Hey Guys, I'm also a member of United Blood Trackers and wanted to jump in here. What you have to understand is that "blood tracking" is not really what the dogs are doing. Most calls that trackers and tracking dogs get are not to follow a blood trail as most hunters can do that on their own. When an animal is wounded, they put off a different smell through their hooves. A good tracking dog will lock on that scent and track, many time skipping right over fresher live deer tracks. Because of this most trackers want to start at the hit site so that the dog can that deer's smell locked in their brains that way by the time you get to the last blood the dog knows what deer to track.
Also, I am currently live in Germany where I was lucky enough to get my hunting license. The dogs here are breed to be versatile. One minute they are used to drive game and the next they are tracking wounded game. Its amazing what happens when you put that tracking collar on a dog. They know what they are there for and most good dogs can make the switch without an issue.
To give you an example of how little blood is needed track a wounded aninal, my training with my dog normally consist of a hoof attached to a shoe (google blood tracking shoes they are pretty funny looking) and about 2-3 oz of blood along the trail in game rich areas. Normally these lines are over a 1000 meters and i will wait at least 24 hours to track. Most of the time Arlo is able to make short work of these lines.
As far as carrying a weapon, personally I believe a tracker should be allowed to carry because many times a deer is found alive but mortally wounded. Its best to put it down as soon as possible. If you are worried about people poaching, then the requirement to contact a game warden before hand is a good idea.
As far as dogs go, any of the breeds can be used to track. However, a lot of the trackers that I know us small dogs like dachshunds. Don't laugh as a well breed dachshund are hunting machines as that was their original propose. I have a wiredhaired one that was breed for blood tracking here in Germany. I personally track on leash because he is also a house pet and my wife would kill me if anything happened to him but I know people of people that will track off lead. Most of the time however, they track on a leash until they can confirm a they are on the right track and the animal is still alive. Then they will release their dog to bay the animal so that someone can get in range to put the animal down.
If you want to know more, fill free to ask. Also, google United Blood Trackers (I cant post a link) they has some great information about what trackers do. There is also a facebook page for our group where you can ask some questions and read some of the crazy tracks that many of the members have been on.
I hope this helps and if the Air Force ever sees fit to send me to Minot, I can tell you I be there leading the charge to get the State to allow wounded game tracking.
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Hey Buck tracker, I tried to send you a PM, but it wouldn't give me that option. Which states do you operate in. I'd like to review their laws and find out how those states are handling this issue. I have been on the fence about this as dogs and deer are an "Oil and Water" kind of thing in my hunting circle, but depending on the information available, I'm open to discussion. Thanks for jumping on NDA and Welcome!! Hope you stick around.
KDM,
If you go to the united blood tracker page, and click the resource tab then on the green states, it will give you a general idea of what the laws are for that state. Really good resource.
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Are they actually tracking the deer or the scent of blood? Hopefully Buck Tracker sticks around and provides more info. but I've hear that dogs are fairly easy to train and pigs blood or various other animals blood can be used in training??
Woodpecker,
While the training is not crazy hard, I do spend a lot of time in the woods working my dog. From 8 weeks old on i lay a line about every week or 2, then track the next day. Additionally, I take any real track I can get even if its just 20-30 yards. Luckily I enjoy spending time in the woods and during many of my training tracks, I bring my kids along. Besides training, I also spend a lot of time collecting deer/pig pelts, legs and blood. I have 3 buddies that call me any time they get something so that I can collect what I need. My wife will not even go in the stand up freezer because of all the stuff i have any there. As far as the type of blood needed, there are different trains of thought but in Europe they mostly try to use cow blood as it gives off the least amount of smell. The major thing about blood tracking is that your dog has to learn how to figure out the problem when there is no blood. A wounded animal will do some crazy things to throw off its "prey" and the dog has to learn to keep searching during the tough times. As far as the handler, you have to know your dog. There is a lot of trust between you two. When there is no visible sign of the deer the handler must know when the dog is tracking and when he is just walking though the woods. The trust is built up between you two during your training. Training does slow down as they get more experience but that not normally until they are between a year or two old.
If you talk to a serious tracker, they spend most of deer season on the road helping people out and most of the time it's on their own dime. They receive calls all hours of the day and night and are willing to drive 100s of miles over many hours just to get their dogs out there. It becomes an addiction and trackers give up a lot during deer season to help others out. Im lucky that my training and hunting property is within 5 mins of my house, but I have drove over an hour for a training section to have someone evaluate my dog. I can tell you that in the end all of the training is worth it when an animal is recovered.
