Bloodtrail dogs

[bama]

My wirehaired dachshund is my best friend and a great tracker.  My deer season has been a little slow so last week he picked up a new hobby.
 

[David Spear]

Bama, that would be a great woody to have mounted.

Dave

[Ryan Rothhaar]

You can train with any blood.  A good dog does not just track blood, but is able to differentiate on the specific wounded animal you are tracking - by all of that animal's individual scents, not just the blood.  An experienced tracking dog that knows what he is doing will track the right animal through a herd of the same species by the individual scent of THAT specific animal.

Oskar and my wife at the end of a very difficult trail with the happy hunter.  You can see where this deer is hit.  We started tracking 15 hours after the hit in a 100 acre CRP field under EXTREMELY dry conditions.  The hunters (4 guys) searched pretty hard before calling and couldn't find him.  This was about an 800 yard track..The stripped hair on the ground behind the deer isn't from coyotes, its from Oskar attacking the carcass:

   


Here is a better picture of the dog.  


   


He's our sweetie.  Sleeps in the bed and gets his belly rubbed every morning first thing.  DONT SPOIL YOUR TRACKING DOG!       ..

Here's my favorite - Oskar on his first woods walk in Indiana - 9 weeks old.

Ryan

   

[pcappy08]

We adopted a pit in August. Ive had labs and pointers growing up, she is as smart, gentle and loving as any dog i have seen. Oh yeah and she found my buck this year after i looked for eight hours with no luck. She made me look like a fool considering she found him 75yds from where i last lost him. Pits get my vote as well  

[straitera]

Great dog pix folks! Doubt I could pick just one of the previous.

Smartest dog I ever saw was a Pit. She was a dandy & could fetch a beer out of the frig & a bunch more incredible stuff. Not enough for me to get one but I like bird dogs more.

[bobman]

FWIW

Yes its true the dog will track using a combination of scents but the blood is the key to starting him on that particular deer. The blood is what identifies it from other deer

That is why I use blood first when training.

Dogs are naturals for the most part at tracking some need no training just give them a few opportunities.

Pits are not legal to hunt with on WMAs in Georgia, I own a pit ( inherited it from one of my daughters) they are nice dogsand I like them.

I would still choose some other breed for other reasons I dont want to debate.

Those dashunds in the pictures look pretty cool if I didn't birdhunt I would try one of them

[7 Lakes]

If you are also a bird hunter try a GSP.  Here is Lucy looking for the blood scent up in the air but she worked it out.