Tarah's first tracking season is going great

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

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

Shot Analysis and Salvaging a Call

By Andy Bensing

I just finished my 50th call of the year with a live jump of a non-mortally wounded deer. I thought it was a gut shot by the hunter's phone interview, but when I got to the hit site it was quite clear what really happened. The ground hunting hunter reported a line of white hair on the ground making me think a low belly opening slice like I have seen often before with big mechanical broad heads. The big mature buck reportedly acted like a gut shot as well. He jumped slightly at the shot and stopped 30 yards away and stood with tail down and breathed heavily for 15 minutes as he milled around "acting oddly"  before walking slowly away. 

 

The hunter reported a lot of blood where the deer stood for 15 minutes and an easy blood trail leading away. I had tracked successfully for this novice hunter before so he called me from the hit site at 9am an hour after the shot and I advised him to wait until 2 hours before dark (3pm) which would be 7 hours after the shot  before tracking. The hunter called back after dark and reported the blood trail petered out after 600 yards with one big puddle along the way. From the phone conversation I believed he had pushed him unseen in the dark when he tracked him that night.

When I got to the hit site in the morning the real story was there to be seen. The "line" of white hair was actually a big oval "puff" of white hair and some of the white hairs had brown tips indicative of the white hairs at the border of the white and brown on the back of a deer's rear legs under the tail.

 

The hunter had been unable to find the bolt from his crossbow even though he reported a double thump when he shot. I  assumed one thump hitting the deer and a second one with the bolt likely striking a tree behind the deer a split second later. When my dog Eibe surveyed the hit site before taking off down the line she found the bolt embedded in a tree 15 yards behind the puff of hair.  The bolt had deflected left 30 degrees from the original line of travel after striking the deer. With the 25 yard shot hitting the deer so far off the point of aim and so many small branches in the line of sight I lined up from the puff of hair and the stump the hunter was leaning on for the shot I suspect the first thump was a deflection off a limb before the bolt hit the deer rather than the striking of the deer.

 

The puff of hair  and the brown tips on the white hairs told the story but the bolt confirmed it. It appeared to be perfectly clean but when I sprayed it with peroxide, as you can see in the photos below,  it showed a glancing blow. The shaft between two of the three fletchings foamed up but the opposite side did not. Also the rest of the shaft did not foam at all except for a very small spot on one side of the shaft  just behind the broad head an inch or two. After wiggling the broad head out of the tree,  only two of the three blades of the Grim Reaper mechanical broad head foamed as well. Also the large amount of blood reported by the hunter where the deer milled around for 15 minutes was just a bunch of drops. Lots of small drops but nothing even approaching "a lot" of blood.

 

 Note wet spots of peroxide with no foam on shaft between fletching.

 

Note white specks of foam from peroxide.  The shaft appeared perfectly clean before the peroxide was applied.  I was surprised to see it foam up.

 

Not seen in this photo but only 2 of the 3 blades foamed from the peroxide and a small speck of material foamed on the shaft 1 or 2 inches back from the broad head on the same side of the shaft as the 2 blades that foamed.

Looking at the small specks of foam from the peroxide on the bolt I could visualize 2 of the 3 blades of the mechanical opening as they contacted the back edge of the rear legs of the buck and sliced the skin open barely touching the muscle underneath and lightly spraying a little tissue on one side of the bolt's shaft.  As the blades created drag on one side of the shaft the back end of the bolt would kick away from the animal and as soon as the blades passed out of the skin the bolt would try to true itself thrusting the fletching back towards the deer's rump and smacking 2 of the 3 fletchings against the wound in the skin. This would cut an enormous amount of white hair as the blades raked across the back of the rear legs.

 

After evaluating the shot I told the hunter there was almost no chance of recovering the deer but since I had driven 90 miles and was there any way I would give it a shot. I was personally curious if this big buck who reacted so conservatively to the glancing shot would lay up and rest. And there is always the chance that somehow I miss interpreted the sign and he was more severely hurt. At the very least since I was so sure of what had occurred from the available sign I planned on using the call as a training exercise and learning more about my dog.

 

Well I started my dog and she easily followed the 600 meters the hunter had tracked and just kept on going through the point of loss without missing a beat. 165 meters past the hunter's point of loss the trail made a J-hook and we jumped the buck unseen but it was clear from my dog's actions that the trail had gone hot.  He was laying 50 meters off his back trail.  We chased him about 1½ miles in easy terrain just for the fun of it and to observe the pattern he would take. As expected for a minimally hurting deer he took minimal evasive  maneuvers at first feeling little threat from his pursuers being he was really not that hurt. He did make one small tricky move but that was pretty much it.  He ran out into a field and made a 50 meter circle and then cut back at a hard angle across an opposite field.  At one point after that  he busted through 5 or 6 bedded does.  We saw the does running hard ahead of us and tracked his single tracks across  their beds.  I wonder if he did that on purpose?   The does ran down the same trail he did for awhile. I was quite proud of my dog in that when the buck's single tracks branched off from the group at a Y in the trail my Eibe never missed a beat and was right on him and ignored the does' heavy, hot line.   When I was sure Eibe was just on him by himself I picked a convenient place to quite the trail when the buck veered in a direction that was not back towards the truck.

We had chased the buck live for an hour over a distance of about 1 ½ miles and he had shown no signs of weakness.  I had seen my dog negotiate the buck's evasive circle maneuver effortlessly, and I gained even more confidence in her ability to concentrate on the correct line when we busted through the bedded does.  This was a productive day for my dog and I salvaged out of a non-gettable call.  And a nice fat tip from the hunter topped it all off!

Thanks Andy for the great post!

2013 Nature Calendars...and Joeri

Sorry for taking a break from the blog, but for the last three days I have been focused on my photography. It is so hard to find any time for it, but it is especially difficult during hunting and tracking season. If you'd like to see results, go to http://www.cafepress.com/calendarsbyjolanta. There are four calendars there with my photography, two are nature oriented, one is with wirehaired dachshunds and another one with field trial beagles. When you click on the covers and go to a specific calendar, you will be able to see the pages. You can read Patt's testimonial about the calendar she has ordered for the second year. Thank you Patt!

To purchase or view info on this calendar go to http://www.cafepress.com/calendarsbyjolanta.736043965

This calendar is located at http://www.cafepress.com/calendarsbyjolanta.714081196

I uploaded images from the calendars to http://jola.smugmug.com/NaturePhotography, where they can be purchased as prints or merchandise. If you have any questions about those, e-mail me.

We got some e-mail asking about Joeri. As you remember Joeri was imported from Germany as a 14- week-old puppy 4.5 years ago. On August 27 he had a surgery for a herniated disc, and then on November 15 his back went down again. This time he was put on a high dose of prednisone and other meds, plus he had an acupuncture session. He was improving for a while, but in the last two days he regressed. He does not use his legs as well, and he has been leaking. Most likely it is a response to some reduction in prednisone dose, so as of last evening he is back on a high dose again. I can't tell you what an emotional roller coaster this has been.

Joeri on the evening of November 25 resting comfortably in my den.

I have a ton of material for the blog. You guys have been very busy, and I really appreciate that you take time to write down your experiences and share them with all of us. I'll be posting a lot of new material in the next few days. Thank you and good luck in the woods!

A 2013 calendar with wirehaired dachshunds is here

This year again I have been working on several calendars, and the one with wirehaired dachshunds is ready. Below are the pictures representing different months. The calendar can be ordered from cafepress at http://www.cafepress.com/calendarsbyjolanta.734228623 Make sure that you choose January as a starting month.

January: Front row Paika and Bella, second row Summer and Sky

February: Mielikki on the top our hill

March: one of the T-pups, I think it is Theo

April: Thor and Tuesday

May: Tarah

June: One of Moose and Paika's pups, not sure now which one

July: Mielikki

August: Mielikki

September: Bella

October: Joeri

November: Sky

December: Asko

A gut-shot buck recovered by John and Tommy in Berne

On November 21 John and Tommy recovered a gut-shot deer in Berne. It was around 0.5 mile track. At the beginning it was not obvious that the deer was gut-shot. There was a stretch of no-blood, and later every few yards or so there was a small speck. Tommy jumped a deer, and followed it well. John had to dispatch the buck at the end of the trail, which was around 6 hours old. This was 10th recovery for the team.

Happy and Safe Thanksgiving to All!

Whether you find yourself at work, alone in the woods or surrounded by family and friends, please know that we wish you a warm and happy Thanksgiving.

 

With gratitude and hope - good hunting and tracking to all,

 

John & Jolanta Jeanneney

Are you looking for a wirehaired dachshund for blood tracking?

We are in the middle of hunting/tracking season, and now every day we get several inquiries about puppies. Yes, this is when hunters realize that they need a dog, and this is exactly when we don't have time to talk about puppies.

This is what our website says "We are planning two litters of puppies for summer 2013. We will start to take reservations at the beginning of December 2012. Please e-mail us then. Right now we are in the middle of hunting season and extremely busy. Please read about the process of buying a puppy from us, which is posted here."

The other day we got this inquiry: "I have talked to you earlier about buying a wired hair dots an for first a inside pet and secondly a blood tracking dog. I understand you have a questionnaire form to fill out. I would like to fill out this form and get on you list to purchase a female dog. Please feral free to contact me either by email or phone".

I don't want to appear rude because I am not a rude person, but this is not a way to make your first contact with a breeder. Please read on our website how we raise and sell puppies, it is all there www.born-to-track.com . We don't sell pups on the first come first served basis. There is a long selection process involved. A prospective owner has to be serious about blood tracking and committed to track for other people. We put too much work and money to breed tracking/hunting dachshunds to have them go to pet homes where they will track one-two deer a year.

If you have sent us an e-mail about puppies in the last month and have not received a reply, you are not alone. I truly apologize for it, but we have no time to talk to potential buyers now and go through the screening process in the middle of tracking season. Also, if you read our blog, you will know that we have a very sick dog that we care for. We'd appreciate your patience.

Tracking a lung-shot buck with a young dachshund Thor; Bob's tracking tips

Bob Yax from Deer Search of the Finger Lakes who is working with a 7.5 month old Thor von Moosbach-Zuzelek wrote about his 8th recovery:

On Sunday (November 18) we had a chance to go on our first track of a gun hit deer.  A young hunter (Austin) had called into the Deer Search FLC hotline at 10 AM for a buck he had hit 2 hours earlier.  On the phone it sounded like a possible high lung /  liver hit.  Austin and his dad, Eric, had waited an hour before tracking it.  They had a decent blood trail for the first 300yds until they jumped the buck from its first bed at around 9 AM.  When the buck left this first bed, it immediately went onto a neighbors posted land.  Before calling into our hotline, Austin and his Eric had gotten permission from the neighboring landowner to track it in the afternoon – not sooner.   To me this sounded like a good situation, since the deer would be left for several hours to hopefully die in its 2nd bed.  My son Nate and I arranged to meet the Hunter at 2:30 in the afternoon,  6.5 hrs after the hit.   When we met,  Eric who was with Austin in the tree stand when the hit took place,  showed me the hit location on an anatomy chart.  He indicated a spot about 6 inches down from the top of the deer and  just about where the back of the lungs met the liver.  It was a level,  broadside shot with a 12ga shotgun.  He also told me that the reason they had to wait before tracking on the posted land was that a group of hunters were going to put on a drive of the property first!  Great!     If the deer was still alive at that point, it would have been in the next county by the time we got there.

From Austin’s stand location, we found the blood trail in the brushy field and began to follow.  Thor did a great job following it closely.  I  had him on a short leash and was thrilled to keep seeing the blood sign appear behind him as he tracked the 300yds to the 1st bed in about 10 minutes.  From this point on we would have an undisturbed/unknown trail.  After getting up from its bed, the buck had run across an open mowed field towards an area of many mowed trails with thick brushy patches in between.   Through the open field, a blood trail was non-existent,  but  Thor did stop at several places to show us small patches of blood, where the deer must have stood for awhile. It looked like lung blood to me.   Thor continued on the mowed pathways showing us the blood patches (about 2 inches in diameter)  about every 50yds.  At one point just beyond what would be the final blood patch, he started into one of the thick brushy areas, but after going in only a few feet he backed out and then began doing some circles in one of the wide mowed areas nearby.  After a minute or so of circling,  he headed off  down the path along the edge of the thick stuff.  He was again heading in the direction we had been heading before he paused to do his circles.   As we proceeded, I didn’t  find any more blood sign.  The further we went with no blood sign, the more worried I became.  Finally, about 100yds away from his circling area, we headed into an open hard woods – still no blood sign!  After a short ways into the woods, Thor backtracked out of the woods and then stood looking confused.

At that point I knew we had to go back to the last patch of blood and see if we could find another good line away from it.  Once back there, I asked Eric, Austin and his sister along with my son Nate to search for any blood sign coming away from the last blood patch.  Meanwhile I took Thor back to the field where he had circled previously.   This was only about 10yds from the last blood patch.  After only a few seconds, Thor headed off in a totally new direction.  It was nearly a back track from the last blood patch.  Shortly after we headed in this new direction,  Eric yelled “blood” heading off in the same direction Thor was already going  – “now we’re back on it”  I thought.   At this point we were still on the mowed paths as we had been the entire way from the 1st bed about 200yds behind us.  Now I was desperately looking for another sign of blood to verify that Thor was still on it.  After about 75yds,  I spotted a dime size blood clot in the grass – hooray!!!.  After  about another 50 yds with no blood,  Thor finally turned off the mowed  path and headed into the thick brush.   After only a few feet, I was on my hands and knees trying to follow him through the brush.    At that point I began seeing wide swaths of blood on the stalks near ground level.  Then a few blood clots and then more blood on the bushes.  Eric, following close behind me said, “how could that buck get his rack through this stuff”.   With the blood on the stalks so close to the ground, the buck must have been crawling.  Finally, after about 40yds on hands and knees, with more and more blood sign, I saw the dead buck lying about 10yds ahead – we got him !!  -  I let Thor go and get the first chance to chew on his 8th recovery.    In the photo attached you can see that the entrance wound was actually low and forward in the chest – not close to the liver.  It angled back only a little.  It was a lethal lung shot that the deer was able to survive for over an hour and  600yds.

As with most tracks, I came away from this one with more valuable info on how to work with Thor as he and his tracking skills mature.  In the past,  as in this case, I know that he sometimes loses the real blood trail,  maybe when the deer makes a drastic direction change or when hunters bloody boots complicate things.   In this case it was fairly obvious where he may have gone wrong.  It was the point where he suddenly stopped his confident tracking and began circling.  It was also that place where we had spotted the last blood.   To me, the value of Visible blood cannot be overstated.  In many cases the rush to follow the dog where it leads can lead to nowhere.   When in doubt, always go back to the last known blood and try to find more – maybe leading off in a totally new direction.  Good things may result!

One step at a time for Joeri

Today, for the first time in 5 days, Joeri started to improve. He has a very long way to go but he started to go to bathroom on his own. He also started to attempt to use his hind legs. Now we have some grounds for hope! Also today he looks much better than yesterday, he is all stretched on the blanket, has asked for tummy rubs, and his eyes are bright and happy.

Tonight I am working on a 2013 calendar with wirehaired dachshunds. I have gone through many pictures, which I took in 2012. I have come across this portrait of Joeri from March 2012. What a beautiful, soulful dog he is!

Tommy finds a wounded deer with a broken leg

This was Tommy's recovery #9. The line was 16 hours old, and the deer had its hind leg broken above the hock. Tommy cold trailed the buck for 300 yards in very thick brush, jumped the deer and took it 250 yards to where Doug, the hunter, could finish it. John was very pleased with Tommy's work.

The picture shows John and our friend Michael Relyea, who is the hunter's nephew.

Michael Relyea is holding Tommy. To the right Doug, Michael's uncle.

Being in the woods is a good therapy

A big thank you to all for your support, encouragement and offer to help with Joeri. Yesterday he was worse than on Thursday, his hind legs completely immobile, his bladder had to be expressed. So far he has not responded to the meds: high dose of prednisone, tramadol, methocarbamol, pepcid. But his tail is still wagging. He has an appointment on Wednesday for acupuncture. We are going to give him some time and see what happens. Today he has a better appetite and his eyes look brighter. He is a hunting dog through and through, and for him to spend the rest of life paralyzed, in a cart, is just not an option. 

Today we were in the woods and it has helped both of us. John was tracking and I was hunting. John found his buck, and I shot a doe. All in all today was a better day than Friday.

Tommy found this nice 8-pointer in Cairo, NY

John was prouder of me than I was. While he was tracking in Cairo, I was hunting. I actually managed to stalk this doe, so now we will have some venison for the freezer.

Unplugging for few days

Thursday was a bad day. Joeri got much worse. This is 11.5 weeks post-surgery. He is not completely paralyzed but he is dragging his hind legs, and he is in a pretty bad shape. This time we will are going to try conservative treatment with prednisone and see how it goes. We might have a very tough decision to be made ahead of us. This is beyond sad, actually it is truly heartbreaking.

I think we are going to unplug for a while. Our gun season starts on Saturday, and we both would like to get out of the house and be in the woods. If we don't answer e-mails or phone calls, I hope you understand. We'll be back here next week.

More pictures of deer recovered by tracking dachshunds

 

Chester Swierk, a member of Deer Search of the Finger Lakes, has found some spectacular deer with his mini longhaired dachshund Moby. He write s about has recovery from 6 days ago: This deer was gut shot and went about 400 yds., the hunter had tracked it about 200 yds. Moby spotted a small 4-point standing in a field as we were walking into the field. He barked at it a couple of times and I let him know that wasn't the one we wanted. So we continued across the field with Moby looking back at it a few times. About halfway across Moby started to circle back toward the 4-pointer. I let him go about 40 yards before correcting him and let him know again that it wasn't the one we wanted. He then went back to the track of the 9-pointer and continued tracking to where the woods started. He turned and gave the 4-pointer one last look before continuing into the woods from the edge of the field (as far as the hunter had tracked it) then continued about 200 more yards into the woods where he found the deer. The track was in Lindley, NY and was 20 hours old.

Susanne Hamilton from Maine with Meggie 2012-11-15: Sometimes against all common sense you go out anyway and get lucky.

Paulene Eggers writes about her 11/13/2012 recovery in Onondaga County. Dave Burgess another co-worker and Sargeant on the dept. got this ten pointer early morning and had the arrow go in about 3/4 way then it fell out about 15-20 yards from the hit site. There was minimal blood at the hit site and nothing further so Dave wisely backed off waited a few hours while calling me also.

Braylee is making many loyal fans!                                                           

Susanne Hamilton: This 11/10/2012 find was almost two hours away. Tracked it for a lovely family, who had looked all day, did everything right, and finally called when it got too dark for them to track it anymore. Buster made fast work of it and found it well hidden 150 yards from last spot of blood.

 

Hello, my name is Kurt Kiley. 

I’ve been an avid hunter for many years in the Southern New Hampshire.  On November 6, 2012 I shot a nice buck, the first in many years.   After 10 long hours searching acre over acre, following blood trails and only having seen him once again in that time and not choosing to shoot toward him again because he went to close to the houses nearby (well under the 300 foot legal shooting distance), I finally lost  his trail.  The sun set, light for the day was gone and the hope of finding the buck was looking glim, so the evening was called. 

That night I called  Ray and Pam Maurier.  We talked about what happened in great depth.  Ray said he would meet me at my house at 7am the following morning to help in my quest.  In the morning, 25 hrs after the initial shot; Ray ,”Tucker” and I headed out to the last spot I had last saw the buck. With NO blood to track Tucker quickly went to work.  The first  1/2 mile it seemed like he was tracking his every move, like he was with me the day before!  It took him only 1-1/2 hrs for Tucker to bring us right to the buck spot; with the buck still being alive!  

Tucker was very eager to get his reward!  A very well earned reward indeed. Without Tucker that deer would  NOT have been recovered! It would have just been an early thanksgiving dinner for the coyotes.   The whole event was a very good learning experience, shot placement  for one, then the whole step by step tracking sequence and all the hard work that went in to training Tucker.  Rays dedication to working with Tucker  helping to drag to the truck truly shows his love of the sport.           

Many thanks and kudos to Tucker  (a  16 month old, wired haired dachshund tracking dog),  Ray and Pam Maurier, of Lightning Mountain Outfitters, without them and their skills this deer would never have been recovered.
Kurt Kiley
Londonderry NH

Pictures of deer recovered by blood tracking dachshunds

This is just first part of  pictures showing deer recovered by blood tracking dachshunds in the last few weeks. More pics will be posted tomorrow. It is difficult to keep up with all the recoveries, when there are so many of them :D Congratulations to all the handlers!



This Ohio monster was recovered by a UBT member Rex Marshall and his dachshund Radar (Oak von Moosbach-Zuzelek). Rex wrote: Radar tracked a buck Friday night for over half a mile around the perimeter of a corn field. The hunter kept saying "he didn't think the buck went this way." At the half mile point, Radar took a 90 degree turn into a wood lot, at which the hunter told me "I don't know who owns this property". I called it off because we didn't have permission to go on this property. All night I tossed and turned, t hinking about how strong Radar was pulling the leash, silent & confident all the way. Next morning, I called the hunter and told him this & said he might want to go back to that last spot and have another look. 24 hours later, the hunter called me & said he found the buck...just 10 yards into the woods from where we stopped!! All I could think of was: "yeh but, he didn't go this way". Way to go Radar!!!!

Another buck recovered by Radar handled by Rex Marshall from Ohio. "Radar found this buck today during rain showers...went over half mile. Found him in a good sized stream." Radar is a son of Joeri and Emma.

 

What a great tracking season it has been for a 15-month-old Tucker (Storm von Moosbach-Zuzelek) owned by Ray Maurier and Pam Maurier from New Hampshire. Huge congrats!

 

Scott Meyer from Michigan: This track was very tough one we tracked through a 4 ft tall grass field and finally found him in a brush pile next to a small pound.

A UBT member Scott Meyer from Michigan with his tracking teckel Bear. Bear was sired by Chuck Collier's Moose (Nurmi von Moosbach-Zuzelek).

Kevin Armstrong and his wirehaired dachshund Karma von Moosbach-Zuzelek: This deer must have been pushed too early. The hunter called last evening when he run out of blood. Karma and I took up the track at daylight. The trail was about 500 yards long, it crossed a creek, and made several beds. It was a downright joy to track for and help educate the fine young hunter. He and his hunting partner were both 17 year old high school seniors. This was his first deer. I had a tear of joy when the hunting partner took out his cell phone and said "grandpa, we found it!"

Kevin with Karma's recovery #5. "Tracking is so much easier when the hunter listens to the tracker and does as I suggest. I got a call for this gut shot deer yesterday shortly after dark. The hunter knew he had hit too far back and had the wrong angle. That was all confirmed it by the evidence on the arrow. I advised him to back out quietly and do not disturb the deer over night. He followed my advice. We had a quick and easy recovery at daylight in the morning."

Ohio tracker David Bell recovered this buck with his Quella von Moosbach-Zuzelek. It was a gut-shot deer, the line was 27 hour old and it went for over .5 mile. Quella is a daughter of Joeri and Keena.



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.