# Blood tracking dog



## sevenmmm (Mar 1, 2011)

I am thinking to buy a dog and train it to trail shot deer. I want a small dog and also want it to be a pet. Anybody experienced with this?


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## braggscowboy (Jan 6, 2004)

No, but some laws will not let you use a dog during season. Don't have to train one, take a small dog and turn him loose where you last saw the deer and he will find him if he is dead. Best to just make a good shot and not have to track your deer.


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## nzw tom (Oct 7, 2009)

Sorry, there is training involved. I have an airedale that I have trained to blood scent deer. He is a large dog and I know you said you were looking for a smaller dog.

Any dog with a good nose can be trained to blood scent. In Michigan the dog must be kept to a lead.

The training comes in when the deer doubles back and crosses it's own trail or when it cross a creek or other hot deer scent. There is more involved then just turning loose a dog.

There is a real good book on blood scent training. I would suggest it. Just go to a search engine and type in "training dogs to blood scent book" and you should find it.

Watching the dog blood scenting is enjoyable. They get "birdy" just like any other hunting dog.

I believe a small terrier would do a good job. They are tough, have grit, and alot of them still have that hunting instinct.

Hope I answered your questions 

Tom


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## Paquebot (May 10, 2002)

Inasmuch as you supposedly have been hunting deer in Wisconsin for many years, you should know the first rule under _General Deer Hunting Regulations_. "It is illegal to hunt deer with dogs." There are no distinctions between healthy, wounded, or dead deer.

Martin


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## coup (Feb 28, 2007)

get you a 30:06 ust kidding,,,,,,,a short legged beagle and break it to lead,,,,it will ruin it for rabbit but it will track it faster than you want to walk....have done this with bow several years ago,,,,,but old .06 behind shoulders and with right bullet.............my son went elk hunting and when he returned he thought he would use same load for deer but they would just punch through without mushrooming,,,,,he changed back to his(deer) reloads fast........no more trailing...........


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## EDDIE BUCK (Jul 17, 2005)

I agree with a beagle.They have the nose and they won't drag you through the woods.They are easy to break to a leash and to keep on the track,and are good handling dogs.I would start with a puppy and would never let him run anything but a blood deer trail.You don't want him to start running any track he comes across,just the ones leaving a drop of blood now and then.I have seen good deer hounds who run deer good and also make good blood dogs,but they are very few.Most will take any track that smells like deer.You don't want that when you want to find wounded deer.


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## sevenmmm (Mar 1, 2011)

Paquebot said:


> Inasmuch as you supposedly have been hunting deer in Wisconsin for many years, you should know the first rule under _General Deer Hunting Regulations_. "It is illegal to hunt deer with dogs." There are no distinctions between healthy, wounded, or dead deer.
> 
> Martin


The talk is they are going to end that rule in Wisconsin. That shouldn't surprise you with all the changes this administration is making in the DNR, does it? 

Besides, it is legal - with proper permits - in Michigan where I have my 40 acres.

And for the record, I have been hunting in Wisconsin since 1975.


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## sevenmmm (Mar 1, 2011)

nzw tom said:


> Sorry, there is training involved. I have an airedale that I have trained to blood scent deer. He is a large dog and I know you said you were looking for a smaller dog.
> 
> Any dog with a good nose can be trained to blood scent. In Michigan the dog must be kept to a lead.
> 
> ...


Yeah, thanks.


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## HOTW (Jul 3, 2007)

Dachshunds are good for bllood trails there's actually a group in NJ that you can call if you lose a deer and they'll come track it for you.


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## OkieDavid (Jan 15, 2007)

I second or third the Beagle.... Excellent hounds and great family pets.


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## Gregg Alexander (Feb 18, 2007)

I use a part beagle part Hinze 57. Training was not hard, I have used him for 3 yrs.


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## Pops2 (Jan 27, 2003)

this organization is based in NY. John who runs it does seminars on training & they help hunters organize & lobby to change tracking laws. John mostly uses teckels (huntbred dachshunds).
http://deersearch.org/


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## pheasantplucker (Feb 20, 2007)

My son shot a deer this autumn with a bow. The deer took off. We were able to follow the blood trail for about 80 yards, but then the deer had crossed a road and went into a real tough stretch of brush and woods. It was getting dark. I went and got my little throw away dog, that someone dumped. (I have three). In Ohio the dog has to stay on a leash to track. We'd go 20 or 30 yards and my dog Ephraim would go about, and then we'd suddenly see some blood on some leaves, etc. We did this until it was completely dark and it started to rain. We trailed this deer for an hour that evening, and the next day, I went out again with my dog and we retraced the trail, for almost three hours, but my dog started to go in a large circle...we never recovered that deer but we certainly tried. I have never taught my dog to do this, but I can see how it would work. Good luck!


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## EDDIE BUCK (Jul 17, 2005)

The last deer that my dad shot was about thirty-five years ago.He always hunted with a sixteen ga single barrel shotgun and he only used #1 buckshot.

We were using dogs to run deer,but a six point buck went past my dad with no dogs running it, and my dad shot it but it kept on going.We started searching and found a few specks of blood, but not enough to follow.

It happened so, another hunter we had never met before,drove up and started talking.My dad told the guy he had just shot a buck,but the blood trail was to weak to follow, and all of our dogs had left running another deer.

The guy said he had a dog in his dog box that would find the deer, if it was more than just a flesh wound.He walked over and looked at a couple spots of blood,walked back to his truck and reached inside his dog box and pulled out a lemon and white walker hound.

He led him to the track, and the dog could smell it,so he turned him loose.The dog was not opening on the track, and I told the guy he must not can smell it enough to run it.He said he is tracking the deer or he would have already come back.

About that time about three hundred yards in the woods, that dog let out a long baul ,and then started chopping like he was treeing a ****.The guy said there's the deer, lets go get him.

Me and him walked to the dog, as the dogs bark never missed a chop.Sure enough,there was the six point buck dead, and the dog setting beside him barking.We drug the deer out and my dad was a happy man.He offered the guy half the deer, but he would not accept it.

That was my dads last hunt in this life,glad I was a small part of it.



Pops2,NC, just this year made law allowing ,a leashed dog for tracking wounded deer,plus a hand gun for dispatching or bow during bow season,along with the time of day, from one half hour before sunrise to eleven pm at night.I have always thought it WAS legal,glad I found out.:smack


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## sevenmmm (Mar 1, 2011)

Pops2 said:


> this organization is based in NY. John who runs it does seminars on training & they help hunters organize & lobby to change tracking laws. John mostly uses teckels (huntbred dachshunds).
> http://deersearch.org/


Excellent website. Thank you very much.


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## Pops2 (Jan 27, 2003)

EDDIE BUCK said:


> The last deer that my dad shot was about thirty-five years ago.He always hunted with a sixteen ga single barrel shotgun and he only used #1 buckshot.
> 
> We were using dogs to run deer,but a six point buck went past my dad with no dogs running it, and my dad shot it but it kept on going.We started searching and found a few specks of blood, but not enough to follow.
> 
> ...


it's always been legal east of the deer dog line. they had to make that rule for west of the line.


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## OkieDavid (Jan 15, 2007)

We were talking about this at work. While it is illegal to use a dog to assist in the recovery of deer here, many folks do. A contractor was telling me he has always used his Labrador retriever as a track dog. He saidnthe dog will run the track for 100yds or so then come back to you, turn around and repeat. This year they put him on a track after they lost the blood trail. Dog made two "round trips" then failed to return. They stayed on the same trail now looking for the dog as well as the deer..... About 100yds farther down the trail, they met the dog DRAGGING the yearling deer back to'them. The dog had drug the 60lb deer about 150yds from where it died. He said he is going to spend the rest of this year teaching it to gut the animal as well.


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## sevenmmm (Mar 1, 2011)

I want that dog!


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## PNP Katahdins (Oct 28, 2008)

Good hunt-bred dachshunds have been used legally in Wisconsin for blood-trailing wounded deer. There was a guy named Larry up in the Waupun area who worked with the DNR guys on it. I don't remember his last name but he was active in the local dachshund club and I think with AKC tracking. He had a really neat mini female that was a poster dog for the idea.

Peg


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## nitestalker (Jan 13, 2007)

we start training our jagd terriers to blood trail at a young age 10-12 weeks, it's very simple and easily done.

Brian Harlow


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## Micheal (Jan 28, 2009)

Interesting thread......
Surprised to see that site "based in NY" that uses dogs as trackers.
Why I say that is NYS Big Game Hunting rules state: 
" It is unlawful to hunt big game with: Dogs, aircraft of any kind or with the aid of a pre-established bait pile."
No-where does it allow for exceptions - least not in the 2011-2012 Offical guide to laws & regulations Vol 5 Issue 1........ none that I could find anyway.
Wonder how they got around the law????????
Tracking a deer wounded or not is still hunting isn't it? Just wondering........


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## Pops2 (Jan 27, 2003)

Micheal said:


> Interesting thread......
> Surprised to see that site "based in NY" that uses dogs as trackers.
> Why I say that is NYS Big Game Hunting rules state:
> " It is unlawful to hunt big game with: Dogs, aircraft of any kind or with the aid of a pre-established bait pile."
> ...


you may have to look at the state code rather than the game regs. i do know for a fact that John has claimed to have had game wardens on recoveries w/ him. i'm pretty sure he has stated before that he helped get the state laws changed to specifically allow LEASHED bloodtracking dogs.


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## 7thswan (Nov 18, 2008)

sevenmmm, I trained my Rottweiler to track blood,he learned on his own to track even when no blood was present.RIP,Magic.


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## margoC (Jul 26, 2007)

Just about any dog will follow a blood trail. One of my friends has a little minature dachound that regularly trails deer and about anything else. Another time a differant friend shot a deer near dush and it ran some. It was kind of dark and he couldn't find it. A friend with a dalmation lived kind of nearby so he went there and it found the deer!

That being said, I have beagles and beagle mix's. I think the best bread is a beagle mix, mine is a beagle/dachound mix. 

My other two are pure beagles. One is 13, one isn't even a year old. The pup comes from good rabbit stock and is a good example of the qualities of the breed. She is very stubborn, very smart, has an uncanny nose, and a booming voice. She's quite a handful. 

Here is the dachound mix wearing her gps tracking collar. Those things are a godsend by the way.









Here's my little monster


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## EDDIE BUCK (Jul 17, 2005)

Nice looking hounds margoC.And you are right,most any dog WILL follow a blood trail.But most any dog that will run a deer blood trail,will also run any deer it comes across.All my years of using dogs to run deer,I have seen to many times a buck get shot and is leaving a blood trail while running with a doe.

When the buck finally goes down,all the dogs stay after the doe.Don't get me wrong,but if just any dog is all I have,I'll use it,while hoping it stays on the blood trail,but my choice would be a proven blood trail dog without questioning whether he's on the right track or not.Those are few and far between.just my 2 cents worth.eb


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