hunters love her and she is really well behaved inside and outside.. y'all did a great job picking her out for us.

Hopefully more pictures to come.

Rosette is owned by Lynn and Ann Pierce.

A blood track to remember for Darren Doran and Karl from New Jersey

This is Darren Doren’s account of a tough call he took in New Jersey with  his wirehaired dachshund Karl. In New Jersey wounded deer tracking with a leashed dog is currently  legal only on a research permit basis. Daren is the leader of the group of handlers involved in the experiment, which will determine whether a more general legalization can be arranged. Daren has a long experience with dogs dating back to his Air Force service when he handled dogs that guarded combat planes.

Karl, his dachshund had found a few deer, but like some other dogs I have known, he could be a little rough and wild. Daren has the skill and perseverance  to  develop this dog that a lesser man would have given up on.

Darren’s story makes us realize that in a suburbanized state like New Jersey tracking can be tough in its own way. There are many small property owners, who are often anti-hunting and ready to refuse access to a handler and his tracking dog. And the cover can be just as thick as in northern alder swamps and southern privet. Here’s Darren’s story in his own words; it extends over two days.

Day One

 “A young hunter called Carmelo hit a big buck Saturday morning: a pass through that looked like a liver hit. Karl tracked it to an empty bed. I had Carmelo looking for sign as I tracked on through a briar patch. All of a sudden the boy yelled, There he goes.” We put him out of the briars.

 I went back to the bed and wanted to make sure it was the right deer. Carmelo assured me that it was. I started Karl where the deer had been seen and I saw blood. I was marking sign on the GPS when all of sudden I looked up and Karl had the buck by a hind quarter. The deer had laid down within 50 yards of us at the top of a weed field. The deer shook Karl off and ran across the field. This was the first time I saw the buck and believe me, it was big buck. We were now tracking hot and the deer was on its feet  and bleeding. 

 We went another 1.5 miles on the GPS and the deer crossed a property line; we needed permission to enter. This evening I'm hoping that Ron, Carmelo's dad, can get access. If so I'm going back.  Karl's work is really improving. I saw yesterday that I can start believing him more. We still have a rough patch at the start, but that's improving. Once he gets going he’s locked in. His tracking and his search pattern are improving as well. I'll let you know if I get back on the deer today.”

Day Two

“Ron spent Sunday morning going house to house to try to track down the property owner. As luck would have it he found him around 10:30 and permission to track was granted. As soon as Ron called I took off. It would take an hour and a half to get there, and I was anxious to get tracking.

We were going in by a different way today. We were going to follow an old railroad track that now served as public access to the Pequannock River, one of New Jersey’s trout streams. This public access split the private land to the east from the public to the west. I had the pick up spot marked on the GPS and getting to it from the right of way was easy. We got through the old wire fence and I got Karl hooked up and was preparing to start tracking.

 Karl can be a little difficult to start and today was no different. I hadn't been seeing much blood towards the end of the track last night so I started him further back on the track. He tracked off to the side of the flag and I didn't think he had it. I let him go awhile to let him settle down some, and then I restarted him. He was working too fast and having a hard time. I started to direct his searching in circles over the line, and he slowed down. At one point his actions changed. He tracked to and past the flag and then he had it. He tracked to an overgrown woods road and down towards the access road we had just walked in on. The fence was gone here and Karl went right across the access road and into this swampy brush between the right-of-way and the river.

We tracked to the river then down the bank. Karl circled back through the brush towards the access road and back across it into the private land. As we were going across the ditch  I saw a single drop of blood on a leaf. I called up Carmelo and asked him to look around for more. The fence here was not completely down and Karl was having trouble with it. I lifted him over it and he didn’t seem to have the line.

 Karl then went back to the old woods road and took me back across the access road towards the river. He took a slightly different line this time and ended up at the river bank. The river here was about knee deep in one of the more shallow spots. Karl whined a little and then jumped in. The current started taking him down stream, and I kept feeding out his tracking line. I was hoping he would get to the other side before I ran out of line. He did with about a yard to spare, but he was at a spot with a steep high-bank that he couldn’t climb.

Carmelo and his sister Megan were right behind me. All of a sudden Megan yelled out, “There he is!” and pointed to a log pile on the far bank. We could just make out his white belly and an antler sticking up. We jumped in the river and started wading across to the deer. Karl started up the shallows on the far side and met us at the deer. We had one heck of a celebration. I'll never forget the expression on Carmelo's face when he grabbed that deer. He's 13 and this was by far the biggest deer he's ever taken. We got the deer back across the river and back to the truck and Karl received a hero’s welcome.

I learned a lot about my dog this weekend, and I think we turned a corner with our tracking. I'm not sure what the blood on the leaf was from but Karl figured out that it wasn't from the buck. He went back to the woods road and restarted on his own, figured out the right track and found the deer. This is what I've been waiting for and for the second and final time in two days Karl got to bite that deer’s butt.”    

Darren