Not losing wounded deer

[Byron Quick]

Ever lost a wounded deer? I have. It's a bad feeling. Especially spending four hours in a frozen beaver swamp.

I learned something the other night. John Shirley shot a big buck about twenty minutes before dark. Then he waited about 15 minutes to follow it.
He found a blood trail and followed it. He heard the deer and went into thick scrub after it. He didn't find it. About an hour later, I went to help him after realizing he needed help. The blood trail failed after about twenty yards. I didn't like that. Usually means a gut shot deer and a long chase. Our lights were failing. I went back to the cabin to get a gas lantern. We traipsed back and forth through the scrub. I followed the trail the deer had been on about a hundred yards to the property line and looked around on the road. I couldn't see a sign that the deer had crossed that sand road.

About 9PM I was getting tired of the futility of rambling around hoping to jump the deer or find it's body. John was determined to find that deer, though. He wasn't near ready to give up.

Finally, I said,"You know that hunting club that's got that white board house back out on Hatcher's Mill Road?...A couple of years ago, I was talking with one of the members and he said they had a dog that could find any wounded deer. Told me to come ask for help any time."

When we got to their cabin they were sitting around a campfire. I told them what we needed and they asked if there was any blood on the ground. We said yes. They said let's do it. One of them came out with a young beagle on a leash and put him into a carrier. Then they loaded up and followed us back.

The handler put Pal on the blood trail. He sniffed for about ten seconds and took off pulling the handler. He never slowed down. He never hesitated. He cut a circle a couple of times. In four hundred yards he jumped that deer out of a clump of dog fennels. In another four hundred yards he ran him to ground.

I've trained dogs in obedience and Schutzhund. I asked his handler about training him. Basic tracking training. They used a four wheeler to drag fresh hides around and drop them. Then used rewards when he found the hides.

There's a Beagle pup in my future.

 

[Art Eatman]

BAck in the old deer-lease daze, we got into one of those night-track situations. The hunter swore he'd taken a neck shot, from the front. Yeah, there was blood, but no deer.

So, with flashlights and disgust, we go to traipsing along in the dark. Remember, this is cactus and mesquite and blackthorn country. Catclaw, too. Lotsa fun.

My father was colorblind, and according to him, blood spots had a sort of shine to them when seen via flashlight. So, he led the expedition. He did his usual pontificating, explaining that if a deer is shot in the front-leg area. he'll go uphill. If shot in the back, downhill. Oddly en0ough, this deer sorta followed a contour.

After about an hour, we found the deer. The bullet had hit the right front shoulder, gone along the ribs, and then had gone through the right ham. Ah, so! Neither uphill or downhill!

We later observed that this particular hunter had developed a flinch. He'd hunch into the rifle when he shot. So, he had "hunched" from the neck's white spot, down to the shoulder..."Well, you can give up on that '06. Might's well go to a .243."

, Art

 

[Atticus]

I haven’t personally, but this thread reminds me of something that happened a few years ago. My regular deer hunting buddy and I got invited to bow hunt with some other folks in Southern Ohio. We didn’t have any luck, so we headed back to the cabin in the dark and were getting ready to head back north, when one of the other guys came out of the woods, a huffin and a puffin. He told us that he had shot a big buck back up on the ridge, but couldn’t find it, and wanted our help. I didn’t know this guy personally, but I had been told that he was prone to taking really risky shots and that he had a reputation for wounding deer. My friend and I kinda groaned and grudgingly said that we would help him (more out of sympathy to the deer than anything else). He claimed to have made a solid vitals shot, and that the deer was knocked down to the ground. We climbed back up the ridge and located the spot where he had shot the deer. There was just a little blood splatter on the leaves… but not much. We had to circle for about 10 minutes before we found a few more drops (further up hill of course). This went on for about another hour. We’d circle and circle and find a drop here or there on the ground or on the brush. We climbed up ridges, down slopes, crossed creeks, etc in the pitch dark. We finally heard him moving ahead of us and lit him up with our Maglites. He was on another ridge and didn’t appear to be hurt. He stared at our lights for about 10 seconds, and then quickly bolted up the ridge. At that point we told the guy that we were done and that we were going home. He bitched and moaned and said that we should stay the night and help him in the morning. We politely told him no, and that we had wives and kids, and needed to get home. It was about a thirty minute hike back down to the cabin, and the guy talked every second of the way, telling us about all of his worldly hunting exploits. He was blabbering about a bear hunt in Canada when he asked us, “Do you know what I hate about bear hunting in Canada?†My friend who had grown real tired of this guy shouted at the top of his lungs, “NO, BUT I’D GUESS THAT IT WOULD BE TRACKING WOUNDED BEARS AT NIGHT.†I laughed so hard that I couldn’t walk for ten minutes. The guy stood there open mouthed and stared at us. When we stopped laughing, he started the story again, right where he left off. I still don’t know what he hated about bear hunting in Canada. I related the story to my friend who owned the property, and the guy was banned from hunting there again. I later learned that he normally wounded, and lost, at least one deer per season.

 

[gun-fucious]

German Hunting Terriers have a great reputation for tracking wounded deer

http://knitehunt.homestead.com/knitehuntpictures2.html

 

[Phantom Warrior]

Wounded?

<tongue in cheek>

In my experience, the best way to deal with tracking is just to drop the deer in it's tracks with your first shot. This prevents the deer from leaving the scene and nips the whole blood trail, tracking, etc scenario in the bud.

</tongue in cheek>

I had to say that because the last two years (my first two years deer hunting) I've dropped my deer on the spot with my first shot. Both shots were easy though. 150 yards or so, no wind. But there's something inherently satisfying about being able to do that.

Does anyone else have any experience with training tracking dogs? What kind, how much money, how long it takes to get them trained, etc? It sounds like an interesting subject...

 

[45crittergitter]

On two occasions I have used a Labrador Retriever (2 different dogs) to retrieve my lost deer. In neither case had the dog had any "nose" training. I just went home and got my dog and let him smell a blood spot from the lost animal then told him "fetch." On both occasions, the dog went STRAIGHT to the deer. Memory fades, but it seems like 5 minutes, max.

 

[MeekandMild]

In my experience, the best way to deal with tracking is just to drop the deer in it's tracks with your first shot.

Which leads back to the old argument about neck shots versus chest shots.

Do you think that a boxer could be trained to track? I've got a new puppy who seems eager and ready to learn.

 

[Byron Quick]

Individual dogs of any breed may have the innate ability and desire. The sense of smell of any breed is acute enough, as I understand it. I had a Doberman once that would point birds with no training.

That said, you find more individuals with that desire in the hunting breeds.

The owner of this dog gave him basic obedience training.

Then he would lay a short trail of deer blood after gralloching a deer and put the young dog on it. He'd put the hide at the end of it. When the dog got to the hide he would praise the dog and give it a treat. He'd lay the trail and place the hide using a four wheeler so there was no possibility that the dog was just following his trail. At first the blood trail would be put out heavy and short. Later on he gradually made the blood trail thinner and longer. Still later, he would put just a few drops of blood at the beginning of the trail and then drag the hide behind the four wheeler.

Of course, you have the dog secluded away from the initial preparation of the trail.

 

[Selfdfenz]

It's amazed me on more than one occassion when looking for a downed deer that sometimes you can about step on them and not see them.

I had a German Shepard that would try and run deer from time to time and I always thought if I had to find a lost deer that Shepard would have been part of the solution.

S-

 

[Moparmike]

There's a Beagle pup in my future.

Not only are they great for hunting, they are great loveable dogs with tons of personality.

Moparmike, proud owner of The World's Cootest Most Wuvable Fwappy-eared Begawy Poopy Dawg.

 

[Iain]

Gotta say, get a springer spaniel. My aunt and uncle have a farm in Cornwall and he raises pheasants to shoot. He has several springers that work as gun dogs and beating dogs. The bitch had a litter of 16 five years ago and my little cousin babied one so he became an urban spaniel and lives with me. Wilful but obedient and goddamned clever. For example, another aunt who has studied psychology was messing with him one day while I was working in the neighbours garden (neighbour likes having the dog in his garden) she threw an apple back into our garden over the fence. He looked confused and started sniffing around the fence so she took him round and showed him where the apple had landed. Second time he went straight around to find the apple. She says this is comparable to the mental development of a toddler, i.e just because I can't see it, doesn't mean it has disappeared.

He is willing to get filthy and mucky at every opportunity and I think would work hard if trained. I have trained him to do jumps and stuff, didn't take long to 'explain' to him what to do.

Not my dog but:

Edited to add, as an example of their willingness to work and capabilities, they are used extensively as 'drug dogs' by the police over here.

 

[JShirley]

I've been told that American spaniels are now essentially useless, after having been bred primarily as pets for years.

 

[ARperson]

I've been told that American spaniels are now essentially useless, after having been bred primarily as pets for years.

Horse puckey. My mom has a Brittany Spaniel that points and hunts all the time in the backyard: squirrels, bees, butterflies, voles, whatever. If it moves, she's on it. While she does lack formal training, she definitely has the well-known instinct. And she's smart and learns quickly. Wouldn't have taken much to have her trained to be a good huntin' dog. Probably could even do it now (she's about 4 y/o), but it would be a lot harder than starting when she's young.

 

[H&Hhunter]

German Hunting Terriers have a great reputation for tracking wounded deer

I've got a German Jadgterrior (hunting terrior) He is one serious fantastic dog. Last summer he recovered 6 hogs in total for me. Hogs that we'd have lost in any other circumstances. He is a blood trailing machine. And he's not even a year old yet. He was born in Feb of 03.

As far as training him goes I've done basically as someone here already mentioned. I'll take a hog hide and drag it or leave a blood trail to a hide and let him scent trail it. He loves it and has done it instinctivley from the time he was just a little pup. It's all a game for him. I don't give him a treat when he finds a hide the skin is and my praise are treat enough.

But the coolest thing about the Jadgterrior is that they are fantastic family dogs as well as hunting dogs. They have a great on off hunting personality. When they are hunting they are 100% hunting dogs and at home they are great companions. I seldom leave the house with out my dog anymore.

 

[JShirley]

ARperson,

How long is her coat?

 

[ARperson]

ARperson,

How long is her coat?

I don't know for sure since my mom keeps her trimmed fairly short (just grab-able length): she (the dog) likes to waller in the grass and gets muddy and dirty; keeping the coat trimmed helps eliminate some of the crap from matting up in her fur.

But if my mom didn't do that, I'd say she'd naturally have a medium length. Maybe three to four inches from root to end. But it's not really thick fur like a shepherd's or a chow's. It's more fine so the length isn't as hard to handle.

 

[MLC]

The only deer I had to track was "luckily" found by two people trespassing on my father in laws property. I was hunting the treeline near his sheep pasture and spotted several deer. I decided on a grizzly old buck.
It bolted just before I shot it so I hit a few inches aft of my point of aim. I started into the woods and noticed two people 100 yards in wandering around and looking into a large multiflora rose thicket. They were the neighbors from up the road (adjoining property)and were in my inlaws woods "bonding with nature"(read passin the peace pipe). They heard the shot and decided to investigate.
The buck had hung himself up with his antlers in the thicket.
He had also kindly jumped a four foot fence on his way in so I had to lift him over to bring him out.

 

[critter]

Buddy of mine had a dog he trained only as a blood dog to find wounded deer. I have seen him in action a few times. IF a deer were shot and dropped even a few drops of blood somewhere, the dog WOULD track the deer down no matter where he went or how far he went. He saved the loss of several deer in our deer camp and in others near it. The dog was a Rhodeasian Ridgeback.

 

[H&Hhunter]

The dog was a Rhodeasian Ridgeback.

I hunted a ranch in South Africa recently that had a big beatifull male Ridge Back as a blood trailer. Great dog.......