The last deer recovery for the old tracking dachshund, Ari von Moosbach-Zuzelek

This is a bittersweet story submitted by Walt Dixon of Ari's latest and most likely last recovery. Ari was born on March 11, 2003, and she is an older sister of our Billy. Her heart disease has been getting worse recently. 

Jolanta,

I wanted to share this with you. Old Walt (with my back problems) and old Ari (with her heart problems) found this big buck for a bow hunter this morning. Although the gun season is open, they only bow hunt on this private property. The buck was hit at 3 PM yesterday, while I was at the Vets with both my dogs. Ari was being analyzed and now treated for a UTI in addition to adding Vetmedin to her other heart meds. Dachs was only in for a regular checkup. After the Vet listened to Ari’s heart she said she would not take her tracking any longer. 

Friends called me after dark to ask if I would bring the dog to try to track their deer if needed and since both dogs received shots and meds I said no, not until this morning. The hunter and friends tracked this deer until 9 PM with flashlights, before giving up, and it never laid down in about 500 yards. They marked their last blood and called me about 9:30 PM to ask if I would track in the morning.

This morning, after calling the hunter’s info into DEC law enforcement, I thought about which dog to take. We needed to move slowly and carefully in this bow only area, so as not to chase deer out to where the gun hunters sit. After some soul searching I decided to take Ari. When we got to the hunter’s last blood she immediately got a little too excited and began panting like she was not getting enough oxygen so I sat down with her and calmed her down. Once calm, the old girl started tracking and never wavered over 150 yard trail through tall swale grass and into a thorn apple thicket to recover this 130”+ buck! She was visibly possessive and proud of herself! The coyotes had eaten the entire deer, but the hunter was extremely happy to know this buck was not still wounded and on the loose.

So, all’s well that ends well. I really felt that if she went slowly she’d be okay, but also that if she passed away with a heart attack on this track she would die a happy and honorable death doing what she was bred to do. She’s a happy girl resting downstairs right now. The Vet felt Ari’s health could worsen any time. This is likely Ari’s last recovery. As you know, it’s sad to think of her aging. She and I have traveled many miles and recovered many deer over her lifetime. Her old eyes look up at me wondering where we’re going on our next adventure. The love and companionship a tracker and dog share is special! We’ll keep her as healthy and comfortable as we can as  she approaches her 13th birthday and beyond, Lord willing. I thought you’d like to hear this story and see a picture of Ari!

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.

Coyotes and dachshunds' encounters do not always end well

Anybody who tracks wounded deer with dogs in the Northeast sooner or later will face the situation when the blood trail leads to a dead deer that had already been eaten by coyotes. We have written about coyotes quite a few times on this blog. Recently I came across our trailcam video of a coyote, which was taken just outside our enclosure where we run our dachshunds on rabbits. The video was taken on October 2010, and it shows a well-fed coyote, which seems to be in excellent shape.

The eastern coyote is considerably larger than its southwestern relative. The latest issue of NYSCC Grass Roots News has a short report on the Federation of Sportsmen's Clubs of Sullivan County 6th annual coyote hunt, which was held February 8-10, 2013. During the three day event hunters took 48 coyotes. The largest animal weighted 55.5 lbs, and that male coyote came from Schoharie County (we live near the the border of Albany and Schoharie Counties). The 48 coyotes taken included 28 males and 20 females. Average weight was 37.3 lbs, 45 coyotes were taken during daylight hours and 3 at night. 

Obviously a dachshund is not a match for a coyote, and there have been cases reported of dachshunds killed by coyotes, even when dogs were "safe" in fenced backyards, like in this case reported in Colorado. So when I started to read a story sent to me by Brian Hibbs from Iowa, I was not sure of its ending. This fine piece of writing was authored by Edd Woslum, who resides in Idaho and owns Chui, a dachshund out of Brian's breeding:

BLOOD TRACKERS

by Edd Woslum

After about a mile of casual fox trotting down the dirt road, Tillie, without any warning shot by me with a bark, a squeal and a mad rush down the mountain.  Kahlua saw her rapid departure and decided there must be some really cool stuff down there.  She then without delay was in full flight right behind her house mate.  Chui ‘s legs are only 7 inches long, even if stretched to full length, and I didn’t even see the feisty little fur ball until she came blasting by me doing warp nine on the star trek scale.  In less than two micro flashes, with miniature legs churning at full speed, she was 100 yards down the steep cliff and accelerating with every yip.

By this time I was jolted out of my quite reverie and was whistling as loud as I could and screaming to the point of damaging my respiratory system.  At about 200 yards off the road Tillie and Jesse, being of more reasonable disposition, decided this was a totally stupid endeavor and came trotting back to the road to see what the screaming was all about.

Immediately thereafter I nearly managed to kill my fool self while chasing my run amok puppy down the steep slope. After this I slowed down a bit but continued to stumble on for another half mile or so before I heard the  yip-yips from Chui getting louder and simultaneously heard the snarling of the coyotes. Several more yips from the little dog were rapidly followed by much more serious snarls from the coyotes.   Good lord, this idiot dog actually thinks she can take on that whole pack of four legged piranhas unassisted.  By this time I was wringing wet and was nearly spent but the adrenalin flow from full blown panic kept me going.  I could not see hide nor hair of either specie of k9 but could plainly hear Chui and the marauders verbalizing their displeasure at each other.  Of course I was still screaming with all the air I had left, but this was to no avail. 

Ten more steps and I heard it.  Over the top of Chui’s mini bark, and completely smothering the snarls of the coyotes, came a rumbling growl like I have only heard a few times before.  Kahlua is usually quite mild mannered but is very protective of home and family.  When she is serious about it, this gal could inject mortal fear into King Kong.

To read the rest of the story go to Brian's post by clicking here. 

The pictures shows Chui with the buck she recovered for the two hunters.

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.

Was this a right judgment call? Coyotes find the buck that was left overnight in the woods.

Ray Holohan, a UBT member from Illinois, wrote:

I got a call the other evening from a friend who had just arrowed a buck and was concerned about the hit. He came over with the arrow, which was covered with blood, but he had not seen where he hit the deer. He thought he had hit a little far back. I looked at the arrow - the blood was bright red and did not have any smell to it. The buck had ran a good 1/4 mile through a frozen chisel plowed field over to a adjacent hedge row where he lost site of it.

We discussed all the reasons why and why not we should go after it, from property line issues if we bumped it, up to coyotes if we let it set til morning. We finally decided to let it sit til morning. We went to the hit site first thing in the morning and could not find any blood on the heavy frost since it was 6 degrees. We decided to start the dog on the other side of the field near the hedge. We started Razen walking parallel to the hedge hoping to cut the trail. After a short distance we found a deer tail, then we saw a lot of hair at this point we looked into the hedge row seeing what was left of the buck, "not much". The coyotes had done their job. I apologized for making the wrong call. But after further examination  we noticed that the entrails were still steaming and the carcass was still warm, we noticed a wound bed about15 ft. away full of blood. I think the coyotes had got to the buck in the early morning hours and jumped him from his bed and finished him off. We were able to see the exit of the arrow and it was pretty far back, making me believe we might had made the right call.

We were able to save the head and cape for mounting, but while moving the head around for pictures the antler popped off. Had the buck had one more day he probably would not have got shot. 

Our own blood tracking team, John Jeanneney and a wirehaired dachshund Tommy

We have been extremely lucky here in the Capital Region of NY:  Hurricane Sandy produced very gusty winds and only one inch of rain. We have not suffered any damage to our property, and never lost electricity. Unfortunately, the impact of Sandy was devastating in many areas and communities in the Northeast. It will take weeks, months and years to rebuild what has been destroyed in such a short time. Millions of people still do not have power. If you can help through donations to Red Cross, please consider doing so.

I am running way behind with posting reports, stories and pictures documenting the 2012 blood tracking season. Today I realized that I have posted anything about our own tracking team - John and Tommy. So let me post some pictures with captions starting with most recent ones.

After a string of calls that did not produce the deer, the winds have shifted into a nice Northeaster. On the 28^th Tommy found a gut shot deer that left only two drops of visible blood. He worked calmly and patiently over a winding track of 500 yards and there was the deer.

Today, the 30^th, Tommy found another one despite a little side-pissing from Hurricane Sandy. The hunter had shot the deer late the afternoon before, and he called at 10:45 last night. He had run out of blood, but he knew it was a good hit. “Could the dog track in the rain?” We got on the line at noon today. From the hit site Tom worked over the line tracked by the hunter and then kept on going. We wound back and forth through the thick stuff, crossed a road and there was the deer, dead. He was hit a good deal farther back than the hunter had thought. (Those quartering away shots can be deceptive.) This second deer is the one shown in the above photo. 

In the case of both of these finds the hunters confessed that they thought Tommy was just going for a walk. They doubted that Tommy was really following their deer. I could see subtle signs that he was onto something, but he did seem pretty laid back. These two deer went 500 and 400 yards, much too far for it to have been an accident. There were total changes of direction in each case.

Jim F. Hens with Tommy who found his buck.

On October 25 John and Tommy found a nice 8-pointer for Jim F. Hens in our home town of Berne. It was an angling down shot through a lobe of the liver, through the stomach and out. There was almost no blood. Tommy got off the line once on another deer that had walked the same trail. When John saw no sign for 300 yards he bought him back to last blood and this time he figured it out. It was a good learning experience for Tommy has excellent abilities, but needs the experience of natural tracks. In the meantime Joeri, back in the house, is getting restless.

On October 15 Tommy recovered a deer in the town of Glen, Montgomery County. This was an 18 hour old track, unfortunately, coyotes arrived there first.

On October 13 I accompanied John on a track and had an opportunity to take some pictures. We did not recover the deer but advanced the trail and finally ran out of blood and scent.

The cover was very thick and John had to crawl through a wall of multiflora rose.

At one point John scratched his hand badly and the blood started to drip. The picture shows the deer blood at the beginning of track and then John's blood at the end of it.

Tommy never quit but basically ran out of blood and scent to follow.

It is very tough to track in the thick cover of dry leaves.

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

Joe Walters from Indiana wrote:

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

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

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

 ---------

Chris Barr who also tracks in Indiana wrote recently:

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

 

  

 

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

 

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

Take care,

Chris, Gerti…..and Oscar.

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

Tommy's second recovery of wounded deer

The 2011 hunting/tracking season is coming up in less than two months, but we have never caught up with pictures and video we took last season. The below clip shows Tommy finding the second of his three deer last year. It’s a nice 10 pointer. The deer had been shot by the bowhunter at 8 AM. The line was only 6 ½ hours old, but it was a warm, dry day and there was no blood for the last 200 yards. You will notice that Tommy acts a bit worried when he gets to the deer. The reason is that coyotes had just been driven off the kill, and they left their scent behind! Fortunately the coyotes did not do much damage. Our New York coyotes, pumped up with wolf genes, don’t wait for dark anymore.

Cabela's Recon Hunt App - a new tool for hunters and blood trackers

Justin Richins alerted me to a new app for iphones and android phones, which he described as "awsome" and "I love it". Developed by Trimble Outdoors, the Cabela’s Recon Hunt app runs on iPhone and Android devices and provides hunters with a full lineup of outdoor and navigation features, including detailed topographical maps, point-to-point GPS navigation, a digital compass and weather forecasts. The Recon Hunt app uses the GPS built into iPhones and Android-compatible devices, so no data or phone signal is needed for users to log their locations. Hunters can collect waypoints, tracks, photos, videos and audio clips in the field. The app tracks other essential hunting information too: weather, sun/moon phases, trip stats and ballistics data.  The app is available  for $3.99 at click here.

The app has some features useful for blood trailing.

Click to enlarge

Thanks Justin for the tip! And congrats on your coyote!

Justin with the coyote he killed. He saw coyotes chasing a deer the night before. Next morning he took Remi to look for the doe. In Justin's own words: "Easy track and they sure made short work of her. Remi was cautious on this track I'm thinking it was because he could smell the yotes." You are right Justin, we noticed that too. Some dogs, especially young ones, are apprehensive when approaching the site where coyotes congregated in a great number.

Dining Out in the Woods. Canine/Hunter Cooperation.

By John Jeanneney, Full Cry, February 2011

No, this article is not about what you think. The canines I’m writing about are coyotes, not dogs, and the humans are the unwilling cooperators. The coyotes have been the winners in this game because we humans haven’t been as quick as coyotes to learn that changing circumstances require changing tactics. As hunters we should be cooperating with our tracking dogs instead of cooperating with and feeding the coyotes.

 

Sixty-one years ago, when beginning to deer hunt, I learned from the old timers that the best way to deal with a deer that you had shot and couldn’t find was to wait until the next morning to track him down. This would give the deer time to “stiffen up” so he wouldn’t run away easily if he were still alive. Rigor mortis (stiffness after death) got confused in this theory with the very different physical condition of a live deer.

 

What amazes me is that many of today’s hunters are so loyal to tradition that they go on repeating that same old myth. They say, “I hit a big buck yesterday afternoon just before dark, so I left him till morning. Now I can’t find him. No blood after 100 yards. I need your dog.” A few hours later we’re standing midst a grey ring of pulled deer hair, gazing at what’s left of a deer carcass. “How could the coyotes eat so much in one night? Oh, well! At least I have the horns.”

 

When I started tracking wounded deer in New York State 35 years ago, coyotes were a rarity. They began to be a problem for hunters only in the late 80s. Wildlife biologists tell us that the coyote migration into my own New York State and New England came in over the Great Lakes from the upper Midwest. This trek probably took place over several generations, and DNA analysis shows that considerable cross breeding with Canadian grey wolves took place. The result was a strain of northeastern coyotes somewhat larger than their western ancestors, but highly adaptable to their new habitat. The newcomers relied less on rabbits and mice than their forbears while deer played a larger role in their diet; fawns were easy pickings in the spring, while young or weakened adult deer could be taken in deep snow time.

 

But from the coyote’s point of view, or nose, the real feast time comes during deer season. For the immigrant coyotes it has been wonderful to discover that hunters leave more than gut piles. The hunters kindly leave whole deer in the woods overnight, and don’t try to interfere with coyote festivities until the next day.

 

The new generations of “super coyotes” do more than stumble occasionally into a wounded or dead deer lying in the woods. Now, when they cross the scent line of a wounded deer they know how to follow it with all the skill of a good tracking dog. Today I find that more than half of the deer left over night are damaged or devoured by morning. This depends on the area, and the incidence of damage is highest in semi-suburban areas where there has been no trapping or predator hunting.

 

My tracking friends in the Midwest report that even their “pure blood” coyotes are doing more damage than usual. We need some serious statistical studies on the activities of coyotes during deer season to make more hunters, especially bowhunters, realize that we have to improve our tactics for finding wounded deer that need to be tracked.

 

When tracking at night we hear the coyotes singing close around us. Perhaps, as they see our lights and figure out what we are searching for. Frequently when we track in the morning we find tufts of deer hair that have been yanked out by harassing coyotes. They do not always succeed in pulling down their prey.

 

We have tracked up to a lost deer at night, just as coyotes were breaking in. They retreated, but they were not happy. As the deer was dragged out of the woods, they followed just out of sight yapping their discontent.

 

This season we had two experiences with daytime coyote competition. One buck, a ten pointer, had been bowshot at 8 AM. He had left a blood trail that the hunters were able to follow for about 200 yards. Then they area searched but could not find the deer. We were called in at about 2 PM and were able to find the deer in about 30 minutes from the hit site. The deer had gone only about 200 yards farther beyond the point of loss, but it had changed direction and gone down a steep drop off. Already the coyotes had been at work, starting on the rear end. Fortunately 95% of the deer was still intact. The arrow had passed through a lobe of the liver and the stomach.

 

The daytime doe was found lying in a brook, and the coyotes had started on a front shoulder rather than the loins and hind quarters. I’m sure that they will be smarter next time.

 

Daytime venison damage from coyotes is still unusual, and in daylight the time-honored tactic of waiting through the morning and afternoon on shots behind the diaphragm is still valid. Deer can usually be tracked in late afternoon and into the night even if coyotes are numerous. A good eye-tracker can accomplish amazing things, and he does not have to rely solely upon blood traces. The big problem is that blood tracking takes time, and the coyotes do not wait, especially after dark. No longer can we rely on the old tradition of “tracking him up tomorrow morning.” It is even very risky to track slowly by flashlight for “as long as it takes”, which may mean until 2 AM. If a deer can’t be found during daylight or very early in the evening, the hunter may find that he has cooperated with the coyotes despite his best intentions.

 

Fortunately the use of tracking dogs is the new development in much of the country that may save us from an unwilling role in coyote-human cooperation. Tracking wounded deer has always been legal in certain parts of the South and in most of Texas, but now the practice is expanding. In much of the North the use of leashed tracking dogs has already been legalized or is in process.

 

It is being recognized that the tracking dog’s nose, like that of the coyote, works incomparably faster than the human tracker’s eye. Guided by a good dog a hunter has a much better chance of getting to his game before the coyotes. Hunters are amazed to see my dog begin from the hit site and in ten minutes follow a trail for a distance that has taken them hours of eye-tracking. And the dog continues with equal ease beyond their point of loss.

 

In the bowhunting tradition up North, eye-tracking has been considered to be an essential part of hunting. Turning this task over to a specialist with a dog when the blood sign dwindles away has seemed for some to diminish the whole experience of hunting. But now our frequent experience of tracking up to a grey ring of deer hair and bones picked clean is leading quite a few deer hunting traditionalists to reconsider their old ideas. Sometimes to preserve the best of our heritage, we have to change with the times. 

In Ohio Dave Bell and Rex Marshall were called in too late to save the venison.



In New York  Pete Martin and Lisa found this buck after the coyotes had done their work.

 Related posts:

• Tommy's ten-pointer was already damaged by coyotes
• Coyotes, dogs, rabbit hunting and blood tracking
• Coyotes, dachshunds and deer

Our pond is coyotes' playground

This is how our pond looked like a year ago.

This year December has been cold, and the pond is frozen. recently we got few inches of fresh snow so two days later I went to inspect animal tracks in the woods and fields. It looks like our pond has become a playground for coyotes! We hear coyotes at night, but I wound have never expected that we were getting so much traffic on the pond. The walk around property lead me to believe that actually the pond has the highest concentration of coyote tracks. I wonder why. I suspect that they really like the icy surface underneath the snow. What else could be attracting them to the place?

These are all coyote tracks in the 48-hour-old snow covering the pond.

This fall we have seen more damage done by coyotes to the deer we found for hunters than ever before. In the past the main concern was that the deer left overnight in the woods would be ruined. This season on several occasions coyotes were active and on the deer during daytime hours.

Tommy's ten-pointer was already damaged by coyotes

I am falling further and further behind with reports on our own dogs' tracking so this story is going to be short. John wrote it, and it describes Tommy's second recovery, which took place on October 23.

Paul Grave’s arrow passed through his ten pointer in the rear part of the rib cage, perforating the liver and the pancreas. There was heavy bleeding for 100 yards, sparse blood for another 200, and then insufficient blood to continue tracking.

Paul gave us a call in nearby Berne, and we decided to give young Tommy the line. We were wondering whether his fine performance earlier in the week was just a fluke or actually an indication that we had another dog of Joeri’s caliber.

Tommy had a little trouble at the beginning of the track where the searching hunters had spread the deer’s scent over a broad area. Once past last visible blood and the point of loss, I could see that Tommy was solid on the scent line He worked down over some steep terrain and there was the deer, which went 3/4 mile from the hit site. Tommy is easy to read!

The buck had been shot at 8 AM and we found the deer at 2:20 PM, not a long time, but the coyotes had already arrived. There was slight venison loss around the rump, but it was a good thing we arrived when we did. Tommy indicated that the coyotes had left recently. We can no longer assume that coyotes work only on the night shift.

This time Tommy was very apprehensive about approaching the deer. Most likely he smelled coyotes, which must had been dining on the deer before our arrival.

John with Tommy and the ten-pointer they recovered

Paul Graves, the hunter, and Jolanta Jeanneney, a photographer

Gerti's terrific tracking season and hunters' gratitude

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

Jolanta,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thanks

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

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

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

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

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

Blood tracking in New Jersey with Darren Doran and Karl

In 2010 blood tracking in New Jersey is its experimental phase. You can read more about its legalities click here. We received this report from Darren Doran, who is one of the ten trackers listed on the Wildlife Management Permit. Darren and his dog Karl (a 20-month-old son of Billy and Laurel Whistance-Smith's Pagan) have passed a necessary tracking test and this year they have been on a number of calls.

Darren, who is a member of United Blood Trackers and Deer Search, wrote:
I met a friend I hadn't seen in awhile. We got talking and he told me he had hit a buck that morning. He didn't know that I had a tracking dog or that I could track in Jersey. I told him I'd be willing to track for him if he wanted. He agreed, and we met about 2:30 in the afternoon. I made the call to Fish and Wildlife and did our paperwork. The buck was hit at 8:00 am, and the hunter was able to get a second shot at the deer. He knew his first arrow was back but wasn't sure about the second, and he hadn't found either one. The deer had bedded twice in sight, and after an hour it got up and walked away. The hunter snuck out of his stand and noticed some blood on the way out. There had been another buck with the one that was wounded, and when I started Karl he pulled off the hit buck and started on the healthy deer. I corrected him and restarted.

Karl found and tracked past the first arrow, which was covered in what looked like liver blood. He tracked up to the next arrow but it looked like it was a miss.We were in oaks, blueberry scrub and green briars. Karl was under all the briars and I was on the top.We got to the top of a small hill. We had just tracked through a bed, and I noticed Karl air scenting. I thought to myself that we were getting close. No sooner had that thought left my head when Karl went under a blow down and the buck blasted out the other side. I shouted to the hunter that the deer was up and running. I couldn't get through the blow down and had to go around. Karl was barking like crazy. The hunter had got 2 shots at the deer while it was running by and had one arrow left. Within 20 yds Karl had the deer backed and bayed in a patch of mountain laurel. He had gone under a limb that the size of my forearm, and a small stub had caught his collar and stopped his forward motion. He was about 8 yds from the deer and going nuts. The buck had his ears laid back and was rolling eyes and moving his head up and down. I grabbed Karl and moved back behind a large tree. As soon as I moved back with the dog, the deer went down and the hunter got his last arrow in him. I'm just lucky that deer didn't charge Karl or myself. That dog is fearless and he's doing a little better each time we go out.

Daren recovered his friend's buck with Karl's help. It was quite an adventure!

It was quite a coincidence but on the same day another e-mail arrived in my Inbox titled "one reason to legalize blood tracking in NJ". Teddy Moritz from New Jersey sent this picture with her comment.
 

Teddy wrote: I found this carcase while hawking today. She was about fifty feet below an office building's parking lot. The coyotes had eaten most of her back end. I found plenty of scat along the old railroad grade near her.

Hopefully next year more blood trackers in New Jersey will be able to help hunters recover their deer.

Deer Search trackers recover two deer

Last few days I was away at field trials in New Jersey, and now, again, will have to catch up with the blood tracking reports coming from busy trackers. It is great to see so many dogs being used to help hunters find their wounded game.


It was good to hear from Kevin Armstrong from Deer Search. Kevin and his friend Ron Betts track with two wirehaired dachshunds, sisters Karma (born in 2005) and Effie (born in 2008), who are out of Billy/Gilda breeding. In Kevin words:

I was out of town for the first week of archery season so I never got out tracking till last Sunday. Ron Betts called me to ask if I wanted to join him on the 18 hour old track of a paunch shot doe. 100 yards into the trail
Karma wanted to go one way but Effie wanted to go the other way. We let them have their nose. About the time I pulled Karma out to restart my cell phone was vibrating. Effie had found the deer. Unfortunately the coyotes had found it first. That did not matter to the girls they celebrated a recovery anyway.

Ron Betts with Effie (left) and Kevin Armstrong with Karma. The doe that Effie recovered had been already found by coyotes.

Kevin with Karma

Another call involved Karma and Radar (a beagle). We put them on this buck 23 hours after the hit. The
hunter only had about 75 yards of sparse blood marked. The dry conditions made tracking very difficult for the dogs but we eventually got Karma on the right trail. After several hundred yards of very thick cover we found two beds. One of the beds had dry blood in it. Karma went from cold trailing to hot trailing. With daylight fast fading the chase was on. We went through several hundred more yards of thick cover. As we approached the tangled banks of Arrowhead Creek I had a feeling that the deer was trying to give us the slip. As I gained the bank I spotted the buck, alive, 20 yards ahead of me lying in the creek with his head up. I hollered to the hunter to "GET UP HERE, QUICK!" He held the dog while I shot the buck with my .44 mag. The buck leapt from the creek and went up the opposite bank. I knew I had put a good hit in him with the pistol so I had the hunter hold the dog while I crossed the creek, went up the opposite bank, found the buck and finished him off. It doesn't get much more exciting than that!

Lisa, a Deer Search dachshund, does it again...and again...and again

Pete Martin and his dachshund Lisa (Lisa v Moosbach-Zuzelek, a Billy/Gela daughter) are on a roll - huge congratulations to both of you!

Pete writes:

Monday Oct. 18 - I received a call from a hunter that Bill Voeglin and I tracked for 3 or 4 years ago. He hit a nice 6pt. at 9:30 the previous morning. Lisa and I took up the track at 10:30 am. (25 hrs.later). Average blood trail for about 100 yards. then nothing. Lisa knew exactly where she was going the next 150 or so yards. Real nice work, right to the huge bodied wide racked deer. Happy ending for all. We are finally becoming a team of two as one. Trust your dog, know your dog.

Pete Martin with Lisa and the buck she recovered.

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Next call:
This hunter shot his deer just before sunset on Oct. 20. The 7 pointer left a lot of blood on the ground as he headed towards a big beaver pond. The arrow entered midway back in the middle of the deer quartering to hunter and exited low thru stomach and into rear leg, (I have to take the hunters word on this for lack of evidence) almost severing it. We took track the following morning at 10:00. Not soon enough. Lisa did an outstanding job going straight into the beaver pond, swimming around and exiting exactly where the deer did. After 150 yards through woods into a large knee high field, then another grass field, with a nose to the ground dead pull, this is what we found. I think even Lisa was a bit bewildered. There was absolutely NOTHING left of this deer but skin & bones. Not even a gut pile. Coyotes even devoured the rear hoof and tail. Plenty of scat left behind.
 

Pete with Lisa and the deer that was devoured by coyotes

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Next recovery:


This track sounded easy but before Lisa could find the deer the hunter and tracker had to unravel what was wrong.

Eighteen hours. after a good hit with arrow recovered we started tracking from hit site for about 250 yards with decent blood trail going uphill in open hardwoods.Trail was marked by hunter the night before. After an hour and a half and several restarts we advanced the bloodline only 75 yards or so. Lisa was pulling hard in every direction, but I could tell something wasn't right with her. Upon closer inspection of all the blood we marked,we realized this deer was traveling downhill. We also saw the blood getting somewhat heavier going uphill but again the "fingers" pointed down. This couldn't be the hunter's deer. It must have been shot on top of the mountain.

Walking the road back to blood we knew was from the right deer, we noticed a heavy trail of blood across the road exiting the woods where the deer was shot to a whole different section. This was the deer we wanted. A heavy line for 150 yards, a right turn downhill towards wet creek bottom. Another 200 yards and across a stream lay a nice big bodied typical 8 pointer.

A nice eight pointer was found by Lisa

A great start of blood tracking season for Kyle Stiffler from Michigan

For a tracker it does not getter better than that - two recoveries on two deer calls. Kyle Stiffler from Eagle, MI wrote yesterday:

2 for 2 on youth hunt. The first was last night, the hunter called telling me to bring Moose, my more expierenced dog, as there was very little blood in the bean field. At the hit sight there trail markers went to the left about 50 yards. Moose went to the right. After 25 yards the blood was very visiable. The deer only went another 75 yards. The hunter thought there may have been two deer- possible a pass through. After an extesive search on the other line we determined that it was more than likley superficial. Misty, my 15 mo. whd did get to train on the line.

The second call was this morning from another youth hunt. Shot last night, they jumped it & let it go until this morning. They tracked for about three hundered yards & lost blood. Moose started at the hit site & covered the distance to last blood very fast. At that point he went another 150 yards to a hay field. After searching the field for 30 minutes we discoverd that the deer back tracked never entering the field. After that Moose nailed it for about another 200 yards the middle of another hay field where he winded the deer about 50 yards away. It was a 6 point but sadly enough the coyotes beat us to it which kind of slows the high fives. Moose did an exellent job on this track. I think he worked better then ever. I attribute this to alot of training technics we learned at the UBT Ttrackfest.

Coyotes found this deer first.

Also yesterday I received this note from Todd from Missouri:
 
Jolanta-

Just wanted to say that I really enjoy your blog...you do a great job on it!  Thanks. I check it daily. I do have one comment. I've got a Billy pup going on 2 years. I really enjoy seeing where my dog fits into your line and the stories. If you would give the dam/sire and age, if it's not too much trouble, I think others would like that too. If I read about one of Hank's siblings or aunt/uncles..it personalizes the story a bit for me. Again, thanks for your efforts.

Todd, I'll try to do it when I can. Some people may take it as a shameless promotion of our dogs, but you can never please everybody. Anyway, Kyle Stiffler's Moose is three and a half years old, his registered name is Moose von Moosbach-Zuzelek, his sire is FC Clown vom Talsdeich "Buster" owned by Susanne Hamilton, his dam is FC Keena v Moosbach-Zuzelek (Billy's daughter).

Huge congratulations are in order to Kyle and Moose. Below is their picture taken at a recent field trial Michigan. Kyle forgot to bring a leash, and this explains the heavy rope around Moose's neck. 



Kyle Stiffler and Moose