Tales of a Bavarian Mountain Bloodhound. Three blood trackers compare their notes.

This morning was a great start to a beautiful day. Dan Harding came by to drop Keena off. And Fred Zoeller happened to be in Cobleskill, not that far from us, so we all got together for the mid-morning coffee. Fred was travelling with his Bavarian "Crazy", and I had a chance to snap some pictures. Blood trackers exchanged notes and swapped tracking stories. Life is good!

Fred Zoeller from Cooperstown with his Bavarian "Crazy", Dan Hardin from Greenville and John Jeanneney

"Crazy" is out of Fred's own breeding. Fred also owns his dam, sister and brother.

Sabrina and Tabitha - versatile dachshunds who love to work and play

Another long overdue story. It came from Janice and Dale Clifford from Hamburg, NY and Deer Search of Western NY. They own "Sabrina", whose registered name is Jessie von Moosbach-Zuzelek and Sabrina's two daughters, Tabitah von Munterkeit and her sister Cassie.

Attached is a picture of Tabitha tracking this bow hunting season. Deer found in Hamburg, NY. Tabitha is a non-stop tracker and loves the chase. A few days after this find we received a phone call about three missing dogs in the remote southern tier. After speaking to the owner, I (Janice) felt the need to at least try to help them find their 3 dogs. For some reason the dogs who never , ever leave their yard (use to wild life, including deer being there),left, but there has been bear sightings very recent. We are not sure if the bear sparked their interest, but considered it. So Tabitha and I (Janice) thought we’ll try and see what we can pick up. After watching Dale track with the dogs, I have learned a few things about the track and the dogs. Tabitha was certainly tracking something . We got so far and were not allowed to enter other property. (They owned 100 acres, also borders state land – hundreds of acres, and other private property). We had to stop, the owner watched Tabitha heading northwest, but we had to stop. Later that day, the dog owner decided to get permission to enter the property where we were headed, got some friends and put a push on. Yes, that evening the dogs were found. The dogs had been missing 7 days.

 Just thought you might laugh….Sabrina loves to put on a costume and entertain….I took her to my mom’s retirement home for a dog Halloween parade and she put on a 50 minute performance the people, and does she love the camera !!!Hope you all enjoying the holiday. Janice & Dale & gang

 

Razen's first buck provided a great tracking experience

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

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

 

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

 

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

PS.

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

 

Thanks Ray, Rosco, Razen,and Claudia



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

An autumn concert on two grasshoppers and a chimney wind

It looks like we are going to have a pretty warm and nice weekend; it might be the last warm weekend this fall. I thought that I'd share one of my favorite songs about autumn. It is beautiful and evocative, and like no other song makes me miss Poland. Below is a translation of the lyrics. Actually it is a poem performed by Magda Umer, and its title is "Koncert Jesienny Na Dwa Swierszcze", which means "A Fall Concert On Two Grasshoppers".

 

Outside our window falls the rain
On the stove, a grasshopper tunes the fiddle
Girls cry for the end of summer
Only from afar one hears

A fall concert on two grasshoppers and a chimney wind
A strawman fell asleep under a pear tree
And dreams of a beautiful girl
And a roadside scarecrow counts the willows
Dancing upon the meadow in a field mouse's embrace

A concert, a concert, a fall concert on two grasshoppers and a chimney wind
The concert that will die out with the Indian summer

Tree trunks long ago covered themselves with moss
The wind blew away still another day
Among the field stubble fires have lit tup
In the distance wends along
a fall concert on two grasshoppers and a chimney wind
A strawman fell asleep under a pear tree
And dreams of a beautiful girl
And a roadside scarecrow counts the willows
Dancing upon the meadow in a field mouse's embrace

And the roadside scarecrow counts the willows
Dancing upon the meadow in a field mouse's embrace
The concert that will die out with the Indian summer

The scent of the harvest has long ago aired out
Tightly all doors have been closed
The people wait if perhaps tomorrow will be white
Under the stove quietly plays
A fall concert for two grasshoppers and a chimney wind
Fled to the road, fell in love with the willow, and suddently floated away
And the scarecrow lies lonely in the field
The mouse forsook him and fled to the barn
A concert, a concert, a fall concert on two grasshoppers and a chimney wind

Today, along with the grasshoppers, it went to sleep for the winter.                        

Too high expectations might spoil your tracking experience

This e-mail came from Chris Barr, a United Blood Tracker member from Indiana whose tracking partner is Gerti (Gwen von Moosbach-Zuzelek), a 3.5-year-old daughter of Billy and Gilda:

Jolanta,
So far we’re up to only 6 tracks for this season. EHD is suspected of killing many deer in IN this year and I suspect that this is a significant contributor to our lack of tracks. Attached is a pic of a buck that Gerti recovered Saturday evening on our 5th track.

The hunter shot this deer at 8:30 Saturday morning. He gave the deer 2 ½ hours prior to taking up the track. 100 yards in, he jumped the buck from a wound bed. He wisely backed out immediately. Being a fellow Trooper from the eastern part of the state, he remembered me telling him about Gerti so he gave me a call at 11:00 a.m. I was not available to go to scene until 6:00 p.m. that the evening. He felt confident that it was a liver hit. We took up the track at the hit site and with only one distraction at the beginning, Gerti seemed to lock in pretty quickly. We were getting confirmation with occasional sightings of blood and a few more wound beds. The track extended .52 miles and I only remember Gerti making two looses. She corrected herself both times and lined it out pretty quickly. On the final 30 yards, Gerti raised her head into the wind and I told the hunter that I thought she was air scenting. A few seconds later we were standing over his deer. The entire track lasted about 35 minutes.

One thing that is helping me as Gerti and I mature together, is to not have any expectations going in. We’re just fact finders that are occasionally rewarded with a warm liver to chew on…at least Gerti is. When I started out I wanted a specific number of tracks for the season and hoped for a specific number of finds. I found that this put pressure on myself, and I think in turn, I was putting pressure on Gerti. I’m trying to take more of a “I’ll take what I get and we’ll do what we can” approach. I think I’m more relaxed and I know I’m enjoying it more. Gerti, at 3 ½ , seems to be settling in to what her purpose in life is. I guess a guy never knows unless he’s stared it in the face, but I don’t think I’d take a million dollars for her.

We had about a hour and fifteen minute ride home and I let Gerti ride in the front seat like a queen. I think she was pretty proud of herself. The hunter and his family and friends that accompanied us on the track sure were. And you know I was.

Take care,

Chris and Gerti….and Oscar

John and Tommy recover a stomach-shot deer at the edge of big swamp

John handled Tommy to his 7th recovery in Malta, NY. He has reported: Stomach shot deer are usually easy to find, but I had my doubts about this one. The line was 22 hour old; the leaves at the start were very dry, and I could not see any blood. For the first 200 yards Tommy strolled nonchalantly along a ridge overlooking a large, deep marsh. Then the hunter spotted a fleck of blood and I relaxed. In another 100 yards Tommy veered down off the ridge, skirted the marsh and then turned abruptly into it. The hunter was carrying chest waders for good reason, but Tommy and I were not as well equipped. We were tracking now in muck and reeds, but the deep water was still 50 yards ahead. Tommy is a good swimmer, and I used to be good. Oh well! Oh hell! And then Tommy grabbed the butt of the deer.

Extraordinary outdoors photography shows Susanne Hamilton and her German dachshund Buster at work

Sometimes most memorable deer calls do not end in recovered deer. The pictures below were taken by a hunter's friend who accompanied Susanne Hamilton and her German dachshund Buster on a call, and I think they are just superb. There was no celebration at the end as there was no recovery. But as always Susanne and Buster gave it all. Thank you for sharing the pictures!

John Jeanneney’s Dead On! book belongs in every deer hunter’s library

Today a local newspaper The Daily Gazette http://www.dailygazette.com/  published a really nice review of Dead On! written by an outdoors columnist Ed Noonan. He says: "I recently read a book written by a local hunter who has collected what he has learned after 34 years of tracking wounded deer. This book not only contains all of his techniques for tracking wounded whitetails, but also information on the deer’s anatomy and the proper shot placement for bow and gun hunters, something we all should revisit from time to time. I act ually read this book several weeks ago while sitting in a blind, turkey hunting. I think that John Jeanneney’s “Dead On!” book belongs in every deer hunter’s library.

Thank you Ed for a very thorough and positive review. You can order the book from amazon by clicking here or directly from us.

A dachshund in our logo 14 years later: teckels, deer antlers and kids

These great pictures came from Danny Horner, a hunter/tracker and owner of Wynona von Moosbach-Zuzelek. Winnie was born on April 5, 1998, so now she is 14.5 years old. I am actually not sure how much Winnie had to do with the antlers in the pictures :) By the way, Winnie is a dachshund in our logo, which was based on Danny's picture too.

I love this picture as it really conveys why hunters and trackers love working dachshunds. Most of them make excellent pets and family companions, but at the same time they are serious hunting and tracking dogs.

Sky von Moosbach-Zuzelek becomes a new Field Champion and goes Best in Zuchtschau on the same weekend

It does not get any better! On Thursday, November 1, our 15-month-old Sky von Moosbach-Zuzelek passed a gun-shyness and NATC Small Game Hunting tests. On Friday his conformation was rated "excellent" by a German judge Monika Wittkamp. He was also her pick as Best in Zuchtschau. On Saturday he was 1st in an OAAD stake of 14, went Best of Open, and became a new Field Champion.

At the conclusion of Zuchtschau on November 2: Sky was selected Best in Show by Judge Monika Wittkamp

Sky with his ribbons for 1st in OAAD stake, Best in Open and new Field Champion

Sky is a very charming and full of character dog.

Bob Yax's pupy Thor is on a roll: how to harness natural instincts of a hunting dachshund

Bob Yax's e-mail came today, and it describes Thor's 5th, 6th and 7th recovery. I am going to give it a priority and post it right away for several reasons. First, Thor has turned seven months old today. Second, I have never posted reports on Thor's second and third recovery due to the lack of time. Third, he is a littermate to our Tuesday, Darren Doran's Theo and a full brother to our Sky and Ray and Pam Maurier's Tucker. The two breedings of Moose (FC Nurmi von Moosbach-Zuzelek) to our Paika (FC Paika von Moosbach-Zuzelek) have produced versatile dogs with a lot of mouth. In German it is called spurlaut, and there are several articles on this trait in the article section of our website. With time and experience Thor is going to be more discriminate about deer to be tracked, but for now Bob is using the knowledge of Thor's hunting qualities to his advantage. In our experience a teckel's hunting instinct kicks in between 6 and 7 months, and this is when the dog's desire to follow big and small game can come on really strong. It is up to a dog's  handler and trainer to mold his pup's natural instincts the way he desires. Read on...

John & Jolanta,

We had an interesting and rewarding 4 day weekend where we took 8 calls and had 3 recoveries, including Thor’s 7th before the age of seven months.

I also learned more about Thor and actually used that new info,  about a negative trait,  to successfully complete our most exciting recovery of the year.

Multiple times this year, Thor has gotten off on what seemed like a really hot trail, where he was very confident in what he was after.  In a few cases it did turn out to be the wounded deer, but in many others, it seemed that it was likely a recent trail of a  live / not wounded deer.  In these cases (not wounded deer) he would yelp a lot and pull really hard.

Our recoveries in Ossian and Honeoye this past weekend were very similar.  They both seemed like liver hits where the hunters had both bumped the deer from their first beds a few hours after the hit.  In the Honeoye case, after bumping the deer,  the hunter had done a wide area search before calling into Deer Search the next day.  We arrived to help about 40 hrs after the hit.  Thor followed the visible blood trail well, and then got into a random searching pattern (blood from the hunters boots?).  After about 30 minutes, he then started pulling and yelping on a hot trail.  I let him go for about 200 yds, before deciding it was likely not the wounded deer.  We then went back to last blood and I guided him to new thick area to search.   On the way through the very thick area, the hunter mentioned that he had noticed a turkey vulture flying earlier in the day just ahead of us – very interesting!!.   Shortly after this, while walking down a laneway, Thor stopped and made a left into dense brambles and brush.  About 50 yds later we found the well aged, 8pt.  It was liver hit.

Bob Yax and Thor with a successfully recovered deer in Honeoye

Later that day,  we took another call that seemed like a high lung or back hit with only a short blood trail.  Near the end of that hour long unsuccessful sortie, we kicked out what looked like a very healthy buck, about 100 yds ahead of us.  Thor hadn’t seen it.  I thought that this may be a good learning experience for us.  I guided him to a point where he would cross the buck's trail.  Once we hit the trail, he began yelping and pulling hard down the fresh trail.  I saw no evidence of any blood and at that point confirmed to myself that he indeed seems to only yelp/bark on the hot trail of live moving deer.  It only took me about 20 tracks to figure this out !

The Hunter in the Ossian recovery had only tracked a short way after bumping the deer from its 1st bed.  He thought it might be a liver to intestine hit, but he didn’t find his arrow.   He had stopped tracking at the last blood sign, just short of a very dense field of old tree tops and heavy brush.  We came out the morning after the hit.  Thor again followed the initial blood trail up to the dense field.  There, he followed along the outside edge (hunters boots again?) and then into an open woods.  After 10 more minutes, he again got on a hot trail and started yelping – not good I thought !   This time after about 100 yds, I pulled him off and headed back to last blood by the edge of the dense field.  My plan was to take him into the field and hope he picked up an undisturbed trail or was able to wind the dead buck, since we would be downwind of the area the deer headed into.   I led him down a line that was about 50 yds into the field in front of last blood.  The combination of old tree tops, rose bushes and berry bushes made it really tough going.  At one point Thor pulled me back towards the open woods where we had seen last blood.  I could see an old 5gal bucket that I had seen from the woods, so I pulled him back, picked him up and carried him over a tangle of thick berry bushes.  When I put him back down, 20 yds further along the path I wanted to go, he headed back towards the open woods again.  This time I looked 10 yds ahead of him and saw the beautiful 14 pointer tucked  up against one of the old tree tops.  He was only about 40 yds into the dense field.  When I called out “we found him” the hunter, who was 30 yds behind me, came hurtling over the tree tops yelling “I’m going to kiss you“.   Before he got to his trophy he gave me a bear hug and said “ this is the best moment of my life”  ----- This is why we do what we do!!

A fourteen pointer recovered in Ossian

Our 7th recovery (Avoca), was by far the most interesting and exciting of the year.  The call that came into Deer Search was not very promising.  The Hunter had hit the deer at the top of the hip, about 12 inches from the tail and only an inch or two from the spine.  The deer was coming directly at the hunters tree stand and was only 15 yds away.  The arrow penetrated about 20 inches, and there was no exit wound.  At the hit, the deer did a series of falls and tumbles down a hill for 25 yds before getting up and running off ( I believe due to sudden / rapid blood loss, the deer temporarily lost consciousness).  The back 10 inches of the arrow broke off when the deer tumbled.   When I heard the call, it reminded me if one of my own deflected hits that was broadside across the top of both hips.   That deer lost a lot of blood, mostly internally, and I was able to track it down after about an hour of pushing and only 400 yds.  I had to shoot it a second time.  While talking to the Avoca hunter he told me that the hit had occurred only 3 hrs earlier and that no one had tracked beyond the initial area where the deer had tumbled.  He said there was no blood beyond the first 30 yards. (?)  I thought that this could be a case where pushing the deer for a long time could result in a recovery and knowing Thor’s tenacity on a hot/live deer,  I thought it might work out.  While arranging a meeting place, I told the Hunter “this could be fun”.

In Avoca, the hunter drove us and one of his friends to the top of a tall hillside.  We ended up about 800 ft above the main road – we had a beautiful view of the valley below.   The hunter had arranged that two of his hunting buddies would post up on the farm road at the bottom of the hill, while we tracked down the slope in the direction the deer had run.  The slope down was about 500 yds of waist high grass with patches of thick brush.   The hit site was near the top of the hill in an open woods.  The first 30 yds after the hit had torn up leaves and blood on the trees where the deer had stumbled.  Once we crossed a barbed wire fence and got into the field, we initially found no blood.  This is the area where the deer had started running down the slope.   When Thor got past the fence and into the field he headed strongly down the hill and then took a left across the slope.  The hunter confirmed that the deer had gone straight down initially, but then lost sight of it.   

After about 150yds down this trail, with no blood sign, I decided to go back to the fence and hopefully find some visible blood.   Back at the fence, the three of us and Thor searched again for blood.  After 5 minutes without a trace, I let Thor head the way he wanted.  He began in the general direction he had gone before.  After about 100 yds, I saw big deer tracks in the muddy trail.  I had seen these before so I knew he was on the same trail he had started down.  The hunter and I continued following Thor for another 200 yds across the slope.  Most of the time we were on deer trails in tall grass between big patches of rose bushes.   After passing directly under a ladder stand in a hedgerow the hunter asked if I thought he was still on it.  I told him that it sure seemed so.  He was very focused and quiet. 

After another 100 yds  along the slope we were about halfway down the hill.  At that point I followed Thor around a thick brush patch and then noticed, about 20 yds ahead of him,  the butt end of a deer.   Thor was going right at it.  Just about the time  I told the hunter “there it is” !,  the big 8pt got up and jumped headlong down the hill.  The hunter ran around to watch the buck heading to the roads 200 yds down the hill.  I heard him yelling down the hill “we just jumped him, he’s heading down”.   When Thor got to bed, he went nuts and headed after the buck pulling and barking.  At this point I thought, we could be in for a very long track,  but I knew that Thor could follow this deer till one of them dropped.  After about 100 yds of getting pulled down the hill, the hunter yelled “they hit him down at the bottom, he’s down on the other side of the road”.  I followed Thor down the last 100 yds of the hill and could see the downed deer laying in the field on the other side of the road.  Once I knew the road was clear, I let go of the leash and watched as he ran the last 50 yds to the deer.  By the time I got there he was happily pulling hair out of its backside. 

As we stood by the deer I heard the rest of the story.  After we jumped the buck, one of the hunters posted on the farm road below heard the commotion above and saw the buck heading down the slope.  He ran down the farm road to intercept the running buck.  It was heading to the point where the farm road met the main road. When the buck jumped out of the field onto the farm road, 20 ft from the hunter!,  he proceeded to make a perfect double lung shot on it as it ran by.  The buck then proceeded across the main road, tumbled off the other side and over a fence and ended up about 20 yds off the road.  It was a very exciting finish!!    Interestingly, the original wound at the top of the hip was barely visible, there was no blood on the fur around it.  It seems that the entrance hole closed up quickly and the major bleeding occurred internally.   The four hunters were thrilled and amazed that puppy Thor had found the deer so far away from where they thought it would be.  More than any other recovery so far this year, Thor thought this deer was his.  While taking pictures, he wanted only to chew on the deer.  At one point he barred his teeth at one of the hunters and I made sure he knew that was not acceptable.  It seemed Thor couldn’t get this deer out of his head – a half hour after we left, on our way home, he was still whining and looking out the window!  This was a fun track.

It’s amazing that we seem to learn more and more on ever track we do.

Happy Hunting & Tracking,
Bob

John and Tommy track and find a wounded deer in the thicket

John's report on the November 1 track says:

 

This 184 pound buck was bowshot the previous afternoon. The broadhead hit near the edge of one lung, then through the diaphragm and through a lobe of the liver, through the stomach and out. The hunter tracked it about 200 yards with decent blood and into a very dense thicket, the kind that requires clipping vines and briars to get make progress. The hunter ran out of line about 50 yards into the thicket, but did he mark the blood that he saw well.

 

Tommy and I tracked from the hit site 21 hours after the shot. We went into the thicket and to the dead end of the trail.. Tommy worked around at the point of loss, and then worked what was apparently a back track for about 50 yards to a spot of blood in a new direction.

 

There was not casting around for the new line. I was on my hands and knees or cutting vines most of the way. Once we were on the new line it was easy for Tommy. More beds and vines to cut for 200 yards, and then there was the deer dead. Not much of a rack, but the photo does not do justice to the size of the body. This was Tommy's 6th recovery of the season.

 

John and Tommy at the end of successful track.

 

Mielikki Raptor becomes a new Field Champion and passes a Small Game Hunt Test

A wirehaired dachshund Mielikki Raptor was born on December 10, 2011, in the Czech Republic. She was bred by Gabriela Skruzna, and our friend Lenka Faraislova brought Mielikki and her sister Macaria to this country at the end of February 2012. 

She went to her first field trial on October 27, and 8 days later she finished her Field Championship with three 1st places and one Absolute win. She also passed a gun steadiness test and North American Teckel Small Game Hunting Test. At a NATC Zuchtschau she got a "very good" rating with a comment that in 3-4 months she will be "excellent" when she matures more. BTW, she weighs 7.9 kg (17.5 lbs).  

Patience gets rewarded! At one point we had some doubts about Mielikki, especially when her second teeth erupted and they all looked out of place. But some friends, especially Patricia Nance, advised us to wait. We are glad that we followed the advice. Her teeth are OK now, and she proved to be a very talented versatile hunter.

On Sunday, November 4, Mielikki won her stake of OAAB, then was Best of Open and Absolute Winner of the trial

 

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Two Pope and Young bucks recovered in one weekend!

Well, my plans have changed. Thursday early morning I am leaving for Maryland, where our young dogs will be participating in the NATC Small Game Hunting Test (Thursday), Zuchtschau (Friday) and two AKC field trials (Saturday and Sunday). I am taking Sky, Tuesday and Mielikki, all very young dogs. I should be back on Monday afternoon. It also means that I will have to catch up with posts after I get back (this is my last trip this year). Have a great weekend everybody!

Congratulations to Dean Muthig from Wisconsin who wrote few days ago: I got a call at about 9 this morning wondering if I could take a track. This gentleman found my name via the UBT "find a tracker" feature. He stated that he had gut shot a buck yesterday at 7:30 in the morning and had lost blood. Unfortunately he started tracking the buck only an hour after shooting it and tracked for 6 hours. I knew even though it was gut shot that this one might challenge us a bit especially being a 24 plus hour old track and that the deer was most likely pushed out of his bed. Well that assumption was correct as the hunter had tracked the deer well over 40 acres before losing the trail...At the original point of loss my dog seemed unsure of the path of the deer but walked me to a drainage ditch and put her nose in the grass as she crossed the other side telling me she was thinking this is where he crossed. She went a little further and seemed to lose interest so I decided to walk her down the drainage ditch to see if the deer was in the water. We walked a couple hundred yards down the drainage ditch and ran into another ditch which ran perpendicular to the one we first walked down. We then ran that ditch another 200 yds. While walking this ditch the wind was in our favor and she was able to scent check a large area. I decided to turn back around. When we came back to the ditch we were a hundred yards or so down from where I thought she smelled him originally. As I looped back into that area she whipped her nose straight up in the air and almost sounded like a pig snorting. She took off with me in tow and within another 30 seconds we were standing on top of this beautiful 8 point buck! He truly was a brute! And what was most impressive about this buck is that the hunter took him on a high pressured area of public land!

 

Second Pope and Young buck recovered by Dean Muthig last weekend.

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

Jim F. Hens with Tommy who found his buck.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Back from New Jersey field trials and getting ready for Sandy's arrival

I spent Saturday and Sunday at dachshund field trials in New Jersey, and just back this evening. Now it is time to get ready for Sandy. Here by Albany, NY, we are supposed to get some gusty winds and 2-4 inches of rain, which is nothing too serious. Our thoughts are with our friends living in the areas that will suffer much more severe impact. We hope everybody stays safe.

I am just too tired to post anything tonight, and will try to catch up over the next few days, if we don't lose power. So I am going to close this short post with a picture taken on Saturday in New Jersey. It shows our friend Teddy Moritz with her new Harris Hawk. It was great to see you Teddy!

Andy Bensing: Tracking Deer From My Office

A big thank you to Andy Besning for another interesting story.

As blood trackers we get to see more than the average hunter's fair share of unusual tracking scenarios.  That combined with hanging out with other blood trackers and swapping stories builds a database in our head that can be very valuable to the average hunter when he gets in certain tracking situations.  As leashed blood trackers, we develop strategies for tracking deer, especially ones that are still alive.  I find myself getting more and more calls from hunters who don't need me yet but are asking for help in the initial eye tracking of their deer.  This weekend was a perfect example of this.  I was able to help 2 hunters, one in MD and one in NJ recover their deer without even leaving my office.

The first hunter was a hunter I had tracked for before and helped on the phone as well once before.  He had gut shot a doe in a patch of woods adjacent to a very ritzy million dollar plus neighborhood.  He had an enormous initial blood trail and because of this he incorrectly ignored the gut material on the arrow and tracked right away and jumped the deer and it ran into the neighborhood.  Here is the story of how he recovered the deer written by the hunter...................

"Had a pretty interesting day in the field yesterday. A group of three nice does came in across a backyard around 8:30AM.  One gave me a shot and I took it, 23 yard shot slightly quartering away.  Thought the broadhead hit in a good spot.  I climbed down (way too prematurely, the excitement overcame me!) saw that the arrow had gut matter on it, but just beyond the spot of the arrow was a lot of bright red blood.....so I’m excited.  (Stupidly) I can't help myself but to start tracking right away.  Followed the blood up a hill and across the neighbor's driveway.  (generally in this area the deer normally run to the thicker woods than up to roads in my past experience).  I got to the neighbor's property and spotted the deer slowly getting up and it trotted off across a road. At this point I’m assuming it's a gut/liver/one lung shot.

I backed out and decided to call Andy Bensing for some advice.  Andy told me to head home and change into normal clothes to knock on doors for permission and start looking for the deer to hopefully prevent a neighborhood tree hugger or their family dog to wake up to a dead deer on their front lawn.  On Andy's advice I took my dog, Kolby, who has shown some signs of being a tracking dog, but never had ANY kind of training whatsoever. 

After talking to a few neighbors before running over their property, I went back to the spot where I last saw the deer and started tracking.  Kolby and I tracked through two more back yards and find the deer but it has still not expired.  It allowed us to get 15 yards away before I saw it and it did not get up.  I back out and call Andy again, who thinks I should go back and take a shot to finish her off.  I cleared this with the neighbor and head around to do so.  At that point I see the deer getting up and slowly trotting off again!  This time she went well behind the houses were it was not as likely to be found accidentally by a neighbor so I decided to back out and comeback once it's been a full 6 hours after the shot. 

I had seen where the deer went and talked with yet another neighbor before tracking when I came back.  I mapped the area prior to returning and saw a stream that I was sure the doe would go to.  I took Kolby down and she insistently pulled me to the opposite direction away from the stream....but I didn't listen to her....I went the other way for a quarter mile assuming the doe would be in the stream if anywhere.  Feeling like a failure to myself, the deer and the sport I decided to go back to the last spot we saw blood.  On the way back Kolby starts yanking me up the small hill again where she wanted to go the first time.  This time I decide "why not try" even though I see no blood.  She leads me to a fenced in water collection basin with blood all over the ground and inside the fence this is what I see.

I was absolutely stunned and in awe of how my dog's natural desire to track led her to the animal.  There were great stretches of ground we covered that had NO blood and she pushed straight through and seemingly knew the entire time right where to go, despite her stupid owner.  HUGE thanks to Andy Bensing, his advice and point of view contributed as much to the recovery as my dog did."

The second hunter had gut shot his deer as well but this one was way back just in front of the rear leg and only a few inches up from the bottom.  He shot the deer Friday night and correctly did not track it that night but jumped it Saturday morning.  The deer ran off into some small woods behind some road side businesses in a semi suburban area interlaced with 10 to 20 acre patches of forest and fields.  He called me for help after jumping the deer Saturday morning.  I informed him that I was not available until Sunday morning, 40 hours after the shot, but that was probably for the best as the deer would likely need much longer to die.  Low, large bowl hits can take 3, 4, even 5 days to die.  They don't really bleed to death, they eventually die from peritonitis.  I told him to spend the day lining up permission from all the likely land owners in the area as there was a good chance we would end up chasing the still alive 8 pointer around even on Sunday morning.  Late Saturday afternoon I got a call from the hunter that he was on his way to pick up his deer and that I did not need to come and help.  A local jogger had kicked up the wounded deer while passing along a walking  trail behind a school and when the deer appeared and acted so strangely the jogger called the local police who came out and shot it.  Because the hunter had followed my directions well and done such a good job asking permission so many places in the area ahead of my arrival, an resident that saw the police finish off the deer knew that the deer belonged to him.  The police called him after shooting the deer and told him to come and get it. 

That was two for two that day without even leaving my office!

Should Paulene, a Deer Search handler, trust her tracking dog's nose?

Paulene Eggers, a member of Deer Search of the Finger Lakes, learned a lot on the track that lead to her 3rd recovery of the season. She says:

On this track, I learned to NOT direct your dog away from her original course. The hunter stated to me that had a 10 yard shot through the mid section while he was on the ground. At the hit site there was the broken broadhead end of the arrow on the ground with some hair nearby in a large field of very tall goldenrod. Braylee proceeded to plod thru the field cutting through a thick hedgerow going into another field of tall goldenrod. The hunter stated to me that the deer went that way pointing in a different direction, and I replied that we could check that area after I let Braylee go her way. Braylee went into a half circle and came to another hedgerow where I saw an arrow....I said "there is someone's arrow" and the hunter exclaimed "That's my arrow"! I looked at the arrow realizing it was the fletching half of the broken arrow.

                    

Braylee proceeded to go downhill now and I urged her to "come check over here". She detoured going uphill now at my request. We went around in a circle until I realized she came back to the exact same spot where we just found the fletching half of arrow, feeling foolish now; I allowed her to go the exact same way she wanted to go just ten minutes earlier. Only 15-20 yards away Braylee found the buck!

I am still learning about tracking and I certainly learned to not direct your dog away from their intended course!! The track would have been just 30 minutes if I had allowed her to just go the way she wanted to!

 

 

The story made it to the outdoor Syracuse blog, where the hunter's wife posted this comment (edited for the ease of reading)

 

That was my husband's deer that Paulene & Braylee found. He called me that morning and was beside himself that he thought he had lost the deer. My husband has been hunting for over twenty years and he knew after looking for the deer he would never have found it due to no blood trail. Without the article posted in the paper on Paulene & Braylee, he would have never found the deer without their help. Thank you to the Post Standard for writing that article! He is so happy & proud of Braylee for finding his deer. Jeff has been bragging about that amazing dog & her owner to everyone he can! He is so grateful for Paulene to take time out of her life to help him. Congrats to all of them! Jill hurd

 

Related post: http://borntotracknews.blogspot.com/2009/10/trust-your-dog.html

Jeff Bonner provides deer tracking services in the Texas Panhandle

Jeff Bonner from Pampa, TX is a wildlife biologist with the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department. He tracks in the Panhandle area, which is dominated by open sagebrush prairie traversed by some wooded draws and creeks. Jeff's biggest challenge is low humidity so he almost exclusively tracks at night or morning before light. He uses bluetick/walker hounds because of their tenacity, patience, endurance, friendliness, and excellent "cold nose".

Jeff Boner from Texas Panhandle

Annie's first recovery of 2012

Few months ago Jeff wrote to us:
I do wounded deer tracking on the side. Had a friend share your book with me a few years back and boy-howdy did I ever wish I'd had it 15 years ago. Sure would've saved some times of grief. I've been tracking commercially in my area for 4 hunting seasons, recently built a quick and cheap website, and stumbled across your Born To Track site while testing the Google search.

Well, now his website is something to be proud of. It has a lot of excellent information so make sure you visit it by clicking here.

Recently we heard from Jeff again: Here's my dog, Annie's, first find of 2012. Hit low with arrow, full pass through exited front of opposite shoulder near brisket. Missed heart and lung but cut artery and bled out. Went a little over 1/2 mile. Hunters should have found but buck had doubled back and they missed the turn. If you get time check out my website. Record so far this year: 5 calls, 3 tracked, 1 confirmed still alive, 1 recovered. 
Jeff Bonner
www.topoftexastracking.com
806-662-3357

A 6.5-month-old dachshund Theo gets distracted by hot lines and Karl finds the wounded deer

No matter how talented, puppies have their limitations when it comes to tracking "real deer" in the real environment. They are just puppies; they have shorter attention span than adult dogs and they are prone to distractions. Darren's experience with Theo, who is just 6.5 months old has confirmed it.
 
He has reported that his dachshund Karl found another buck on Sunday. "It was a four hour old line without any blood after 40 yds. It was supposed to be a liver shot and the blood sign could have indicated that. I thought this one would be a good one for Theo. I started Theo but he couldn't stay with the right line. There were a lot of deer in here and Theo went hot. After two restarts I put him up and got Karl. After Karl settled down he tracked to the deer. The deer was still alive and the shot actually hit the deer broadside in front of the hips."

Congratulations to Sherry Ruggieri and her Auggie on their great accomplishment!

Congratulations to Sherry and Phil Ruggieri whose Auggie (FC Augden von Moosbach Zuzelek, ME, RN, VC, BHP-G) passed the 1000 Field Champion Merit Lifetime Point mark on 9/10/2012. He is the 14th Field Champion that surpassed the 1000 point threshold. Sherry, we are so proud of you and Auggie! Sherry's friends know very well how much she loves Auggie and how lucky he is to have her heart.

Double lung-shot deer did not go far and were found by Andy Bensing and his tracking dog Eibe

Andy Bensing wrote that the other day he had two easy calls.  

 

In both cases rain washed  blood trails away.  Rather than grid searching on their own the hunters called me. Both deer were found in 10 minutes. One was in North Jersey, and then I drove 140 miles on Interstate 95 down to MD where I found the second. Both were high double lungs just nicking the edge of the lungs, and both deer traveled about 200 meters. One walked away and one ran away. The bow shot one walked away and the muzzle loader deer ran. Nice easy ones for the score card. I am cooking along at 10 for 25 so far this year! We have logged 3,400 miles so far. We are 13 calls ahead of 2 years ago when I took 47. I may raise my target to 65! Look out Tim Nichols! Sorry for the lousy photos, it was raining.

 

 

First rays of the sun reveal beautiful colors of trees against dark sky

This morning first rays of the sun revealed deep, rich colors of turning leaves and a triking contrast against dark sky. This exquisite lighting lasted only five minutes, and John was the one who alerted me to it.

 

Over the next week or so I am going to put together a website, which will be dedicated just to my photography so stay tuned.