Some young dachshunds are already proficient trackers of wounded deer

It's very satisfying to see that young dogs out of our 2013 Sky x Mielikki litter are providing a real service to deer hunters.

Matt Sacco is a member of Deer Search of Finger Lakes  and so far he has recovered four deer this season with Heidi (Uma von Moosbach-Zuzelek). The last one was his Heidi's first Big Buck:

Hey John and Jolanta,

Heidi and I had a great morning.  I got a call from one of our hunters who is part of a deer management program in Trumansburg, NY. The hunter shot this deer yesterday and knew the shot was far back just at the edge of the rib cage. The deer was standing on a pond bank so after the arrow went through the deer it went into the pond washing off any evidence. There was no visible blood trail leading away from the hit site, and the buck ran into a swampy area of cattails and other thick vegetation. The hunter backed out at that point and called me. I met him this morning at 9:00am, 15 hours after the shot and started Heidi. We found the buck in his first bed less than 200 yards from where the hunter lost the trail. Both arrow holes had fat and entrails hanging out, completely sealing the holes. I found one small drop of blood at the hit site and that was it for blood. Not a long track but one that would have been extremely difficult/ near impossible to find without a dog. Happy dog, happy handler and very happy hunter.

Thanks again for everything!

*****

Adam Hostetter owns Moose (Uncas von Moosbach-Zuzelek), and he lives in Pennsylvania, close to Maryland. Since it is illegal to use tracking dogs in PA, he tracks in the adjacent state.

Adam: Just thought I'd share a picture of yet another impressed hunter!

I got the call on October 4 that a Hunter hit a doe and could not find her. Moose and I drove down to Maryland and met the hunter this morning. After roughly 150 yards and two drops of blood Moose came to the dead doe.Here is a picture of moose and I with a happy Hunter. This dog is incredible!! Thanks again. 

I took another call this evening and Moose had success yet again! The hunter had made a decent shot but had very little blood. Moose picked up the scent at the hit sight and went to town! After traveling about 100 yards and dealing with some 90 degree turns he came right up on the dead buck! The hunter was very impressed with the quick work Moose did! I'm starting to enjoy tracking just as much as hunting!

Should you always trust your dog?

Big game tracking season is in a full swing now, and one of the messages shared by many dog handlers is "Trust Your Dog". When a dog is experienced and earned your trust by all means - trust her. But when you have a young dog, without much experience in natural tracking, be careful! It is very important how you handle your dog. This short story illustrates my point of view. Hoss is just six and a half month old, and this is his first tracking season. He came from Bernard Demers' litter, and he is owned by Nathaniel Newman from Ohio. Nathaniel have put a lot of training into Hoss during summer, and this is what happened recently.

John/Jolanta,

Good afternoon.  My pup Hoss and I had a good Saturday morning as we received a call from a muzzleloader hunter.  The hunter reported over the phone a 15 yard broad side shot with a ton of blood at the hit site.  After arriving at the hit site the shot turned out to be more of a 30 yard shot at a quartering deer with a decent amount of blood at the hit site with no other visible blood anywhere.  I got Hoss on the hit site and gave him the command to begin tracking. He started out and appeared very confident even though we could not find any visible sign.  He led us to a dry creek bed that contained a tremendous amount of deer sign/traffic, we followed this for about 15 yards and then I could tell he lost the track.  

Since there was no sign to confirm he was ever on the right cold track I took him back to the original hit site about 60 yards away.  He went right back on the same track he initially followed, but this time I slowed him down tremendously in hopes we both would not miss anything.  I ended up locating 3 drops of blood about the size of a pencil eraser over a span of about 50 yards which made me very excited to know he was on it.  We ended up back at the dry creek bed but this time he very eagerly climbed the bank.  He led us to a nice healthy doe about 15 yards beyond the bank of the creek.  Hoss and I were very excited and he made claim to the deer by tugging at it very aggressively.  After tying up the dog and then examining the deer, we found a high and little far back entry wound with no exit wound, which explained the lack of blood.  The slug was later found in the right rear leg by the hunter during the skinning process.  I am very happy to see my pup reap the rewards of a lot of dedicated training this spring/summer.  We absolutely cannot wait for our next Ohio tracking experience… 

Hoss' first recovery. Restarting him was critical to the final outcome.

Walt Dixon's Dachs is a very promising young tracker

Today our friend Walt Dixon and Chris Daley visited us at our hilly snowy home in Berne. We helped Walt prepare a PowerPoint presentation which he will be offering at the Professional Bowhunters Society Convention in March.

Walt brought along his young male dachshund, Dachs von Tierspur (born August 1, 2012), which he purchased from Genti and Beth Shero. Dachs was sired by our FC Billy von Moosbach-Zuzelek and is out of the Shero's Mae (FC Mae von Munterkeit).

Walt Dixon is holding Dachs, and Chris Daley

Dachs looks a lot like Billy and has excellent leg-length  and body proportions for a tracking dog. In our 11-acre running enclosure we liked his hunting drive and working style. Dachs has already found several deer, and we think that he is a dog to watch for the future.

Mielikki and Dachs had a lot of fun together.

We like Dachs' conformation - correct size, excellent coat, beautiful head, long neck, very nice topline, great proportions and ground clearance... and Billy's eyes.

Mielikki and Dachs hunted hard!

No offense to Mae, Dachs' dam, but we do not see much of her in Dachs.

We never posted this picture and message from Walt from October 15, 2013: Today I got a call on my cell for a bowhunter I tracked for last year. Ari and I recovered his buck in 2012 and when he got to it he got on his knees and began to cry. Finally, embarrassed, he looked up and apologized. He explained he had been diagnosed with cancer and had gone through all the treatments and thought he would die and never be able to hunt again. That buck last year represented something special to him as a cancer survivor.

Today when he called I took both dogs, unsure of which I'd use. The trail was 9.5 hours old when we met the bowhunter so I decided to run Dachs solo and give him a chance on his own. As a teenager (he's one year and two months old) he's been exhibiting a bit of a reckless teenage spirit and I didn't know if he'd have the discipline to buckle down and work this line.

I'm pleased to report that when given this chance he rose to the occasion! Dachs ran this trail well and you could tell he was proud to take over the as primary tracker today. The deer was hit in front of the rear leg, exiting the bottom, leaving 8 inches of entrails hanging out. Dachs tracked about 400 yards from the hunters last blood and did a good job of working the countless circles and beds this deer made in a thick, thick swale field with Buckthorn everywhere. At the deer he showed good possessiveness and aggression and adopted the "this is my deer" attitude. He warned the bowhunter away when he got to close. Dachs was visibly proud of his accomplishment! With gaining Deer Search Certification at just over 8 months old, subsequently working with Ari, and now beginning on his own I think he's going to be a good one! Ari is tracking as well or better than any dog I've ever had! Now, we've been on 5 calls and have been blessed with 4 recoveries! This run of good luck is great fun!

As it turned out in the end, Walt took 19 calls in 2013 and had 11 recoveries with his tracking dogs, Ari and Dachs. Ari is Dachs' aunt as she is Billy's sister.

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

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

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

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


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


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


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

Yesterday Moose has taught Adam a valuable lesson:

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

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

--------

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

 

 

The hunter in the picture wrote:

 

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

 

And John wrote to us:

 

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

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

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

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

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

Damian and Dachs von Tierspur - two very promising young blood trackers

I have a lot of catching up to with all the material that you, our patient readers, have been sending to us. This coming weekend, again, I will be at field trials in Maryland, but after I get back I hope to find more time for the blog.

This blog post talks about two brothers Damian and Dachs, who were bred by Genti and Beth Shero. The parents of these two very promising males are our Billy and the Sheros' Mae. A big thank you to Shaun and Walt for writing about the two brothers!

The first part of the post  is written by Shaun Brandenburg, a United Blood Trackers member from Winchester, OH. Shaun is an owner of Damian von Tierspur, whom he calls Buddy. The pictures were taken when Buddy was 6 months old. I have to say that in these pictures Buddy looks just like Billy, his sire.

This is what Shaun wrote:
 Just wanted to give you an update on Damian (aka Buddy) son of your Billy and The Sheros' Mae. He is now almost 9 months old and is just amazing in the field and the family. He is my first tracking dog, and I couldn't be happier with where we are at this point in the adventure. We have worked very hard and continue to do so as we enjoy what we are training for. We have had great support from our breeder and other trackers as well and give a great big thanks to all who have contributed to what we feel is success in training up to this point. Many who don't even know that they have been a great help and also drive for us to grow as a team. I am always checking your blog for new info in the story's in which you report, and you guys do a wonderful job and contribute a lot to the tracking community.

Shaun Brandenburg from Ohio with Buddy

A little info on the way we have trained up to this point, and then I will tell you how we have done it. In the beginning we did some liver drags and then we went to blood. He did very well with both most of the time. We had a few bumps, and I bet we will have a few more. From that point I went to hooves at about 4 1/2 months old and also diluted my blood 50/50 with water. Naturally was using less and less blood and things just seem to slowly get better and better as we worked each line week in and week out. 

Buddy at the age of 6 months

Now when I first started using the hooves all I had was tobacco sticks to attach the hooves to and that was no fun at all but it worked. I then designed and made my own shoes and I must say that was a game changer for me. It let myself open up and make some serious training lines for us to work. We have done 1,000 yard lines and we have done 300 yard lines. I try to mix it up and not just keep running those longer lines. It seems to work good for the pup and I feel it keeps it more real and not like we are just training for competitions. He has no problem going 1,000 yards and farther. I know a 1,000 yards isn't all that far but I feel very good about his ability to track to the next town if needed. 

Our last line was 24 hrs old and was laid with hooves with approximately 2 oz of blood watered down 50/50. This line was 600 + yards and started in the woods by a creek. At the hit site I always have some blood and hair, I forgot to mention that I use deer hair. I take the pup out to our starting point and tie him up about 20 ft or so from the hit site. I then walk to the site and stand there like I am investigating the area. I won't track until he calms down and is sitting there focused on the task at hand. This took awhile but it really seems to be paying off. 

I now go and get the pup and carry him over to the hit site and set him directly on the area. He sniffs around and we are off. Now he will usually go off track within the first 20 yards and smell up the area for a minute, then he picks it right back up and it's over after that. He works the turns like he is on a rail most of the time. When he does miss it puts a smile on my face to watch him figure out that the deer went another direction. He will make a circle until he picks up the line and that is all him. We cleared the first woods that had one creek to cross that is very steep and 5 or 6 turns in it. At this point we come to an open hay field that is 250 yards across. No problem for the pup even with a slight breeze. We leave the hay field and cross a old fence row (no fence there) into a soybean field from last year, another 200 yards across it with no problem and to the next small creek and back into the woods. I was very pleased, more liked thrilled the way he was working. We had a hill to cross and two more turns to recover our deer. The time on the track was just a few seconds over 13 min. I just wanted to share our progress and the way we have been training on our lines. A big thanks once again to all who have helped along the way.

Sincerely,

Shaun Brandenburg Winchester,OH

-----

Damian's brother Dachs lives in Tully, NY with Walt Dixon, who is a veteran Deer Search tracker and UBT member. Dachs has done very well in his training, and on April 16 was certified by Deer Search of Finger Lakes on a 20-hour-old line. He was not even 9 months old at the time. Walt continues to work with Dachs and recently had him on another blood trail, which was 22 hours old. He did well. Although Dachs is Deer Search Certified will continue his training and development.

Dachs is a handsome young dog

Dubya, a young wirehaired dachshund, and his tracking season in Missouri

This e-mail and pictures came from Matt Willis from Missouri (thank you Matt!). Matt and Jenny are a young couple who own Dubya, a year-and-a-half-old son of Moose and Paika (Strut von Moosbach-Zuzelek).

Jenny Willis with Dubya (Strut von Moosbach-Zuzelek, Sky's littermate)

Jolanta, I hope this message finds you and yours well.  It is amazing how fast the time flies, it is hard for me to believe we are approaching the third month of 2013 already.

2012 presented some unexpected challenges for our tracking training. We were generally able to get 2 tracks per week with Dubya the early part of the year until the heat hit us. It is generally warm here during the summer months and not uncommon to see highs in the 90s with humidity above 90% to match in July and August. This year was unusually hot. We coped with this by training earlier and earlier in the morning, sometimes beginning at or before daylight. Eventually the temps even early in the morning were in the 80s and we began to wonder if we should continue the training as it seemed to get less fun for Dubya. Needless to say we were thankful for your post about training in hot weather and made us feel better about taking a break during the heat wave. We spent as many of the hot days as possible in the water, which Dubya has decided he really likes.

Dubya and I got our first call during youth firearm season. It was a 7 year old boy who shot his first deer and wasn't able to find it. Our interview revealed the track would be 24 hours old by the time we were on it and had been tromped on by every person the hunter and his family know. The scenting condition was very dry, we weren't very optimistic but really wanted to give it a try. We arrived on site and learned the shot had been about 50 yards through some very thick stuff. The deer took 30 minutes to move 60 yards where it bedded down, eventually got up and "crawled" over the hill. It was at this point the hunters Dad went after the deer expecting to find it over the hill. Feeling less confident at this point we decided to begin the track at the bed site. Dubya wondered around the bed for a couple minutes then began working in the direction the hunter said the deer travelled. Dubya seemed to have the track for about 250 yards and then he just turned around never seemed to find it again. We tried to restart a couple times but that didn't yield any better results. We only found blood about ten yards from the bed and then nothing.

I enclosed a couple pictures of a bow kill of mine that Dubya tracked through a bean field. It was the first time we had tracked through beans and was interesting to see him navigate through. It was not an old track and he completed it with little difficulty.

 Dubya also got some work at deer camp this past year. One of the tracks I thought was particularly notable. The shot was taken right at dark and not marked well. It was about 2 hours later we came back to the hit site and couldn't find any blood. We walked around the hit site looking for some sign when Dubya looked like he'd found the track, which I was able to confirm with a small spot of blood. He continued down the line for about 100 yards and just as I was feeling really good about it he turned around 180 degrees and headed back the way we came. At this point I was wondering what was going on but I decided to keep going because his body language was telling me he was still on the correct line. After walking 50 yards back the way we came he shot off to the right and continued on, another 50 yards and my light hit a white belly. I have never been on a track like that before and was really impressed with the way Dubya handled it. I really enjoy watching him sort these tracks out. He continues to remind me I am the one doing the learning.

Theo's groundhog day find

A week ago we received a nice report from Darren Doran about another find for Theo. This e-mail underscores the importance of a handler's role in successful recovery. A big thank you to Darren for all the work he's been putting into Theo, who is just nine months old.

 

I got a call last night from Casey, a hunter I’ve tracked for in the past. He had shot a doe, and was having a hard time locating any blood. He had thought that he made a good shot, and it looked like the doe was lagging behind the others as they ran. Originally we were going to track last night but Casey had not been able to find any sign of a hit and not knowing what we had we decided to try in the morning.

We met up at about 7 AM.We looked around a little bit and didn’t find any sign. I started Theo at the area where the deer had been standing at the shot. Theo went in the general direction the deer ran and I followed. I didn’t see any blood and Theo kept drifting to the right. I asked him "is that right?" and he lifted his head and changed direction. I was picking him up to re start when Casey called out that he got blood.

I brought Theo to the blood spot and started there. We were finding a spot of blood every now and then, and I knew Theo was right. Theo tracked to the frozen creek and hesitated at the edge. He attempted to cross but was somewhat unsure of how to do it. He then started tracking to the right along the bank. I told Casey that I thought the deer had crossed and asked him to wait at that spot. I let Theo go a ways and he ended up going the same way he did on the first start. I picked him up and told Casey to cross and look for blood. He found some right away on the other side and I waded across with Theo and set him down. Theo immediately started to track and within 70 yards we found the deer.

Unfortunately the coyotes found it first and most of the hind end was eaten. The shot from a 20ga slug had hit the doe in the back of one lung and through the liver. Most likely the deer was dead before Casey ever left the woods last night. If we had tried last night we might have beat the coyotes and gotten the whole deer.