Training Deer Tracking Dogs

[AtlLaw]

A thread in Ol' Injin Tricks got me thinking.   

In South Jawja a good deer tracking dog can be worth his weight in gold.  My hunting buddy has a Bermese Mountain dog mix that we have talked about using as a tracker.

To say the dog loves deer would be an understatement.  When we drive in after a hunt he meets us full of anticipation.  If we don't have a deer with us he takes on a look of absolute disgust and walks off!     If we do have a deer he will lick every drop of blood off the hide and start gnawing on any exposed bone or meat.

What would you think would be the best way to get him to understand we want him to follow a blood/scent trail?     I'm sure all it will take is for him to once realize there will be a deer at the end of it.

Not this year though.     He just had a cancer removed from his leg and has to start treatment for heartworms.  That was put off because of the cancer.

That's ol' Bates in the background looking hungrily at the deer layed out!   

[streak]

As most dogs will follow a scent of some sort, just test him out by putting him somewhere where he can`t see what your are doing. Then take a leg part of a deer with scent  glands intact and hopefully a little blood on it and drag it with a short rope over a 30-40 yard trail in the woods and leave the leg at the end of the drag trail . Then take the dog on a leash and go to the first spot where you started the drag. Let him sniff in this area and see if he picks up the scent trail. If he does let him sort it out and find the deer leg at the end of the drag trail. When he finds it praise him highly and let him have the leg.
If he catches on to that than get some fresh deer blood later on and just let a few drops drop on the ground every once in awhile over a trail similiar in distance to the one that you did with the deer leg. If possible have another deer leg at the end of the blood trail for him to find an have! Once again praise him highly if is successful in locating the deer leg at the end of the trail. A few trial runs like this and he should have the knack of trailing down pat.It is best to use a 10` to 15` leash on the dog because if he is not leashed he may push a wounded deer out of it`s bed and he might not be able to catch the deer and you might lose not only the deer but the dog too!

When he does get the chance to get on the trail of a real wounded deer and finds it really go overboard on the praise!

Good luck!!

[WesinND]

Check out a book aptly called "Training Dogs for finding Wounded Deer" by John Jeaneney.  He uses Dachshunds mostly. 
Here's a link:
http://www.born-to-track.com/book/reviews.htm

I tried it last Friday night after a friend, called me just after dark to say he'd arrowed a deer and lost it, and to ask if I'd bring a dog to held locate it.  He was reasonably certain he'd made a good hit.  He had already waited an hour, and by the timeanother friend, Jason and I got there it was an hour and a half to two hours after the shot. 

He had found blood approximately 50 yards from his stand, and marked it with a small LED flashlight.  I put Harry on it and he ran the track for another 50 - 75 yards then broke into a search, so I pulled him back, and searched and found blood on the track.  I put Harry back on the track and he ran another 150 yards and broke into another search.  I pulled him back while the other two guys that were there searched and found a blood trail leading to a small creek.  We picked up blood on the other side of the water then nothing.  It was about 1100, so we called it quits, because I had planned to pheasant hunt in the morning about 150 miles away, and wanted to get some sleep.  My friend said he'd come back at first light.  The next morning soon after daylight I got a picture message from Scott of an 6 point buck, -- it had fallen in the water, and washed downstream about 30 yards.  Scott's wife was helping him right where we had lost the track, and she found it had washed down about 20 or30 yards.
Wes 

[Bingo]

  Better get a tracking colar for him. From my experience, when a dog gets on a deer you may not find him until he gets to the next county or the next day at least.

[charles p]

My six year old blue heeler has tracked about a dozen.  She will not bark when she finds the deer so its hard to know where she is once she gets out of sight.  If only she would bark.  The last deer she found, about a month ago, was about 150 yards in a thick pine woods.  I looked everywhere for her.  She finally returned to me and barfed up some deer guts.  At least I knew the deer was close by and dead.  Finally found it.  Once she finds the deer she will eventuallly come back to me.  I have to watch where she goes and she often leads me back to the deer, but not always. 

I'd give anything if my dog would bay a dead deer after she finds it.  She is a good tracker, but a bad communicator.

[Bingo]

  Charles.........TRACKING COLAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After I posted that I got to thinking. I hunt birds and the guys I hunt with have colars the beep ocasionally. When the dog stops (takes point) it beeps a lot faster making it easy to find the dog at a fair distance. These are not terrably expencive and may be a good idea for you.

[BBF]

The part Beagle Hound and unknown Sire I had didn't need any training. She had seen live deer before and anything living that moves interested her anyway so when she looked at me after spotting the deer I just said" Bambi".

Several months later after shooting a deer at the last minutes of light and the deer did not drop and I couldn't find it I got the hound with wife out on a search. The hound was running loose and I just said. BAMBI !! Find it. She( the hound, not the wife) took off and came back a few minutes latter with a look on her face that could only be interpreted as. "I found something, you need to come with me and look".
The search was over right there.
I miss that Hound

[chipsoles]

Hello Guys,
 The first order of business, is to talk to your local Game Warden/ Protector, or whatever they are called in your state. Find out if following the track of a deer is legal under any circumstances. In Germany, from what I, have read, the process is done on a leash. If you turn the dog, loose to "chase" the deer, rather than assisting you to find a wounded deer, you may end up without firearms, or hunting privelages for a period of time. Also, if the training is done incorrectly, you end up with a dog that will chase every deer that they can find, into the next county, whether you are around or not.
 Look at a site for the Drahtaar, the German based orginization for the German Wirehaired Pointer (VDD), or NAVHDA. They are a group, with interest in "versatile" hunting dogs.
 I hope that this will head you to some helpful information, as well as the deer.
Regards,
Bob

[chipsoles]

Charles P,
 As to your wish that your dog would alert you to a dead deer. Have you ever tried to drag one up a tree, to perch it on a limb like a racoon? Maybe, your dog does not have a "tree" bark, because the deer is not treed. That is a smart dog.
 Some of the Wirehair breeders, do hunt coon with their dogs, but run a couple hounds in the pack,
as the Wirehairs are silent trackers. The hounds, tell you if they are trailing, or on a tree.
Regards,
Bob

[WesinND]

I just reread my old post.  Sorry if I didn't clarify that the dog was on leash the entire time, and with me. I use a German blood tracking collar and 30' blood tracking lead. When I put that on him he knows what to expect.  I would not let him chase deer off leash under any circumstances.  As a matter of fact, if he flushes a deer while bird hunting, he will come to heel because he has been strongly discouraged from following foot scent.  Blood is the only scent used in training.  Sorry for not being clear.

Wes

[petemi]

I can't use dogs on deer, and If any of mine run them, they don't hunt.  I can't carry a loaded gun and a light after dark.  So....I came up with the simple solution......Shoot em with a big gun in the morning and bang flop them where they stand.  I can still track 10 feet or so.

I've had a crossbow permit for 3 or 4 years and have never used it for that exact reason.  I'm not into tracking wounded deer.

Pete

[DANNY-L]

Been wanting to do this here in northern ny,it is required to have the dog on a leash. I have a 4yr old blue healer and a 3yr old datsun beagle mix which I think might be the best one to try,he's got all the looks and action of a beagle except he's red. Looks like a redbone pup. He minds real good and like's to chase squirrels but when you give him a quick yell he stops and comes back,if you don't see him take after one and the squirrel don't tree, he's got em.

[ironglow]

Been wanting to do this here in northern ny,it is required to have the dog on a leash. I have a 4yr old blue healer and a 3yr old datsun beagle mix which I think might be the best one to try,he's got all the looks and action of a beagle except he's red. Looks like a redbone pup. He minds real good and like's to chase squirrels but when you give him a quick yell he stops and comes back,if you don't see him take after one and the squirrel don't tree, he's got em.

  Atlaw;
     Different areas of the country ought to get together.  Here in NY State, dogs on deer is strictly "verbotten" !  Coon hunters claim a dog that will chase deer are only good for shooting..
  Now if youi were to come up here...  But forget it..most coon hunters won't admit they have been feeding a "deer chaser"..even if they have..

      How interesting are the various local laws !

[SHOOTALL]

My labs both would track a wounded deer . Some dogs won't track a deer that is wounded for some reason. What I like about labs is they will range close.

[Siskiyou]

I received this dog for a birthday present about a month before deer season many moons ago.  He was about two months old when Dad took the dog and I out for an evening hunt.  I killed a buck and tossed the mountain oysters aside in the cleaning process.  Dad and I continue to work on the deer when we heard a crunching sound.  The pup had found them.

I do not know if this is what it takes to make a good deer dog, but Iron Mike was good for about fifty deer for family and friends.  He had a wonderful nose for pickup scent.  I killed many a buck because of him.  I do did not know this buck was around until I heard the dog bark.



I have had other dogs but I have never been able to duplicate him.  I had a golden retriever that was better in the command mode, but he never barked.  Some other hunters were impressed with the Golden when they watched him work a plantation and move deer.  The dog was very responsive to hand signals.  Iron Mike was very muscular and had better endurance then the Golden who was a strong dog who response to commands resulted in a couple of bucks.

One time I followed up on Mike’s barks and found that he had a large spike boxed in against a cliff.  The buck had his head down in the gore manner when I arrived and was striking the ground with a front hoof.  Admittedly I was concerned that I was going to have an injured dog.  Mike responded to my command and backed off and the buck was allowed to depart.

I spent a lot of quality time with my dogs and I believe that is a particle key to success.  Work with them so that when the season comes you are a team, you shoot the buck and the dog gets the treats.  Learn your dog’s body language, the Golden and I crossed a Mountain Lion track one morning.  I could tell from the way the dog acted that something different happen, and when I found the fresh kill and the tracks I knew we had just cross paths with a lion.  The lion had covered the deer kill with leaves and pine needles.  I would not have found this evidence if the dog had not alerted to it.

[squirrellluck]

I have a pom/rat terrier cross that will track everything I have put him on. Deer, hogs... even put him on a mouse once. No joke! When he was little I would drag or have someone drag a tail or bit of fresh hide around the yard then hide it. I would then take him out and put my finger down at the start of the scent trail and tell him to hunt it up. Made a game of it and always praised and rewarded him when he found it. Now all I do is take him to where the critter was standing at the shot , put my finger down at the track or sign and say hte magic words! He tracks scent and will trail blood. Dang good dog and barks when he finds the critter too

[SHOOTALL]

no matter the dog breed or the task you wish to teach the dog the dog needs to teach the owner also. You need to be able to read the dog as much as he knows how to follow comands. Both these take time to learn , best way is doing what you want the dog to do. At first watch the dog . See how he/she acts around wounded game / blood. Then establish words/comands to get the dog to do certian things. I use the word dead when I know the critter is dead be it deer or duck. I use hunt to look for a critter that may or may not be hit.
If you just take a dog along as you retrieve game the dog will start to help look for it . At that point introduce commands . Trying to force a dog is much like pushing a rope. To do so you will have to make it so stiff it won't be able to bend to fit the need .

[SHOOTALL]

BTW the best dogs don't give voice on posted land 

[deersearch]

Danny-l, if you need help Ive trained two dogs . And deersearch  can help you get ready for  the test.  Tim Nichols is up in Granville,and I  live in burnt hills. I would be willing to help you or if you want you could go out on a track to see what its like. When you start to train him  make it fun , the dog has to want to do it.  Give him a reson to stay on the trail . leave some treats at first then just put it at the end...I like (cooper likes hot dogs) Have something at the ned for him ( deer hide , chew toy , food ect and praise him ). Tim and I both use BMH.  Get John's books its worth reading You will see cooper in the second book with one of his best finds that year. 2.2 miles and he was only i think 6 months old...I find the biggest thing is knowing what track are worth going on and which ones you need to just say no to... Or tag up with someone who has dont it for a while. If you want pm me and Ill give you my email address   mike

[deersearch]

Ironglow, Ny allows deer tracking with dogs for  wounded animals. You just need a tracking licence from DEC.  Or you need to be with a licence tracker.  We ( the licence holder and only the licence holder)  can also carry a fire arms ( i use a pistol) and shoot a animal after nornal hunting hours.  Most of my tracks this year were at night.

[deersearch]

You can find more on tracking and training dogs @   deersearch      www.deersearch.org  . Deersearch is base in NY.  And  UBT   ( united Blood Trackers )  @  www.unitedbloodtracker.org  . UBT has info on tracking laws state by state and were to find a tracker when you need one in your state. I'm a member of both. Ubt has a helpful fourm too.
 

[Tunaman]

I got a Bloodhound puppy in June. On opening day of Bow season, I brought her to the woods with me but left her in the truck while I hunted. I shot a nice doe shortly after getting into the tree. I gave her 15 minutes to lay down and then I tracked her myself. Once I found her, I backed out and got the dog. I put her on the blood and let her lead me. She kept her nose down and followed the trail. she could have been following my scent but she was on the right trail the whole time. she found the deer and was really excited. The next day, I took some of the hide from the doe and dragged it all over the farm starting with 50 yard drags and eventually dragging it for 400+ yards. She tracked the hide everytime eith one exception of when she got scared by a 4 wheeler. I let her have the hide as a reward each time and praised her profusely. From that point forward, she was a deer dog. If she gets out of the truck, now, she knows what to do. She is only 7 months old (and 70 pounds) now but she has tracked 6 deer and found each one. She tracks slowly, thank goodness, because she will not bark or bay on a scent.

[deersearch]

Tunaman, the next thing you need to do is to add more time 6-8 10 12 24 hours after you make the trail and find  some deer blood ( road kill) and make a fake blood trail. I use a stick with a small sponge on the end a small spot on the ground every 3-5 feet. As you add time leave a treat or two along the track so the dog stays on it . I used small bits of hot dogs.  After a while you don't need the treats . let the dog  over run a turn run ,  ask the dog if hes still on it . A good dog  will know hes made a mistake and will back track. Did worry if hes off the trail a little . Scent will drift a little the longer it out.  The best time to do a trail is early in the morning and later in the after noon.  Make this fun.. don't scold them . If he  gets way off the track restart him. When you start the trail get don on your knees and inspect the starting point the dog will or should want to know what you are looking at and he will want to please you and help. Some dogs don't need this . ZGood luckthe rewards come during hunting season.