Blood Dogs

[Montana'eer]

"Blood tracking" is a bit of a misnomer. If there is blood, you most likely won't need a dog. It's the bad shots, and the ones without blood that the dogs can save you. The best tracker I know trains his dogs to track the tarsal gland scent.

United Blood Trackers

United Blood Trackers is dedicated to promoting resource conservation through the use of trained tracking dogs in the ethical recovery of big game. Learn More United Blood Trackers (UBT) welcomes you…

www.unitedbloodtrackers.org

These are the guys you need to hook up with and learn from.

Interesting there is a group dedicated to finding wounded game! Who knew?!

 

[buzby]

Interesting there is a group dedicated to finding wounded game! Who knew?!

They also contribute to the political side, and have gotten several states to change their laws to allow tracking of wounded game.

 

[buzby]

As far as training goes John was a pioneer. His work is great. I will say that the guys down here have gotten away from on leash dogs to off leash dogs that will run a deer down and catch it or bay it. The recovery rate on marginally shot deer who may take days or weeks to die has gone way up.

Off lead is easier for the dog and handler for sure. I can understand the reasoning behind why it's not allowed in many states though, including my own. Not saying I agree.

 

[billflangjr813]

Wasn't sure where to post this.

I've seen a lot of people losing animals lately due to bad hits or bumping.

For those that have blood dogs, I've got a question for you.

I've got a 5 year old lab that has high drive for hunting. I was young and dumb when I first started training him for ducks I made him gun shy. My fault 100%.

Is it possible to get him on the trail and trained for blood? Like I said he's got a ton of drive to hunt. I'm hoping this may help getting into tracking.

Talk with Joe Brown, Florida Blood trail network , he can help you out.

 

[FlGunner]

Off lead is easier for the dog and handler for sure. I can understand the reasoning behind why it's not allowed in many states though, including my own. Not saying I agree.

Off lead is the only way I track. I can track my curs on lead but they're much more efficient off. The scent cone varies depending on many things. Down here in the south we have a lot of water and deer go through it and many stay in it and it's just not feasible to work on lead in water. Not to mention mine will actually catch and put teeth on a wounded deer. Most hunters couldn't keep up with me anyways so it's easier to let the dog work and I use that time to teach them a lil about what I'm doing and what the dog is doing. And if it's necessary to "finish" the deer off (a lot of times it's still alive) I can talk about how we're going to do it safely.

 

[swiper]

I used to have a lab really bad gun shy but she would track my deer as long as I was not carrying a gun. I would always find her just sitting beside my deer. My good dog is long gone and I have better muzzle loader bullets so hopefully I won't have to track any more deer.

 

[Wilderness Blacktail]

Wasn't sure where to post this.

I've seen a lot of people losing animals lately due to bad hits or bumping.

For those that have blood dogs, I've got a question for you.

I've got a 5 year old lab that has high drive for hunting. I was young and dumb when I first started training him for ducks I made him gun shy. My fault 100%.

Is it possible to get him on the trail and trained for blood? Like I said he's got a ton of drive to hunt. I'm hoping this may help getting into tracking.

Absolutely! U can work on the gunshy thing and can also do other things to work around it

 

[HandgunHTR]

Off lead is the only way I track. I can track my curs on lead but they're much more efficient off. The scent cone varies depending on many things. Down here in the south we have a lot of water and deer go through it and many stay in it and it's just not feasible to work on lead in water. Not to mention mine will actually catch and put teeth on a wounded deer. Most hunters couldn't keep up with me anyways so it's easier to let the dog work and I use that time to teach them a lil about what I'm doing and what the dog is doing. And if it's necessary to "finish" the deer off (a lot of times it's still alive) I can talk about how we're going to do it safely.

The states that I hunt that do allow tracking wounded game with dogs all require that they be tethered. I use a 30' check cord for my beagle. He doesn't ever get tight on it though as he works pretty methodically.

He only has 7 deer under him at just over a year old and none of them were super hard tracks, but he does a great job.

 

[FlGunner]

The states that I hunt that do allow tracking wounded game with dogs all require that they be tethered. I use a 30' check cord for my beagle. He doesn't ever get tight on it though as he works pretty methodically.

He only has 7 deer under him at just over a year old and none of them were super hard tracks, but he does a great job.

Heck yeah! The key is to keep putting them on tracks. Even the ones that are known dead deer. The more tracks the better.
I've also used a lead when I had to where there was potential for any issue with a land owner that was not friendly with the hunting group that neighbors their land. But I've found deer where if I was tethered to my dog we'd not been quick enough to catch them and they'd been wasted because they got away. Here's a pic of a deer that my cur caught about a half mile through a flooded swamp. Mostly thigh deep water with some deeper ponds it went through and a few tussets here and there. Would've been impossible to keep up with the dog and deer if I was tethered to him.

 

[Victor3Ranger1]

#1 thing to do is put him every deer you can. Even the ones that are not hard to find. #2, allow the dog to work…. To many people ruin a dog because they think they're smarter than the dog. The scent ain't always right on the animals track…. The scent cone can move due to a number of things. I use Blackmouth Curs and I can tell ya that every track with be different and present its own challenges. Not every hit animal is going to leave with "blood" to start on. I can tell you I've found a good number already this year with no blood.

I do love the blackmouth curs