No deer at the trail end but a good learning experience for Joeri

We took this deer call last Tuesday, on October 20. Dick F. shot a six point buck on Monday morning and spent all day following and marking a sparse blood trail. He called us on Monday afternoon but John was already out on his second call of the day. Unfortunately there was nobody else available. It was a long drive for us as West Sand Lake is 50 miles from where we live.

By the time we got there the blood trail was 26 hours old; the day was dry and cloudy, around 50F. The hunter managed to track the deer for around 1000 yards. He thought that the deer was chest shot.

John took Joeri on this call, and I went with them to take some pictures. Below is a pictorial report documenting the track.



Above - when walking up to the hit site Joeri is always on a regular leash. The tracking collar and leash are put on the dog when he is supposed to start tracking.

Above - the tree stand from which Dick arrowed the buck.

Below - the ground in these hardwoods was covered with dry leaves and spotting blood on the red speckled leaves was a challenge.

Below - Dick did absolutely an outstanding job when he marked the trail with orange biodegradable tape.

Above - at the hit site John puts a tracking collar on Joeri.

Joeri followed the marked trail very well, and we could see some blood throughout the trail. The blood was dry as this trail was old.

Joeri is a careful tracker whose tracking speed is just right - not too fast and not too slow. This was a very difficult track for him, and we could see it by watching his body language.

There were several spots with more blood as shown on the picture below.

It took Joeri 45 minutes to get through first 1000 yards of the trail that was marked. This was a good training experience for Joeri. When the blood stopped, Joeri took us down the hill across the road onto a new property whose owners Dick did not know.

When we picked up Joeri 200 yards after the last blood, we did not know whether Joeri was on the right trail or not as we could not verify it. There was no blood, no beds and no other sign of the wounded buck.

It took us at least 30 minutes to get back to Dick's cabin. It is always disappointing when a wounded deer is not recovered. John wrote on his tracking report: "I doubt that a mortally wounded, chest-shot deer could have gone this far".

We enjoyed the time we spent with Dick, who is a very interesting person (and a very conscientious hunter). This is always an extra bonus when you track for other hunters. You get to meet people from all walks of life, and there is an element of adventure involved.

Tracking season starts well for Cabela, a Wirehaired Pointing Griffon

We got this picture and e-mail from a friend of ours Joe Burns from Ravena, who is also a member of Deer Search. He tracks with his young Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Cabela.

This is a picture of the deer I shot on Saturday afternoon at 4:45 pm. After the shot the deer took off and because it is so thick, I didn't know which way it ran. After 15 minutes I got out of the tree stand and checked for my arrow. No arrow and no visible blood. At that point with it starting to get dark I called Teri to bring out Cabela. At 6:15 pm I brought Cabela to the hit sight, the first thing she did was locate my arrow which was a clean pass through. After I put a tracking collar on her, she went to the left through the thick brush. In my mind as the hunter I thought for sure the deer went to the right. Always trust your dog immediately came to mind only because I heard you say it enough times. I had no visible blood for about 50 yards when Cabela came across a few drops. Then we had no blood until another 50 Yards where it started to become steady. Cabela with her nose to the ground pointed out the five point buck laying dead at the bottom of the hill. I was more excited that Cabela found the deer then I was shooting it.

What would have taken me hours to find only took her about 15 minutes.

Joeri discovers himself as a blood tracker

Yesterday was a great day for Joeri, who discovered himself as a blood tracker. It was a great day for us too as this young dog is everything we have ever looked for in a working dachshund. Had we had a bottle of champagne in the house we would have opened it and celebrated. Well, we were too tired to do it anyway, but we both agreed - Joeri is the best dachshund that we have ever imported.

John does not like to brag about our dogs so reluctantly he wrote this short report:

"Joeri began his day in the Albany Pine Bush, a preserve of undeveloped land that runs east to west through the heart of the suburban Capital District. The deer had been hit late the previous afternoon, and the hunter was not sure of his shot placement; he had lost the blood trail quickly. It was a challenging line that had 100 yards stretches without visible blood. Joeri, with Jolanta handling, was right on for almost a half mile as occasional drops of blood confirmed. In thick cover Joeri jumped the deer, which seemed to be fine. We walked back along a suburban street to our parked cars. The hunter was relieved to know that the deer is going to be fine.

Jolanta, Joeri and Jason (hunter)

The afternoon track was a bit more exciting. Joeri had done so well in the morning that there seemed to be no need for Billy as a back-up dog this time. I went alone with Joeri to meet the hunter on his 300 acre forest property in nearby Westerlo. This was not suburbia! Now we were working a very sparse, seven hour line blood line. The hunter had done an exceptional job that morning, eye-tracking more than a quarter of a mile, but he had lost the trail where the buck had crossed a creek onto an island.

From the hit site Joeri worked the unmarked trail smoothly, even though the blood was dried up now and very difficult for us to see on the red spotted maple leaves; the real challenge began at the point of loss on the bank opposite the island. Beyond that point we could find absolutely no blood. Joeri crossed the creek to the island, worked across it to the other side and then crossed water again. He tracked down along the far bank and finally hooked back onto the island at its lower end. The cover was thick here, but when Joeri’s nose went straight up in the air, I knew we had the deer. He was a big, nine point buck, dead but still warm. Joeri was very proud, but I was even prouder."

Joeri on the top of the 9 pointer he recovered.

Buster and Danika - like father, like daughter

On October 12-15, 2009 I attended two field trials held at Swatara Beagle Club in Elizabethtown, PA. The trials were associated with the Dachshund Club of America 2009. I'll write more about the trials over the next few days but today I'd like to focus my post on just two dachshunds: Danika and Buster.

FC Danika vom Nordlicht, TD SE is owned and handled at all events by Cheri Faust from Madison, WI. Danika is 3.5 years old, and she was bred by Larry Gohlke. Her dam is FC Fredrika von Moosbach-Zuzelek and her sire is FC Clown vom Talsdeich aka Buster.

Danika was entered in one trial only in a class of 37 Field Champion bitches. She won that class and then beat her sire, who was 1st out of 38 Field Champion dogs. This way Danika became Absolute Winner of the Metropolitan Washington Dachshund Club Trial on October 13.

Above - Cheri Faust and Danika

Danika getting a beautiful rosette for winning the FC Bitches stake. Judges - Sandy Horskin (left) and Carrie Hamilton (right).

Danika as Absolute Winner at the trial with 136 entries

Danika being held by Susanne Hamilton

Susanne Hamilton with Buster (Danika's sire) and Cheri Faust with Danika

On October 14 at the Dachshund Club of America National Field Trial Buster repeated his win from the previous day and was 1st in the FC Dogs stake (34 entries). Next day he also won the Best of Field Champions run, defeated a winner of the Open stakes, and this way he became Absolute Winner of the National Trial (135 entries). Buster won a national trial before - in 2006 in Georgia. More info on Buster is at http://www.born-to-track.com/dogs/buster.htm

Susanne and Buster

Susanne, Buster and four judges: Jean Dieden, John Merriman, Robert Schwalbe and Jerry Price.

It took many hours for Susanne to drive home, from Pennsylvania to Maine. When she got home late that night, her phone rang and as it turned out a hunter needed Buster to track a wounded deer. Susanne and Buster went on a call, and were successful at recovering a nice 9 pointer.

Danika and Buster are examples of great versatile teckels in the European tradition.

Congratulations to Cheri and Susanne!

Joeri's first deer; Billy's first deer of the season

posted by John Jeanneney


Yesterday was a good opening day for us. Jolanta went with me on the two calls so we were able to handle two tracking dogs, Joeri and Billy.

The first call was ideal for young Joeri as an introduction to the real thing. It was a stomach shot that went about 150 yards. This line was about 5 hours old. The hunter was afraid that if he pushed the deer he might lose it, so he wanted to get a tracking dog on the line.

Joeri, with Jolanta handling, had little difficulty tracking the sparse but visible blood trail across a brook and through some thick cover until he found the deer dead. Joeri thought that that the deer was much more exciting than that old deer skin at the end of the line.

Jolanta with Joeri

The second deer, a big 7 pointer, was much more challenging.
Joeri started again with patient Billy acting as back-up dog. Although the pass-through shot proved to be almost perfect for placement, there was very little external blood on the ground.
Joeri did well on this older, much more difficult line, but after about 250 yards he missed where the buck had changed direction and had gone up hill.

Billy, tracking along behind, recognized Joeri’s mistake and followed the correct scent line up the hill. Then I saw a drop of blood. Billy and I made another turn and in 25 yards there was the big deer dead.

It was old stuff for Billy, but Joeri tracking along behind thought that this was just amazing. The two dogs shared “their” deer with only a few minor growls.

The hunter went wild with joy, hugged me and kissed Jolanta on both cheeks.

Joe and Doc - a tracking team from Indiana; a vest for a blood tracking dog

The picture of Doc and Carl came from Joe Walters from Indiana, who wrote:

The tracking was excellent. After last blood nothing for about 75 yds. He went past the deer on the down wind side by about 10 yds and raised his head to wind it and circled back to it. Chewed on the tail. And after hunter gutted it out, I gave Doc a piece of liver and he chewed on it for a second and spit it out and started barking and wanting back on the deer. If you can't find Doc in the pic, look for his red harness.

Just few days later I talked to Susanne Hamilton who was on her way back from a weekend of blood tracking in Vermont. Susanne and Buster recovered two deer out of four, but what she raved most about was Buster's harness. Two of their calls were in a swamp, and in situations like this she finds this harness/vest invaluable. Actually, Susanne was the first who started to use this particular type of vest, and since then other handlers have started to use it too. The DiPietro family from Vermont swears by it. The picture below show Chris DiPietro handling Scout at the August workshop in NH, and Scout is sporting the red vest.

This particular harness/vest is carried by Ruffwear and more info and pics are posted here.

Handlers who use the vest for their dogs point out the advantages:

- ease of pulling the dog out of swamp or river thanks to the handle mounted on the top
- when a dogs pulls a lot, there is no pressure exerted on his windpipe as it is the case with a collar
- a dog's chest is somewhat protected from getting scratched and cut; as Susanne says: the soft underbelly flannel somehow keeps Buster from having his entire belly scratched up.

I am looking forward to hearing Andy Bensing's review of the custom made vest he ordered from Wild Boar USA/Ugly Dog Ranch store. One of his dogs has a pretty thin hair and gets all torn up on the chest, sides and belly when she squeezes through the briars. I think that his vest might provide a better protection from scratches than the Ruffwear harness.

10/18/2009
Joe Walters sent me this e-mail after he had seen the post about the Ruffwear vest:
I was tracking a gut shot deer for a hunter the other morning and the track ended at a ditch. It only had about three or four inches of water in it so I picked Doc up by his harness and proceeded across. Under the water was about three feet of black muck and I went in over my "frog legs", chaps over knee boots. Doc came out unscaithed, but I came out smelling pretty awful and very wet. Oh, the joys of tracking. I love it. Joe and Doc

Susanne Hamilton added:

With all the tracking I've done, I have not had a single issue with injuries to the skin at all, (amazing enough no scratches whatsoever). The thing that's most valuable is the handle... heck I pick Buster up by it all the time. The other good thing is that the actual clip where I use the leash seems just in the right place to relieve stress of the dogs back.
Buster has been less tired and less sore since using the ruffwear harness. Sometimes too much harness can cause rubbing, so until the new vest is proven and put through the ringer, like the ruffwear one has, and by several trackers, I think it's not really right to say that Andy's vest is going to be even better.

***

It looks like handlers love the Ruffwear harness/vest.

How to locate blood tracking dogs that can help hunters recover their wounded deer

A deer hunting season has already opened in some states, and every day we get phone calls from hunters who would like to locate a blood tracking dog that could help them find their wounded big game.

If you are looking for tracking services, the United Blood Trackers website can help you. Go to http://www.unitedbloodtrackers.org/find-map.php, click on your state, you will see a list of available trackers. First, however, you should first learn whether tracking wounded big game with dogs is legal where you hunt. Regulations are controlled by state, and vary a lot from one state to another. Now this activity, which many view as a very integral part of ethical hunting, has been legalized in 18 states where any use of dogs in deer hunting, including the recovery of wounded deer, was previously illegal. State regulations can be checked at the United Blood Trackers’ website at http://www.unitedbloodtrackers.org/state-reg.php

If you live in New York state, calling Deer Search is your best option. This volunteer-based organization was formed in 1977, and currently has three chapters. For tracking services call:
- the mid-Hudson Valley area call (845) 227-5099
- Western part of New York state (716) 648-4355
- Finger Lakes Region (585) 935-5220
In the Capital District the number is (518) 872-1779.

In New York state only trackers licensed by Department of Environmental Conservation can track wounded game with leashed dogs. If there is no Deer Search tracker in your area, call your local conservation officer as he might know of local tracking services. Not all licensed handlers are members of Deer Search.

If you are looking for tracking services in Texas, go to http://www.texastrackers.com/Contacts.htm

Georgia has a published list of trackers at http://www.gon.com/page.php?id=67

Some blood trackers have personal websites and blogs describing their services:

• Alabama & Georgia A.J. Niette http://www.deertracking.us/
• Georgia: Ken Parker http://www.hillockkennels.com/
• Georgia: Kyle http://www.bloodtrackers.us/
• Illinois Madison County: Neal Meyers http://illinoistracker.com/
• Illinois Quincy: Neal Meyers http://adamspikeoutdoors.com/bloodtrackers.htm
• Maine York County: Tony http://mainewhitetailrecovery.com/
• Michigan: Rob Miller http://scouttracker.blogspot.com/
• Michigan: Jim Mayer Yooperstracking.blogspot.com

I'll close this post with a good story from Steve about his young dachshund Ruby:

Earlier in the season I took Ruby out to track a deer that I had shot, and had seen go down in about 50 yards. She did great, but I have been looking forward to take her out on a trail where I didn't know where the deer was.

I am in an area where most of the hunting opportunities take place in very populated suburban areas, where the homeowners are desperate to reduce the population. This evening I shot a button buck about 15 minutes before dark. The shot looked a little high, but good. The deer ran across the road, and I lost sight of it as it crossed a large lawn. There was no problem finding the blood on the road, but about twenty yards onto the lawn, I couldn't advance the trail at all. After about an hour of searching all of the trails along the edge of the woods, and the landscaped beds around the houses, I made no progress.

The wind was absolutely howling, and I wasn't sure the dogs could pick up the scent on the open lawn, but it seemed like a good opportunity to get Ruby out on a challenging track. I took her to the last blood, and after a minute or two of working it out, she seemed sure of herself, and lead me to a small island of very thick cover, about twenty five feet across, in the middle of the lawn.

I had already searched it thoroughly while looking for blood earlier, and found nothing, but she seemed sure. She disappeared into the brush, and I got down on my knees and shined the light in to see her on the deer. It had apparently taken a final leap, and buried itself in the impenetrable thicket. There were no trails leading into it, and no visible blood on the brush where it jumped in. I was ecstatic.

The deer was not visible at all from the lawn, and had she not found it, I would have spent hours tomorrow searching the woods, sure that it had gone there. She saved all the time and anguish, and I couldn't be prouder.

Just goes to show that the trail doesn't have to be long, or the hit bad, to make recovery difficult, and a tracking dog a huge help!

Ruby with the deer she recovered.

Training young or inexperienced tracking dog on natural blood lines

Recently our borntotrack discussion forum had a very good discussion about how to train and track with a young dog in her first tracking season.

Andy Bensing said: I think the best natural line for a young dog is a line that has been eyeball tracked and marked first, then bring the dog in and you can run that natural line like a training line to the dog’s best benefit. Of course if the deer has already been found, having the whole deer at the end or if running the next day, the deer skin there is terrific. I have used natural lines where the deer was not recovered as good training lines also. To do this I mark the line before I bring out the young dog and I place a deer skin at the last know point of the line. To try and keep it real, I have also rubbed the “find” skin with some of the blood taken from leaves along the way if there was enough to make that work.

Few days later Don D. from Michigan who is starting to track with a six-month-old Gunther (a Billy/Gilda puppy) shared his recent experience. It was a perfect learning opportunity.

I have attached some pictures of Gunther's first find. I will confess it was a controlled find, but none the less it was a great learning experience for him. October 1 was opening day here in Michigan for bow season. My brother Bart and I had a goal of shooting a doe and setting up a live track for Gunther. It worked out perfect. Bart shot the the doe in the pictures at about 9 am. We let her go for several hours and then tracked her making sure to stay well off the line. We found her about 200 yards away, she traveled through varying terrain and ended up in a swamp on our leased land.The blood trail was consistent so it was a perfect set up for Gunther. I put him on the track about 5 hours after the shot. The conditions were warm, dry and breezy. We were unable to find his arrow during our dog less track, but Gunther found it for us about 40 yards into the track. He did very well, stayed on the line. Did get off it twice, but found his way by circling back and picking it up on his own. He did lose it in the high weeds in the swamp, the blood was high on the reeds and I think it was above him. Which makes me think he is tracking the blood smell much more than the deer smell at this point in his young career. Once he got back on the line he found the doe in the swamp. At first he was not sure what to do. He looked at me with a look like............"now what do I do?" ......but once he saw our excitement over his find he tore into the doe. He tried to drag it, tugged on it, licked the blood and became very excited. when we tried to move him off it he growled a bit as if to say " this is mine!!" I let him watch the entire process of gutting the deer as he wined and tried to get closer. In the end he got a nice piece of liver and a leg to chew on for awhile. Very good experience for both of us, learned a lot. Very pleased with my little partner.

Another wounded moose recovered by Theo

This morning e-mail brought this picture with this caption: "A big bull moose found by Theo near New Brunswick. We got back to Mont Carmel at 5 AM!" Readers of this blog know that John is in Quebec and he has been staying with his friend Alain Ridel. I am sure that more info about this call will come but in the meantime trackers have to get some well deserved sleep.

A new addition to our dachshund family - Mischa z Kmetónyho dvora

You never know what's expecting you around next corner. Life serves surprises all the time.

Six weeks ago I was contacted by Monika F. from New Jersey by e-mail: "I am from Slovakia and I moved to NJ 8 years ago. I used to breed short hair dachshunds. My father still does breed wirehairs. He is moving here from Slovakia to live with us and he brought his 2 girls, mom and daughter. They got into fight and don’t get along anymore. We tried everything but is not working. We would love to find somebody who would take younger one. She is a beautiful dog with a very good personality. She loves to be around people, plays with my son all the time. She is very happy and easygoing dog."

This is how our and Mischa's journey began.

I asked Monika for Mischa's pedigree and pictures, and I liked very much what I saw.

Mischa in Slovakia

There was something very attractive about Mischa in these pictures. I liked her pedigree too. Her sire is Irox z Kmetónyho dvora and her dam is Hesja ab Hinc; basically she comes from a mixture of European bloodlines.

John and I decided to evaluate Mischa and help Monika find a good working or pet home... or keep her for ourselves, based on the outcome of our evaluation. I picked her up on August 19. Surprisingly she was very relaxed on our way back home. She slept on the passenger's seat most of the time, except when I had to slow down - the she would wake up and "talk" to me. I was a complete stranger to her, yet she connected with me right away and she was very much at ease. Once at our place she has turned out to be an excellent companion, and we both love her disposition. She is very good with our dogs, and especially with our six month old Paika.

We started to work Mischa on rabbits and deer blood, and for the first week we did not see any progress. She had never been hunted before, and in New Jersey she spent a lot of time in a large yard with invisible fence. Just when I was ready to give up on trying to work her, Mischa started to run rabbits and voice on them. She was getting better with every day... and then she came in heat. The timing was very inconvenient for us so I asked Monika to get her back and keep her for two weeks.

Finally ten days ago Mischa came back to us after a two week break. Last weekend I took her to dachshund field trials in New Jersey, and on the second day she placed 2nd in the stake of 24 open bitches. She worked hard, had some very good runs, and altogether showed a really good potential.

I know that it was not easy for Monika to part with Mischa, but she made a right decision. I have seen so many situations when two dogs in the same household (usually of the same gender) don't get along, have to be kept separated all the time, yet their owners cannot bring themselves to part with one. It can be a truly heartbreaking decision, but finding a new home for one of the dogs is the best decision for all involved.

As Mischa is sound asleep at my feet under the desk, I am very thankful for the unexpected and precious gift!

Mischa in Berne, NY

Cabelas jacket kept Mike warm but it was a tracking dog who found his deer

The picture is taken from the Cabelas online catalog. It was sent to me by Larry Gohlke whose tracking dog Nix was instrumental in recovery of this buck. I asked Larry to write more about how it had happened.

"Mike Sr hunts a piece of land where he sees lots of deer during bow season including the week before our Wisconsin deer rifle season. He then puts his son Mike Jr in what should be the very best spot for the nine day rifle season. The result has been that almost no deer show up for the kid. Last year his luck changed a lot. Unfortunately, when this large buck showed up just before closing time another 10 deer did too. Mike thought he made a good shot on the buck but when it took off there were tails going every direction.

I was called in to find the buck which was one of eleven deer in the area before the shot. There is no telling how many other deer showed up after dark and before we started tracking. There was no blood and Mike only knew that none of the deer had run toward him. I have had to look for a number of deer with similar starts. My two year old dog Nix and I work together pretty well in these situations.

We started at one side checking the possible escape routes and followed many trails without finding any blood. At one point we actually chased some deer across a wooden foot bridge. What a racket! After many trails that didn't have any blood on them we took a trail which one of the hunters had just inspected. We found one drop of blood that the hunter had missed. After a distance we came to a blown down tree and the next blood. The deer had stopped before the tree leaving a blood trail and then walked to the other side of the tree and died in the tree branches and tall marsh grass.

I am convinced that a lot of deer could be found with dogs, the deer that the hunter would never be able to confirm were hit. Mike is a believer!


Larry Gohlke"

Larry Gohlke with Nix

Early fall in the Albany County Hilltowns - leaves are starting to change color

We live in Berne (NY), which is one of the four Albany County Hilltowns. The other three towns are Knox, Westerlo and Rensselaerville. Even though we are only 30 minutes from Albany, the capital of New York State, the Hilltowns area is quite rural. We love it here, and the views of changing colors in September and October are breath taking. Right now the predominant color is luscious green, but sumac is starting to show a lot of red. Our running grounds for dachshunds start to look spectacular. Our hunting season starts on October 17 so we still have a long way to go. In the meantime we will be going to dachshund field trials, and this upcoming weekend I'll be running our dogs in NJ.

Effie passes a Deer Search pre-certification test

We got this very nice e-mail from Kevin Armstrong from the Finger Lakes Chapter of Deer Search. Kevin tracks with Karma v Moosbach-Zuzelek, and his friend Ron Betts works with Effie, Karma's younger sister.

"Ron asked me to email you to let you know that Effie passes her pre-certification test yesterday on a measured 500 meter, 20+ hour old 1/2 cup blood trail with 2X90 degree turns. The weather was 72f, sunny and dry, hardly ideal conditions. Effie would have aced the trail in 10 minutes had a flock of turkey not roosted above the trail over night and flown down to scratch around below the roost a few hours earlier. The hot turkey scent put her off for a few minutes but the handler recognized the situation just as Effie was called back. Back on the trail she ran the remaining 100 yards to the reward in a minute or two. An absolutely outstanding job! Ron Betts is a mighty proud man today, as he should be! At 1.5 years old Effie is on her way to becoming another Billy/Gilda wonder dog!"

Congratulations to Ron and Effie!

Tracking wounded moose in Quebec

In a couple of days John will be going to Quebec to track wounded moose, and he will be staying with Alain Ridel at Mont Carmel. Alain and his wife Marjolaine own a wirehaired dachshund Theo imported from France, whom we used for breeding last winter.

Alain recent e-mail brought a picture of the Theo's recent recovery nad this short description:

"Hello John,

This is to give you a foretaste for next week. Moose hunting began yesterday morning; I left for a moose call at 9:15 PM and finished at 10:45 PM. The search took place in a forest filled with black spruce and a very, very large number of moose. The length of the track was 776 meters. There wasn't a drop of blood, even at the hit site. The animal was shot with a cross bow.

Théo worked very hard, but you can see the results. Greetings as I wait to share with you the joys of tracking. "

A start to Leroy's first blood tracking season.

Just recently I posted some correspondence about mixed breeds so A.J.'s e-mail that we received on Monday was very timely. The picture shows his young Leroy, which is a beagle/walker mix.


Mr. John

Shot this deer opening day of bow season (Sept. 12). The deer ran off 150 yds, I waited one hour went and got Leroy. I put him where the deer was walking before I shot him....the scent was so strong that after he found blood he went straight to the deer...he got nose on him. I forgot Leroy was a little unsure about the dead deer, it was new to him. Later that day I let Leroy out of the kennel to go to bathroom and he took off back down the road 1000 yds where he found the deer.

aj

A Mountain Lion Shrinks

by John Jeanneney

Tim Nichols, over on the New York/Vermont border, has the best of tracking worlds. He is positioned to track in the early bear seasons in Vermont and northern New York, and he also gets to track deer and bear later in New York’s Southern Zone. Tim’s latest adventure in Vermont suggests that the “Green Mountain Boys” don’t always have their act together in early September. The sun still beats down hot on their heads, and they have been known to get over-excited.

The call came in to Tim from the Vermont Conservation Officers; they had a report of a wounded mountain lion, shot in the hind quarters with a 30-30. The hunters were afraid that the big cat, in his distress, might attack someone.. They were sure that he was big and at 30 or 40 yards they had clearly seen his long tail (mountain lions, unlike bobcats, have long tails).

Tim arrived with the Conservation Officers to learn that an attempt had already been made to track the cat with a Golden Retriever. There had been a little altercation with the cat in a big thicket, and it had been the Golden who fled and refused to track any more.

Tim and his Bavarian Mountain Bloodhound then tracked the cat out of the thicket to where the big predator was dispatched by the officers. Surprise! It wasn’t really that big (30-35 pounds) and the tail was actually very short; it was a bobcat! And the bobcat was out of season.

It will be interesting to see what the Vermont courts do with this case. Bobcat hunting season was not open, and in the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Code there is also an article forbidding the shooting of mountain lions, if there are any. At least the hunters did the right thing in reporting what they believed they had seen and what they believed they had done.

For Tim and Bruno it wasn’t a difficult tracking job even though the line was nearly a day old. What was impressive was the way young Bruno stood up to the live, snarling bob cat. Maybe it wasn’t a mountain lion, but it was capable of doing some nasty work on a dog.

Questions on the use of mutts and rescue dogs in blood tracking

The deer hunting/tracking season must be just around a corner as the volume of e-mails with questions on blood tracking has increased substantially. Two recent questions are dealing with mutts and rescue dogs. A.J. Niette from Georgia has a lot of experience with this kind of dogs - read about him here. His website is at http://www.deertracking.us/aboutme.html

These are two questions we received recently.

Question 1:
I'm an avid bowhunter who adopted Muzzy from a rescue shelter. He's just over 7 months old. He's just a good ol' American mutt, the pound said lab, shepherd, boxer. He's been very active in the back yard chasing, and catching moles. I watch him run the drain tile where they appear to be living, nose to the ground. He also is helping in the squirrel control department. He is neutered. I am very interested in training him to track wounded deer (my buddy and his son lost a total of 4 last year) and would love to purchase your book, however, if it's going to be an exercise in futility, I'd rather expend my energy and create frustration somewhere else. Any advice you can give would be greatly appreciated.

John's answer:

Hi Jim,
You can’t go by breed labels or mixed breed labels. All dogs are not equal when it comes to tracking, of course, but sometimes you find dogs with decent abilities that come out of unusual backgrounds. Since you already have your rescue dog, you certainly should give him a try. Deer season is not far off. See how he takes to a deer liver drag, or an easy blood line to a thawed out deer skin. Let him track and easy deer that has already been found.

---------

Question 2

I purchased your book last week, received it yesterday and finished reading it today. Very detailed!!! Thanks.

I am a life long hunter and love working with “working” dogs. In the past I worked a K-9 for my department (Arson) and had a great time doing so. What I picked up in the book was some dogs naturally have it and some don’t (Genetics) for this type of work. I live in Central Texas and in your book you like bigger dogs in this part of the county due to the snake population.

How do you feel about rescued (Young) dogs from the pound? We have a lot of them and they put a lot of them down weekly. I know a lot of police dogs (Drugs/Arson) that came from the pound. In your 3rd edition of the book it may be a good subject…

John's answer:

I tried not to have a breed bias evident in my book. Certainly breed selection should be influenced by the local conditions in which you will be tracking. For example I would not use a dachshund in South Texas, but on the Edward Plateau maybe.

Rescue dogs are a gamble and you have to have an experienced eye to pick out a good prospect. Many of these dogs have behavioral problems; that’s why they are in the pound. You can use some of these dogs for substance search and identification, but they may not have the line sense and the willingness to work as a team with a handler that is necessary for tracking under difficult conditions. Thanks for the suggestion to discuss this important issue in the 3rd edition. I have no direct experience with this, but I did take a seminar dealing with these dogs.

Blood tracking with Fritz, a mini longhaired dachshund

My first contact with Cedar was when he asked me about a blood tracking harness for his blood tracking dog - a mini longhaired dachshund. Curious I asked for more information about the dog. This was Cedar's reply:

"Well, his name is Fritz, and he is 3 years old. When I got him first I had no intention to use him for hunting until I came home with a deer. He was only a few months old and I could not keep him away from it so I went online and found your website. I bought your book and the following deer season I had a blood tracking machine. He found 6 deer and a couple hogs that first year. This is his second year and we've already found 2 lost bucks this archery season. We've already built quite the reputation and have friends of friends calling for his help. Thanks for the harness tip and all the great info in the book. P.S. are your dachshunds as stubborn as mine? Lol"

Cedar, good luck to you and Fritz! You have a very talented dog.

Dachshunds and field obedience

Yesterday we received a nice e-mail from Anne Bauersachs, who is a daughter of Rosemarie Bauersachs, a breeder of our Joeri vom Nonnenschlag. She said: "Our local DCN group sometimes organizes a hike with our teckels. At the August hike about 30 people and more than 20 dogs were hiking in the morning. The picture shows from the left: Jannis, Florie, Darja, Jette, Justus, Isidor, Corrie, Kleo; all “vom Nonnenschlag”; Jannis, Jette and Justus are Joeri's siblings."

In Germany a great deal of emphasis is placed on field obedience, and the picture shows dogs which have been trained to "stay". So often we see that American handlers of blood tracking dachshunds do not train their dogs to handle when they are off-leash. Since in many states blood tracking dogs can be worked only when they are leashed, their field training off-leash does not get enough attention. What a shame! Dachshunds can be used for so many hunting tasks, but they need to be properly trained to "come" when called. Read more about the dachshund as a forester's dog in this article John wrote in 2004:

A Forester's Dog

By John Jeanneney, 2004

Early in the last century the ideal image of the dachshund depicted “a forester’s dog”. To be sure foresters were not the actual breeder/developers of the early standard dachshund. And by the early 1900s most dachshunds in Germany were actually household companions of town and city dwellers. Yet the identity of the dachshund, its mystique, was tied to a vision of a loyal, responsive dog, who accompanied the local forester on his daily rounds of inspection of the forests and game under his jurisdiction. There were a few, supremely fortunate dachshunds who actually lived this life.

It was the role of the forester’s dachshund to extend his master’s awareness of what was going on in the forest. The nose and inquisitiveness of the dachshund, the vision and the intelligence of the man came together in a superior symbiosis, a mixed pack of two working together.

The dachshund ranged out, but not too far, 200 meters at most, and he checked back frequently with the forester. Voice and body language expressed what the dachshund had discovered: Perhaps the wild boars were back again, rooting out the young transplants in the pine plantation, or the old fox den was reoccupied, its entrance graced with the bones of a roe deer fawn. This was the idealized role of the dachshund: a devoted and responsive working partner.

A hundred years later we don’t see much of this in America. We have “obedience trials” where well-trained dachshunds follow the commands of their owners. And we have field trials where many dachshunds exhibit little obedience at all. There is little that brings obedience work and field work together into a “complete dachshund.” For example, one of the most talented field trial dachshunds of the 90s was an imported wire who also earned AKC Obedience tiles. He failed to win several field trials because he did not recall after his run and was unavailable with other brace mates. Somehow, there was a difference between “obedience within eye contact” and obedience and responsiveness in the wild, brushy yonder of the field trial grounds

This was not an isolated experience. All too often at field trials the dachshunds with the most “hunt” are the ones most difficult to control. They would not be very useful in actual hunting. The handler would spend more time hunting for his dog than hunting for game. Here, I write from personal experience.

On the whole the minis seem better than the standards when it comes to field obedience. Their smaller size reduces their range a bit and this helps. But more is involved.

One of the best examples of field cooperation is to be found in the multi species pack made up of Teddy Moritz, a Harris hawk and two or three longhaired miniature dachshunds. The key to their success is that they all work together almost daily. Each species knows its role, and they work together as efficiently as a small pack of wolves. When the hawking season is over, the Harris takes a vacation. The object of the hunt shifts from cottontails to groundhogs, and a greyhound crossbred known as a lurcher replaces the hawk. The cooperative pack work continues.

Some of the same psychological and social dynamics come into play when a handler works with his dog to find wounded game. The dog learns very quickly that he has a nose and line sense very superior to that of his handler. Handler and dog come together as a working team when the handler learns to trust and respect his dog, and to praise him for his accomplishments. This can evolve into an intuitive bond not unlike a good marriage.

One of the keenest pleasures of living with a dog comes with the enrichment of our own consciousness through the senses and perceptions of another, very different intelligent species. As well as we can we must bridge the gap between our dogs and ourselves without giving up our respective identities.

If we hunt game regularly with our dogs, working cooperation comes easily. We recreate the primitive circumstances that originally brought dogs and humans together. Of course, most dachshunds owners cannot to this. They will seldom or never have the opportunity to solve hunting problems together with a canine companion. Still it is possible to use the pack instinct, hard-wired into our dogs, as they cooperate with us in other activities. In the wolf pack the alpha male does not boss and micro-manage other pack members all the time as to what they should do. Often Alpha allows other members, with particular gifts and specialties, to take over. As human alphas we should not approach every joint venture with our dogs as a matter of “command” and “obey”. Sometimes alpha authority is required, but the best times transcend this. We can experience this in agility, and human tracking as well, as well as in hunting. There can be a carry-over to field obedience from activities that have nothing directly to do with hunting. Formal obedience training is one of these, but it is not enough.

We must recognize certain obstacles that stand in the way of developing a cooperative pack relationship with our dogs. One of these is immaturity. The “silly puppy” stage of early development is something that we must outwait. Little can be done but to offer affection and firm, gentle guidance. Then just as we emerge from the young puppy phase, we run into the stubborn rebelliousness of adolescence. Those who have parented teenagers are best prepared for this. Don’t expect your dog to emerge as a reliable partner in much of anything until he is a year old at least. A dog’s youth is the time to lay the foundations of trust for the future.

Another obstacle to establishing close relationships with dogs is having too many of them. Those of us who breed dogs seriously lament that there is never enough time to establish a working relationship with each one. The German forester, with his solitary canine partner, did not have this problem. Developing his dachshund was a natural extension of his daily work.

In the 21st century few of us can live and work with one or two dogs as a part of our profession. We have to make difficult compromises; sometimes we have to realize that a policy of equal time for every dog means that we will never have a “forester’s dog” relationship with any of them. For example if you have ten dogs, you may find it hard to focus “unfairly” on the most promising of the two to five year olds. Dogs do not enjoy seeing certain pack mates get more attention. Still this is not cruel as it would be for a human child. Dog society, like that of wolves, is hierarchical; dogs accept inequality as part of the natural order.

As mentioned earlier a practical starting step to a special cooperative relationship in the field is gentle obedience work, not just indoors or in the yard, but also during walks in the woods and countryside. Dachshunds can learn what “Come” means through the use of a 30 to 40 ft long of plastic clothesline. The challenge begins of course after the clothesline phase is over. When the dog is out at a distance of twenty clothesline lengths and out of eye contact, his sense of loyalty and cooperation may not kick in as we would hope. Space-minded as they are, dogs do often go through a stage of feeling that there is a “sphere of cooperation”, outside of which they are free to do anything they want.

NATC Field Obedience Test Sept 2006 - John with Billy healing off leash

By closing the distance with the dog, and by firm command, the dog can be brought back into cooperative control. This is not always easy, especially when you don’t even know where to find your dog. But it can be done; long distance recall training has been accomplished for many centuries. It requires patience and some running; a horse helps.

Two modern technological developments make it easier to establish control and co-operation, and they can be used without brutalizing your dog or destroying your relationship with him.

The first is the beeper collar, which was developed for pointing dogs. For older human ears it is easier to hear than a bell, but another great value is that it is less intrusive for the dog. When the dog is on the move the beep is issued only once every ten seconds instead of every second when the dog is stationary. I find that it is very useful to tell me where the dog is so that I can reestablish communication. At fifty feet, even out of sight in thick brush, a dog is more likely to listen to me than at long-range shouting distance.

The second item is the e-collar or electronic collar formerly referred to as the “shocking collar”. You don’t have to shock your dog, although the potential to do this certainly does exist. The e-collar, by that other name, has inspired visions of a torture tool or a slightly less than lethal electric chair. This is akin to being against motor vehicles because they have the potential to cause great pain and suffering. Modern e-collars have adjustable levels of “electrical stimulation”. In training you work at very low levels, somewhat milder but more sustained than the sensation of a static electrical charge when you have been walking a wool rug on a winter morning. In training I never use a “stimulation level” which I have not tried on myself first.

In the field when I call and am ignored, I transmit a signal to the e-collar, I may hear a surprised yelp, but no more than that. In any case I want to see the tail wagging again within thirty seconds. The tingle on the dog’s neck seems to impress him more than shouts of “come”. I don’t think that the dog is impressed by any pain; but he is aware that Alpha has “Big Magic”, establishing Alpha’s presence even though he is a 100 yards away.

The beeper and the e-collar are no substitute for the psychological base created through hours of cooperative work and gentle, close-in training. Correctly used these tools are extenders and facilitators because the obedience class approach, in itself, is not enough to turn a spirited hunting dog into a cooperative partner.

Even in Germany the old fashioned German forester is long gone, but developing a “working pack” relationship with your dachshund can be done in other ways. Use the methods of firm and structured discipline combined with lots of praise. Present, as much as possible, formal discipline in a broader emotional framework in which you and your dog do things and explore together. The sphere of cooperation will expand because the dog loves to please his pack mate. There is more to the human/dog relationship than command and obey.

NATC Field Obedience Test Sept 2006 - a long down; at the top Sherry Ruggieri's Auggie, at the bottom our Billy

Blood tracking tests: pros and cons

By John Jeanneney, Full Cry September 2009

In much of the tracking dog world, blood tracking tests are very important in people’s minds. They sometimes become more important than natural tracking of the real thing. In Germany, for example, I have talked to handlers of some of the best performing dachshunds at the National Blood Tracking Championships for dachshunds. They had not taken many game searches the previous season, generally only two or three. Part of this was no doubt due to the fact that there are not enough wounded animals in Germany to go around! Also there are political factors involved; you have to own certain breeds of dogs, tested of course, before you can be certified to get in on the best tracking situations. Dachshunds, believe it or not, are generally excluded from this privileged circle.

In Germany the National Blood Tracking Competition is a prestigious event. The picture shows a closing ceremony of Bundessiegersuche Chorin 2006.

Hunting in Germany is a privilege for which you must pay dearly unless you have connections. Many owners of “versatile” dogs like the Deutsch Drahthaar (original German version of the German wirehaired pointer) spend a good deal of time on training for a series of tests that establish the merits of their dog. If they have such a dog, hunting opportunities will come more easily and probably at a lower cost.

Fortunately, circumstances are not the same yet in the USA, but the “culture of tests” can be found here nonetheless. I have done a number of workshops with the Deutsch Drahthaar organization in the United States, and met dedicated people with a lot of dog savvy. However, when it came to the blood tracking test most of them are interested in passing it, primarily because this is a requirement for attaining the highest German rating for a versatile hunting dog. Certainly they are willing to take on a wounded deer situation, if it comes up, but they are primarily bird hunters.

There are some notable exceptions in the well organized Deutsch Drahthaar Group in the United States. These people are strongly dedicated to the idea of developing their dogs as natural blood trackers. Marty and Mikki Vlach of Nebraska are two of these, and Forrest Moore of Georgia is another. I have seen some superb Drahthaar trackers of the real thing, but a majority of the Drahthaars in the US are too high-headed and birdy to work well on old, cold lines. They need special training to lower their head and their velocity in order to pass the blood tracking test.

By this time you have realized that I have some reservations about artificial blood tracking tests, but certainly, all things considered, they are a very positive influence in the blood tracking world. Let’s consider some of the positive aspects: For one thing a test deadline creates a motivation to train your dog, and learn to read him, even though you have dozens of other things to do. It is tremendously important to learn your dog’s body language as he goes off on a hot line or regains the correct scent line after a tough check.

Tests bring together handlers who ordinarily would not meet. They can compare notes and observe the working styles of one another’s dogs. They end up understanding their own dogs better.

Blood tracking tests are sometimes the best means we have to separate competent handlers and trained dogs from these who simply want to shake down a hunter for a few bucks. A few years ago I made a sampling, by phone, of the trackers listed on the Georgia Outdoor News web site, which lists trackers in that state who are ready to help hunters find wounded deer. The majority of the handlers I spoke with were knowledgeable and experienced, but I encountered a few who had no clue about the service they planned to offer for a price.

Blood tracking tests are needed, but they do have certain limitations; they are not a guarantee, in themselves, that a dog is capable of finding wounded big game under difficult conditions. Nor do they accurately establish which dogs are going to be the best at natural tracking when times are tough. When tracking the real thing, problems arise that would not be encountered in an artificial test or in the training done for that test. Long stretches with no blood and dead spots where there is no scent make up part of these problems.

The best means I have to illustrate certain problems with artificial tests is to draw upon a few of my experiences with my own dogs. Sometimes taking a test was exhilarating and sometimes it was humiliating. My happiest test adventure was with Gerte vom Dornenfeld, a wirehaired dachshund that I imported from Germany as a puppy.

I entered Gerte in a German JGV blood tracking test which was administered in New York State by German judges. Most of the dogs entered were big Deutsch Drahthaars from all over the country. My little 18 pound dog looked ridiculous and out of place, but she managed to rack up a Prize I, 100 points and be recognized by the German judges as the best blood tracking dog at that event.


John and Gerte are shown here after earning a Prize I in a German JGV blood tracking test. In the German tradition they are wearing Oak Leaves as the badge of success.

I never had another dog that did as well as Gerte in a blood tracking test. Did that mean that she was my best tracking dog ever? No! After a slow beginning she gave me several years of very good but not exceptional work. What she lacked was mental toughness. She quit on me one afternoon in a snow storm, and I retired her. She was far from being my best dog on real wounded deer.

Gerte’s daughter, Sabina von Moosbach-Zuzelek was very different, thanks to her sire who was a Czech import that we located in British Columbia. Sabina had a slow, meticulous style, but on old, difficult natural tracks without blood she would correct herself when she recognized that she was on the wrong deer. She would come back as much as 200 yards on her own until she was sure that she was on the right line again. When it came to staying on the track Sabina was as tough as they come. In a snowstorm she plowed though snow, following old scent on the ground beneath for a half mile before she found the deer dead under a drift.

As a puppy Sabina was a very good test dog. At six months of age she scored 92 and a year later she scored 90. Both of these were Prize I performances under the Deer Search test rules that are similar to the German ones. As Sabina got older and more experienced on natural tracks, her performance on artificial tests declined. She knew that these tests were fake, and she had little interest in them. At age five she got a Prize III, 50 points in Germany, barely passing, and she later failed a German test in the USA. On that last test the judge had me pick her up for lack of desire and progress. It would have been a mistake to evaluate Sabina as a natural tracking dog, solely on the basis of her test scores.

The most frequent pattern that I have observed in tracking dogs, as a handler and as a judge is as follows: A dog will do quite well in demos or in tests as a puppy before adolescence sets in. Once the dog has had a strong experience in natural tracking, there will be a decline in test performance since the dogs has learned that artificial blood lines are not as much fun as the real thing. Usually at maturity, around four, the dog will realize that tracking in any form is the greatest thing in the world. At this point he will track a natural scent line, a faked blood line or a line of marmalade. It doesn’t make much difference.

Fortunately or unfortunately, hard-headed Sabina did not follow this classic pattern. And it was the same thing at dachshund field trials running rabbits. At three she had the best winning record of any dachshund in the country. Two years later she decided that running rabbits at a field trial was nonsense. She would still run rabbits at home, but not at a trial where she knew some judge would say “pick ‘em up” as soon as she nicely got started.

What these tracking dog stories suggest is that you have to look at the big picture in making decisions. For example what can you learn about the parents of a tracking pup that you might buy. Check the test records, but ask also, “What is the story on natural tracks?” And watch out for the guy who says his dog always finds 90% of the deer. Probably many of these deer could have been found within 40 yards by his four year-old grandson.

Some tests are better than others. I would like to have more experience with the tracking shoe test. I have used tracking shoes in training, and I was impressed. In the German tracking shoe test the line is laid over 1000 meters, the same as in the regular blood tracking test. But much less blood is used, and the dog is basically tracking the interdigital scent carried between the cloves of the hoofs attached to the tracking shoes. This is more realistic, and in consequence many experienced dogs are more motivated to work well.

In Europe there are also natural tests conducted on actual wounded animals. These are the best in my opinion, but they are hard to set up logistically. It is not easy to get three qualified judges together to evaluate a dog in a situation, which by its nature cannot be planned ahead of time. Natural tests work best after big organized drives of a sort that we don’t have in North America.

Certainly the best way to judge the worth of a dog is to observe him yourself as he operates on the real thing. Don’t be in a hurry to buy a puppy, or an “experienced” dog (if you can find one). Ask lots of questions.



May 2006 - Andy Bensing is shown with Arno von Gronenwald (right) who scored 92 points and Prize I on the NATC overnight blood tracking test and Arno's grandsire FC Asko von der Drachenburg (left) who got a perfect score on a blood tracking part of the versatility (Vp) test. Andy handled both dogs.