Blood tracking dog

[Al Natural]

I live in Northwest Indiana. I have a a Deutsch-Drathaar, versatile hunting dog. If anyone is in with reasonable distance and needs assistance in locating a poor blood trail let me know.  I Know most deer seasons are about closed, keep me in mind for next year.  The dog is 2.5 years old and 100 percent on all tracks she has set on.  Found my 10 year old sons first antlered buck after a poor hit 250 yards from where he shot it this year.  It was a mixture of snow and rain, no blood trail, lost it after twenty yards. Two and a half hours later with the dog found the deer in five minutes.
Al

[lpcjon2]

I have a Jack Russel I want to train.If you can send me some tips I would appreciate it.

[Al Natural]

Start the dog using it's nose as soon as possible.  Put tracks on the ground with a mixture of the dogs food and water mixed into a gruel.  This gets the dog learning how to use it's nose. leave a treat at the end of the track.  Keep it short at first. Introduce the dog to a deer or deer hide.  Have fun with it, but not a tug of war.  A dog that tracks blood is not a deer chasing dog, it is a blood tracking dog.  
Al

[KentuckyTJ]

Great offer to the folks close, wish you were a little closer to me. I got a Jack Russel this fall as well. Gonna start her soon. Please post your training pointers here for us all.

[Shaun]

For pups; when you take a package of deer meat out of the freezer to eat, use the blood that is in the package to lay a short trail in your yard. Leave the meat trimmings or other treat at the end.

Always use blood for the track. As above, you are training a blood tracking dog, not a deer chaser.

Tell all your friends that hunt that you have a dog in training and would like a call to run your dog on any available blood trail - even if they see it fall or are sure they can find it without a dog. Tell them you will help them drag out the deer.

Wish you were closer Al, my VDD is very old and is retired.

[Al Natural]

Gang if you are not close to my area. go to vdd.gan.org  This is a website for the breed of dog I have and you may be able to find a member in your area that may assist you with the recovery of your trophy.
Al

[Al Natural]

Vdd North America voluntered to assist in the Kentucky elk hunts last year and proved to be a huge success.
Al

[GregD]

Al, Are you sure on that website? I had no luck with it.  Greg

[owlbait]

My daughter's wire-hair dachsund found a deer for me this year. She bought it out of a bred trailing line of dogs and it is fun to watch her trail. That stupid dog went in the "wrong" direction, made a "wrong" turn and found my deer in an absolute northern jungle! Great helpers to have.

[wapiti792]

I bought this book 3 years ago and started working with my Lab/Curr mix. She does a great job and has found several deer for my friends and me. Here's the link to the book for those of you who are thinking about working with a dog:  http://www.born-to-track.com/book/order-info.htm

[Al Natural]

Sorry, try vdd.gna.org
Al

[Covey]

Al Natural, I'm curious as to what that breed looks or where to get one? I've been thinking about this quite a bit! might get me one! Jason

[Al Natural]

Covey if you go to the website there is alot of information.  List of breeders, photos of dogs and much more.
Al

[fishone]

All Natural, you indicate you are 100% with your dog on tracking deer. I am not sure what you are stating??? You have found 100% of the deer your dog has been put on??? I am sorry but I find that hard to believe. My friend has a long haired dashound. Born and bred to track deer. She is 2 yrs old. She is an unbelieveable tracker. We have found deer with her that would not have been found. Sometimes no visable or very little blood trail. We have been on approx. 50 tracking situations the last two yrs. Most of the time we are used as last resort as the person cannot find the deer.. We recover 20%-25% of the deer. The other 75% are not mortally wounded. I think you if did research on deer dog tracking the average find of dead deer is 20%-25%. I don't want you to miss lead people that your dog will find every deer. They will only find dead deer, not ones that are not mortally wounded. They are a great aid in recovering deer if they are dead. I am just trying to clairify the deer dog tracking situation.

[StanM]

I love to watch a dog work.  In Oregon we can no longer use dogs for bear or cougars, though they are still legal for bobcat and raccoons.  I have some friends with dogs.  Amazing to watch a dog do what it was born to do.  Handled in the right way I see no reason why all states should not allow bloodtrailing dogs.  Kept on a leash they are not hunting, but bloodtrailing only.

[Al Natural]

Fishone I guess it may have been a little misleading. I have only used her on three tracks and she has found all three.  So I guess she is 100 percent.  I have done some research on tracking with dogs and yes only between 20%-30% of the deer are found.  No a dog can't find  a deer if it's not dead.  I am not an expert at training any type of dog, just a novice trainer.  The VDD website has some useful information for those that may be interested. As many have posted there are different breeds of dogs that can and will blood track.  I just happen to have a Deutsch-Drathaar so I am familiar with the VDD website.  If I mislead someone in to thinking my dog or any dog will find your wounded deer 100% of the time my apologies.
Al

[wingnut]

I bought my dog that book.  We went over it and over it.  But every night she just goes too bed and refuses to read it.

What's a guy too do.

I'll have a good tracker some day.

Mike

[Bill Kissner]

I agree on the 20 to 30 percent find ratio. Suzy and I have been tracking 3 years and this fall has been a bust. In '08 and '09 her find ratio was 34%. This year I was out of state quite a bit and was only able to take 9 calls to track. Although we were able to jump 4 of the deer from their beds we never found one dead deer. The others were given up on after long and difficult tracks. It has been a tough time for the dog as she is a very hard worker and will not give up until I do. I would have very much liked to have celebrated with her on a few dead deer but it hasn't happened in '09.

[Bruce Martin]

In reading this and other threads on the same subject I recall that you don't have to use deer blood to train the dogs to track. Any blood will do. Is that correct? It seems logical the way they are trained with a reward at the end of the trail. If so, then a 'deer' tracking dog should be able to track hogs as well. Can anyone clarify?
Thanks!

[Bill Kissner]

It matters not what kind of blood you use. I have even used raw liver on a drag to lay a trail. The dog learns right away and will track about any animal if you can show it some blood to start with.