Dogs for recovering wounded game

[zipper bowss]

Joe is the man and he KNOWS IT!

[7 Lakes]

Here is my German Shorthair from hunting preserve stock.  She'll blood trail deer, point them if she comes up from down wind.  Plus she's great on birds, rabbits and duck fetching.  
 

[JMR]

7 Lakes that is a great pic of your dog! It made me laugh! She definitely is enjoying herself.

[D.J. Carr]

Just curious if any of the hounds used bark track ?

[Onehair]

I trained a lab that found 60 some odd deer for me and others. With that said I'll add this. You learning the dog is as important as you teaching the dog. Dogs do not all track the same or respond in the way you expect. My lab "Zig" never followed the trail but made large down wind circles and usually found the deer in side of a minute. Drove me crazy thinking he was just running. He never barked unless the deer was still alive. His only signal that he had found the deer was that he came back to me, stood still for a moment and stared at me. After I finally learned what he was doing, I would say he was 100% on dead deer. He once tracked a deer out into a lake, swimming out 40-50 yards. The last deer he recovered was on the last day of season and I shot a doe at sunup. It started raining but I stayed in the stand until 1 pm. Zig found that doe in seconds. The only down side is that I became less concerned about my shot and became a poorer tracker. Not a problem until someone stole the dog.

[Tedd]

7 lakes. Fine looking bird dog.  I bet no bird is safe!  A blood tracker is slow, low and not distracted by anything. Even the handler will have a hard time breaking the dog off a track. A blood tracker will completely change it's personality when put on the track.

[Sam McMichael]

I have only used a dog on one occasion to trail a wounded deer. I shot a small buck who quickly headed over the hill. I heard him fall, so I expected an easy retrieve. Unfortunately there was little blood, and, no he was not easily located.

I went to my friend's house, on whose property I was hunting, and asked if his Lab might find him. We put Buck on the scent but he seemed to only circle back to the creek, exactly the opposite direction the deer ran. We called him back a couple of times, cursing him severely, and put him back on the scent.  Finally, we went to get him and put him on the leash to take him home.  He was standing on top of the deer. I owed that dog many apologies for the things I had said. It is very doubtful that I would have recovered the deer in the dark without Buck.

After reading Jerry's post it is clear that I made several mistakes regarding the manner I handled the scene before putting the dog on the trail. I was lucky. The advice he gives makes a lot of sense, and I will sure keep it in mind if I find myself needing to get the assistance of a dog again.

[Bear Heart]

I wish my state would reconsider allowing the tracking of downed deer.

[LKH]

I have a Boykin Spaniel, Rosie, who is 15 now.  She has recovered 4 deer and 2 bull elk.  I never trained her at all.  Merely put her on a leash and took her to where the animal was hit.

She had been shocked collared out of chasing deer but seemed to know this was different.  

She also worked cattle without any training.

Deaf and cataract eyes but still going pretty good.  

I think you should try any dog if all else has failed.

[gregg dudley]

Originally posted by Whip:


Our Boykin fits our personalities and lifestyles better than some of the other breeds, so that was the main criteria for us.  .

Excellent consideration.  There are a lot of people that want a hunting dog, but don't want some of the things that can go with it.  Hunting and tracking dogs can be great pets for the right owners, but they aren't for everybody.  I'm always amazed by people that buy dogs that are bred to bay on a trail and then complain that the dog barks…

[Bear Heart]

I am getting a Rhodesian Ridgeback in March.  One of the considerations was no baying.

[Jeff Mccarthy]

Here is our 7 year old female yellow Lab named Taylor. She just took to it tracking naturally. Found 5 deer this year, all were easily trackable and several even fell within sight but she enjoyed the practice! So did I, it was a pleasure watching her unravel the trails.  

[Jerry Russell]

That is a great looking lab Jeff. One of the best tracking dogs I have ever encountered was a lab.

 This has been a fun thread to read. Lots of good information from you guys that will help prospective handlers choose a good dog. I think many more animals will be recovered as a result.  Not every dog will be a good blood dog, even within the same breed. Greg D. made a great point, don't attempt to go against the breeding and temperament of certain breeds to get a great tracker. It certainly might work out for you but there is a lot of training to go through to have it fall apart at the end. You can hammer a square peg into a round hole but the results will not be exactly what you want in many cases. Here is a case in point of a great breed but a known high octane temperament breeding...     I tried my lab Rocko but it was just a little bit like being hooked to a speeding train. He is a high energy goose dog that only has one running gear- WIDE OPEN. I mean this dogs muscles have muscles. It would have been very easy to see that this was not a good candidate for a tracker when I chose him as a retriever by looking at his Pedigree, parents and litter mates. His wiring is just all wrong for that job.
I have seen other labs that were wired perfectly for the job of tracking dogs. I guess what I am trying to say is if you already have a dog, give him a go. No matter the breed you may be surprised at how good they are with some training. If, however, you are starting from scratch, choose a breed AND a temperament within that breed that will give you the best chance for success.

   

[centaur]

Put yourself in the deer's spot. How would you like this fierce beast tracking you! Scary!
 

[Jerry Russell]

I finally got a chance to slow down with hunting to lay down a training line for my new tracking dog. He will be making his debut in my 2014 bear camp.  I was sure proud of him today. His nose is simply so powerful that it is difficult to believe.

Here is a quick video of Karo's first tracking job. A short liver drag about 30 minutes old.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=EL2j8pUGqZM

[23feetupandhappy]

[jean-vincent]

it's in french.
    http://chiens-de-rouge-en-limousin.jimdo.com/    
we call them ; blood  dogs , they managed to find a wounded animal up to 48h after the shooting and a few kilometers away
those people don't want to be paid , nether for their time or their travelling fee .they do it just for the love of tracking and for the sake of injured games .and they don't hesitate to make a couple of hundreds kilometer to help .
they're really a blessing for the hunting image .

[zipper bowss]

Your pup is looking good, Jerry!

This is Moe after a Christmas eve tracking job. This is what you get after tracking in 6" of snow when you only have 4" of legs.   :D  
 

[Firstlight]

Great read.

My 3/4 coonhound 1/4 black lab is 2.5 yrs old.  Tell me it's not to late to learn blood trailing.

I have put her on a few blood trails from blood I had from a deer and she did follow it to a "treat."

I really haven't done much blood training but I want to, now.

This past season I let her off leash in the hopes she would lead us to a bear on a friends farm and she did find the bear so that was great.  No blood trail as the bear wasn't being hunted that day.

As a starting point for training do you guys really think the Book: :Tracking Dogs for Finding Wounded Deer" is the way to go being she is 2.5 yrs old with minimal blood trailing experience?

She does have  Good obedience training.
   

[Jerry Russell]

Hislight,

Sounds to me like you have the makings of a good blood dog. You have the OB training out of the way and at 2.5 years old you have all the silly puppy times behind you. From what you have said your dog has the basic drive so I would highly recommend that book.

Good luck to you and let us know how it turns out for you.