TBH BLOOD DOG TRACKING, TRAINING, & RECOVERY Thread

[AntlerCollector]

I use a hide as well but in conjunction with blood. If there is no blood trail it is not legal to track anyway.

Without checking the law, I think you're right. The term wounded deer is a deer leaving a blood trail. Thanks for the heads up

[Free2Hunt]

Question:

I have a new pup and am going to begin training her. Is it too much, or too confusing, to "cross-train"? By that, meaning train on blood/hide while also mixing in some antler training. I thought that might be a good way to just continually work on the nose and scent trailing while allowing some good summer time work.

Great thread, will be checking it often.

[Ricky T]

Hey, Jared, here's Mickey's brother, Gunner. He was the little male runt out of the litter you got Mickey from. High Octane also, but smart as a whip. He scent trailed okay the first couple times but now he knows there's food at the end and just goes running downwind scenting for the food. I'm gonna have to get innovative with the trails. Just doing damage control most of the time now.

[Fergeris]

Tuned in to read more later

[AntlerCollector]

I wonder if I can get this one trained to find me some deer lol. He's been hanging around my house for 8 months now and thinks he's a dog

[stxhunter]

This is Ruger my wire haired dachshund! If anyone has any extra blood in the freezer they could spare it would be much appreciated, I'm all out!!

This was a pretty difficult trail for him last year that I put a few turns in and aged for a while.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Est8bI4HBRU"]Ruger blood tracking dachshund - YouTube[/ame]

[jared_bays]

Hey, Jared, here's Mickey's brother, Gunner. He was the little male runt out of the litter you got Mickey from. High Octane also, but smart as a whip. He scent trailed okay the first couple times but now he knows there's food at the end and just goes running downwind scenting for the food. I'm gonna have to get innovative with the trails. Just doing damage control most of the time now.

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Gunner looks great. I had forgotten how much these little turds will test your patience.

I was worried about Mickey smelling the liver downwind on the last mock trail he ran so i ran it with a crosswind to try to cut down the chances.

[Rich-Kat]

Ok i haven't had time to read all the posts so this may have been covered already but here goes.
The dog that I have now is the 4th tracking dog that I have owned but she is the first that has only been trained by me. The others were already started. I got her when she was 9 weeks old I believe and for the first 3 weeks that I had her she "worked" for every bit of food that she got. I would measure her food out each day and I used it to reward her for her basic commands (sit, come, stay, down). I would also roll her food across our large floor at the shop and have her "find it". I also played lots of tug-of-war with her early on.
I had decided based off of some of the problems I had with my previous dogs that if I ever trained one myself that I wanted them to search for whatever I put them on. Not just blood. Many times I have been called to track a deer that didn't leave any blood until its abdominal cavity filled up so you could go several hundred yards before you have the first sign of blood. Also alot of times you are tracking stomach juices instead of blood.
So once Libby figured out what "find it" meant I started having her track other things that I put her on. I would always reward her with food or some treat.

When she was 5 months old I shot a hog that I thought I had smoked so I decided to let her take up the "easy" trail. At this time she had never even been on a mock blood trail. I let her smell the bloody arrow and she took to it like crazy. Several hundred yards in, the blood trail had almost completely vanished. Just small drops every 10 to 15 yards. She stayed hooked and when we got to the pig it was still alive. I was beyond proud.
I can't remember how many deer she found this past year but she did a great job.

I still run her on Mock trails but I rarely ever use blood. I typically just drag something. I also play games with here to get her to use her nose. I hide her food all around the house and tell her to find it. I will hide tea bags and tell her to find them and reward her when she does. Just anything to get her to use her nose.

Some helpful tips. Learn to read your dog. You should be able to tell when she is "hot" on a trail or when she is "looking" for the trail. When they are "hot" don't bother them. When they are "looking" you can do things to help like circling back to the last place they were hot.
Everyone likes to see a good dog work but keep spectators way back so they don't contaminate the trail. If it is a hard track I don't let anyone go but me and one other person so they can stay at the "hot' spot if she gets a little lost.

Thanks like this!!

[TUCO]

OK - I'm in. Been wanting to try this, had momma read the thread and she is all about it.

This is Remi, sister to Jesse in post 33.

We start this weekend. Wish us luck and keep posting advice.

Thanks TUCO for starting the thread.

You’re Welcome PIO!

I am really enjoying reading all the information being posted, and checking out all of the great looking dogs as well.

It is good to see so many folk interested in blood tracking dogs.

This is Ruger my wire haired dachshund!

If anyone has any extra blood in the freezer they could spare it would be much appreciated.

I'm all out!!

I have you covered on the blood sth.

[k9trainer]

Without checking the law, I think you're right. The term wounded deer is a deer leaving a blood trail. Thanks for the heads up

Not entirely true. If you show up and can't visibly see a blood trail but there is an arrow that can prove the deer was hit then you can track it. There are going to be tracks that for the first hundred or so yards there is no visible sign

[Ricky T]

Ran Gunner with the wind this afternoon. He stayed on trail but got so excited he kept passing up the end and treat. He's a little over 13 weeks old now and still a little young. Keeping me on my toes.

[AJMag]

I'm curious, is any blood good enough to start mock trails with, or should it really be something like beef blood? Wondering because I'm about to prepare some chickens for the smoker and that would be an easy way to fill a jar or two. Then there's the massive amount of varmints around the farm about to get wacked if they don't stay out of the garden and barn.

I'm not even sure where any lockers are around conroe/surrounding area, to ask about beef blood.

[AntlerCollector]

X2. I started a pup on his first mock trail today. He did ok and found his treat at the end. I used deer blood, but don't have enough to train him. I don't know of any place to get beef blood

[TUCO]

Ran Gunner with the wind this afternoon. He stayed on trail but got so excited he kept passing up the end and treat. He's a little over 13 weeks old now and still a little young. Keeping me on my toes.

X2. I started a pup on his first mock trail today. He did ok and found his treat at the end. I used deer blood, but don't have enough to train him. I don't know of any place to get beef blood

Congrats on running your first trail AC!

Keep up the good work fellas...

[AntlerCollector]

The pics above was my first wolf/hybrid. She was a good tracker, and also a great hog killer!


This is the one I started on his first mock trail today. I guess I'm the only one on here that uses wolf/ hybrids. I have a friend that has had great success with them.

If the deer/ hog is still alive the hybrid can catch and hold it also. Mine has taken down wounded hogs by the throat. This new pup will be a deer tracker only.