There are many people who are new to blood trail dogs and are tracking wounded or dead deer for the first time with a dog and are wondring what are the rules of the game.
Well common sense rules are one thing, but...
In some states the rules, restrictions and regulations handed down by the state government are so restrictive that they do not allow tracking dogs to work off leash, or worse, in some states no one is allowed to track wounded or dead deer with dogs at all.
I live in Louisana and hunt Texas and Mississippi as well, and we here in the deep south are very common sense and practical about a lot of things including the use of blood tracking dogs to minimize the loss of wounded or dead deer, and in some places it is even legal to use hound dogs to run and chase deer during the open gun season.
Because the use of dogs to run deer is so controversial, and caused so much division among hunters, many hunting clubs, management areas and states have banned all dogs from the woods during the open gun deer season, including blood tracking dogs, which to me is excessive and wasteful.
If you are in a state that is presently not allowing the use of blood tracking dogs, I suggest you write to your congressman or senator and advise them that legislature restricing the use of short range, highly specialized, blood tracking dogs or running catch dogs to find and recover wounded or dead deer is obsolete and wasteful of the states natural resources.
Now to get on with more common sense, practical matters...
As a rule, when you know you are tracking a gut shot deer, and you do not have a running catch dog, you should back out and wait at least 24-36 hours, and hope that the deer goes down before you get there. But sometimes, climate, coyotes or 'other' time constraints demand that the rules are to be broken.
One of my customers is very soon coming to Louisiana to get a running catch dog to back up his already very successful and experienced Dachshund tracker Bentley.
Yesterday Bentley was featured as MDTN's tracker of the day out of Saint Clair County Michigan.
Kenneth Jordan, professional blood tracker
and his 11lb Dachshund, Bentley.
St. Clair/Sanilac County
Tracking since 2015
810 459-9814
Call for pricing
34 recoveries
Kenneth Jordan, professional blood tracker
and his 11lb Dachshund, Bentley.
St. Clair/Sanilac County
Tracking since 2015
810 459-9814
Call for pricing
34 recoveries
Here is the hunters story...
I told my son; "I saw the arrow hit, it was way back, and not what I intended."
He said "Don't worry, we are going to find it, my buddy has a tracking dog."
I said; " OK, but we are going to hold off tracking it until morning."
11 PM and 6 hours later. Frank calls, and said; "My buddy Ken Jordan, is on his way here now."
Ken shows up, and he has the dog tucked in a back pack.
We walked back to where I took the shot.
Within 2 minutes Bentley picked up the trail and took off as fast as he could go, across the field, on the blood trail.
We went at least 300 yards across the corn stubble, and then we see the buck, and he is still alive.
I told my son; "I saw the arrow hit, it was way back, and not what I intended."
He said "Don't worry, we are going to find it, my buddy has a tracking dog."
I said; " OK, but we are going to hold off tracking it until morning."
11 PM and 6 hours later. Frank calls, and said; "My buddy Ken Jordan, is on his way here now."
Ken shows up, and he has the dog tucked in a back pack.
We walked back to where I took the shot.
Within 2 minutes Bentley picked up the trail and took off as fast as he could go, across the field, on the blood trail.
We went at least 300 yards across the corn stubble, and then we see the buck, and he is still alive.
I told Ken; "Hey, lets back out. What do you think?"
Ken was not about to give up.
He said; "I think you need to get another arrow in him. Right now, tonight."
I thought about it to myself, and then I said to Ken, "And how am I going to do that?"
He said "We(Bentley and I) are going to go get in front of him and get his attention and you are going to sneak up behind him."
Let me tell you, hunting and shooting white tail deer is a thrill, but it is nothing compared to tracking and recovering with Ken, his daughter and Bentley. What started out to appear to be, a restless, long dreary night, and wondering if I would ever see that buck again, turned into a hunt of a lifetime. and one we will remember for a long, long time.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I will have to get the rest of the story from Ken later, and edit it in here....
Now what I want to emphasize before I close here is that tracking deer is teamwork between a dog, the handler, the helpers, and the deer hunter. Even though the hunter was trying to follow the common sense rules of tracking a gut shot deer and planning to back off and wait, the handler had enough experience, confidence and creativity to show up early and bring a swift end to the deers suffering, and save the meat and an amazing trophy.
I am Marcus de la Houssaye and I edited this article for your educational and entertainment pleasure.
Ken was not about to give up.
He said; "I think you need to get another arrow in him. Right now, tonight."
I thought about it to myself, and then I said to Ken, "And how am I going to do that?"
He said "We(Bentley and I) are going to go get in front of him and get his attention and you are going to sneak up behind him."
Let me tell you, hunting and shooting white tail deer is a thrill, but it is nothing compared to tracking and recovering with Ken, his daughter and Bentley. What started out to appear to be, a restless, long dreary night, and wondering if I would ever see that buck again, turned into a hunt of a lifetime. and one we will remember for a long, long time.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I will have to get the rest of the story from Ken later, and edit it in here....
Now what I want to emphasize before I close here is that tracking deer is teamwork between a dog, the handler, the helpers, and the deer hunter. Even though the hunter was trying to follow the common sense rules of tracking a gut shot deer and planning to back off and wait, the handler had enough experience, confidence and creativity to show up early and bring a swift end to the deers suffering, and save the meat and an amazing trophy.
I am Marcus de la Houssaye and I edited this article for your educational and entertainment pleasure.
No comments:
Post a Comment