Short track and recovery for Thor: Important deer anatomy lesson

By Bob Yax

On Nov. 8^th, Thor and I took a track in Geneseo.  The hunter, Josh, hit the buck about 4 pm the previous day.  While interviewing Josh about the hit, not long after he shot it, he said that the buck was broadside when he hit it and the arrow passed thru near the center of the deer.  Surprisingly, the buck bedded within 20 yards of the hit, then got up shortly after and bedded 2 more times in the next 50 yards before getting up and walking off.   

Josh waited awhile and then inspected the hit site and arrow along with a few yards of the early trail.  He saw a reasonable blood trail and then backed out and called Deer Search.  The quick, frequent bedding, signaled a liver hit, but then Josh described the arrow as having heavy intestinal matter on it.  With a broadside shot it’s hard to hit both liver and intestine.   I told Josh that the options were to go after it late that evening, like 11 pm (assuming it was liver), or to wait to later in the morning assuming it was intestine only.  It was a tough decision.  A liver-hit deer could be dead in less than an hour (typically 7 hrs covers 95% of liver hits), but an intestine-hit deer can go for over 24 hrs.  We had to worry that it might spoil if it died early or we might jump it if we go too early.  We decided that we’d wait till late morning to start the track.  

We started at about 11 am, 19 hrs after the hit.  I inspected Josh’s arrow and confirmed it was covered with intestinal matter and a little blood.  We started the track and quickly got through the first 100 yards where blood sign was still visible along the way.  Soon we came out to a standing cornfield, where Thor spent about 10 minutes circling around in about 20 rows of corn.  I was happy to find 1 spec of blood on a corn stalk, while he was circling.  Finally, Thor came out of the corn and headed off pretty hard across a clover field for about 125 yards, until he entered the woods that surrounded a 1 acre pond.  Soon, he was walking through the shallow water at the corner of the pond.  He came out of the pond and climbed up a short bank.  There I found a single drop of blood.  Thor then took a path through the brush along the edge of the pond, and again ended up along the water’s edge.  He was really interested in the water. 

I scanned the pond hoping to see a floating deer. Finally, he walked off the bank and started swimming into the pond.    I let him go out a few yards, and then pulled him back to shore.  He jumped up the bank and then I spotted a bloody leaf on the shore.   I let the leash go and told Josh to grab it as I climbed through the heavy brush.  He grabbed the leash but had a hard time holding Thor back as he dug in and pulled hard into the brush.   A few seconds later the reason was obvious.  The dead buck was lying about 40 yards from the pond. So far the track wasn’t that interesting, but the deer and the hit changed that.  Looking at the 8 pointer, it was obvious that the deer had passed just a short time before we arrived.  There was no rigor, and the internal organs were freshly warm.   The other observation was that the lower half of the deer was soaking wet and his legs were brown with pond muck.  It had obviously been laying in the pond.  The autopsy revealed the biggest surprise, the 3 blade broad head clearly passed thru the liver, before exiting out the intestines.  This buck, with a solid liver hit, likely lived for 17 or 18 hours!   Not sure if laying in the pond had any influence, but most liver hit deer are dead at 6 or 7 hours.  I did have one buck years ago, that we jumped after 20 hrs with a liver hit.  The general rules usually apply, but not always!  Photo of hunter and buck, below. 

A long track for Darren Doran and his dachshund Theo leads to successful recovery

A big thank you to Darren Doran who wrote this report a week ago. Following Monday he had a rotator cuff surgery. The surgery went well and Darren is recovering home. Darren's tracking partner is Theo (FC Theo von Moosbach-Zuzelek).

A hunter called about a deer he hit on Friday morning, October 21, about 7:30 am. At the hit the deer walked off about 60 yards and lay down. The hunter thought that the deer was going to die right there. After about 20 minutes the deer got up and slowly walked away. The hunter stayed in the stand for a while, then climbed down and snuck out. He came back around noon to check the arrow and look for the deer. During this time it had rained heavily and was threatening the rest of the day.

When the hunter checked his arrow he smelled gut on it and saw white hairs on the ground. Despite the rain, there was a substantial amount of blood in the bed. He began to track the deer and eventually lost the blood alongside the creek. The hunter looked me up on the UBNJ web site and called me. It turns out that the hunter was a new resident to the town I work for and was hunting right out of his back yard.

At this point I would like to say that this swamp buck was a mature deer over 3 ½ years old. I have seen this behavior in this age class of a buck many times. At the hit the deer doesn’t run or panic. They don’t elevate their blood pressure by running, and by bedding quickly they slow their blood loss. With the onset of the rut, this type of buck with this type of hit can be very hard to kill and recover.

I made arrangements to meet the hunter after work and I was at his house by 4 p.m., 8½ hours after the shot. We went to the hit site and I got Theo ready. The arrow had a slight gut smell and the white hair was there just as the hunter had said. I started Theo and he took the track and ended up in the wound bed. I could see good blood indicating it was a liver hit. Theo tracked to the creek to where the hunter had quit and began searching. He kept going up and down the bank and then just jumped in and swam to the other side. The creek was about 15 feet wide and I just kept feeding out my lead. Theo got to the other side and after a quick check started up a little draw away from the bank. 

It looked like we were going to get wet. The creek was mid-thigh deep and a little chilly but had a pretty good bottom. We got across quickly and tracked along the top of the creek to an ox bow. Theo started down towards the creek again and stopped on a log that was in the water. He was stretching out and sniffing but hadn’t committed to taking the plunge. The creek was deep here but not wide and if we went in we were going to have to swim.

Theo came back up to the top and began searching the bank. All of a sudden he took a line right over our track in. The deer had back tracked. He bedded high on the creek bend with the deep water at his back looking over his back trail where he crossed the creek the first time. It’s quite possible that the deer saw or heard the hunter from this vantage point looking for him earlier in the day.

Theo then tracked out of the flood plain and up to higher ground. I hadn’t seen any blood since the bed at the creek and we were heading right for a housing development in the neighboring municipality. Theo was tracking right behind the backyards of the houses and I was praying that the deer stayed in the woods. All of a sudden Theo’s tempo picked up and the hunter said he saw a deer get up and go to the right. Theo was really excited and tracking left towards the road. I just held back on the lead and let him settle a bit. It was obvious that there was more than one deer here and they left in different directions. Theo took a line that was straighter, and the hunter said that the deer went right. I asked him to stand by and wait. When I saw a small drop of fresh blood 30 yards later I knew he had the right deer. I went about another 30 yards, found another spot of blood and called up the hunter. Theo was tracking towards a mowed retention basin behind the houses and he was pulling hard. I planned to track up to the edge and look across and check for the deer. The basin was about 125 yards wide and there was no dead deer in it. I pulled Theo back and it was time to discuss our strategy with the hunter.

I was afraid to push the deer because of the houses. I’ve lost big deer to the developments before and did not want it to happen now. I laid out our options. We could continue and risk losing him in the development, we could come back around midnight and re-start, or we could take our chances with the rain and start in the morning. I reassured hunter that Theo could track after a rain and it wouldn’t be a problem, but I didn’t realize how much we were going to get.

We decided to resume tracking in the morning. It had poured over night and was raining hard in the morning. I sent a text to the hunter to make sure that were still on and he said yes. I was a little apprehensive about tracking to the deer but felt confident that if it stayed in the woods we could find him. I picked up the hunter and we started at the first creek crossing. I swear when Theo saw the hunter he knew we were going to finish what we started. 

I brought Hip Boots for the crossing and just made it. Theo swam across and was dragging he short lead following the exact same track to where we stopped yesterday. I hooked up Theo about 50 yards from the edge of the basin and started. He ran down yesterday’s line and into the basin and began searching his way across.

At the other side he began checking runs. I was really hoping to find the deer just inside the edge but it didn’t happen. We had the wind in our face,a and I was sweeping Theo in a search mode from the houses to our side of the creek in an effort to pick up the trail of the deer or air scent a body. Theo was working nicely through the thick green briars and brush and we went about another 500 yards sweeping through the bottom without any luck. Now the plan was to work the creek back and have Theo check the runs leading up to a crossing. We had gotten about 150 yards from the retention basin when Theo started sniffing the briars while standing up on his hind legs. When he does this it usually means he’s confirming the scent of our deer or has caught a piece of familiar scent. Theo started to take this run towards the creek and worked down to the bank and was looking across the water. I happened to look downstream and there was the deer floating in the middle of the creek stuck against a fallen tree. As soon as I saw him I shouted out my favorite saying “I gottem”. The hunter came running over and because of the briars and the creek bank he couldn’t see him. He said “where, where “. I said "he’s in the creek, you got him".

Theo got him!

By now Theo had seen him and was swimming over to him. He climbed up on the deer and began to pull out his hair. I waded out and dragged the deer back to the bank. The deer died about 100 yards behind the hunter's stand and looked like it was headed back to where it had come from. We had a heck of a celebration, and I was genuinely happy for this hunter. He was a good guy and I’m glad we could find his deer. The deer was hit low in the liver and because of the way it acted after the hit, it lived a long time.

This kind of track makes believers out of hunters and legends out of tracking dogs. This may be my last track this season and if so it was a great one. Theo is still learning and getting better every time we track. We have developed into a team that knows what to do to get the job done. I love working this dog and finding deer with him.

Darren and Theo at the end of successful track

Finding wounded deer with tracking dachshund Mossy Brooke

Huge shout out to Judy Catrett from Georgia and her tracking partner Mossy Brooke (Viola von Moosbach-Zuzelek) on their 28th recovery of this tracking season. Mossy is going to be two years old in April, and she is a daughter of our Tommy (FC Tom von Linteler-Forst) and Tuesday (FC Tuesday von Moosbach-Zuzelek). Judy and Mossy recover deer faster than I am able to post about it.  Judy wrote:

What a day Mossy and I have had. We received a call last pm from a hunter who had shot a 6 pt. buck and asked if we could help him. As he was over an hour from us, and it was already dark, I told him that Mossy and I would meet him at daylight. Isaac had actually shot the buck at 4:30 PM yesterday and we arrived and started tracking at 8:00 AM.

When we arrived, Isaac was very helpful in showing us exactly the spot the buck was shot and Mossy was asked to find a dead deer and blood. She tracked without difficulty to the last place that Isaac had been able to find blood, approximately 50 yds from the site of the shot. She continued to trail in a light rain and around 500 yards later she ended up at the edge of the head of a pond. Mossy tried to swim into the pond, and at this area the pond was only 50 yards wide, but deep.

We made our way to a crossing that was not above our boots and I asked Mossy to try to find a dead deer and blood as we were then on the side the buck should have exited. She immediately went to the area she had tried to swim into from the opposite side. She again tried to swim into the pond. I did not let her do this on either side as it was cold and I did not want to take a swim this early in the morning. I told Isaac that Mossy was telling us that the buck was in the pond. We looked for any floating objects, but did not spot any.

I then asked Mossy to make a big circle of the area hoping she may pick up on a track of the buck exiting the pond. She made the circle and again led us to the exact spot on the edge of of the pond. Again, she wanted to take a swim. No, Mossy, I am too old for a swim at 8:00 AM in cold weather. I told Isaac that Mossy said the buck was in the pond--he agreed. I advised him to check the pond later for a floating deer. He had to leave to go home 6 hours away in just a couple of hours, so I suggested that he check with the landowner thinking that he would probably check the pond for Isaac.

As we were saying our goodbyes, Isaac asked if he could have his picture taken with Mossy to show his wife. Mossy, of course, obliged. Mossy and I had been gone appx. 5 minutes when Issac called. He had checked the opposite end of the pond near the dam and had seen an unusual object which on closer inspection turned out to be his buck. Mossy and I returned to celebrate with Isaac. I don't know who was happier--Mossy, Isaac, or myself. What an asset Mossy has been to my life and it continues to amaze me the new friendships created because of her. We left Eric skinning his deer with him assuring me the meat would not go to waste now--because of Mossy.

Jolanta, I have tried to let Mossy track every deer possible this year, easy or difficult. I had some concern that the easy tracks may make it more difficult for her to concentrate on a more difficult track. She answered my question today. She has such a desire to track that she has learned from every opportunity at tracking as have I. She and I definitely have the connection that Bear and I had. I do talk with Mossy while we are tracking--as I do when we are not tracking--the communication between us continues to broaden as Mossy's vocabulary increases. Don't think that we are quite at the Darren and Theo level, but we are making progress. If all of your pups are of Mossy's quality, you and John have reason to be proud.

Tracking mature bucks: Daren and Theo's amazing two intercrossed deer tracks

By Daren Doran

On Sunday I (Jolanta) had a chance to see Daren and Theo
when they dropped by at field trial grounds for a short visit.

On Saturday I got a call from a hunter who had hit a mature buck and needed help. His shot was slightly quartering to and he believed he hit one lung and hopefully the liver on the way out. While tracking, his deer entered another property and when he called for permission to track there he found out that the owners of that property were looking for a deer as well. That buck had been quartering away, and when the hunter shot, the deer took a step and the arrow hit it in the ham and entered forward never exiting. Both of these deer were shot Saturday morning.

Here’s where it starts to get interesting. The hunters believed that the blood trail of the two deer crossed. Hunter 1’s POL (Point of Loss) was about 50 yards from the blood trail of hunter 2. Hunter 2 had advanced their trail about 500 yards from that point to the beginning of a wide green briar choked hedge row between 2 large rye fields.

The call was about an hour and a half away, and I figured both calls had a good chance of recovery if what the hunter had told me was correct. It also gave me a chance to work Theo in a situation that I had never experienced before. If the blood trails did cross, how would he handle it? Could Theo figure it out and find the deer?

I got there about 2:30 and both groups of hunters were together. I started Theo at hunter 1’s hit site, which was on the edge of a green field. The deer had crossed the field and entered the woods about 80 yards away and this is where the hunter found his first blood. I let Theo smell the arrow and told him to “search” and “find the blood”. Theo worked a circle around the hit site that took a line towards the woods. Theo showed me blood and took the line through the woods across a road and into hunter 2’s property. He tracked to the POL and from there on it was all Theo. Hunter 2 said that he was tracking towards his line and at one point hunter 2 said Theo was on his blood line. At this point I couldn’t confirm the fact that the two deer didn’t take the same trail. We had not seen any more blood after hunter 1’s POL so I allowed Theo to continue. After a while it was apparent that Theo had left deer 1 and was now tracking deer 2. We came to the green briar hedge row at hunter 2’s POL and here it got hard for Theo. These guys and stomped all over looking for this deer, and I’m sure there was scent tracked all over in this area.

These hunters had no experience with a tracking dog and at the POL they continued to “help” by looking for more blood. I had asked them to stay with me or behind me, but pretty soon I was by myself. The logical place this deer went was into the briars in the hedge row.  I worked Theo in this area and at one point he tracked into the rye field on one side. I could see foot prints in the rye and it looked like Theo was tracking the hunters. I restarted him at the POL and he went into the briars. He was tracking but I couldn’t find any blood. I saw a deer cross the rye field about 300 yards away; I couldn’t see a rack and I didn’t really know where the deer came from. I assumed we had put out a doe while searching the hedge row. 

I re-started Theo a couple of times and he always took the same line through the briars and at one point he went hot and wanted to track into the rye field the way I had seen the deer go. I didn’t believe him and I pulled him off. I just didn’t think a hurt deer would cross a 500 yard open field. I had hunter 1 back with me by now.  I restarted Theo again and he tracked the same way and this time I saw some blood, then a bed and then a drop of blood at the edge of the rye field. I told hunter 1 about the deer I had seen and that we were going to follow the dog. Theo tracked across the rye field to a little wooded island and showed me a drop of blood. We went through the island, across another field and into the woods. Theo was showing me blood every so often and we had tracked to the edge of a small weedy standing corn field. All of a sudden Theo went hot. We were tracking along the corn and then turned into a swampy area of reeds and brush. I could see smears of blood on the reeds and visibility was limited. The next thing I know Theo is coming back at me and I see the buck get up. I sent hunter 1 around the brush to hopefully cut the deer off if he came out. Theo’s barking now, I’m holding him back and we’re right on the deer. Theo held up and then I saw the buck down in the high weeds. I called hunter 1 up and he finished the deer. We got on the phone and called hunter 2 and let him know where we were and that we had his deer.

We had deer 2 but needed to try to get deer 1. I told hunter 1 we were going back to our original start to restart Theo and see what we could do. The property owner was coming with us and after what they just witnessed there was no more second guessing me or the dog.

I started Theo and he took us right to hunter 1’s POL. I was watching the GPS to see what was going to happen. Theo was tracking the exact same line and went right over our first line and started tracking a different way. After messing up and pulling him off at the rye field, I was going wherever he took me. After a while I saw a drop of blood. I checked the GPS and we were on a new line. Theo had deer 1. We tracked to a large bed and Theo went hot. I didn’t see any blood but I knew Theo was right and went with him. After some time I started to mark blood. Theo was tracking hard at the end of the leash and we went right over deer 2’s line about 50 yards from the POL and into the second large rye field. Theo tracked across the field, across a road and into another woods. I was marking blood and I knew he was right. We went through the woods and tracked to a lake. Theo went into the water and was standing on a log looking across. I knew the deer went across. One thing I’ve learned about tracking mature bucks is once they know you’re after them they become very difficult to recover. They will use every bit of energy and smarts to put something between them and you that they think will stop you, roads, rivers, houses, horse corrals, lakes anything to stop you.

Theo went into the water
and was standing on a log looking across.

I marked the spot on the GPS and the hunters said we could go to the road and cross the lake at a bridge. We had enough daylight to try and it was about ¾ of a mile to get to the other side so off we went. When I got to about where I thought the deer crossed I started a controlled search with Theo and told him to “search and find the blood”. He knew what we were doing and immediately started searching the lake bank. Pretty soon he took a line away from the lake. I didn’t see any blood but at this point I wasn’t second guessing him. In about 100 yards he tracked to a large bed exactly like the one we found earlier and went hot. I told the hunter that we would go for a while and hopefully mark blood. We were losing daylight and I hadn’t seen any more blood and I told the hunter that we were done. I knew Theo was right, but this deer wasn’t dead and we weren’t going to catch it. They agreed and we headed back. We put on some miles today and I had some great dog work. Thankfully Theo over looked my handling mistakes at the rye field and we got the one deer. These hunters had never seen a tracking dog work before and both agreed that they would never found the deer we got or advanced the second one the way we did without a dog.

Darren Doran with Theo and Hunter 2's buck.

Tommy gets injured on Saturday while following a one-lung shot deer

Saturday was not a good day. John and Tommy went on a call to help a local hunter recover a lung-shot deer.  At one point John had to drop the tracking leash in heavy brush. He thought that he could recall Tommy, as he had done many times, but this time Tommy was hot on the deer. He was located two hours later tangled in goldenrod 400 meters farther on.

Tommy had already tracked two miles, but he was ready to go, and now three of us tracked another 1/2 mile through a big swamp. We finally quit when the deer swam across a big pond and water became to deep to follow. Actually Jolanta got stuck in the swamp up to her butt. We had smears of blood to verify the line right  until the end. But that's just the beginning.


This is the last leg of Saturday's track with Tommy. Tommy was found hung up in the brush around 4 pm where the yellow marker is, and we restarted him by the red marker. We found the first blood smear on the branch around 1/3 rd into this track leg. Now the swamp is not as big as it is pictured on this google map. Once we entered the swamp we started to see fresh blood smears on swamp grass. We terminated the track where the purple marker is. When we got back to the car people in the house by Rte 157A said that they had seen a deer running by from the swamp direction. This graphic was created by My Tracks, an app for Android phones.

On Monday we noticed a bulge on Tommy's right flank. It looked like a big hematoma, but we took him to our vets since he also had bad eye irritations. We wanted to be sure he did not have a scratched cornea. The eyes were not damaged, but the inner abdominal muscles had been torn and intestines were bulging out as in an umbilical hernia. Thee was no internal damage beyond this and no damage on the surface of his hide. We don't know exactly what happened, but probably he had an altercation with the buck during the time  that he was out of John's control. He was tough enough to keep tracking,  and we were unaware of his injury.

Another problem. We have a bitch that was brought in from southern Pennsylvania to be bred to Tommy. She is not quite ready yet, and we don't want to ask Tommy to breed her right after his surgery. So we must wait until Thursday, after the breedings, to have the damage to his abdominal wall repaired. Tommy does not seem to be in any pain, and he is eating well. But we are watching that hernia! He won't be able to track for 2-3 weeks following his surgery.

Huge bucks mark a great beginning of Kasey and Boomer's tracking season

Kasey Morgan is a United Blood Trackers member from Elderon Wisconsin and he operates under the name Bloodhound Deer Tracking Services. He has had a great beginning of this tracking season with a number of very impressive bucks.

By Kasey Morgan

The 2013 Wisconsin Archery Season was upon us and the calls for tracks came in fast and furious.  Boomer, my bloodhound, would get his first action the night of opening day on a good buck hit high and slightly back from perfect.  We took up the track and Boomer made short work of the 250 yard track.  The buck had fled the scene in a completely different direction than the hunter had remembered.  The amount of sign along the track was minimal, but a fairly steady track of blood droplets.  We were on the deer in less than a half hour and Boomer was on the board with his first “fair chase” whitetail of the year. 

The next call would come in shortly after leaving our first track.  Matt Serwa of “Real Deal Mineral” had hit a deer he knew very well.  He quickly sent me a picture of the deer from one of his trail cameras, and I was amazed at the size.  He described the chain of events that lead to the shot and the shot location.  He had stomach hit the deer.  The shot was back, but looked to be center of the deer between spine and bottom of the belly.  We were dealing with a number of variables on this track.  The first issue was the fact that it had started to rain steadily and was predicted to continue throughout the night.  Being able to locate blood throughout the track is not the most important thing, but it certainly helps confirm that we are heading in the right direction.  The second was the temperature.  The temperature was predicted to stay above the 70 degree mark which would cause a gut shot deer to spoil more quickly.  Matt and I agreed that waiting until the following morning was still the best option.  Pushing the deer that night would definitely destroy our chances of a recovery.

Early the next morning Boomer took up the track.  It was still raining very steadily, and there was no sign of blood.  We began the track and Boomer followed in a similar line as was described by the hunter as the deer’s path of exit from its feeding area.  We tracked off of a food plot down into a low swamp area.  The dog became very excited and proceeded to make a right hand turn into an area full of marsh grass.  There were several deer beds in the area, none of which we were able to find blood in.  We trusted the hound as he led us on fairly straight path through the marsh and down into a creek bottom.  We had now progressed somewhere in the neighborhood of 400 yards with no visible blood.  Boomer searched both sides of the creek bank frantically looking for the scent.  He decided on a line heading westward deeper into the swamp. 

 After another 200 yards the terrain had changed from marsh grass and creek bottoms to tag alders and a foot of water.  Boomer pressed on through the water but soon appeared to have lost the track.  He began a back track and I watched as his body language showed some confusion.  As he backtracked out of the tags he soon hit the scent of the track and again progressed westward.  I was out ahead of the hunter when Boomer turned north and locked up completely along the edge of the creek.  I circled around the creek bank and was astounded at what I was looking at.  Boomer was baying like a fog horn on top of a fair chase, two hundred plus inch, whitetail deer.  I yelled back to Matt that we had found his deer.  He excitedly made his way toward me.  We exchanged high fives and the celebration was on.  We snapped some great photos and awed over the sight of such a monarch.

 

It was not the longest track we have ever run with a successful ending.  However, the 14 hours of continuous rain and the tough tracking terrain made the near one thousand yard run, my proudest moment as a tracker.  Although Boomer does not pay attention to the Boon & Crocket Scoring System but, the record book whitetail at the end was a great bonus.

Dustin McAloon of DeerFest with a massive Wisconsin 8 point!!

Adventures of Kevin and Quenotte, a tracking team from the suburbs of Northern Virginia

Kevin Wilson hunts  and tracks for BackyardBowPro which is a suburban hunter certifying organization (non-profit) in Northern Virginia. His tracking partner is Quenotte, a daughter of Joeri and Keena. He wrote a nice post about his tracking experience with Quenotte, who is just over three years old. Thank you Kevin!

17 September 2013:
Quenotte and I tracked two wounded deer this week in support of the Fairfax County Park Authority (FCPA) suburban bow hunts.

The first deer was gut shot around noon and the trail had been lost amidst a series of islands and creek channels.  I started her at the shot sight and she re-traced the trail to the first water crossing.  On the other side, the hunters had marked the blood trail and she regained it quickly.  We were now on a smallish island where the hunters had lost the trail and then grid-searched causing a lot of human foot traffic.

In the middle of the island, Q's body language indicated that she was unsure and it was impossible to see blood on the trampled brush.  We re-started once at the beginning of the small island unsuccessfully.

The island was not large and the deer was definitely not on it so we moved off the island and investigated the likely crossings leaving the island.  On the first crossing site, Q made a circle then picked up the trail again and we advanced rapidly across a larger, un-trampled island with good visual blood sign accompanied by positive body language from her.  At the end of the island, she went down over a steep bank and moved along a small mud flat.  At first, I wasn't even sure how I was going to get down to her.  However, she was positive and even tried to enter the water.  After finding my way down to her, I discovered fresh tracks and deep purple blood flecks at the water's edge indicating that the deer had crossed the creek on an oblique angle.  The water was too deep to cross on foot so we circled around to the opposite bank by climbing across a downed tree.  Finally, I put her down and she moved along below the opposite bank and then tried to turn up the bank.  It was so steep that I carried her over the edge but we were rewarded with the doe lying at the very top of the bank.  The hunters were elated and impressed.  This is one of our best successes ever.

20 September 2013:
The next call was two days later and involved another gut shot doe.  The hunter had hit the doe during the previous evening and lost the trail after about 150 yds.  His lab (named Moose) was on-scene and Moose had advanced the trail some before our arrival.

Moose weighed about 80 lbs and had a lot of energy.  The hunter asked if Moose's presence would be a distraction for Quenotte and said I yes (definitely).  Moose went back in the truck.  We started the trail at a spot where the doe had crossed a road and then moved through about 100 yards of easy tracking with some blood.  The doe then entered an elongated thicket running next to a split rail fence line bordering the neighborhood.  Moose had lost the trail amidst this thicket and the hunter thought maybe the deer had turned to go under the fence and enter the adjoining neighborhood.  Note: I have never seen a suburban deer seek the neighborhood environment when wounded.  Quenotte went past the point of loss and worked through two turns inside the thicket.  Blood was present and I caught a whiff of decaying flesh so I was beginning to think maybe the deer had died in this thicket somewhere.  The trail straightened and we continued parallel to the fence along a major deer runway.

As the thicket tapered, we went past a final blood spot and then Q took the trail across an open area and entered into a denser thicket.  She was pulling hard and I was on my hands and knees trying to keep up with her (and keep the leash untangled).  We crawled through about 50 yds of ungodly mess and I could see no blood.  In retrospect, I suppose the scent trail had widened and maybe the blood was off to one side.  In the midst of the thicket, Quenotte broke into a slightly more open area and I could hear a man saying "Hello Little Fellow".  I emerged from a rabbit run brush tunnel to find Quenotte greeting a hunter who had participated in the search earlier.  He was a marking a trail through the center of the thicket (for some unknown reason).  I asked if he had seen the dead deer and he said 'no'.  Mistakenly, I assumed that Q had followed the hunter or blood scent from his boots.

There was no blood sign visible and I (mistakenly again) assumed that we had lost the trail.  I picked her up and we returned to the last blood in the previous thicket.  We started 4 more times from this spot, going in differing directions and investigating along the fence line without finding additional blood.  We back-tracked into the original thicket and tried three more starts to see if we could identify a diverging trail. At this point, we were both exhausted and I told the hunter that we were done.  He asked if he could bring Moose back out and I said 'yes' but I would hold Quenotte while Moose worked.  The hunter returned with Moose and Moose bounded through the thickets while Q and I prepared to leave.

Just as we were leaving, Moose discovered the dead deer just 50 feet beyond where Quenotte had met the hunter in the thicket.  If we had persisted with the original line, then we would have found it easily.

Certainly, the hunters would not have come close to finding the deer if we had not advanced the trail as far as we did; however, I was disappointed in myself for pulling her off the original line.  I still have much to learn about when to trust Quenotte and when to re-start her.

Reported recovery rates in these suburban park hunts exceed 90% by ratio of reported shots taken to deer recovered (archery only).  Historically, this is a very high, archery recovery rate and finding two extra deer can make a big difference at the 90% margin.  This is the 5th year of the park hunts and my participation has shifted from hunting to tracking...although I still hunt private, suburban properties.

A while back, Jolanta asked for stories of unsuccessful tracks...

February 2012:
Quenotte and I could probably write a book of lessons learned the hard way.  This is a story with an unexpected outcome from last winter.  Q and I were called out to track a doe hit in the shoulder by a very reliable crossbow hunter on a private property.  The deer had been with a group of four deer and the hunter claimed to have hit the deer in the crease 'right behind the shoulder'.  The shot site was on the bottom of a long hill and the hunter claimed that the deer had gone downhill and crossed a road into a nearby stream valley park. Reportedly, the other (un-injured) deer in the group had gone uphill.

The shot site was amidst a pile of old trash (washing machine, sewer pipe etc) and it was a difficult place to begin the trail normally and safely.  I put Q down near the hit site and she immediately turned uphill.  She went about 50 yards with no blood and I presumed that she was following an un-injured deer.  The hunter said that it was the wrong direction but she was so sure that I let her go.  We went another 200 yards uphill in the direction of massive honeysuckle thicket bordering the client's yard.  She entered the thicket with increasing certainty and I followed discovering blood in the thicket.  Although it was winter, the honeysuckle vines were dense and intertwined with various trees.  I had to relinquish the leash several times to take a different route.  On the third evolution, I returned to the leash just in time to see the tag end disappear into the thicket (to my horror).

Despite my best efforts, I was unable to catch up with the leash or the dog.  It was impossible to even tell what direction Quenotte might have gone and I was afraid that the deer would emerge from the far side of the thicket and head towards the street.  I crashed through the thicket and into the neighboring yard but the dog wasn't there and the blood trail did not emerge from the thicket.  I could not hear Quenotte in the thicket but I suspected that she was still in there so I re-entered.  To compound my troubles, the neighboring property is owned by a rabid anti-hunter so I was unable to use my larger light (he wears a blaze orange vest while gardening if we are hunting neighboring lots).

There were a lot of terrible thoughts going through my mind and I just wanted my dog back at this point.  Almost immediately, she sounded off about 20 yards into the thicket so I headed towards the sound.  To my surprise, I emerged into a small open spot with the deer lying at my feet showing only a nasty but obviously non-lethal shoulder wound.  Quenotte was on the opposite side of the deer raising hell and the deer just looked confused (but not for long).  I didn't know whether to be thrilled that I had not lost my dog or concerned that the deer was going to go ballistic after being cornered.

The deer settled the issue by regaining its feet and rocketing out of the thicket in a manner that convinced me that it would survive.  Gratefully, I picked up Quenotte and we called it a night.
The evening was a success because we located the deer cooperatively but a painful lesson learned for me on leash management.

Dog days of summer are here

What a hot and humid summer it has been! When we bought this piece of land 15 years ago we never anticipated that we would be using a small pond as much. Anyway, few days ago I read that so far we have had 10 days with temperatures above 90F (32C) so by now the number must be at least 12. And this is just a middle of July.

Joeri gets to the pond on a regular basis, and I thought that a short video would show his mobility 10.5 months after the incident with a herniated disc. He is not 100% yet, and he might never be, but for sure he moves around pretty well and he really enjoys himself. He has always been a a very special dog and it is deeply satisfying to see him living his life to the fullest.

Joeri's first trip to the pond this summer

Most of our regular readers remember Joeri's problems with his back. Now six and a half months after his second incident his movement is still deficient. He is very mobile, that's for sure, and pain-free. But his topline looks sometimes like his back is broken, and his right hind leg does not have a normal range of movement. We carry him up and down the stairs. I don't think he will be tracking again because with as many dogs as we have it is not necessary for him to do it. We would not want to risk another relapse. However, he is a very happy dog, with a great attitude, and today he really enjoyed his first trip to the pond. He loves to retrieve from the water, and I think we are going to have a lot of fun together this summer.

It feels like summer is here.

Kasey Morgan's Bloodhound Deer Tracking Services

Kasey Morgan is a United Blood Trackers member from Elderon, Wisconsin. Right now he has two bloodhounds dedicated to blood tracking, but it was a different breed altogether that got him involved in tracking wounded game. Below is Kasey's story in his own words.

I got my start in tracking in the fall of 1998. I was 15 back then and my father brought home a soon to be rabbit tracking machine.  The minute the beagle pup hit the ground I was glued to his side.  Following careful instruction from my father, I molded the pup into a finely tuned tracker.  From the moment my dog circled its first rabbit I was hooked on hounds.  We went on to develop some of the top beagles in the state of Wisconsin.  Along with beagling, I was slowly becoming a hunting fanatic.  Many long nights spent tracking wounded game, only to come up empty and disappointed, encouraged me to find a solution to this ethical issue.  In the summer of 2009 I began working with a slow tracking beagle on blood tracks, and slowly the hound impressed me with his ability to finish tracks successfully. 

To say I was green in blood tracking training would be an understatement.  Laying deer blood lines was as far as I went with the hound.  I knew none of the information I know now on the art of using dogs to recover wounded game.  I laid a few 100 yard lines using an astronomical amount of blood and of course the dog followed the ridiculously overdone blood trail to the end where he rejoiced over a non fleshed deer hide.  The amount of scent that was placed along my first artificial lines must have been overwhelming to the hound.  I have to chuckle at the way I started this past time that slowly became an obsession. 

Throughout the fall of 2010 I took 13 tracks and recovered 1 deer.  I learned a lot on those 13 tracks; however, I had barely scratched the surface of the finer points of wounded game recovery.  Over the next 2 years I learned basically through trial and error and  from John Jeanneney's book. I researched through literature and by prying at any tracker that would talk to me.  I continue to learn each day and take in all information.  I am a firm believer that adapting and molding training methods is crucial to producing successful dogs.  

My example of change is my decision to change breeds to become a more efficient tracker.  After experiencing numerous setbacks with beagles and water barriers, I made the decision to switch to bloodhounds.  I purchased Boomer, my prized bloodhound, in the early spring of 2012.  He had come from law enforcement bloodlines and his tracking skills revealed themselves early.  Boomer’s skills were far superior to those of the beagles I had worked with in the past.  He was completing 400 yard tracks before 4 months of age, and I was impressed and eager to get him on some live tracks.  In Boomer’s first hunting season we took over 60 tracks and recovered just over 40% of the deer.  Boomer will turn one year of age this next month.  He is my most valued possession and an excellent worker. 

I have recently added a female to our tracking team.  Her name is Riley and she is 3 months old.  She will be slowly worked into the equation this next fall, but so far she shows incredible tracking prowess.  I have also taken on the task of training a hound for a client in western Wisconsin.  I lucked out on this dog because the pup is a natural.  The training has been a huge success.  I am excited about the upcoming tracking season and eager to see what we are capable of achieving.  You can follow Bloodhound Deer Tracking Services on Facebook  click here.

Riley and Boomer

Coyotes completely devoured Darren's deer that was left overnight in the woods

Darren Doran from NJ shared with us his recent tracking experience:

I just thought I would tell you about Theo’s latest find. I was bow hunting Tuesday night (a week ago) and I shot a good size doe. I thought the shot was good and I watched the deer run and stop about 70 yds away by a brook. Her tail was going uncontrollably in every direction and I could see blood coming out of the exit wound low behind the right elbow with the naked eye. I thought for sure she was going down right there. She seemed to regain some composure and jumped the brook. I thought I saw her go down in a briar patch on the other side.

I still had deer milling around and I didn’t want to spook them so I waited awhile before I started to climb down. After I got down I left my gear at the tree and went right to the brook. I immediately saw a good amount of blood on my side. I got across and easily followed a good blood trail for another 125 yds. At any minute I expected to find the deer. We crossed the brook again and came to a small cut corn field. I lost the blood trail and it was getting dark. I was so sure I was going to find the deer on the other side of the first brook crossing didn’t bring my light with me. I decided to come back with Theo in the morning and see if we could find this deer. By the amount of blood I had saw on the track I felt real certain the deer was dead.
I started Theo at the hit site and he tracked easily to the brook. The brook here was about 5 ft wide and just under my calf high boots. Theo hesitated at the crossing and was having difficulty figuring out how to get across. We hadn’t done a lot of water work this summer, and I didn’t want to push him on a track so I picked him up and carried him across. He resumed tracking and took the line the next 125 yds very easily. We came to the next brook crossing and by his actions I could tell he knew the deer crossed the brook. This time he hunched up a couple of time like he was going to jump in but chickened out. I again picked him up and waded him across.

I put him down and he tracked right to the corn field and right across the lower end. I didn’t see any blood here but was relying on Theo ability. We left the field edge and tracked into a thick briar choked creek bottom. Theo came to the brook again. This part of the brook was shallower and the banks were closer together and Theo got across on his own. Up to this point I hadn’t seen any more blood, but as soon as I got on the other bank I saw more blood. I could see by the blood the track turned sharply to the right on a deer run and Theo missed the check. He came to a tractor road and started to circle to reacquire the line. He got back in the thicket and found the line and all of a sudden stopped.

A first I didn’t even realize what I was looking at. Theo was standing on what was left of our deer. The coyotes had found it overnight and devoured it. All I had was a cell phone to take the picture, but the deer was completely eaten. The coyotes even pulled the hide off the face and ate the meat off the head exposing the skull and jaw.
There wasn’t enough left of the deer to tell how it was hit and why it went as far as it did. The deer went about 260 yds. This is what I think happened. The stand was 27 or 28 ft high. The deer was broadside at 20 yds. The shot most likely hit the deer high on the left side missing the left lung. The arrow exited low in the front of the right lung. The deer still had one lung to breath with but the major blood vessels in the front of the right lung were cut so bad it finally bled to death. I don’t think a deer with both lungs hit would have went as far as it did.
I’ll never leave a deer overnight in these woods again.

Action shots with Sony SLT A57: dachshund jumping into the pond

I have a lot of material waiting for posting but first I am going to post some action shots taken with the new camera. It was overcast, with not the best lighting conditions. The camera has an object tracking ability, and for this sequence I used the setup resulting in 12 frames per second. I am posting only first seven.

When They'll Swim...

A big thank you to Teddy Moritz for this story about her mini dachshund Fitz.

My smallest dachshund, Fitz, is a good and willing swimmer, like her dam, Gavia was. And Fitz purely loves to chase Canada Geese. I once did some control work on a private lake and was allowed to shoot the geese. I let Fitz try to retrieve them to the canoe but she usually ended up using them as a life raft while I paddled to her. Once she was in the canoe with the dead goose she'd pluck as many feathers out of it as she could.

Where I live now the geese are often in the peach orchard or in the soybeans, both of which are bordered by a lake with heavy vegetation around the shores. It's a fairly big lake. Today when I was driving one of the dirt roads I noticed there were about fifty geese in the soybeans. I let Fitz out and she could see them even though the soybeans are almost taller than she is, which isn't very tall. She immediately ran through the field chasing the geese, who acted confused about this tiny predator but they took to the air anyway. The guys picking tomatoes in the next field cheered Fitz on. She came back tongue lolling and eyes bright.

We continued around the bend to the peach orchard, the lake on our left. I saw a big flock of geese on the ground amongst the peach trees. Being flushed with victory, I let Fitz out to chase them. She willingly participated and raced after the geese. Many of the geese were flightless goslings and molting adults, so this group. also about fifty or sixty birds, ran for the lake. They have one trail down through the greenbriar and trees so there was a bit of a bottle neck at the opening. Fitz thought that was great but the birds got through to the water with Fitz after them. I figured she'd bark from the edge of the lake, as she often does when she sees swimming geese. I waited a bit for her, then called her. No Fitz, and she's very voice obedient. After about five minutes I began to be worried about her. I didn't hear any thrashing and squawking in the bushes so I knew she hadn't caught a gosling. I made my way down the path and called and called. The geese were half way across the lake, in a big group, still gabbling about the chase. I kept calling but Fitz didn't come. This was not good. I saw an old dock further down the lake, behind a house.  I went out on the dock so I could see the entire lake. Well, I finally saw Fitz. She had swum after the geese and they had her surrounded, or she had them on the run, one or the other. She was still swimming after the geese and they just paddled out of her way, which made her more determined to catch one. Remember this dachshund weighs six pounds on a fat day, and she just turned nine years old.

I called and called and I guess Fitz finally got tired because she turned and swam back to me. All I could see was her tiny head above water and an entire flock of geese following her, presumably to make sure she was truly leaving. When she got to the dock I hauled her out and she immediately turned around and began barking at the geese. As they came closer she was ready to jump in again but I picked her up. She squirmed and cried to get back at the birds but I held onto her. I wish I had my camera when I saw her out in the middle of the lake surrounded by geese.

When they'll swim, dachshunds can hardly be stopped.

Teddy Moritz

I found this picture in my archives. It shows Fitz retrieving from water.

Mielikki opens on rabbits for the first time

Like most of the United States, we have had a stretch of really hot weather with temperatures above 90F. During the day is too hot to run dogs on rabbits or do blood tracking training. In the morning we try to give dogs some exercise in the pond, and only in the evening we run younger dogs on the cottontails.

Today Mielikki had a very good day. She had some spectacular retrieves from the pond in the morning, and then in the evening she opened on rabbits for the first time. I really liked the pitch and tone of her voice. BTW, she is going to be seven months old on July 10.

Sky gets to swim and enjoy the pond

Unlike Mielikki, Sky, who is now ten months old, is not interested in following any objects thrown into the pond. He is a natural retriever on land, but in the water he completely loses interest in retrieving. We will have to work on this, but for now we just want him to swim.

Last year when our S-litter was young, our pond was overflowing because of the storm Irene. It was a mess for a long time so Sky and Summer never got to swim when they were young. This summer when we brought Sky to the pond he was curious but quite cautious. Our mild encouragement was all that he needed. He does not jump into the pond like some other dogs do, but he slowly walks into the water. It seems that he is very visual in the pond and gets fascinated by what he can see at the bottom or on the surface. For example, the reflections of light get his attention. Also he puts his nose into the water and blows bubbles of air, which again he watches attentively.

It is interesting how every dog is different. Most of our dogs love to swim, with two exceptions. Tommy is not crazy about it, but with some encouragement and praise he'll do it. Bella, now a year old, does not want to come even near the pond. Yet, her dam Mae is a very good swimmer. I hope that she is just going through adolescence, and with time will get to enjoy the pond. It is a lot of fun for the dogs and us, and in summer swimming provides excellent exercise when it gets too hot to run rabbits.

Introduction of young dachshunds to swimming and retrieving from water.

More than three years ago we wrote an article Water Dachshunds! Yes, they can swim and retrieve.

This post gets quite a few hits on a regular basis, especially in summer. Well, I would like to update it with some fresh information and pictures.

I noticed that some handlers are concerned that their young blood tracking prospect might not like the water and he may be reluctant to enter a swamp or cross a creek when in pursue of a wounded game. I think it is very rare for a dog  tracking a wounded deer to refuse to follow it through water. Usually when a dog is in a hot pursue of game, his adrenaline and prey drive are high, and  a body of water is not perceived as a big obstacle. Under these circumstances dogs will go through water even though they might not particularly like it. yet, it is good to be prepared in advance and to know for sure what your dog is capable to do and what is reasonable to expect.

Also let's face it, in summer you do not track wounded deer, and your tracking dog might be "just" a family and companion dog during off-season. It is so much more fun for the whole family if the dog loves to swim.

We introduce puppies to our pond when they are young, but even then we can see differences in their attitude towards the water. The below video shows three 10-week-old puppies from our T-litter.

As you can see Theo's temptation is strong enough to follow me into the pond and swim after his toy. He pulls it by a string out of the water. Another pup, Thor, showed (not caught on camera) a willingness to get wet and swim. Only Tuesday so far refused to enter the pond. We will be patient with her and most likely with some encouragement she will be able to do it.

This summer we had an interesting experience with Mielikki, who just a week ago turned  6 months old. Mielikki is a ball fanatic so I used one of her balls to lure her into the water. I found an old, light ball that floats very well and is highly visible. It has two holes that you can pull a string through. When I started to play with the ball on the string in our pond, Mielikki could not help herself and had to grab it. So she ended up in the water, and swimming came really naturally to her. At the end of the first 15 minute-long session she would literally threw herself into the water after the ball and she would dive.

Mielikki at the end of the first swimming session.

Today Mielikki graduated to a small bumper, which is much easier for her to grab and fetch. She showed as much interest in it as in the ball few days ago.

She has no fear when it comes to getting submerged fully in the water. She is a very confident swimmer, and even when she goes under for a few seconds, it does not have any effect on her.

We have some big catfish in our pond, and today I threw some dry dog kibble for them when Mielikki was with me. They came really close, and Mielikki had a chance to see them for the first time.

She was fascinated by the catfish and wanted to go after them so badly. I did not let her though.

The catfish is our pond are not afraid of dogs as you can see in the picture below. It shows Keena and Bernie swimming after they got quite hot running rabbits in our field. And in between the two dogs there is catfish.

Tomorrow, I will write more about how we introduced Sky to the pond. Last year when he was a young puppy we had a close encounter with the Tropical Storm Irene, so the S-pups never got an early education in swimming.