As some of you know, I have been training Hank, our German short haired pointed, to follow a trail. I haven't had any deer blood to work with him, so have been using chicken or beef broth. I received a phone call this morning from a friend. His friend had shot a buck and couldn't find it. I took Hank out and they showed me the blood spots where he hit the deer. He couldn't find his arrow, but it didn't take Hank long to find it. From there, we just let Hank's nose lead us.
In all fairness, there were times where Hank got off the trail and I personally believe he was following some of the foot steps where these guys had been wandering around the woods. He could have been following the scent of other deer which had been in the area as well. Who knows? What we were able to do as a team though, is recover the deer. When we lost the trail, it seemed Hank could pick it up. When he lost it, we found it again. The deer had double backed on it's path, therefore we were trying to make Hank follow a trail the wrong way for awhile when we should have been just following his nose. Part of the process of learning both Hank and myself.
In the end, we were just about ready to give up but Hank caught onto something and just was going nuts in a small area. With lots of maple trees in this area having red pigment it was nearly impossible to find blood with our own eyes. Hank worked the area hard until one of us actually saw some blood. This told me, I should have been letting Hank take the lead all along. I just didn't trust that he was following the trail because at this point we had not figured out the deer had backtracked on it's course of travels. Once we found blood again, I just gave Hank all the leash and let him drag me along. 75-100 yds later, I yelled out "Dead deer!"
It was a good day for all. Hank got some work/play in. I learned a lot about his abilities. Rich (in the picture) got his buck and was able to process it before the meat spoiled. And I got to take pictures and write a short novel. lol
The first picture is when he saw something and locked up on point. I wish I could get him to lock up on point when he found a deer, but as long as he finds them I won't worry about the Kodak moments. The second picture is Hank, Rich, and his buck.
For what it is worth. Upon processing Rich found a liver shot deer. I got some blood for training, and a chunk of the hide to place Hank's treats on at the end of the blood trails which will be used in training!
In all fairness, there were times where Hank got off the trail and I personally believe he was following some of the foot steps where these guys had been wandering around the woods. He could have been following the scent of other deer which had been in the area as well. Who knows? What we were able to do as a team though, is recover the deer. When we lost the trail, it seemed Hank could pick it up. When he lost it, we found it again. The deer had double backed on it's path, therefore we were trying to make Hank follow a trail the wrong way for awhile when we should have been just following his nose. Part of the process of learning both Hank and myself.
In the end, we were just about ready to give up but Hank caught onto something and just was going nuts in a small area. With lots of maple trees in this area having red pigment it was nearly impossible to find blood with our own eyes. Hank worked the area hard until one of us actually saw some blood. This told me, I should have been letting Hank take the lead all along. I just didn't trust that he was following the trail because at this point we had not figured out the deer had backtracked on it's course of travels. Once we found blood again, I just gave Hank all the leash and let him drag me along. 75-100 yds later, I yelled out "Dead deer!"
It was a good day for all. Hank got some work/play in. I learned a lot about his abilities. Rich (in the picture) got his buck and was able to process it before the meat spoiled. And I got to take pictures and write a short novel. lol
The first picture is when he saw something and locked up on point. I wish I could get him to lock up on point when he found a deer, but as long as he finds them I won't worry about the Kodak moments. The second picture is Hank, Rich, and his buck.
For what it is worth. Upon processing Rich found a liver shot deer. I got some blood for training, and a chunk of the hide to place Hank's treats on at the end of the blood trails which will be used in training!
Attachments
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IMG00236-20101017-1221 Hank's first recovered deer 10-17.jpg -
IMG00235-20101017-1141 Hank on point.jpg
