TBH BLOOD DOG TRACKING, TRAINING, & RECOVERY Thread

[Top Of Texas]

Well done! I also have to sometimes remind myself that the dog knows more than I do. I also often suspect that in those situations, circling, that the deer likely took that winding route, especially anything 12+ hours where coyotes could have gotten the deer up and "worked him" a bit. It shows an experienced dog, and they get better with each puzzle they solve.

[Msgreenga]

Here is Remi the other day on a 100ish yard eye track trail she is almost 6 months so we keep things simple as to not over extend her she seems to when she gets to a dead deer stop and stay with it chewing on it till I get there. But when we do mock trails hide with head attached at the end I can watch her on my alpha she gets there then she will kinda wonder off showing little interest until I get near there sometimes staying 20-30 yards away from the prize but comes right back almost like she wants re assurance. She gets heavily praised everytime and give her liver treats at each find either it be dead deer or end of a mock trial I know these are just artificial trails and the real game is finding dead deer but any ideas to keep her excited on the mock trails at the end and staying with the head and hide like she does with the dead deer on a find. I have also done some trails with her food bowl at the end working on night trials already and she will stay put when she finds that food lol. I'll say this has been a lot of fun and all new to me with blood tracking training some people have been really helpful in pointing me in the right direction. We do a deer trail 1-2 times a week either be a deer find or a mock trail since oct 31 when I got her.

[bloodtrailer28]

Congrats on the awesome tracks Sika! Great bucks and the kid sure does look happy!

[Top Of Texas]

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Here is Remi the other day on a 100ish yard eye track trail she is almost 6 months so we keep things simple as to not over extend her she seems to when she gets to a dead deer stop and stay with it chewing on it till I get there. But when we do mock trails hide with head attached at the end I can watch her on my alpha she gets there then she will kinda wonder off showing little interest until I get near there sometimes staying 20-30 yards away from the prize but comes right back almost like she wants re assurance. She gets heavily praised everytime and give her liver treats at each find either it be dead deer or end of a mock trial I know these are just artificial trails and the real game is finding dead deer but any ideas to keep her excited on the mock trails at the end and staying with the head and hide like she does with the dead deer on a find. I have also done some trails with her food bowl at the end working on night trials already and she will stay put when she finds that food lol. I'll say this has been a lot of fun and all new to me with blood tracking training some people have been really helpful in pointing me in the right direction. We do a deer trail 1-2 times a week either be a deer find or a mock trail since oct 31 when I got her.

That's a common problem, that is, dog staying excited with non-deer prize after finding real deer. In the dog's brain, it now hopes to find a deer and is disappointed at artificial prize, so they keep looking beyond artificial prize in hopes of finding a whole deer. Think of it like this, If you went to your pantry looking for cookies, you'd look past the beans, peanuts, and potato chips, and if you couldn't find cookies, you'd settle for potato chips.

Interesting that you posted that, because I just got home from mock trail with my new pup (8 months). I was tempted to put her on real deer this season (shot for training), but she wasn't ready for the pasture, and knowing I have a whole off season of training to do (introduce night, cattle, little critters, etc) and the issue you described, I just kept the prize liver for now, and will introduce her to real deer in Oct 2017.

Since your dog is already looking for cookies, just continue with over-the-top praise and bloody treat and know dog is just looking for a whole deer.

[krtnorris]

Good stuff!

[BrokenJ]

Rowdy saved the day again with another great recovery. This was a 16-hour old trail by the time we got to it. Rowdy trailed him 900 yards, jumped him and ran him another 650 yards before he bayed up.

I gotta admit, I had a moment of doubt on this one. Normally, Rowdy takes a line and pretty much goes straight to the deer. If she looses the trail she will backtrack or quarter until she figures it out but typically the track looks pretty nice and neat on the handheld.

Well, today she was doing a lot more backtracking and quartering than normal. She would cast out 100 yards, circle back and cast out in another direction. Despite all the circling, she was continually pushing further and further out.

If I don't have a lot of confidence in what she is doing I can check how serious she is about a line by trying to call her off. Normally, if she's not that serious about the line, she'll stop what she's doing and come back over to me. If she's serious about it, she'll ignore me and keep working. I called to her and she just ignored me and kept working. I decided she was pretty committed to the track and continued to follow her. We went around the base of a hill, up the hill, along a ridge and up a little more. She was about 140 yards ahead of me when she jumped the deer and the race was on. Sometimes you just have to trust the dog, right?! At least the chase was all downhill. When I got to them, Rowdy had the buck hemmed up in the corner of a field. He tried to break a couple of times but she wouldn't let him get more than a few feet. We got the deer dispatched and Rowdy got a big ol' hug from one very happy little boy!

Awesome Sika! Rowdy is on a roll. Congrats

Top of Texas and Sika, do Yal talk to your dog when tracking?
For the last two years I don't say a word to my dog. I use to get frustrated and try to correct him as a pup and young dog but season 3 I just sat back and let him work it out. letting him do his thing and he might run around like a idiot for a min or two pee on anything that stands still. then it's all bussiness. If he starts going in a direction I stay with him to let him know I'm close but I don't hoop and hollar. And my lack of correct has led to multiple finds that I wouldn't have let him find. Just this year a hunter said the doe ran to the left off the Sendero. Only to find her on the opposite side of the road 80 yards away. A total 180 of what they said.

Keep at it MSgreenga you got a pretty pup still young. When they find their first live one it's a different ball game the light clicks

[Top Of Texas]

My dog is 9 yrs. I hardly talk to her at all anymore, unless she looks back for me, then just "find 'em", and she continues. Seems she does that more on deer that are still alive, like "You still there, boss?" She was gored pretty good several years ago.

A young, inexperienced dog however, I talk to quite a bit. Lots of "find 'em" along the way, and negative command if off target.

[Msgreenga]

Awesome Sika! Rowdy is on a roll. Congrats

Top of Texas and Sika, do Yal talk to your dog when tracking?
For the last two years I don't say a word to my dog. I use to get frustrated and try to correct him as a pup and young dog but season 3 I just sat back and let him work it out. letting him do his thing and he might run around like a idiot for a min or two pee on anything that stands still. then it's all bussiness. If he starts going in a direction I stay with him to let him know I'm close but I don't hoop and hollar. And my lack of correct has led to multiple finds that I wouldn't have let him find. Just this year a hunter said the doe ran to the left off the Sendero. Only to find her on the opposite side of the road 80 yards away. A total 180 of what they said.

Keep at it MSgreenga you got a pretty pup still young. When they find their first live one it's a different ball game the light clicks

Yeah I have held off Allitle on the live deer but as to being new on that hopefully at the seminar in feb some
Folks can shed some light on that situation so I know how to handle and she same she has been working coons in a cage regularly over last couple weeks some good folks have really pointed me in the direction so I have been listening and doing what they say

[JFR]

Yeah I have held off Allitle on the live deer but as to being new on that hopefully at the seminar in feb some
Folks can shed some light on that situation so I know how to handle and she same she has been working coons in a cage regularly over last couple weeks some good folks have really pointed me in the direction so I have been listening and doing what they say

Seminar? What seminar? Where when and what's the topics?

[bloodtrailer28]

Seminar? What seminar? Where when and what's the topics?

Coleman I believe. There was a thread about it a few days ago or you can pm Sika Im sure she knows about it.

[bloodtrailer28]

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Caught another live one this evening and Delta just gets better and better with each one. Only found hair and a few tiny pieces of meat where she was shot so I wasn't feeling to optimistic about the track. Cut the dog loose and off she went. I hung back looking for blood but keeping an eye on the GPS. She was out at 200 then went to 300 or so pretty fast so I figured she jumped her. Got her bayed in a couple hundred yards and I took off. Got to within a 100 and guess she broke cause off they went. She bayed her up again about 200 yards from the first one but down in a creek bed. Got down there and got 40 yards from them but no shot so tried to work around and the **** thing took off again. Delta lost her after she broke so we looked around for about 20 min and I decided to take her back to where she was shot. I started her over and sat there wore plumb out from chasing them... **** I am out of shape!! 10 min later the GPS went off and said she was treed.... over a half mile away! Hopped in the truck this time and hauled down there and she had her bayed back up in the creek. Doe had backed herself against the bank and Delta was giving her hell. Slipped in that time and got a shot. Doe ended up being hit right in front of the front legs in the brisket. I never saw one drop of blood the entire time which was weird cause most brisket hits bleed pretty good at first.
Sorry about the long write up but super proud of my pup!

[Sika]

Good job! Gotta love determination and persistence in a deer dog.

[Sika]

We were robbed of a potentially great recovery last night. Got a call on a nice axis buck shot in the guts. I knew I had a 99.9% chance of recovering the deer but I wasn't home at the time and it was going to be several hours before I could get to them. The guy didn't want to wait on me so he said he was going to call someone else. The story I got was the dog went 700 yards and bayed solid. I've never bayed up an axis and really wanted the track. Oh well...

[bloodtrailer28]

Good job! Gotta love determination and persistence in a deer dog.

Thank you maam! The Alpha I got from you is really paying off and makes it so much easier to keep track of her. I think I am more wore out that she is...**** dog had me crawling through crap up and down creek beds.

Hate to hear about the Axis!

[Sika]

I'm glad you have been able to put it to use! I'd be lost without mine...literally!

Kind of a similar situation...back around the beginning of the season I put Rowdy on a gut shot doe. She went about 300 yards and jumped the deer then ran it another 500 yards. I could see on the gps that Rowdy had her pinned against the high fence. I hopped in my truck because I knew I could drive right to them. I looked down at the gps and Rowdy was coming back. That's odd...the deer must have broke. I met Rowdy halfway there in the road. She had blood on her mouth so I figured she tried to catch the doe and the doe put up a good fight and got away. Rowdy was pretty hot (it was noon and almost 80 outside) and probably came to find me for a drink of water. I used the info on the gps to drive to where they were bayed against the fence. The second Rowdy's feet hit the ground she ran 100 yards and jumped the deer again. I guess the deer ran out of gas because she didn't make it very far before Rowdy caught her.

I just think it's neat how we can use that technology to help us recover more deer. Without it, I would have just been stumbling around the woods.