training dog to track blood trail!
12-19-2013, 03:11 PM
#1
Spike
Thread Starter
Join Date: Dec 2013
Posts: 13
training dog to track blood trail!
I have a 12 week old beagle puppy I just got. I want to train her to track and find wounded deer. I have read a lot of stuff saying to use deer blood which makes sense to me but I havent saved any blood from this season I do however have leftover meat could I use the meat as a drag to help her pick up the scent? I dont want her running live deer. Also any other tips on training a dog to find wounded deer would be helpful! thanks!
12-19-2013, 03:48 PM
#2
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Indiana
Posts: 1,186
Tracking a blood trail is not very difficult. The time it would take you to fetch a dog for following a blood trail, others would have already have field dressed and got the deer out of the woods. With a properly placed shot, a deer will die within 100 yards. Only a fluke like a current thread I posted in earlier do fataly wounded deer run hundreds of yards. Or bad shooting will give that result.
My question to you is are you doing this because you want some quality time with your dog? Or are you unable to retrieve a wounded deer, if that is the case we have other things to discuss.
My question to you is are you doing this because you want some quality time with your dog? Or are you unable to retrieve a wounded deer, if that is the case we have other things to discuss.
12-19-2013, 07:52 PM
#3
Spike
Thread Starter
Join Date: Dec 2013
Posts: 13
To answer your question where I live and hunt I have some very thick woods. I lost a doe early in the season she hit the woods and ran a few hundred yards but I lost her trail because she cut at some point in the woods and I found the carcus a week later just walking through there checking on a trail cam I had. I know how to follow a blood trail but sometimes it gets very hard to see the trail especially if the deer is shot late in the evening. So I would appreciate any advice for tracking not negative statements telling me I need to learn to follow a blood trail.
12-20-2013, 01:06 PM
#4
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location:
Posts: 2,186
I have trained 3 Dachshunds to bloodtrail. My cousin has had a Springer Spaniel mix, a Lab mix (both gone now) and now has a Beagle as his blood trailers.
The training process I use is relatvely simple ... if the dog will take to it ... and you will know very soon if the dog has the "want to".
Deer blood is definitely the better way to go than "meat". In your case, I suggest this. Grind or chop up a couple of pounds of the deer meat. Let it sit in the fridge in a glass bowl for a day or so to allow the meat's blood to collect in the container. If you have a deer liver, that works even better. Press out as much blood as you can. Collect the blood in a container. Freeze what you do not use.
Buy a quart sized spray bottle. If you can, buy one that has a nozzle that can be set to spray or stream. Use unflavored bottled water, rain water or distilled water to mix with the blood. About 1 table spoon of blood per quart is enough.
Take the ground deer and make small meatballs, or use the chunks as a treat. About the size of a nickel is large enough.
First "blood trail" needs to be simple. Spray a continuous stream ... straight (no logs, no turns, no water crossings , etc.) about 30 -50 yards long, placing a meatball treat at the start , and about every 5 yards, and at the finish. Use encouraging, positive feed back to the dog even if it gets distracted.
You should be able to make subsequent trails longer, more difficult and spread out the distance of the treats. I "graduate" the trails from simple to complex gradually. I normally do only one practice track every 1 to 3 days. Be sure to always put a treat at the end regardless. You need to tell the dog that there is a reward if it can find the deer.
Don't be concerned if the dog seems to track off the trail, down wind. This is often the case when there is a breeze. Even if it gets way off track, but circles back ... that is a good thing. Let the dog work. As long as the dog makes steady positive progess towards the trail's end, an does no back-track, or lose interest in trailing, it is improving.
In field conditions, whenever practical to do so, let your dog track every deer that you and your buds kill. Even if the deer goes only a short distance. The more the pooch finds in the field , the more it should understand what you want from him/her. Give the dog time to enjoy the find. Usually the dog will go for the bullet hole, the tongue, leg or rear end. Do not be surprised if the dog attempts to take possession of the deer. That is a natural instinct, but must be managed.
If the dog will train to a leash, that is the best way to go, especially on a dog that can cover as much ground as fast as a beagle can. If not, I suggest you buy a GPS or radio signal tracking collar system. You can buy collars that light up and a goat-bell to put on the cllar. That helps as well to locate the dog.
I will testify that having a tracker is a huge asset. Even on "normal" blood trails. With a good tracker, a 30 minute track can become a 3 minute track. I posted a You Tube of Ellie Mae tracking a buddy's arrowed deer. He had lost the trail where the deer made a hard turn an crossed a log. He had been looking for it well over an hour. Took Ellie Mae about 2 1/2 minutes.
My good ol' Tex found a gut shot buck after 4 hours and a distance of at least 1.5 miles .... in the dark and during a blowing sleet.
Mojo found a kid's monster buck after the boy and dad had looked for it or half a day in a driving rain strm. Took Mojo about 30 minutes. Deer had busted out of the corn field after being hit, ran about 200 yards ... crossed two small creeks and ended up in brush pile he had tried to jump.
This past bow season, my newest tracker Ellie Mae made a GPS measured .83 mile track of an arrowed deer hit low and forward seem like nothing more than a fast trek through the woods. Doe had bled out after going that far. Ths is Ellie's first year of tracking after about a month of training and this was her third ever track job.
Without these 3 pooches, I'd bet me and my buddies would have lost at least 25 deer in their combined 20 years of time. Training one is well worth the time and effort, and watching a good bolod trailer work is a lot of fun.
The training process I use is relatvely simple ... if the dog will take to it ... and you will know very soon if the dog has the "want to".
Deer blood is definitely the better way to go than "meat". In your case, I suggest this. Grind or chop up a couple of pounds of the deer meat. Let it sit in the fridge in a glass bowl for a day or so to allow the meat's blood to collect in the container. If you have a deer liver, that works even better. Press out as much blood as you can. Collect the blood in a container. Freeze what you do not use.
Buy a quart sized spray bottle. If you can, buy one that has a nozzle that can be set to spray or stream. Use unflavored bottled water, rain water or distilled water to mix with the blood. About 1 table spoon of blood per quart is enough.
Take the ground deer and make small meatballs, or use the chunks as a treat. About the size of a nickel is large enough.
First "blood trail" needs to be simple. Spray a continuous stream ... straight (no logs, no turns, no water crossings , etc.) about 30 -50 yards long, placing a meatball treat at the start , and about every 5 yards, and at the finish. Use encouraging, positive feed back to the dog even if it gets distracted.
You should be able to make subsequent trails longer, more difficult and spread out the distance of the treats. I "graduate" the trails from simple to complex gradually. I normally do only one practice track every 1 to 3 days. Be sure to always put a treat at the end regardless. You need to tell the dog that there is a reward if it can find the deer.
Don't be concerned if the dog seems to track off the trail, down wind. This is often the case when there is a breeze. Even if it gets way off track, but circles back ... that is a good thing. Let the dog work. As long as the dog makes steady positive progess towards the trail's end, an does no back-track, or lose interest in trailing, it is improving.
In field conditions, whenever practical to do so, let your dog track every deer that you and your buds kill. Even if the deer goes only a short distance. The more the pooch finds in the field , the more it should understand what you want from him/her. Give the dog time to enjoy the find. Usually the dog will go for the bullet hole, the tongue, leg or rear end. Do not be surprised if the dog attempts to take possession of the deer. That is a natural instinct, but must be managed.
If the dog will train to a leash, that is the best way to go, especially on a dog that can cover as much ground as fast as a beagle can. If not, I suggest you buy a GPS or radio signal tracking collar system. You can buy collars that light up and a goat-bell to put on the cllar. That helps as well to locate the dog.
I will testify that having a tracker is a huge asset. Even on "normal" blood trails. With a good tracker, a 30 minute track can become a 3 minute track. I posted a You Tube of Ellie Mae tracking a buddy's arrowed deer. He had lost the trail where the deer made a hard turn an crossed a log. He had been looking for it well over an hour. Took Ellie Mae about 2 1/2 minutes.
My good ol' Tex found a gut shot buck after 4 hours and a distance of at least 1.5 miles .... in the dark and during a blowing sleet.
Mojo found a kid's monster buck after the boy and dad had looked for it or half a day in a driving rain strm. Took Mojo about 30 minutes. Deer had busted out of the corn field after being hit, ran about 200 yards ... crossed two small creeks and ended up in brush pile he had tried to jump.
This past bow season, my newest tracker Ellie Mae made a GPS measured .83 mile track of an arrowed deer hit low and forward seem like nothing more than a fast trek through the woods. Doe had bled out after going that far. Ths is Ellie's first year of tracking after about a month of training and this was her third ever track job.
Without these 3 pooches, I'd bet me and my buddies would have lost at least 25 deer in their combined 20 years of time. Training one is well worth the time and effort, and watching a good bolod trailer work is a lot of fun.
Last edited by Mojotex; 12-21-2013 at 06:00 AM.
