Dean Muthig, a Wisconsin teacher tracks and recovers a 9 pointer for one of his students

Dean Muthig, a United Blood Trackers member from Embarrass, WI, shared this nice story with us. Thank you Dean!

I got a call from a friend of mine about 8:30 Saturday night asking me if I wanted to run my dog on a track. This weekend was the youth hunt in Wisconsin where youths can use a firearm for the weekend. He told me that his ten-year-old son shot at a nice 9 point but it was right at shooting time and it was hard to tell if he hit the deer at all.

Usually I don't like to go on tracks like this but it was for a friend and a youth hunter so I decided to give it a go. When I arrived we drove down to the food plot where he shot at the deer. He said there were 2 other bucks with this one and that when he shot the other deer scattered but this one turned into a row of pines that opened up into a small hardwoods. I put Stella where the deer was standing with the shot and she pulled me to the edge of the pines and took a trail into them. When we got into the hardwoods she pulled me about 30 yards or so and then stopped and put her nose into the leaves. I looked down and there was a good amount of blood. When I examined the blood it looked dark red and when I picked up a leaf to smell it the leaf reeked of guts. 

I advised that we stop immediately and come back in the morning as to not push him. We arrived back at 7:00 AM the following morning and picked up where we left off the night before. The blood was sparse and there were large gaps between spots of visible blood. It wasn't long and we were at the edge of the hardwoods and into some tall prairie grass that led to a large marsh that is currently dried up. Not long into the grass we found blood again then the deer took a sharp left turn and we found the first bed with a good amount of blood in it...and then another bed about 10 steps from there with a large amount of blood, and then another, and then another. It was very apparent that this deer was hurting very badly. Within another 20 yards we were standing on top of this nice 9 pointer. This was this young man's first deer and he was super excited. He said to me, "your dog is awesome!!". I am a teacher and this young man is one of my students at school. He said, "I will definitely have a story for everyone at school on Monday!" Always nice to help out a youth hunter!!

Dean Muthig
Wisconsin

Stella, a German Wirehaired Pointer, has recovered this nice buck for a ten-year-old hunter.

Team work at its best: Deer Search's Jagdterrier and Dachshund recover a bear

We received a note and a bunch of really nice pictures from Pete Martin, a Deer Search member who tracks with a seven-month-old Lisa von Moosbach-Zuzelek, Billy's daughter.
 

Pete writes: "On October 5, 2012 Marc Niad with Jagdterrier Dakota and Pete Martin with Dachshund Lisa recovered a black bear for a hunter in Orange County in the town of Monroe. The bear was shot from a tree stand about 20 yards away. The bear circled in a loop about 50 yards and took off through a swamp. Both dogs were side by side scenting the bear. We worked well together as a team. This was the hunter's first bear with a bow after hunting 30 plus years. Congratulations Jerry."

 

Pete Martin with Lisa and Marc Niad with Dakota next to Jerry the hunter and his bear.

 

Deer Search and United Blood Trackers member with his experienced and highly successful Jagdterrier Dakota.

Great picture of Pete Martin with Lisa. You guys look good!

 

Lisa's coat has been groomed in advance of tracking season.

 

A Deer Search team, Paulene and Braylee, recovers a deer 31 hours after the shot!

It is only a second season of deer tracking for Paulene Eggers and her dachshund Braylee, but they have already done some super work in the field.

 

A picture below shows Paulene and Braylee with the deer they recovered  31 hours after it had been shot. Paulene says: This took one hour and 55 minutes to find. The hunter shot it at 07:25 in the morning of  opening day, October 1. The shot was taken from a very high tree stand with the arrow passing through deer from an angle behind the shoulder and out the stomach area. The arrow had white hair on it and bright blood.

 

There was a small amount of blood for about a 100 yards and then nothing. The area we tracked was very dense with briars and steep ravines.  The deer was dead upon recovery and was in some very thick brush. Braylee circled the area two to three times before holding her nose up high with nostrils flaring. I then looked in the direction of where she was scenting and saw what I thought was a rock...and then saw a leg. Great job Braylee!!

 

Paulene is a member of  Deer Search of the Finger Lakes. To see deer and bear recovered by members of this organization go http://deersearchflc.com/recoveries.html. At the link there is a picture of a second deer recovered by Paulene and Braylee two days ago. Congratulations to this hard working tracking team!

Fall colors around us

Some of the pictures taken recently. So far it has been a beautiful fall here in the Helderbergs.

A twelve-year-old hunter Madison gets her liver-shot deer thanks to Dan and Keena

Two years ago Tommy and I found a deer for a young local hunter Dan Hardin. Last year Dan got his tracking license, and started to track with our Keena. Ultimately Keena will go to live with Dan (she is totally in love with him), but in the meantime he comes here to pick her up when there is a deer call that he can take.

This is Dan's report from the call he took several days ago.

By Dan Hardin

I got the call for my second track of the year just before 7 PM as I was on my way out of the woods. This was the first deer for a young hunter Madison (12 years old) who made the 15 yard shot with her compound bow. Her father Jim was in the stand with her and saw the arrow hit the middle of the deer but a little far back, while still being within the rib cage. The arrow, which wasn’t found, was sticking out as the doe took off, but the blood showed an exit wound. There was an easy blood trail visually and Keena took off intently. Heavy fog and a light drizzle previously made scenting conditions good but the stillness of the air seemed to spread the scent over a wider area.

The trail took us through a sparse forest with mixed trees and heavy thorn bush undergrowth. We made the 300 yard track to Madison’s last blood and practice arrow. Keena tried several directions but didn’t seem sure so we went back to last blood where Madison spotted blood on the opposite side of a tree. It showed that the deer had looped around the tree and backtracked. We continued crawling under thorn bushes finding steady dime to pea sized drops when the blood really picked up. Keena in her excitement had cut her ear on a thorn that opened a blood vessel, which bled quite a bit.
 

After the bleeding stopped we were waiting for Jim to return with some tape and paper towel.  Keena would shake her head and reopen the scratch, which was stopped each time by applying moss and light pressure.

 

Madison had gone ahead on the blood trail to confirm that we were still on the right path and advanced the trail an additional 40 feet on her own. Jim returned with the medical supplies and we wrapped Keena’s ear which was a task since she was pulling hard to run down the line again. It was only another 10-20 yards when I saw the doe down by a fallen tree maybe a little over 100 yards from where Madison and Jim had lost the blood trail.

Jim gutted the deer right away, kindly donating the liver and some blood for training purposes, and didn’t think that the meat would be lost. The paunch was intact and the liver starred by the Muzzy 100. Congratulations Madison on your first deer and Keena on her fist find of the season!

 As a side note this was my first track using my 1000lumen Cree headlamp for tracking. It lasted the three hours advertised on full power, which made the blood stand right out. I had attached the battery pack to the headpiece and it was comfortable to wear. One issue that is to be expected with a light of this power is the heat generated, which could cause a burn if you are not careful. (There is no risk of this on low power from my experience.) The other issue is that there isn’t a noticeable dimming of the light before the battery runs out. It just stops working and that is it. They don’t sell replacement batteries, but I was able to find an equivalent online and install the needed socket.

Theo’s first real find: the pup tracks successfully a deer shot 22 hours earlier.

While Tucker was tracking bears and deer in New Hampshire, his younger brother Theo owned by Darren Doran got his first real find in New Jersey. By the way, Theo has turned just six months old today!

Theo’s First Real Find by Darren Doran

On Thursday Sept 27 I got a called referred to me by fellow tracker John Drahos.

Rich Deickmann had shot a buck 5 PM Wednesday evening and couldn’t find it. Rich has killed more than a few exceptional New Jersey whitetails and after my initial phone interview, I thought this deer was dead and a good candidate for my pup Theo.

Rich was using a cross bow with a fixed blade broadhead and the bolt did not produce an exit hole. It was a quartering away shot slightly high and back from the left side and the angle did not produce much blood. He waited before tracking, but bumped the buck very close to the initial hit site. He backed out and gave the deer more time and then resumed tracking. There was very little blood and his tracking pace was slow. He put the deer up again and marked the spot and quit for the night. He went back the next day and tried to find more sign or the deer with no luck.

Theo and I got there 3 PM on Thursday afternoon. It had rained lightly overnight and during the day Thursday. The only blood left was some close to the hit site. We found the bolt and one blade of the broad head had been bent over. I let Theo sniff the bolt and took him to the hit site.

He started tracking right into this nasty blow down filled with green briars. I wanted Theo to get as much scent from the known part of the track as possible and went in with him. We got through it and Rich confirmed that we were tracking in the right direction.

Rich had mentally marked the known part of the track well and would let me know when Theo was tracking wrong or was too far off. I would ask Theo “is that right” or “search here” and direct him back over the line. We got to the point of loss and it was now all up to Theo. I let him continue to search and we worked nice circles around the point of loss and around the top of a creek.

Theo had been tracking for about 45 minutes and he couldn’t seem to find the track from this point. He kept going over the same area. His concentration was wavering and I could tell I wouldn’t get much more out of him. I needed to help him along and in some way get him moving forward. There was a steep bank down into the briar choked creek bottom and I asked him to search here and went down a deer trail on the side of the bank. We got in the bottom and Theo wanted to track to the right. There was a big soupy mud flat here and to me it didn’t look like there were any fresh tracks that crossed it. I asked him to “search here” and went left. He came over and sniffed around a little but went back to the right and I went with him. We crossed the mud flat and he put his nose in a deer track on he other side and about 8 inches to the right was a drop of blood the size of a dime in a curled up leaf. I called to Rich and was marking the blood on the GPS and looked up and about 10 yards ahead was the deer. Theo tracked up to the deer and went right to a tear in the shoulder that foxes had opened up during the night.

We had quite a celebration and I was real proud of him. We had tracked for an hour  a 22-hour- old line with no visible blood to his first legitimate find.

As a side note, the off shoulder was tore up pretty good. The  bolt hit the off shoulder so hard it came back out the entrance and never really broke the skin on the far side.

Daren Dorran with a six month-old Theo, who recovered his first "real" deer.

Young dachshund Tucker recovers three bears and two deer for New Hampshire hunters

Congratulations are in order to Ray and Pam Maurier whose Tucker was featured in the New Hampshire monthly Hawkeye Hunting and Fishing News. The article was about Tucker's first bear of the season.

Now we have to catch up with Tucker's deer recoveries.

On September 25 at 6 AM Ray and Pam Maurier met Matt at his hunting site where he showed them what had happened previous evening. He saw four deer, and he wanted to shoot the largest doe. She was out at 40 yards broad side. He felt the shot was back as he could see his luminock as she ran off. So he waited some time, and then checked for blood at the site. Then backed right out.

In Ray's words: "We put Tucker down on the track, and there was blood spread out every 10 to 15 yards. He took the trail right on in the lead. As we made our way Pam and Matt kept checking for blood letting us know that we where on the track. We found two places where the doe stopped a few seconds and took some hard turns. Tucker nailed them just as we trained. Then we found the first spot where she bedded down after 350 yards. As she left that bed we found good blood and he started to open up as he knew that deer was close. After 50 yards I thought that I could see another bed as he charged that spot. As I got closer to my surprise there was the deer covered up with leaves and small branches. My best guess is that a bobcat or a fishercat also wanted to claim this deer.. that's a first for us!!!! When we uncovered the doe we realized that she must have turned as the arrow was approaching her and the arrow got her in the butt cheek. So with that wound Tucker did an outstanding job. He's a gooood booooy : )"

The doe was covered with leaves and small branches.

 

Pam Maurier is holding Tucker, and Matt is showed with his doe. Ray Maurier in the second row.

Tucker recovered another deer on October 30 (the picture below):

As of few days ago Tucker had been on four bear tracks and seven deer tracks and recovered three bears and two deer. Ray and Pam have decided, and rightly so, to give Tucker a break as they don't want to burn him out. After all he is only 14 months old.

Garmin's outings: Development of a young hunting dachshund

I know, I know, just when you expected a report from another blood tracking adventure we have something different here, this time from Teddy Moritz. It is an article about how she goes about developing a young hunting dachshund Garmin and how she adjusts her training methods according to the young dog's temperament. Well worth reading as it has broad applications.

On the other note, a big THANK YOU for all the submissions for the blog. We really appreciate them. This is a very busy time of the year, and our hands are full. We will be posting as quickly as we can, but sometimes there will be a delay, and sometimes there will be 2-3 articles/reports posted on the same day. Above all we want the blog to be educational and interesting, so we always welcome reports that allow all of us to learn something new. Also because of the time constraints, the less editing I have to do, the faster the post will appear on the blog. If I have to pull info from various sources, like Facebook and several e-mails, that usually takes more time.

Garmin's Outings by Teddy Moritz

Garmin is a two year old miniature longhaired dachshund, about eight pounds with a 13 inch chest. She runs rabbits for me in the winter, and trees squirrels as well. She's a pretty good hole dog but lacks a certain amount of confidence, which I believe is an inherited trait. I know her sire and dam, and both are dogs who are happier when told what to do rather than think independently. Those traits are not a bad thing, all around, making the dogs very voice-controlled and obedient but also less likely to be the ones out and about finding game. Despite raising Garmin from about 9 weeks, she shows her sire's "please give me instructions" attitude. Not always, but enough that I have started taking her out alone, even leaving the lurcher home. If he's along she'll look to him for game. She does hunt out and knows where to find game but isn't quite the A-team.

In hunting her by herself I have seen an improvement in her earthwork. She's fine on rabbits, she just needed some confidence doing earthwork on harder quarry. Last spring she did confront and bolt a vixen in a natal den, taking a bite and coming out looking surprised. She went back in and moved the fox till it bolted. Garmin is by no means a hard dog but she'll stay with her quarry if it is in front of her. However, when I used her to dig groundhogs she would give up if the chuck back-filled  a lot before I could dig to her. With this hot dry summer the ground was very hard and I sometimes just couldn't get there.

Recently Garmin and her kennel mate Bane got into a quarry under a pile of very long, thick telephone poles. Bane moved it more than Garmin even though there seemed to be several tunnel openings. I heard Bane growl Garmin off a few times, which did nothing for her confidence. Finally Bane cornered the quarry under a buried telephone pole, which was weighted down by several more poles. I wasn't able to dig to the quarry nor was I able to bar the poles off the area. The quarry was apparently in the back of a slightly wider portion of the den so the two dogs could work side by side. From the growling I knew we had a possum. It had been awhile since the dogs had seen any earth quarry so I let them work  it. It was good to hear the dogs in a confrontation. The lurcher was with us and he lay nearby waiting for some action.

After awhile I cleared the dusty, sandy soil away from the entrance and could see Bane working the possum. I could hear Garmin but didn't know quite where she was in the den. That precluded any thoughts of shooting Ol Smiley, which I really didn't want to do. It wasn't doing any harm to crops where it was and I don't like killing something I can't use for meat for the dogs. I cut through some roots and then ran my trowel next to Bane. When I touched the possum both dogs grabbed hold and began pulling. I think Garmin was pulling against Bane so not much happened except the possum kept growling. Eventually I could see the possum's foot and helped Bane pull it. By then it had 'sulled' and there was no fight or growling. When I slowly pulled the possum out Garmin was attached to it as well. I think this work was good for her as I let her work and Bane didn't keep her away. Sometimes if Garmin doesn't stick with her quarry I'll pull her out and let Bane work it. That surely isn't good for her confidence but I am always anxious to get to the quarry.

Next time out Garmin bayed a groundhog I saw run in. This den is a difficult one because it is under a heavily trafficked farm road, basically compacted clay. The road drops off about ten feet to a railroad track. The ground under the clay is very light sand and there is one den opening at the bottom of the slope. The groundhog also had an entrance at the edge of the road. It was a tight opening because someone had shoved a big limb into the hole. Garmin squeezed her way past the wooden obstacle and began barking. I let her work because I've lost chucks in this den before. Her barking moved to the middle of the road but at two feet. I thought I ought to be able to dig that much. I started to dig and bar met very, very hard clay. Meanwhile my noise moved the groundhog a few feet further along, and Garmin's bark and the locator collar indicated her whereabouts under ground. Then she shifted to the bottom den opening and I alerted the lurcher, who was resting in the shade of the car, the day being very sunny and hot. He went down to the hole, sniffed and came back up. I heard Garmin bark near the hole but then her barking receded back up the slope. No bolt today.

I found her again and pounded and dug and pounded and dug, feeling as if I was making no progress at all. Very frustrating. Garmin came out once or twice, coated in yellow sand. She would sniff the hole down the slope then re-enter the top hole. I got the feeling the groundhog was walling her off or going deep, burying itself in the sand. After awhile I took a break to get some water and Garmin came out again. I let her wander around and gave her water also. The she went down the slope. I waited awhile and didn't hear her bark so I got out the locator. I couldn't get a signal so  presumed the groundhog had indeed gone quite deep, off the box. I turned the box to search mode and still couldn't find the dog. I looked along the rest of the slope thinking perhaps the chuck had bolted and she was in a different hole. I walked along the edge of the roadway and used the locator but got no signal. Had the battery gone dead in the collar?

Suddenly I heard a yip from across the railroad tracks, in a thick bit of brush, trees and briars. I saw Garmin come out, her tail wagging and her nose down. She trailed back into the briars, gave some more yips. I knew then she'd given up on the woodchuck and was running a rabbit. At first I was disappointed but since the digging was so difficult and I was making no progress, I had to laugh. Garmin knew we weren't going to get the varmint and since she likes to run rabbits she left me to my worthless efforts and went and found herself some quarry that ran and left a nice track. I let her run for awhile as hawking season is approaching and she needs practice on cottontails.

On another day I took Garmin to a big woodlot bordered by peach orchards on one side and a river on the other. Squirrel season is open and I know Garmin will tree the bushytails. The leaves are still thick on the trees so seeing a treed squirrel isn't easy. Basically I just wanted to again work Garmin alone. She did a good job of hunting out through the trees and swamp and barked tree once but the tree was full of holes so no squirrel was on the outside. We even bumped a deer but Garmin is so soft I yelled at her and told her no and she came off the deer right  then. Running deer will just get a dog killed as the deer often go right to a road.

As we came out of the woods there appeared a three hole den right at the edge of the woods. Hello! Garmin indicated one hole and barked into it. Good enough. I called her off and walked her to the car. I drove back to the den and let her go in. She soon was barking and digging. I located her and the den seemed to curve right back to one of the openings. I quickly shoveled it full of sand since I only had the shotgun and not the lurcher. If the chuck had bolted it would have been gone to another den. I dug to Garmin after I cut away greenbriar and shrubs. There were lots of roots to cut away as I dug into the soft sand. Garmin kept going each time I opened to her and each time I cleaned away the roots. The last time she moved up I heard a lot of growling from the quarry. I thought I was digging to another possum. However, Garmin kept moving sand back, as if something was backfilling. After one time I opened to her there was a wall of sand and roots ahead of her. She came out and wandered off, as if she felt she had lost the quarry. I let her go and waited. When she came back I encouraged her to re-enter and she did. I had cleared the den while she was off thinking and she smelled her quarry and began digging and barking again. It was as if she decided she could do this with my help.

The den went a big deeper, running under one of the exits so I had more digging to do just to get to the the den. I barred and found it, then opened to it, cutting roots and using the post hole digger to clear the sand. I guess I got to the quarry because Garmin forced her way up the tunnel and really began barking. The growling continued. I decided to shoot the quarry rather than dig another hole. I put the .22 to use and the growling stopped. Garmin slid up the tunnel, barked a few times then began tugging. She pulled and yanked and bounced up and down in her efforts. I let her work, feeling she had earned this reward by staying with the quarry after all. I then saw the back toes of the critter and I took hold too. It was a big groundhog and it wasn't quite dead so Garmin and I pulled it slowly out and I administered some more lead. Then I let Garmin pull it all the way out. It was a very fat, heavily furred groundhog. I let Garmin chew on it a bit and of course took a hero shot with the camera. I was pleased that she stayed with the quarry after one mental setback. I think she will continued to stay at back-filled walls know that she better knows I will help her and that she can succeed.

As Joeri recuperates Tommy takes over: first deer call and recovery of the 2012 hunting season

by John Jeanneney

This seven point buck was a good challenge for Tommy who has been living and working in the shadow of Joeri, our tracking dog #1.

Late in the afternoon of our bow season’s opener, October 1, the buck was hit high in the lungs. He had been  grazing  near the edge of a large hayfield.  After the hit, the hunter, Justin Crosier, saw the deer enter the woods on the far side of the field and found a few drops of blood there. He eye tracked perhaps 50 yards and then ran out of blood.

I started Tommy the next morning at the hit site, where there was no visible blood, and he tracked easily 200 yards  across the field and into the woods at the correct spot. By this time he was familiar with all the different scents that the deer had left behind. In the woods he tracked about 150 yards with occasional drops of blood.

Then there was nothing, and he changed direction.  I could see that Tommy was not sure. At my question, “Is that right?” he corrected himself, went back on his own to where he was sure of the line. Confidently he went down through the hemlock woods, although there was no blood to be seen. After another 150 yards there was a small, steep creek crossing and  there on the rocks we saw blood! We tracked out of the creek gorge and into a small field. No blood there. Tommy worked slowly and carefully around the field and into a thick weedy patch where the buck had exited.  No blood, but Tommy’s body language said “I’m sure”. We tracked to another deep, narrow creek bed and I looked up stream to see the deer’s hind quarters. “Here he is!” Tommy and Justin the hunter were both very pleased. I was pretty happy myself.

Justin Crosier with the deer, which was recovered by Tommy and his handler John Jeanneney

Tracking wounded elk and deer in New Mexico: Nadja's first season with a new owner

Recently we received an e-mail from John Sakelaris, who purchased Nadja (Nettie von Moosbach-Zuzelek) from Jeff Richardson.  He wrote about his first tracks with Nadja at Vermejo Ranch in New Mexico. "I thought you would enjoy the photo attached. Nadja and I have been successful in finding 1 elk and 1 deer out of 7 tracks. The ones we were unable to find were elk and to Nadja'a defense questionable in their severity/blood trail (archery wounds). The elk we did find was a great learning experience as the track went over 3 miles and took us 2 days to work out. I really learned allot on this track as well as the ones we did not find. Nadja is doing well and I really really like her pleasant personality. She stays is the house and gets lots of attention from my wife and kids as well as staying with me in my office or in the truck during the hunts."

 

John Sakelaris with Nadja and an elk they recovered.

A clever way of transporting Nadja.

 Nadja will have to adjust to tracking wounded elk, which poses some challenges. John wrote: "The elk we could not find mostly ran out of blood line but she continued to trail like she knew what she was doing but just following an elk trail. Elk are herd animals and there may have been 20-50 or more which went down the same trail that morning as the wounded one so I imagine she is overwhelmed by the scent and just keeps going leaving the blood and following the scent.

I was able to confirm this several times by finding blood in the other direction and in one case the dead animal itself. Even the one we did find she left several times on "elk highways" full of scent abandoning the search for blood and following the stronger scent. We successful by being able to visually confirm blood at key times and putting her back on track. I am worried that she will keep doing this and not concentrate on blood. I am worried because I cannot trust her when I see no blood for confirmation. Again to her defense, deer are not like this and that is her experience.

Also, we are in the rut so the scent of a rutting bull is at times so strong you and I can almost follow it. We go into rifle season now and the rut is ending so hopefully this will be less of an issue as a wounded bull now will likely be by himself or with one or two others his age and not rutted up with the cows"
.

Staying home... and taking pictures

This weekend there is a field trial in New Jersey, and since it is not too far I usually attend it. This time I chose to stay home. I could list several reasons for staying home but one of them is that I don't want to miss the beauty surrounding us and changing with every day. We live in the Helderbergs, and the landscape at this time of the year is just magnificent. I will spend quite a few hours this weekend outdoors with my camera. It is good for my soul.

This is a view from our front porch. Feels like heaven.

Before the storm.

Evening reflections in our pond.

North American Teckel Club Fall Zuchtschau and Small Game Hunting Test

Mark your calendar! On November 1 the North American Teckel Club is going run a Small Game Hunting Test and gun shyness test at the Beagle Club, 3262 Dry Branch Rd, White Hall, MD 21161-9624. Next day, on November 2, a Zuchtschau will be held at an indoor facility called “4 Paws Spa" The judge will be Frau Monika Wittkamp from Germany. Two AKC field trials will follow on November 3 and 4. More information and premium list will be available soon.



Paika running a cottontal rabbit in spring 2011.

United Blood Trackers at the Northern Illinois Hunting and Fishing Days at Silver Spring State Park

Many thanks to Ray Holohan and Joe Walters who were representing United Blood Trackers at the Northern Illinois Hunting and Fishing Days at Silver Spring State Park on September 22-23.

Ray reports: The show was really nice with lots of people attending especially the second day when the weather was better. We were busy both days answering questions and showing off my dog Razen Kane. She was the hit of the show, a few people commented that she was the most talked about dog at the show. She was really well behaved giving pets and kisses to about every one that came near her. Of course the number one question was, what breed is she? Most people never had seen a wirehaired dachshund before and were really surprised when I told them that she was a blood tracking dog used to find wounded deer.

There was many different types of dogs that came by with their owners, every once in a while Razen let out a little bark when a dog would come too close too fast, other than that it was a really good socializing event for her. There was one fellow that came by with a European falcon used for hunting. He also had a tracking dog that he used for the same purpose. I think it was Drahthaar? I believe we were successful on educating most of the people that stopped by about deer tracking wounded deer with dogs and everybody thought it was a great idea . I know that Joe Walters and I really enjoyed the experience. I want to thank Larry Gohlke and Cheri Faust for sending me the brochures and material to make the show a success.

 

Ray Holohan with his pup Razen Kane

Ray Holohan and Joe Walters were manning the UBT booth

 

First deer recovery of the 2012 hunting season for Kevin and Ginger

Kevin Clark from North Carolina shared his good news about his wirehaired dachshund Ginger. Ginger is a two-year-old daughter of our Billy and Pepper, and she was bred by Gail Berger from Pennsylvania. Kevin writes:

"I got a chance Friday to put Ginger on a 16 hour old track that Scott the hunter had given up on . She took a smell of the arrow at the stand location and it was off to the races. After about a 100 or so yards of downwind tracking she found the buck in an absolute jungle.

Scott and I had to use a machete to cut our way in to the deer. Yay for Ginger and Scott who had just found his biggest buck taken with his bow.

Well Ginger got another try Friday evening on a doe I shot at 5:45. Well this was a easy one for her as the deer went into the wind and only about 60 yds . She was very confident from the time she smelt the arrow. I never even looked for blood. She drug me too the deer. Yay for Ginger!

Again thanks for getting me involved in the use of tracking dogs for finding deer."

Kevin Clark from North Carolina with his dachshund Ginger and a buck she recovered.

Congrats to Kevin and Ginger!

 

Support PA Bill HB881: urgent call to action!

by Andy Bensing

 

This photo could soon be a reality in Pennsylvania!

 

There never was a more critical time than right now for legalization. We are very close. This week the Pennsylvania Game Commission re-confirmed its commitment to passage of HB881 and our bill now sits poised to be brought up again in the Senate Game and Fisheries Committee in early October. To make sure that happens successfully everyone needs to immediately email all the Committee members and ask them to vote yes for HB881 when it comes before them in committee. Your email does not have to be very detailed. Just express your support for HB881 and ask them for theirs. If you are not a PA resident, let them know how well blood tracking dogs have worked in your state. Here is a list of all the Senate Game and Fisheries Committee email addresses. Just address your email, "Dear Senator" and BCC copy it to them all.

alloway@pasen.gov 

nsilcox@pasen.gov 

wdando@pasenate.com 

jscarnati@pasen.gov

mbrubaker@pasen.gov 

jeichelberger@pasen.gov 

wozniak@pasenate.com

 brewster@pasenate.com 

boscola@pasenate.com 

cyniguez@pasen.gov 

cmcilhinney@pasen.gov

Time is of the essence. There are only a few days left in this legislative session. Please act now and send those emails.

Short Sample Version:

Dear Senator,
I am writing to ask you to support HB881 and assist in its passage. HB881 will allow for the use of leashed tracking dogs to recover wounded deer that the hunter has been unable to recover on his own. 32 other states, including our neighbors, NY, MD, and OH have been allowing this for years with no problems and I do not see any reason why it should not be legal here in PA. Please vote yes when it comes in front of you for a vote.
 

Sincerely,

Seven blood tracking puppies will be going to their new homes soon

Yesterday we drove to Poughkeepsie, NY to visit our friends Genti and Beth Shero and see their puppies that were sired by our FC Billy von Moosbach-Zuzelek. Seven puppies were born on August 1, five males and two females. This is a "D" litter so all pups' names start with a letter D. We could not be happier with the litter. They look really, really nice, and we were impressed by their temperaments. The pups are all spoken for and will be going to tracking homes.

What an exquisite head this male pup called has!

Genti is getting puppy kisses

 

After spending time with puppies we had a wonderful lunch - thank you Genti and Beth!. From the left: Genti, John, Beth and her father John Robinson

Joeri's surgery for herniated disc: Four weeks later

Today marks the passing of four weeks since Joeri's surgery. He has been improving steadily. His gait is not 100% back to what it used to be, but everybody says that it is just a matter of time. Joeri certainly is enjoying extra attention he is getting! He goes on leashed walks several times a day as without a leash he'd be ready to run and jump. Yesterday he gave a scare when we forgot to put a gate up that keeps him in the kitchen/dining area when we have meals. Few minutes later we found him going downstairs on his own. Not so soon buddy! A couple of more weeks and you will be able to move without any restrictions!

John walking Joeri

First days of autumn in the Helderbergs, NY

My favorite season of the year is here! Leaves are starting to change colors but the grass and our fields are still vivid green. As always sumac's red leaves provide great photo opportunities. So far September has been really nice with a lot of sunshine providing warmth during the day. We had out first, pretty mild frost on the night of September 20 but fortunately we did not lose any plants.

Pictures are best when taken early in the morning when the lighting is delicate and soft. Below you can see long shadows as these pictures were shot shortly after sunrise. They were taken with my "old" Olympus camera, which produces great colors and saturation. Enjoy!