Blood tracking dog

[okie archer]

Two years ago I shot a bear just before dark. Couldn't find it that night. Next day a gal brought her bloodhound to help me. Bloodhound made short work of the 300-400 yard track. I decided that day I was getting a pup. I have lost deer in the past and I hate that feeling.
I got Nancy (after Nancy Drew) at 8 weeks old. When she was a few months old I began working with her with deer hides, deer blood, etc. As she got older I laid down some tracks using just a deer foot with no blood. She was tracking and finding it every time. So before season this year I decided to let my kids shoot some does and even if I knew it was a good shot I would go back home and bring Nancy back for the track. Win/Win for everyone.
Yesterday evening I took my soon to be 10 year old son Drake for an evening sit. We hadn't been in the blind long when in came a couple of does.
All though I knew Drake made a great shot and didn't feel like deer went far I still wanted to get Nancy on a "real" track job. We quickly it home and back to the hit sight. I led Nancy to the first blood and she put her nose to the ground and quickly found the deer. Made for an exciting evening.

 

[steveshuntn1]

Had a guy bring a bloodhound to track a deer my daughter shot several years ago. That dog smelled the track or deer from the tailgate…we were only a hundred yards off the road bow hunting. He found him in less than 20 minutes. No blood, hair, nothing. I was very impressed! Beautiful dogs!

 

[Hammsolo]

I was just chatting with @JLS about this. He has an amazing German Shorthair, Finn, that is a gifted tracker.

I wonder if Leo could do it? He doesn’t think so. Time for a pup?

 

[OntarioHunter]

Last fall my Lab and Fr Brittany tracked a guy's whitetail buck about 200 yards to a river. Could see the water in the clay on opposite bank where the buck climbed out. I heard the guy shoot in the next field and went to see if he needed a hand. Thought he was bird hunting and could see he had no dog. Not a lot of blood. He claimed it was hit in the boiler room but not if the buck swam across the river and then up a ten foot cutbank. Probably a gut shot.

I think just about any dog could be trained to do it. Don't think it's a particularly good idea for a bird dog. They might want to chase game when birds is only thing on the menu. My Britt has chased only two deer out of hundreds (at least) we've encountered bird hunting. The first one was a muley buck a guy who was with me shot poorly right below us fifty yards. Chewed her arse for that (token punishment since we should have been hunting birds or deer not both). I thought he missed it. We would have lost that deer had she not sneaked off and tracked it to where it was down. A couple of years ago she pushed up a small whitetail buck while we were pheasant hunting and then chased it out into adjacent field. What the hell? She doesn't do that. Weird. I called her back and gave her a chew out. Continued up the fenceline while the buck just stood in the field sixty yards away. Cut his track and saw that he was bleeding. Wounded. That's why she chased it. I told the property owner's son. They found someone to clean it up later in the day. I had already used my tag. I guess she would probably be okay to blood track on a regular basis and still be no problem when bird hunting.

 

[okie archer]

I was just chatting with @JLS about this. He has an amazing German Shorthair, Finn, that is a gifted tracker.

I wonder if Leo could do it? He doesn’t think so. Time for a pup?

View attachment 243506

Leo looks like he is for sure "tracking" for some lovin'.

 

[TheJason]

Don't think it's a particularly good idea for a bird dog. They might want to chase game when birds is only thing on the menu.

Not true at all

 

[steveshuntn1]

Last fall my Lab and Fr Brittany tracked a guy's whitetail buck about 200 yards to a river. Could see the water in the clay on opposite bank where the buck climbed out. I heard the guy shoot in the next field and went to see if he needed a hand. Thought he was bird hunting and could see he had no dog. Not a lot of blood. He claimed it was hit in the boiler room but not if the buck swam across the river and then up a ten foot cutbank. Probably a gut shot.

I think just about any dog could be trained to do it. Don't think it's a particularly good idea for a bird dog. They might want to chase game when birds is only thing on the menu. My Britt has chased only two deer out of hundreds (at least) we've encountered bird hunting. The first one was a muley buck a guy who was with me shot poorly right below us fifty yards. Chewed her arse for that (token punishment since we should have been hunting birds or deer not both). I thought he missed it. We would have lost that deer had she not sneaked off and tracked it to where it was down. A couple of years ago she pushed up a small whitetail buck while we were pheasant hunting and then chased it out into adjacent field. What the hell? She doesn't do that. Weird. I called her back and gave her a chew out. Continued up the fenceline while the buck just stood in the field sixty yards away. Cut his track and saw that he was bleeding. Wounded. That's why she chased it. I told the property owner's son. They found someone to clean it up later in the day. I had already used my tag. I guess she would probably be okay to blood track on a regular basis and still be no problem when bird hunting.

The dog tracker that I hired had two dogs …a bloodhound and a German shorthair. The bloodhound was sniffing the air from the tailgate and had found the deer and bayed it before the shorthair was done taking a leak. It was an awesome sight to see. The shorthair did track straight to the buck though. It was a short track…200 yards maybe we just didn’t have a direction or blood at all.
If I had my choice bloodhound for sure!
Please forgive any grammar or structural areas….I’m highly medicated!

 

[jt13]

My GSP has found a few over the last couple years. 4 for 4 so far but none of the tracks were too incredibly difficult. Never trained her on it but has a natural desire and capability. Will likely have a few more for her to work this fall and I'm excited to see how she does.

 

[Huntnut60]

Had a friend who had a daschsund that used to blood trail for us. We had an archery only lease and we never looked for our deer before we let the dog run the blood trail. It was amazing and awesome to see that little dog perform. Occasionally there was a live one at the end and it was almost always a rodeo. He found a few turkeys for us also.

 

[Butcher]

I’m kicking around the idea of getting a dachshund for just that and my daughter has been begging for a dog. I like the idea of short little legs and a smaller dog for transport.

 

[okie archer]

I’m kicking around the idea of getting a dachshund for just that and my daughter has been begging for a dog. I like the idea of short little legs and a smaller dog for transport.

In my opinion the bloodhounds nose is superior. Bloodhounds have over 300 million olfactory sensors which is more than all other breeds. However bloodhounds are higher maintenance dogs. They eat more , poop more, take up more room, and are harder to handle. No doubt other breeds make great tracking dogs, even mixed breeds can be trained. It comes down to personal preference.

 

[OntarioHunter]

I’m kicking around the idea of getting a dachshund for just that and my daughter has been begging for a dog. I like the idea of short little legs and a smaller dog for transport.

Look into French Brittany. Small dog, great with family, not as snarly or noisy as dachshund. And they are great hunters. My little "Puppy" is eleven and still going strong.

 

[kimbertracks]

I’m kicking around the idea of getting a dachshund for just that and my daughter has been begging for a dog. I like the idea of short little legs and a smaller dog for transport.

After receiving over 80 tracking calls in September, we decided we needed to start our 7-year-old Dachshund on tracks to give our German Shepherd a break once in a while. She is an amazing tracker and can cover miles in the Bighorn Mountains with no issue! She is also much lower maintenance than the Shepherd (although she needs help crossing creeks with a strong current!). She's also very quiet, and super friendly!

 

[NV_ARCH3R]

I've been thinking about getting/training a dog myself. Intrigued with the idea of a basset hound but I think a baying hound type may not be the best in case the tracked critter hasn't expired, a silent tracker may be better.

 

[Butcher]

Is there a specific dachshund breed recommended? I’ve heard wirehaired but they seem to be hard to come by in my area. And they want 1200 which is too rich for us. Thanks fellas

 

[kimbertracks]

Is there a specific dachshund breed recommended? I’ve heard wirehaired but they seem to be hard to come by in my area. And they want 1200 which is too rich for us. Thanks fellas

The wire haired (Teckels) are definitely popular, but there are a lot of people tracking with short-haired doxies too! The Teckels are bred more for their hunting drive, where the majority of the standard and long coat breeders have been focusing more on show. Ours is a rescue and is one tough little dog!

 

[kimbertracks]

I've been thinking about getting/training a dog myself. Intrigued with the idea of a basset hound but I think a baying hound type may not be the best in case the tracked critter hasn't expired, a silent tracker may be better.

I think back East they use more baying hounds for tracking. I'm in Wyoming, and I can't imagine showing up for a track with a baying or barking dog...I've been called for many tracks on private land, and usually the first question I'm asked by the landowner is if my dog tracks silently. With that being said, there are a few people in Wyoming who track with hounds, and they have been trained to not bay on the track. Another thing you want to take into consideration is the terrain you will be tracking in. Crossing acres of blown-down timber might not be the easiest for a basset!

 

[WoodMoose]

Is there a specific dachshund breed recommended? I’ve heard wirehaired but they seem to be hard to come by in my area. And they want 1200 which is too rich for us. Thanks fellas

most any dog can learn to blood track, it's one of the easier skills to train a dog to do (in my opinion),,, no need to get a high dollar one

then each track they get better and better, more attuned to the job and can work older and older tracks

 

[3855WIN]

My camp neighbor has a Bavarian Mountain Hound. Great tracker. Only barks when he bays. He did a great job two nights ago.

 

[NEWHunter]

To the OP, good on you for doing everything possible to recover game. I had my first experience with a tracking dog this year. Made the call and she turned out to be an invaluable resource. Hopefully I won’t ever need one in the future, but if I do I will definitely go that route