Blood Trail Dogs Technical Camera Difficulties 12/2016

We(I and 7 started dogs with 2 finished dogs) did a long haul on horseback to track a doe a neighbor shot about a mile and a half away from the house last nite.

And why so many dogs? This was a training track to give the newbies experience.

I had just come in, let the dogs out of the kennels, and with a 100 lbs of raw meat, 300 lbs of dry dog food, 2 bales of hay, and my camp groceries in the truck, I thought my day was almost done when the call came in that there was a doe down in a watery bottomland hardwood swamp behind my house.

So I fed Nelly and began to get the saddle, bridle and blankets out to the catch pen and saddle her up. Next move was to get hat, gloves, rope, boots, spurs, camera, headlights; flashlights, rain gear and backback ready for me.



And then to sort out and kennel the dogs that were not coming on this track.

and get ready for a mile long ride through a dense forest to get to the ATV trail along the bayou that would lead to the pipeline where the deer was last seen. Please bear in mind that the mile of forest does not have trails in it though it would be practical and we planned to that before the end of summer and the beginning of hunting season.

But... sometimes life gets in the way, such as the Great Flood of 2016 that put this forest under 4-6 feet of water for over a month,

and when the water went down in September, we were too close to archery season to be disturbing the woods with a lot of chainsaw activities. So here we are now waiting for February or March to finish the trail work.

Nellie did fine taking it easy on this old man in the dense forest and did not hurt me, but sometimes she wants to get into a gait and fights with me if I don't let her shift gears and go into over-drive!


What was really interesting was it 'appeared' that they were tracking something on the ATV trail before we got to the kill site about 3/4 miles ahead.

The scent that attracted my dogs was a doe in heat drag that the hunter had made going in to hunt mid day, and after the hunter advised me of that I was really impressed that all the newbies were working deer scent so well so early on in the training and were mostly inexperienced, but had their nose on the ground and were hunting, but hey, they are bred to hunt more so than 'trained', and the system works!

We got there and got busy tracking and I had to drag the deer through the cypress knees and water with Nellie and because there was water everywhere, I decided I had my hands full keeping this high spirited Tennessee Walker under control and did not even take the time to get the camera out and snap a few shots in the headlights.


But this doe was bleeding like a stuck pig all the while, and made a great training track along the ATV trail on the bayou to come back to the next day with the dogs that did not come out the night before.

So everyone is getting good experience at night and the next day all on one kill...


I am ordering a new Nikon that is waterproof and shock proof, because after 2 Nikons were damaged by water and one was damaged by dropping in one year, I do not want to risk my 4 gopro cameras to my lifestyle, and from this point forward, when I am tracking, I do not want anything but my flip phone with me for now.

I want to do some more on this post, but the phone just rang and we got another one where we gonna need the catchdog to stop 'em! So I got to go saddle up again, and I will have to finish this later...

I am Marcuus de la Houssaye and I breed and train tracking dogs in a blood trail dog training facility near Lafayette, Louisiana. I can be reached by cell phone @ 337 298 2630, if you need a Catahoula puppy, professional tracking services, or want to buy a started, or finished blood tracking dog.

And hey, I train and track 24/7 this time of year so don't hesitate to call even if it is late at night if you need my help getting your new dog going, because I am here for telephone counseling services to put the deer in the truck and ultimately in your freezer. No deer left behind!

Be safe, and shoot straight!