Tracking wounded deer with Darren Doran and his wirehaired dachshund Theo

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bob and Thor's team work results in the successful recovery of heart-shot buck.

By Robert Yax (owner of Thor von Moosbach-Zuzelek), Deer Search of Finger Lakes

Sunday  10/12/14,  I returned home at about 9 PM after taking three unsuccessful  tracks, which included  two one-lung hits that we tracked a long way,  and a very minor brisket hit.   I called into the Deer Search hotline and heard a call that came in at 5 PM from Hunter, Brian in Scottsville.  I called him back at 10 PM  and found that he had hit a Mature Buck at 7:30 that morning.  The shot was from a tree stand at a shallow angle with a fixed broad head.  The Buck was slightly quartering towards him and he hit the Deer’s  left side. He thought the hit was about mid-way up the body and  “back a little”.  The shot was a complete pass thru and he said the arrow was covered with dark blood.  

After the shot, the buck took off running and went out of sight around a swamp.   After a short time, Brian carefully got down and examined the hit site.  At that point he decided to back out and wait a while before tracking.   After a 2 ½ hour wait, he and a friend got on the easy to follow blood trail.  They found the blood covered arrow a short distance up the trail and soon after they jumped the Buck from its bed, about 75 yards from the hit site.  The buck ran off,  but seemed to be struggling a little.  Brian then decided to back out again.  At 2 PM he and his friend got back on the blood trail and took it about 300 yards beyond the first bed before running out of blood sign in the middle of a large open block of tall pines.  At this point they searched the pines for another 75 yards  in the direction the Buck was headed.  At the far (west) end of the pines they stopped  and decided not to go into the thick brush beyond.   Brian then decided to call Deer Search  (two good decisions!)

After hearing the story from Brian,  it seemed that a liver hit was very likely, especially since he had mentioned dark blood and that the buck had bedded so quickly.  It was especially promising because Brian and his friend had not reached the end of the blood trail till 7 hours after the hit.  If it was a liver hit,  it was very likely that the Buck would have been dead in its second bed at that point,  and it was not likely that they had pushed it any further.   Hopefully,  we would find the Buck in the thick stuff, not too far from the end of the blood trail in the pines.  I agreed to meet Brian at 8:00 on Monday morning.

We started the search on Monday morning just about 24 hours after the hit.  It was warm (60 deg) and dry – not ideal tracking conditions.  The arrow Brian showed me was covered with darkish dried blood but contained no stomach matter – it certainly could have been a liver shot.   After a hike back to the woods we started on the trail, just beyond the first bed.  Thor was on it easily and quickly followed the  known 300 yard trail (with a little dried blood sign) to the point of last blood that Brian had marked the previous day in the tall open pines.   From there Thor continued tracking,  with no blood sign, the 100 yards or so until we hit the thick brush at the west end of the pines.  Brian and his friend had searched to this point, but had not gone into this thick area the previous day, so I was really hopeful that we would find the dead Buck in this area.  

After a little searching along the edge, Thor took  an obvious deer trail into the thick stuff.  After only about 25 yards, Thor took a quick left and headed to a nearby pond.  He jumped in and did a little 4 foot diameter swim and then got back on dry land.  (Thor seems to like to take advantage of water holes and streams whenever he gets a chance while tracking, especially on warm days).  Once out of the pond, he headed back to the thick area he came from.  After only a few seconds of searching he stopped and looked back up at me as if to say  “so what do you want me to do here”?   -- I was like “what the hell “!     I tried to get him back on the track, but he obviously didn’t think there was any reason  for us to be there.  Then it hit me!   From the last blood sign,  we had continued straight back to the thick area at the west end of the Pines.  This is the same path the hunters had gone the previous day – probably with blood on their boots!  Thor had taken this same path, but once he got into the thick stuff,  there was no more blood scent – the hunters hadn’t gone in there.

I quickly brought Thor back into the pines heading back to the last blood sign.  Along the way, he veered to the south and we were soon heading into the thick brush along that side of the pines.  It wasn’t long before he put his head up, air scenting something ahead of us.  A minute later we crossed a coyote den, where he stopped for a second to stick his head down a hole.  After I pulled him out, he was quickly back on the job.  After about 100 yards in the thick stuff we popped out into a horse pasture.  Now what?  I thought,  but was quickly surprised to see the white belly of dead deer laying in the corner of the pasture about 40 yards ahead of Thor – we got him! ---- Not!    The dead deer was a recently dead button buck – not a nice Mature Buck.  Not sure what killed it,   as we couldn’t  find a hole or mark on it.  Possibly a car hit deer that ran off?    

Now we had to forget this distraction and get back to our deer.  I again headed Thor back to the last known blood sign in the middle of the block of pines.  Once there,  I decided that because the hunters had mucked up the pines while searching the previous day with bloody boots,  I would take Thor along the outside edge of the pine block and hope he could catch the Buck’s  clean trail heading out.  Starting at the last blood sign, we headed 90 degrees off the Buck’s known trail and came to the north edge of the pines.  We then started searching along the edge, just inside of the pines.  After only about 50 yards along the edge,   Thor turned and started tracking into the grassy field to the north.   He definitely seemed to be on the trail with his nose tight to the ground as he tracked the first 75 yards into the field.  At that point he began circling wildly while hopping up and down  thru the grass.  I  knew the dead buck had to be close and then saw it about 25 yards ahead in the grass.  

Thor got to it first and had a few moments of “chew time”  before we began examining it.    From the entrance wound location,  (low and just behind the left front leg) it was obvious that it wasn't a liver hit.  It seemed as though it should have hit the heart.  A short time later we confirmed that it actually did put a two inch slice in the outside of the heart as well as hit one lung.   This is the third heart shot deer we’ve recovered in the past few years.  All of them bedded quickly,  within 100 yards  but then got up when pushed a few hours later.  We even kicked one up out of its second bed  25 hours after the hit before finding it dead four later.  There’s no telling how long Brian’s  Buck lived, but probably for quite a while since the deer was still good 25 hrs after the hit.  He definitely made the right decision by not randomly searching the thick stuff the previous day. 

Thor and I also confirmed that we definitely need to work as a team to successfully overcome the complications and distractions that go along with tracking wounded deer. 

This recovery demonstrates that many times neither the dog nor handler would be successful without the help of the other.  Bob says that by far  this was the most interesting of his four recoveries so far.

This picture shows Thor with a buck recovered in Monroe County on October 4.

A tracking dachshund Gerti finds her buddy Oscar when he gets into trouble

Last weekend brought this interesting e-mail from Chris Barr from Indiana, and the story will put a smile on your face. Chris owns Gerti , who is going to be four years old in April (Gwen von Moosbach-Zuzelek, a daughter of Billy and Gilda)). He also has a younger adopted black and tan shorthaired dachshund Oscar.

 

Chris writes:

 

I hope your new year is off to a great start!

 

Gerti and I made the February edition of The Gadabout. Page 6. In the January issue they reported on the large buck taken by Todd Wallace. It was a liver shot and Gerti and I tracked it 10 hours after the hit. .52 Miles. The author of the article wanted to do a quick article about Gerti for the next edition. Follow the link: http://www.thegadabout.com/

I have to tell you a quick story. Yesterday Gerti, Oscar and I were on a run. As you know, when off leash Gerti wears a GPS collar as she’s always on “the hunt”. Oscar is really good about staying within eyesight and he checks in frequently, so I’ve never equipped him with one. Well Gerti had just run a rabbit under an old barn and lost it. We started out across an open field and I started to call for Oscar. I realized that it had been about 5 minutes since I’d seen him. I continued to call thinking I’d see him any second. I was starting to get pretty concerned at this point. I was calling Oscar pretty feverishly when Gerti came around. I looked at her and said, “where’s Oscar?”. She looked at me like she knew exactly what I’d said. Very firmly I said, “Gerti find Oscar”. The command “find it” is what I always use when putting her on a deer or rabbit. Well she spun on a dime and ran on a sprint across the open field about 150 yards to the barn where she’d lost the rabbit. I followed her across the field and into the barn. There was Oscar in an old corn crib. Somehow he’d gotten into the crib, but it was about a 3 foot jump to the ground and he didn’t want to make it so he just stayed there. Gerti knew he was there the whole time. I had not seen Oscar when Gerti was running the rabbit. The last I’d seen him he was not near the barn so I did not expect him to be there.

So I’ll add that to her resume…”tracks black and tan adopted dachshunds”

Take care,

Chris and Gerti…….and Oscar.

Joe Walters and Chris Barr with Gerti

 

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.

 

Team work at its best: Deer Search's Jagdterrier and Dachshund recover a bear

We received a note and a bunch of really nice pictures from Pete Martin, a Deer Search member who tracks with a seven-month-old Lisa von Moosbach-Zuzelek, Billy's daughter.
 

Pete writes: "On October 5, 2012 Marc Niad with Jagdterrier Dakota and Pete Martin with Dachshund Lisa recovered a black bear for a hunter in Orange County in the town of Monroe. The bear was shot from a tree stand about 20 yards away. The bear circled in a loop about 50 yards and took off through a swamp. Both dogs were side by side scenting the bear. We worked well together as a team. This was the hunter's first bear with a bow after hunting 30 plus years. Congratulations Jerry."

 

Pete Martin with Lisa and Marc Niad with Dakota next to Jerry the hunter and his bear.

 

Deer Search and United Blood Trackers member with his experienced and highly successful Jagdterrier Dakota.

Great picture of Pete Martin with Lisa. You guys look good!

 

Lisa's coat has been groomed in advance of tracking season.

 

A Deer Search team, Paulene and Braylee, recovers a deer 31 hours after the shot!

It is only a second season of deer tracking for Paulene Eggers and her dachshund Braylee, but they have already done some super work in the field.

 

A picture below shows Paulene and Braylee with the deer they recovered  31 hours after it had been shot. Paulene says: This took one hour and 55 minutes to find. The hunter shot it at 07:25 in the morning of  opening day, October 1. The shot was taken from a very high tree stand with the arrow passing through deer from an angle behind the shoulder and out the stomach area. The arrow had white hair on it and bright blood.

 

There was a small amount of blood for about a 100 yards and then nothing. The area we tracked was very dense with briars and steep ravines.  The deer was dead upon recovery and was in some very thick brush. Braylee circled the area two to three times before holding her nose up high with nostrils flaring. I then looked in the direction of where she was scenting and saw what I thought was a rock...and then saw a leg. Great job Braylee!!

 

Paulene is a member of  Deer Search of the Finger Lakes. To see deer and bear recovered by members of this organization go http://deersearchflc.com/recoveries.html. At the link there is a picture of a second deer recovered by Paulene and Braylee two days ago. Congratulations to this hard working tracking team!

Moose and Chuck - a superb deer and bear tracking team from Hillman, Michigan

It was good to hear from Chuck Collier whose tracking partner is a four-year-old Moose. Moose's regsitered name is Nurmi v Moosbach-Zuzelek and he is a son of FC Clown vom Talsdeich "Buster" and FC Asta von Moosbach-Zuzelek "Emma".  Moose is a  highly trainable versatile hunting dachshund who excels in blood tracking. We are very grateful to Chuck who put time and training into developing Moose; they both have an exceptional relationship. By the way, one of new ventures for Moose in 2011 was siring two litters, including our own S-litter.

In Chuck's own words:

This is Moose's synopsis of 2011. It has been a thrilling year as it was his first as a father. There has been nothing but positive feedback from the puppy owners so far.

As far as tracking it was a tough year as I was really busy working on some serious matters during prime tracking time. I was able to refer many tracks to other trackers as more and more trackers become available. Moose and I have become members/trackers for Michigan Deer Track'n Hounds as well as UBT. I'm proud to be a part of a Michigan based team as well as a national group such as United Blood Trackers. We need to promote unity in tracking. If we stick together, we can promote the awesome thing we do.

As of the second doe season which was the last track we attempted we went on 16 deer tracks recovering 7 and 3 bear tracks recovering 2. This puts Moose at 43 deer and 6 bears recovered so far. My working so much holds him back. What makes Moose more special to me is he does whatever I ask him to do. He is a 365 day a year dog. He is an awesome house dog/companion. He pheasant hunts and did great again this year. As far as rabbits he runs a rabbit almost every time we walk out to the barn. If moles are in the yard he is on them. We went out to the pond the other day and he was trying to dig out a man eating muskrat.

I've attached seven pictures and will explain them as we go.

The first was a short track in very dense (as usual) bear cover. It was about fifty degrees and there was a light rain. It was his first track of the year and as John said in his book I could tell Moose knew what we were doing was on the edge. Moose looked as me over his shoulder as if to say "Hey dad I'm on this but this is one of those big bad stinky bears and we're a team right?"

The second picture and bear was a liver hit the morning after the shot. We tracked from the hit site about a hundred and forty yards into the thick again. Moose did great. The hunter was a young boy. His grandfather was an experienced hunter, and the bear would have been found eventually but Moose made it a lot easier and quicker.

I don't have a photo of the best track he made on a bear this year. I had worked two jobs from 5:30 am to 11:30 pm. At the end of my shift a good friend showed up at my house and requested help tracking a nice black bear he had shot that evening. We were tired but started tracking at 11:45 pm. We worked hard and Moose tracked it between 800 and 900 yards by 2:30 am before we quit. After approximately 850 yards of dense cedar and spruce hell and crossing a creek we got to a small opening. The bear had stood there for a while with drops here and there as it circled around. I am convinced the archer made a high hit and the bear was getting tired of being tracked. I called the track. It was beautiful track with occasional confirmation blood but the bear was not dead.

The third picture was a beautiful 18 inch inside spread 7 pt. It was one of the best tracks Moose has ever done. It was shot the night before and we took up the track the next morning. It took about an hour and a half to work about 300 yards to where the buck had bedded for the night. He jumped up and Moose squealed and away we went. An amazing thing was even though Moose was squealing and we jumped the buck a second time Moose still took the time to smell a badger hole as we cruised by. The buck had a broken front left shoulder from a rifle shot. The buck was tough and would run a few hundred yards at a time and lay down. We tracked 2.9 miles before locating the deer. The deer was in a low bushy area.

The fourth picture was a gut shot buck that bled little but fell in a tall grassy area. The hunter was thrilled with watching Moose at work.

The fifth picture is the biggest state land buck he has helped recover. The buck was hit back in the intestines as it surged forward as the shot was taken. It was shot the morning before with a rifle by a very experienced hunter. It was in a beaver pond marsh area and was very wet and hard to traverse. The hunter, his brother and father had tracked about three hundred yards before deciding to contact Moose and I. We all went out and Moose did a great job of retracing the first three hundred yards before veering towards the tall grass of the beaver flooding. We went up to the edge of the deep water and Moose looked at me with the "He went across" look on his face. I advised the father of the hunter of my theory. He went around the twisted wet misery to the right and I went to the left. Within minutes he was yelling for joy as the deer was dead on the other side edge. According to my GPS he was on a direct line from where Moose and I hit the water.

The sixth picture was not a considered "find" for records purposes as I shot it well and knew it was going to be laying a short distance further. But it was special to me as my dog and I got to find it together. Me and my boy.

The last picture is a picture of my wife's first deer (a mature doe). It was shot with a muzzle loader in the last moments of the last day. I was in the blind with her when she shot. The smoke caused me not to see the deer's initial reaction to the hit. It ran 60 yards across a food plot and crashed full speed into a spruce cedar nearly impassable swamp. I checked and saw absolutely no visible blood and there was an inch of fresh snow. I believed she might have missed. She declared that she was on it and although a steep angle she was sure she made a good shot. She was not going to hunt deer again if she missed as she was so sure. We went and got Moose for the final say. Moose went in. It was so thick the snow didn't reach the ground in the thicket. I had to belly crawl as it was too thick to be on my knees. After about forty yards I felt the familiar tug as if it were a fish biting. Although I couldn't see it I knew what it was. I yelled to Kim that Moose had found the doe and was getting his chew on it. Needless to say she advised me she knew she had hit the doe well. It was very fulfilling to have the "Moose man" ready in the pickup.     

Spider, a blue heeler pup, is showing a great potential for blood tracking

What a nice e-mail from Scott Frye. Thank you Scott!

John,
Some time back I bought your tracking book, as I was really interested in training one for my family. I purchased a blue heeler pup, and began to train him using your methods and guides. Spider is 11 months old now. He has found 5 deer for us this year. Truth told, the first three we really didn't need his help, but he needed the experience.  

Last night he completed his second night track, first one was several weeks ago, 300 yards on new ground, with very limited blood.  Last night's track was about 175, good blood for first 25 yards, then very limited for 100, then decent last 50. He is learning very quickly, made that track last night in about 20 minutes. He sure made the job a lot simpler.  

Thank you and Jolanta for your time and dedication to this sport, I would have really floundered without your book and wisdom given in it.  

I have found there is a lot I have to learn as a handler to make him better. Big difference in handling competitive field trial bird dogs and a tracking dog. I am learning from my mistakes, and really enjoy it.

 Hope your season continues to go well. My best to you and your bride.  

Just bought the Dead On! book. Looking forward to it as well.

Another successful track for Spider!

 

Remi's return from disaster

The last three weeks were so busy that they feel more like three months. First, on May 12 John traveled to Quebec, where upon the invitation extended by the Quebec Blood Tracking Dog Handler Association he was helping develop a new certification test for handlers. When he came back, we almost immediately left for UBT Trackfest in Pocahontas, AR. We got back on the night of May 25, and not even two days later I traveled to Batavia, NY to attend  three field trials for dachshunds. I got back home late last night, and tomorrow morning John is leaving for Michigan to breed Paika. In the next week or so we will write about all these events and post pictures, but tonight I'd like to write about Remi and Justin.

If you search this blog for Remi, you will get a lot of info about this pup, who turned one year old on May 25. Two days before his birthday we received these two pictures from Justin Richins from Utah.

Remi was enjoying life. Then on May 26 e-mail from Justin brought devastating news and tears to my eyes: "I just ran over Remi. We were in the mtns identifying wildflowers, he was running 20-30 yards out as he usually does. I stopped to take a pic of a flower I wanted to identify. I then got back in and started driving forward when heard him yelp. It was then I realized what had just taken place. My truck is a big heavy 4 ton diesel. I'm at the emergency vet right now. He was going into shock by the time I got here vet. I'm an emotional wreck right now but I will keep u informed."

Few hours later another e-mail came: Initial X-ray showed fractures in the hip, ball out of socket and blood work showed elevated liver enzymes. They are not too worried about the liver as they think it could be from shock and say it will heal on its own. They are doing pain management before more X-rays to keep him from going further into shock. Also they think his spine and other organs are fine, We will be transferring him to 24 hr facility in a few hrs. I was just idling along slow with my foot on and off the break getting in and out of the truck to inspect and identify what wild flowers were on the property. I'm guessing this slow moving contributed to this accident because there was no increased engine noise signaling the truck was moving or about to move. I will go up latter today and go look at the tracks and pushdowns so I can figure out how this happened. 

Friday - Remi was stressed and in a lot of pain. He was refusing to drink.

Justin's frantic search for info how to fix Remi started right away. He wrote on Sunday: Ok, so I have been on the phone, internet and researching like crazy, and there are very few options for smaller dogs as parts just are not available.. However, I have found a few vets located in Colorado and one in the Ski resort town of Sun Valley, Idaho who have done hundreds of total hip replacements. I found their info through a manufacturer from Liverpool, England that produces Micro hip replacements! Anyway the vet's secretary in Idaho was kind enough to forward him my emails and x-rays and he called me back within 10 minutes even

though she said he was leaving for England and would not be back for several weeks. From my conversation he had much more knowledge than any other vet I have talked to and has done over 800 total hip replacement surgeries. Tomorrow morning I'm headed to Idaho as he is assembling a team of 4 doctors to work on Remi Monday because he leaves for Liverpool, England Tuesday morning . He believes one of the pelvic fractures must be fixed /plated before doing any work on the side with the broken hip & he will take all options into consideration. I feel good about this decision.

Yesterday, when I was still in Batavia, Justin called that the surgery was successful and Remi's prognosis is very good. John sent this letter to Justin: "Hi Justin, I just spoke with Jolanta as she started back from a field trial 250 miles away. She told me a little about the operation and your sense that the prognosis was good. I have a lot of respect for the way that you handled the whole thing. The tragedy was well publicized in the Borntotrack Group and you have a lot of admirers out here in the East. You set the standard for a man’s relationship with his tracking dog. I’m glad the pain has diminished for both of you."

Today Justin sent a picture taken on his way from Idaho. He said that Remi can walk and he even wags his tail. What a relief! We'll keep you posted about his progress.  

Remi with his new hip on his way home.

This was his message:

Thanks to everyone for the prayers and support. As you all know we traveled to Sun Valley, Idaho for Remi¹s surgery. The doctor Randy Aker there was phenomenal. He spent an extensive amount of time with us prior to the surgery explaining all of the different options and exactly what was involved with each. He was extremely knowledgeable and made sure we understood and felt comfortable before he began the surgery. He was going to try to salvage Remi¹s hip, but once they got in there they found the hip socket was broken, femur head was severed and the end of the femur bone was shattered making it impossible to reconstruct. They ended up doing a cemented total micro hip replacement.

The doctor called me after the surgery to let me know all had gone well. They kept him over night to monitor him. When I arrived to the clinic expecting a lethargic post-op puppy, especially since he had been struggling the previous days to even have any desire to move his head to acknowledge someone lying down near him, to my surprise, it was like the old Remi, full of life and energy. Wagging his tail vigorously and giving me a face full of kisses! They told me he had eaten breakfast that morning and had walked outside to use the bathroom. I could not believe he was walking again let alone 18hrs after his surgery. We have been home for a few hours now and it is clear to me my greatest task at hand will be trying to keep this active little guy down to allow his body to heal. I would never have believed that after being ran over by a 8,000+ lb truck that this little dog would be doing so well. He is truly a little miracle. Apparently he still has many more days of hunting to live out. I will continue to keep you all updated with his progress. Thanks again for your concern.

Remi X-Ray Before

http://www.centralpt.com/customer/image_gallery/309/guns/REMI_BEFORE.JPG

Remi X-Ray After
http://www.centralpt.com/customer/image_gallery/309/guns/REMI_AFTER.JPG

Sincerely-
Justin and Bionic-Remi

The VDD-GNA 40-Hour Blood Tracking Test (VSwP) in Fayetteville, NC

Andy's post about The VDD-GNA 40-Hour Blood Tracking Test (VSwP) in Fayetteville, NC, generated a lot of heat and I removed the story along with comments from the blog. A very mild disagreement over some details of the test was escalating into the very heated discussion that I was not willing to post. However, since this blog is committed to reporting news on blood tracking, we are not going to exclude information about the test.

So for the record we are reporting that on Sunday, February 20, in in Fayetteville, NC, two dachshunds participated  in the VDD-GNA 40-Hour Blood Tracking Test (VSwP).

• Eibe vom Merreche, a standard wirehaired dachshund bred by Hans Josef Broich (Germany) was handled by her owner Andy Bensing, PA. Eibe  passed the test with the Prize I performance.
• Qua-Linea Enyo, a standard smooth dachshund bred and handled by her owner Sian Kwa, NC, also passed with the Prize I performance.  Enyo was awarded the trophy for the best performance of the weekend.

Congratulations to both handlers and their dogs!

Another great tracking season for Tim Nichols and his Bavarian Mountain Bloodhound Bruno

We have written about Tim Nichols from Granville, NY many times. It looks like the Deer Search's Schlechtingen Award will go to him again for the highest number of calls taken during the 2010 tracking season. In 2010 Tim took 66 calls and found 24 deer and one bear. No, Tim is not retired, and he does all his tracking while holding a full-time job. Bruno, a four-year-old Bavarian Mountain Bloodhound imported from Poland, is his canine tracking partner. Below are some pictures of Tim and Bruno's finds.

Tim, Bruno, and hunter with a bowshot NY deer during rifle season. The deer died behind bowling alley in town.

Tim and Bruno with a small doe; Northern zone NY

Tim, Bruno with hunter and crossbow buck in Vermont

Tim, Bruno & hunter with a large doe, VT Archery

Tim, Bruno, and hunter with a nice buck, VT Archery

Tim , Bruno, and hunter with buck. This buck was shot by an arrow, then hit by a car, and then shot three 3 more times with arrows.

Tim & Bruno with a very nice 9 pt, 202 lb NY bow-shot buck

Tim, Bruno and hunter with a nice NY buck

Tim, Bruno and hunter with a VT bear

Tim, Bruno and a VT deer, which was crossbow shot by brother Fred

Tim, Bruno and hunters with a very large Adirondack buck, 10pts and possibly over 200lbs. It was an all day event to recover this deer.

Tim, Bruno, and hunter with large doe,  NY archery.

GREAT job Tim and Bruno!

A talented blood tracking team from Michigan

Vernon and Bell from Marquette, Michigan

Recently we were contacted by Vernon Hansen from Upper Peninsula of Michigan, who so far has found 19 deer with his four-year-old wirehaired dachshund Bell. Bell (Doxy Trax Bell) was bred by Kathy and Michael Vincent from McKean, PA; her dam is Mein Suss Kirsche (a sister of our Elli) and her sire is Henri Anons.

Pete and Lisa - a hard working Deer Search tracking team

We are happy to report that Lisa continues to do really well. Pete Martin is a member of Deer Search, a NY-based organization of volunteer trackers. Pete said in a recent e-mail "I can't keep up with all the calls and neither can Lisa. I think this weekend is going to get really crazy." I know what he means... and I hope that Thanksgiving is quiet.
Hi John & Jola - Lisa is just awesome this year. Another 8 pt. buck to her credit.Very little blood.Three restarts. First one I was correct in reading her -she was right the first half of the way, about three-four hundred yards. Second start she was looking at me saying this is the way the deer went. Third restart. Lisa - OK, how many times are we going to do this? Hunter & friend swore the deer went in different direction. (I'll bet no tracker ever heard that before). I chose to go with her nose. Total track was appox. 800 yds. Deer crossed road going uphill. Near perfect shot placement but arrow hit far side of shoulder and did not exit. Most of arrow was recoverd 25 yards from hit site.Very little hair. Nice typical 8 pointer. Again Lisa told me to believe her and made believers out of the hunting party. Scenting conditions were very good but Lisa was confused when she brought us close to the deer. I think because of the tremendous amount of scent circulating in the area.

Pete Martin is holding Lisa next to the eight pointer she has recovered.

Ray Holohan and Roscoe, a tracking team from Illinois

We got this nice e-mail from Ray Holohan from Illinois. Ray's Roscoe goes back to our line on his dam's side. Roscoe's sire is Cameron Kruse's wirehaired dachshund Fred, who was bred by Stefan and Vanessa Fuss from Germany.

My name is Ray Holohan and the proud owner of Rosco, a wirehaired dachshund from the 2009 litter of Chloe Belzar owned by Neal and Debbie Meyers.

I'm sending a couple of pictures of Rosco 's first recovered buck. The track took place last Friday, and it was his 6th track of the seaon. The hit was a straight over head shot in the liver area, the arrow only penetrared about 10 ". There were only about 6 drops of blood at the hit site. I put Rosco on the blood and he took it out of the timber a short distance and into a cornfield, where he turned and advanced it through a hedge row and into a bean stubble. At this point I hadn't found any blood other than that at the hit site. He kept going but still we had no blood, at about 800 yards.

I decided to restart Roscoe at the hit site. This time he took it out to the corn field and went in a different direction. I let him go about a half a mile and still nothing. I told the hunters that I wasn't sure what to do with no confirmation of blood. So I decided to take him back to the opening in the hedge row where we found 2 small specs of blood. So now we had a direction, and I let him track across the bean stubble to a patch of timber about 3/8 of a mile away. I decided to enter the timber in the middle and track into the wind. The timber looked fairly clear from the outside, but I was wrong as it was loaded with thorns and briars .

I tracked into the wind as far as I could then decided to turn back do to the loss of my blood. We were tracking with the wind in the middle of the timber heading back when Rosco started pulling harder and made three checks in the same area. I decided to check the area out and Rosco found two wound beds and the buck not far away. The hunters were extremely happy along with me and Rosco. I should have believed Rosco the first track to the hedge.

This track was a good track because it taught me to trust Rosco. Rosco has had three recoveries prior to this one this season, two were pretty easy.

This very nice Illinois buck was recovered by Ray Holohan and Roscoe

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



Cheri and Danika - a dynamite tracking team from Madison, Wisconsin

I have the feeling that this blog is going to be a very busy site this hunting/tracking season. Only today I have received four stories/reports of recoveries made by wirehaired dachshunds. Thank you and huge congratulations! BTW, the blog is not just about wirehaired dachshunds, and owners/handlers of other breeds are welcome as well. 

This recovery has been reported by Cheri Faust from Madison, WI, who is an owner/handler of a four-year-old Danika (FC Danika vom Nordlicht TD, SE). Cheri wrote:

I had a call from a hunter near West Bend, WI this morning. Bow shot deer from 9/26 @ 6:00 p.m. The hunter and his friends followed it about 500 yards last night and this morning before they ran out of trail. He said the shot was low and back - assumed it was gut shot - and that the arrow hadn't gone through. I got there about 11:00 a.m. this morning, and met the hunter, his father and a friend. We had parked in an alfalfa field and they showed me the picked corn rows where they thought the deer had walked. We walked in the corn and Danika seemed to hit the line. She tracked over their two last marked spots and went into a green soybean field about two rows in from the edge. 150 yards in that and she turned towards the brush line separating the soybean field from a standing corn field. She went four rows in to the corn but stopped when everyone else got into the corn. I asked everyone to stay put and took her back out to the soybeans to see if she would take the same turn. She went 10 yards further, but didn't seem like she was on it. Had I taken her off the track and now she thought she should be looking for something else? I picked her up and took her 20 yards further back from where she had turned and started again. This time she went about 20 feet and turned into the corn. I dropped the lead while I crossed the brush in an easier place and when I got to her in the corn to pick up the lead, she was standing at the head of this deer. Three more fans of tracking dogs!

Danika with the hunter and recovered deer. A happy ending!

Cheri and Danika at the recent field trial in Michigan