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

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

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

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

Sincerely, your friend and now fellow tracker,

Jared Brueggeman

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

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

Jolanta,

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

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

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

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

Thanks again for Mossy.

Mossy enjoying her deer with one of the hunters.

Mossy thanking the hunter for killing the deer. 

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

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

Handling tracking dogs off lead

She is called Mossy Brooke by her owner Judy from Gergia, and she turned six months old on October 12. The pup's registered name is Viola von Moosbach-Zuzelek, and her parents are Tommy and Tuesday. Mossy has been tracking now for a week on this Georgia Plantation, and she has already recovered seven deer. Some deer would have been found without her but others would have been lost. 

Mossy is worked off lead and she wears a GPS collar. Judy is not new to blood tracking as she has tracked for many years with a very talented Jack Russell Terrier, Bear, and recovered hundreds of deer for the Plantation that her husband Craig manages.

I post almost daily updates on Mossy's adventures on our Facebook. The latest e-mail from Judy is included below. This was the first time when Mossy found a wounded deer still alive.

Tracking "Off Lead" is legal only in certain southern states and in Texas. Georgia, where Mossy tracks is one  of these "legal off lead" states.

Tracking off lead has its advantages and its risks.  The recovery rate, off lead, is higher than we would expect with dogs working at all times on a long leash. They can better penetrate very thick cover without a leash and handler in tow. Also the unleashed dogs can catch up to and "bay" some deer that would probably escape and survive in the North. We all know that the legalization of unleashed tracking dogs is politically out of the question in the North.

One risk of tracking off lead is that  the dog can be gored by an aggressive buck. This is more likely to happen if the tracking dog is young and inexperienced or too game aggressive. And of course small dogs like dachshunds have less "Bay Power" than a 90-pound tracking dog like a Southern Black Mouth Cur or Lab. In general a dog unencumbered by a tracking lead is more agile and better equipped to stay out of trouble when baying an angry, aggressive buck.

In some situations it makes sense to start the dog while it is on lead. Once the dog has clearly established herself on the right line, she can be released. Training preparation for work on older, colder lines is also more feasible if the dog is worked on lead.

*****

Jolanta,

Well, we have the answer to how Mossy will react to a live deer.  The opportunity presented itself yesterday evening.  She trailed a deer that we assumed was dead.  When she found it, it jumped up, Mossy backed off a couple of steps and immediately began baying it.  When I took a step, the deer turned and ran with Mossy in hot pursuit-- yipping.  I was in hot pursuit (for a 62 year old)--which meant I was no where close to Mossy or the deer.  The deer ran to a swamp.  Shortly, I could hear Mossy's yipping turn to a bay--a very loud and deep bark.  I finally made my way through the thicket to Mossy.  Weeds/grass were above my head.  I could finally see little Mossy when I was standing directly above her and separated the grass to get a view of the barking.  The deer way laying about a yard in front of her.  I picked Mossy up and then shot the deer with the pistol I carry.  The shot did not phase her one bit--(coffee cans on the kitchen floor work).  Craig had made it to us by then and he and I pulled the deer out of the swamp with Mossy either riding on top or tugging at the deer the whole way out.  The picture of Mossy by herself with a deer is this deer. 

Another hunter had shot a doe and could not find it--on the Plantation--so he had called Craig to bring Mossy. When we got to the field that the deer was shot in, there was a good blood trail.  The hunter said there had been around 10 deer on the field when he shot.  I put Mossy down on the blood trail, but she did not immediately follow it.  She wanted to run around in the field and investigate I suppose.  I think there was just too much scent there for her.  I called her back to me and took her to where the blood entered the planted pines and briar thicket.  She went one way--I thought from blood that I saw that the deer had gone the opposite way.  I have learned from Bear to not second guess a good blood trailer, so I did not try to call Mossy back.  About 200-300 yards from the entry into the woods from the field, my GPS said Mossy has Treed Quarry.  I made my way through the briars to Mossy and there she was with her deer.  Another celebration with Mossy.  We would definitely not have retrieved the first deer without Mossy and probably would have found the 2nd deer only when we saw buzzards on it 2 to 3 days from now--due to the thickness of the briars and weeds.  The first time Mossy was in briars this past weekend, she stopped and came back to me.  I told her to find blood and dead deer--she started hunting again, and the briars have not bothered her since then.

Mossy is quite the blood tracker --This is # 7 for her in her short career of tracking.  There is no doubt in my mind that because of her love for tracking that she will continue to learn and become more efficient.  I just am not sure how I am going to explain to Mossy that we can't go track a deer every day of her life.  If I even walk close to my boots or her collar, she thinks it is time and she begins to beg to go.

Just so glad that we have Mossy.

Judy

Mossy's first real track of wounded deer was quite an adventure

Jolanta and John,

Just a short note to let you know what a great morning it was for Mossy Brooke and myself.  A doe was shot on the plantation yet we could find no blood--knowing that the deer had taken a chest shot.   Mossy had her tracking collar on, so after looking for blood for 15 to 20 minutes to no avail, I told Mossy that there was a dead deer and to look for blood.  She hunted diligently in the areas I asked her to look--and suddenly, she caught a scent that she really liked.  She started through the woods with me behind her.  Approximately 200 yards into the woods, I saw a deer 100 yards in front of Mossy run through the woods.  Mossy saw it also and started running and barking.  I thought to myself, this is exactly what John said to make sure did not happen.  I heard Mossy barking, but could not see her and assumed she was in hot pursuit of the live deer.  I looked at my GPS Tracker and saw that Mossy had Treed Quarry 100 yards in front of me.  I made my way to her and guess what--Mossy had found her first DEAD DEER.  She was barking continuously at it--she and I celebrated, and within 15 minutes the DEAD DEER had become MOSSY'S DEER.  She lay beside it and guarded it until Craig could there to help us drag it out of the woods.  She rode with us to the deer processor who lives 1/4 of mile up the road from the plantation.  She was introduced to everyone there and they immediately wanted to know if she was taking Bear's place as the deer tracker--as she was wearing her tracking collar.  Bear was known throughout the area as the little dog who could find anyone's wounded deer.  Mossy has big steps to fill, but after today's excursion, there is no doubt she will make both Bear and me proud.

Thanks Jolanta and John for this great addition to our family.  Mossy is the most loving little soul and will become known as the little dog that finds wounded deer. 

Thanks So Much,

Judy and Craig

Judy and Mossy with the deer she found

Uta von Moosbach-Zuzelek is a new field champion

Last year we had one litter of seven puppies - out of FC Sky von Moosbach-Zuzelek and FC Mielikki Raptor. They were born on May 10, but it seems like it was just yesterday. Many of them were already tracking last fall and found quite a few deer. We are very proud of them and their owners, who had determination and commitment to work their young dogs on real deer.

On Saturday one of the pups, Uta, finished her AKC field championship, in just three trials, with two 1st placements, one 2nd, and two Absolute wins. You might recall that Uta was the smallest puppy in the litter, and she connected with Cheri Faust  in a very special way when Cheri was visiting us last summer. Cheri was smitten with the pup too so I offered her a co-ownership of Uta, which she gladly accepted. The rest, as they say, is a history. Cheri came back to Berne, NY, three weeks later when she bred her Danika to our Sky so we had a chance to see Uta again at 11 weeks. Pictures below show Uta as a puppy. She is staying pretty small, at around 15 lbs.

Anyway, congratulations to Uta on her title! A big thank you to Cheri and Larry for working her in the field and providing so many training opportunities. 

Larry Gohlke and Cheri Faust with Uta before their departure for Wisconsin

Matt and Heidi find their first real deer

As breeders we are always thrilled to hear about first recovery done by a pup out of our breeding. Heidi (Uma von Moosbach-Zuzelek) will be six months old in a week. She is owned by Matt Sacco from Ithaca, NY. Matt is a Deer Search and United Blood Tracker member.

Hey John and Jolanta,

Heidi found her first buck tonight. A friend called me at 5:00 saying he had hit a buck an hour ago and saw the arrow clip a branch. The buck flinched and turned towards him at the last second. He thought he hit just in front of the shoulder and came out behind the opposite shoulder. The deer ran hard for 40 yards and then stopped and stood. It then walked slowly down the edge of a standing corn field away from the hunter. The hunter said the tail was twitching rapidly and thought the deer was staggering but never saw it fall. He found his arrow at the hit site and saw what seemed like a decent blood trail, but played it safe and backed out for a few hours. Heidi didn't have any trouble with the track. As we got further down the line we found 5 places where the deer stopped and stood and bled into large puddles. 225 yards later Heidi claimed her prize. Turns out the deer was hit in the neck and the arrow exited through the opposite armpit.

Heidi is an awesome dog and everyone that meets her says "what kind of dog is that?" Or "she is so cute and so well behaved". All of my coworkers love her and family members are all crazy about her. She has changed our life style for the better and She has taught me so much. You guys picked the perfect dog for us. Thank you so much for everything. 

 

"Von Moosbach-Zuzelek" puppies' first tracking season: Uncas (Moose) and Urho (Mongo)

In 2013 we had only one litter of puppies, which was out of FC Sky von Moosbach-Zuzelek and FC Mielikki Raptor. Both parents are young dogs themselves. Sky comes from several generations of our own breeding that produced a family of very accomplished blood trackers. Mielikki comes from Nordic bloodlines and has a very nice pedigree, but when you do an outcross as we did in this case, you always take some chances. Sometimes you win a lottery, and sometimes you don't.

The "U" litter was born on May 10, 2013 so these pups are just 5.5 months old. All of them have showed a lot of promise when we worked with them at a very early age. We are happy to see that this potential has been getting realized in the field and the pups are already helping hunters.

The four pictures below show Moose (registered name Uncas von Moosbach-Zuzelek) owned by Adam H. from PA. Since blood tracking dogs are illegal in PA Adam who lives close to Maryland border, tracks in that state.


September 24: Another find for a young Moose who looks really tiny in this picture. Adam H., Moose's owner, says: Last night I received a call around 7:30 from a buddy who shot a buck but had no blood! Moose and I drove down to Maryland and met him. After speaking with him I was pretty sure it was a probably a one lung/liver hit. The deer was angled towards him. I sat Moose down at the hit site and roughly 125 yards later (with no blood) Moose found the buck!! 


October 7: Adam  wrote yesterday: Good evening John and Jolanta, I just wanted to let you know that tonight Moose made his 3rd recovery of the year! The hunter hit the big old doe far front but had pretty good blood. She did zig zag several times through a standing cornfield! After about 150 yards he found her  He's the real deal  Thanks again you guys for an awesome little guy!


October 13: Adam wrote: "Good morning folks! Well, my boy did it again last night! This makes 4! I received a call last night from a buddy whose buddy hit a buck but didn't have much blood. Moose and I got to the hit site around 10:30. After approximately 125 yards Moose found him. With the deer angling away it appeared the arrow clipped the lungs and lodged into the brisket! (No exit hole)

Yesterday Moose has taught Adam a valuable lesson:

Good afternoon John and Jolanta,
Well I learned a very valuable lesson the other day - too bad it was the hard way!  I was down in Maryland doing some hunting on Monday evening and shot this buck. The shot felt and looked great! The buck was shot broadside at 19 yards and tore away after the arrow zipped through him! I eased out and gave the buck about 2.5-3 hours! I took my neighbor and Moose back down at around 9 pm to do the recovery. With ease Moose tracked the buck about 80 yards to a large puddle of blood and then he made a left down a ravine traveling about 150 yards with NO blood. I was certain with the shot I made he was off the track (since there was no more sign) - so I picked him up and brought him back to the hit site! He again made a left and I allowed him to travel even further this time but again there was no sign so again I brought him to the hit site.  This time he went straight from the blood out the ridge about 75 yards. As we crested down the ridge I heard a deer bust out of the thicket! I was sure we just jumped the deer so I picked Moose up and we left- I decided to come back in the a.m. so I could see better. The next morning I started him at the puddle where he again went left this time I just left him go - we went roughly 225 yards to a dead buck that had been ripped to shreds from coyotes.! The entire left side of the deer was eaten clean :( 

Hard lesson learned. I will now let Moose go for as long as he wants to go - trusting him completely!!!! I was so upset with myself BUT I swear to you Moose looked at me after he chewed on him for a little almost to say I TOLD YOU SO - you jack***! Haha. Thanks again for my boy! He's everything to me ;)
Adam

--------

Moose's brother Mongo (Urho von Moosbach-Zuzelek)  is owned by John Sakelaris and is a tracking dog at Vermejo Park Ranch in New Mexico.

 

 

The hunter in the picture wrote:

 

John,
I am more than happy to write a letter commending the tracking dog and the dog’s owner. Mongo was outstanding. I have worked with other deer in the past as we track many a wounded Whitetail at our place and I think Mongo can hold his own with any of the other dogs. I think it is a great service to the ranch to have a dog like that and we certainly appreciate his capabilities.

 

And John wrote to us:

 

I want to thank you again for the dog, he is fantastic. I have had big game hounds for the last 15 years and most of them barely know day from night until about 3 years old. Only then do they really come into their own and start to “think”. Mongo at 4 months shows incredible intelligence and problem solving ability. We just got back this morning from an all day and most of the night track where we went up and over 2 ridges with a whole lot in between. Several times I thought Mongo was not on track be he would prove us wrong when we would find blood. This last find was a real test and any blood tracking dog owner would be proud, not to mention one of a pup 5 months old. He is worn out today but still wants to go again." 

A young wirehaired dachshund puppy is already helping hunters recover their deer

Moose (Uncas von Moosbach-Zuzelek) was born on May 10 so he is not five months old yet. Thanks to his owner's dedication, Adam Hostetter from Pennsylvania, Moose is already tracking this season and has two recoveries under his belt. Since it is illegal to track in PA, Adam is lucky to live close to Maryland border, and this is where he does his tracking.

This is a picture of Adam and Moose with a hunter and a buck that Moose recovered in Maryland. Moose went at least 400 yards with very little blood, and jumped the buck once. He showed no fear the much larger animal (Moose is 12.5 lbs at 4 months). Adam said "The hunter and I both were totally floored on how well he worked!"

Last night (Sept 23) Adam received a call around 7:30 from a buddy who shot a buck but had no blood! Adam writes: Moose and I drove down to Maryland and met him. After speaking with him I was pretty sure it was a probably a one lung/liver hit. The deer was angled towards him. I sat Moose down at the hit site and roughly 125 yards later (with no blood) Moose found the buck!! Here is a picture of Moose and the happy hunter.

Congratulations to Bob Yax and his dachshund Thor on their recent recoveries!

Bob Yax from Deer Search of the Finger Lakes and his almost eight-month-old puppy Thor (a Moose/Paika son) are a very busy tracking team this fall. These are the pictures of their latest recoveries. What a great first season they are having! Bob is a Pro as he used to track with Gusto, but Thor is just a puppy.

 

Bob Yax from Deer Search of Finger Lakes recovered 11th deer with his puppy Thor on December 2.

 

Bob wrote: See attached the tiny 8pt we found on Sunday (in Byron, Genesee County). Hunter hit it on Satuday evening, from the ground, 1/4 ing to him "right behind the  shoulder, about 1/2 way up and down with a 12 ga."  The deer dropped at the shot and stayed down for several minutes before he got up and ran. Before dark last night, the hunter and his brother tracked very little blood for 50 yds, and then did a grid search for 200yds. This AM (16 hrs after the hit) we found only a little blood at the hit site and then no other blood. Thor seemed to randomly search the grid search area and then a few hundred yards further. At that point he put his nose up and into the wind, coming from his right. He then started trotting in a straight line directly into the wind. After 100 yds, he broke out of the woods and into a winter wheat field. He continued in a straight line across the open field for another 100 yds towards a narrow hedgerow. When we reached the hedgerow, there was the dead buck. The shot was really to the intestines about midway up, quartering to the opposite back leg. There was no exit wound.

This was the first time he has air scented a deer from that distance - I learn something new on every track!

 

The above picture shows Bob Yax with Thor and the buck they recovered on November 25 in Honeoye Falls. The line was 16 hours old, 1500 yard long. It was a very exciting recovery as the buck was jumped and followed for a long distance.

The below pictures show Recovery #9 on November 22 in Avon, NY was pretty easy. Hunter didn't know where he hit it so he backed out last night after only tracking 20 yds with little blood. It ended up being a liver hit that bled for 100 yards and then there was no blood for another 100 yards. Thor found it in less than 10 minutes.

 

Tarah's first tracking season is going great

It was good to hear from Woody Harmon from Texas, who has Tarah, an eight-month-old little sister of Thor, Tuesday, Theo, Sky and Tucker. Woody wrote: This is Tarah's sixth live blood trail this year, she has found all of the deer I have put her on. One of tracks took her about 1320yd. The doe that a friend had liver shot late I put Tarah on the trail the next morning, it took her about 25min. I was so proud of her. Here is a spike buck that Blu shot. The trail was about 180yd with lots of good blood, she found it fast. Thank you for breeding these great little dogs.

Thank you Woody for training and working your dog! These "great little dogs" will never reach their full potential without a proper training and opportunities to track. This is why from a breeder's perspective it is so important to place pups in right homes.

Razen's first buck provided a great tracking experience

I apologize but I still have not caught up with all the e-mails and stories. This one was sent to us almost two weeks ago we by Ray Holohan from Ashkum, Illinois. This is a first tracking season for his wife Claudia and their new wirehaired dachshund puppy Razen. Now two weeks later, I am sure, his numbers are very different.

Razen was able to find her first buck today. She had to work pretty hard , but was able to pull it off. The track was 22 hrs old and about a 1/2 mile long. The hunter shot the buck last evening and managed to get two arrows in it. He thought the first shot was far back so he looked a little and found one arrow and some blood, and he backed out. When he called me I told him she should wait until morning or afternoon to go after it, and he agreed.

 

He got a call in the morning from a hunter that was hunting across the river and saw a buck laying in the water. It didn't look in very good shape. We decided to go after it in the afternoon. Meanwhile he went across the river with the hunter to look at the buck but it was gone. I decided to start Razen at the river to avoid spooking it up. It didn't take long and she picked up some blood and started to track north along the river. Then she went up the bank and into the woods to where we picked up a good blood trail. However, I soon realized that she was back tracking it. I let her follow for a while, then picked her up and went back staying on the blood til we got close to the river, then put her back down, going in the right direction.She tracked right at the waters edge for about 50 yards, wanting to go in the water every 10 feet or so. Finally we located a drop of blood a little further up the bank. She made it to that point and then went further up the bank where I found another spec. Then she went into a real thick thicket and I was on my hands and knees, but I found another spec. About 40 yards further we found the buck dead.

 

It was a great track. That was her 4th track this weekend. She found a doe on Friday night, then we ran another track last night with both dogs where we tracked off the property and had to call it. We were actually coming back from a track today when we ran this one. Right now we have done 15 tracks with 7 recoveries between the 2 dogs. We have two lined up for tomorrow, those will be Claudia's. It's starting to get busy cutting into my hunting, that's OK I like doing this as well.

PS.

Jolanta the two tracks I mentioned for tomorrow above, were completed and Razen found another buck. Claudia got stuck in the mud up to her butt while trying to cross a shallow creek . They had to help her get out, but she didn't give up and found the buck. We were talking about the tracks and she said even though its a lot of work its kind of fun and she really enjoys doing it.

 

Thanks Ray, Rosco, Razen,and Claudia



Claudia and Ray Holohan with Razen Kane and the buck she recovered. Great job!

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

First recovery for Dachs, Walt Dixon's three month old dachshund puppy

Today I got back today from my trip to Maryland, which turned out to be very successful. Both Sky von Moosbach-Zuzelek and Mielikki Raptor finished their field championships. Sky was also Best in Zuchtschau and Mielikki was Absolute Winner of the trial on Sunday. There is much to report, and I hope to be able to do it tomorrow.

 

Tonight I'd like to start catching up with all the blood tracking stories and reports. I'll start with the e-mail that came several days ago from Walt Dixon, a member of Deer Search and United Blood Trackers, who lives in Tully, NY. Recently Walt acquired a new puppy, Dachs, from Beth and Genti Shero. The pup is out of Mae and our Billy.

Walt writes: Last Wednesday I laid a 400 yard plus blood trail with three 90 degree turns and let it age 8 hours. Dachs was able to follow it to completion with a slight correction from me when we encountered very fresh turkey scratchings all over a portion of trail. I was very encouraged!

Today my friend Cy Weichert called about 11am after shooting a doe and feeling he hit it a little too high. He waited a half hour then followed a blood trail 40 yards before the melting snow dissolved the visible blood so he got back in his tree and called me. Cy is co-founder of the hunting weather website "ScoutLook" and a founding member of the website "Whitetail Slam" with a corresponding TV show with Tom Miranda. Cy had a camera man with him and continued to hunt for big bucks until I came to track with Dachs about 11:30.

I thought if I tried Dachs and we couldn't find the deer I would go back and get my seasoned dog Ari. Cy showed me the hit site and arrow stuck on the ground as I started Dachs with his light tracking lead. Much to my surprise the cameraman filming for an upcoming TV show decided to film Dachs attempt to find the deer. Dachs showed good recognition of the trail, licking some blood at the hit site, then continued through the thicket with an occasional drop of visible blood. At the point the hunter had stopped tracking Dachs turned on a trail to the right and the hunter told me he had tracks going straight down the hill. I told him Dachs was interested in something and 30 yards down the trail he was following I saw a drop of blood. I hollered to the hunter I had blood and after trailing a distance Dachs took a left into another thicket where 50 yards in lay the deer!

The total track was maybe 250 yards long but the hunter thought he had a high, maybe one lung hit. The insides of the deer showed a cut on one lung, clipped part of the liver and through the paunch. Dachs had his first recovery!!!

He was a little slow at the actual deer but looked back at me and with encouragement moved in to lick the blood then began to tug on the deer and pull out some hair. After a short while with a lot of congratulating Dachs became more and more possessive of the deer and would growl and move to block my hand from touching the deer. I'll work on that part with him, but to tell you the truth, I was very happy with his dominance at the deer!

What a day for Dachs, a three month old puppy with a great tracking future! It's possible he'll be on the Whitetail Slam TV show in the near future!

Easy natural lines are the best tool for training a young tracking dog: Cliff Shrader and his longhaired dachshund Tasha

Cliff Shrader is a new United Blood Trackers member, and he is has been working with a young standard longhaired dachshund Tasha. Tasha was born on May 27, 2012, in Denmark. He has been updating me about Tasha's training, and I asked him to write about how he got involved in blood tracking, dachshunds and how he went about importing a puppy from Europe. Thank you Cliff!

I was born and raised in South Louisiana. We were a family of duck and deer hunters, and we did our hunting in a swamp called the Atchafalaya Basin (this is the same area where Swamp People is filmed).  We used Walker hounds to run deer and we used Labrador retrievers for duck hunting. If someone had told me that I would grow up to own and love Dachshunds, I would have laughed at them.

I ended up with two dachshunds, Boudreaux and Thibodeaux. They were just pets until I brought home a deer to clean. When I showed the deer to my hounds, they went crazy. Their prey drive was very high, and they didn't want to let me have my deer back. This is when I first thought about Dachshunds as tracking dogs. In the south, people would laugh at you if you said anything about dachshunds being fieldworthy.

 My idea of actually training dachshunds laid dormant for quite a few years. Two years ago, I needed a tracking dog several times to trail wounded deer but there were none around. I pride myself on my tracking abilities but even after long and hard tracks, I lost two deer. Last year I started doing research on tracking dogs. John and you Jolanta had several things that I read and a friend of mine loaned me his book...Tracking Dogs for Finding Wounded Deer.

I contacted Patt Nance after visiting her website. Timing was very good because Patt and Tina Knoll  were just considering breeding Owl to Tina's dog Babe. I was lucky enough to be able to attend an AKC tracking trial that Laura and Tina Knoll were bringing three of the girls to. After that I was hooked. I waited several months for the mating of Babe and Owl to happen. Finally, all the stars were aligned and the mating took place. Unfortunately, it didn't result in a pregnancy. Patt Nance and I spoke several times and she told me of two litters in Europe. It was during this time that my favorite dog Thibodeaux passed away.

Patt Nance contacted several of her friends and they helped me find The Right Dog, not just a dog. I was very fortunate that Lise-Lotte Schultz at Tranevang Kennels in Denmark had a puppy left. Diane Webb of Doxifun and her husband checked out this litter of puppies when they were around four weeks old. She liked what she saw. When it was time, Marie Gadolin administered the Volhard puppy test. Tasha scored mostly 2 and 3s which indicated that she would be a good dog for an experienced trainer. Patt Nance had been studying the possibility of getting a puppy from this litter for herself. She loved the bloodline and Lise-Lotte provided information on all the hounds in that line.

When Patt bought a puppy (Taya) from the litter she was very impressed with her. From everything that I knew, Taya's sister Tasha was the right dog for me. Tasha was shipped from Copenhagen to Chicago on a direct flight. I was nervous as I waited in the rain at the airport. When they brought Tasha out and I saw her peering through the crate, I fell in love.

I have enjoyed getting to know Tasha. Training has been a bonding experience for us. John Jeanneny's book has been my bible. Your blogs and YouTube videos have helped tremendously. I started Tasha out on very short tracks......tracks that she couldn't fail. It only took a few of these and she started to realize what her job was. Tasha started really well in tracking but these were only training tracks, practice tracks...at home tracks. When we headed to Illinois for the season opening week long bow hunting trip I was very hopeful but still unsure of how Tasha would perform in the field.

On Monday it rained almost all day. Monday afternoon, my friend sent me a text that he had shot and killed a 9 point. He had already located the deer but would I like for him to leave it where Tasha could track it. I headed over there as soon as my hunt was over. The deer was shot in a field with a crossbow about 25 yards away.  The arrow struck the deer pretty far back through the guts. The deer ran 40 yards in chest high grass and laid down. After an hour, he approached the deer. The buck stood up and he shot it again. We decided to start the track where he had made the initial shot. Tasha was able to find guts on the vegetation and she found his arrow, something that he had not been able to do. Tasha fumbled around on this track having  problems getting a good read on it. I picked her up and placed her where he had made the second shot. This time she took off bouncing through the tall grass. She ran her track straight to the buck. When she ran upon the buck laying dead in the tall grass it scared her half to death. It took a couple of minutes with me kneeling beside the deer to get her over the initial shock. After this she was fine with it.

Tasha's next track, her first true track was over five hundred yards on another gut shot deer. Most of this track was without any blood. I have never been so impressed with a puppy.

I left Illinois Sunday morning heading home. One hour into the trip, I got a page from my hunting buddy Jerry. Jerry told me that two does were shot and one hit was questionable. I turned around and
headed back. We decided to put Tasha on the questionable shot first. The shot was made at 28 yards with a vortex broad head. The arrow struck the shoulder blade and very little if any penetration was achieved.

We started out on the track and Tasha showed us blood. The blood was bight red and was up on vegetation as well as the ground. The trail was steady and led to a wound bed about 75 yards away. The blood stopped but Tasha never slowed down. We proceeded to track another 100 yards with no blood but Tasha was pulling hard. We came upon something that I never encountered while tracking before...the property line. This neighbor would not allow any tracking upon his land. It was also understood that trespassers will be arrested.

We took Tasha to last blood and she tracked the identical track again. She was on this deer but we had to pull her off the track. I do not think that this deer was mortally wounded but I really wanted the chance to complete this track.

The next track we brought Tasha on was a deer shot at less than 20 yards with a 2 inch cut Grim Reaper head. This track was extremely easy to follow. You could see a wide heavy blood trail for
quite a way. Tasha ran this track as fast as I could go and there was the deer as expected 80 yards away. This may be the easiest track that she will ever get! It is amazing that this deer could travel that far after a shot like that. It was nice to end our week long hunting trip with an easy track like this.
During the week in Illinois Tasha ran six tracks making five recoveries. Tasha was fortunate to have a group of hunters that lent a helping hand in her training. They called us on nearly every shot, both good and bad, even though two of the deer could have been recovered without a dog. The lines were all pretty fresh. The averaged about two hours old with the longest being about 4 hours old.

This is the best on the job training I could every hope for.
  

Cliff with Tasha

Theo’s first real find: the pup tracks successfully a deer shot 22 hours earlier.

While Tucker was tracking bears and deer in New Hampshire, his younger brother Theo owned by Darren Doran got his first real find in New Jersey. By the way, Theo has turned just six months old today!

Theo’s First Real Find by Darren Doran

On Thursday Sept 27 I got a called referred to me by fellow tracker John Drahos.

Rich Deickmann had shot a buck 5 PM Wednesday evening and couldn’t find it. Rich has killed more than a few exceptional New Jersey whitetails and after my initial phone interview, I thought this deer was dead and a good candidate for my pup Theo.

Rich was using a cross bow with a fixed blade broadhead and the bolt did not produce an exit hole. It was a quartering away shot slightly high and back from the left side and the angle did not produce much blood. He waited before tracking, but bumped the buck very close to the initial hit site. He backed out and gave the deer more time and then resumed tracking. There was very little blood and his tracking pace was slow. He put the deer up again and marked the spot and quit for the night. He went back the next day and tried to find more sign or the deer with no luck.

Theo and I got there 3 PM on Thursday afternoon. It had rained lightly overnight and during the day Thursday. The only blood left was some close to the hit site. We found the bolt and one blade of the broad head had been bent over. I let Theo sniff the bolt and took him to the hit site.

He started tracking right into this nasty blow down filled with green briars. I wanted Theo to get as much scent from the known part of the track as possible and went in with him. We got through it and Rich confirmed that we were tracking in the right direction.

Rich had mentally marked the known part of the track well and would let me know when Theo was tracking wrong or was too far off. I would ask Theo “is that right” or “search here” and direct him back over the line. We got to the point of loss and it was now all up to Theo. I let him continue to search and we worked nice circles around the point of loss and around the top of a creek.

Theo had been tracking for about 45 minutes and he couldn’t seem to find the track from this point. He kept going over the same area. His concentration was wavering and I could tell I wouldn’t get much more out of him. I needed to help him along and in some way get him moving forward. There was a steep bank down into the briar choked creek bottom and I asked him to search here and went down a deer trail on the side of the bank. We got in the bottom and Theo wanted to track to the right. There was a big soupy mud flat here and to me it didn’t look like there were any fresh tracks that crossed it. I asked him to “search here” and went left. He came over and sniffed around a little but went back to the right and I went with him. We crossed the mud flat and he put his nose in a deer track on he other side and about 8 inches to the right was a drop of blood the size of a dime in a curled up leaf. I called to Rich and was marking the blood on the GPS and looked up and about 10 yards ahead was the deer. Theo tracked up to the deer and went right to a tear in the shoulder that foxes had opened up during the night.

We had quite a celebration and I was real proud of him. We had tracked for an hour  a 22-hour- old line with no visible blood to his first legitimate find.

As a side note, the off shoulder was tore up pretty good. The  bolt hit the off shoulder so hard it came back out the entrance and never really broke the skin on the far side.

Daren Dorran with a six month-old Theo, who recovered his first "real" deer.

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.