Deer Recovery Dogs Play Increasingly Vital Role

By Michael Veine

The deer recovery dog is fast becoming a deer hunter’s best friend. Most of us spend countless hours on habitat improvement, scouting, target shooting and gearing up in preparation for the hunt. However, preparation for game recovery is often neglected. Ethical hunters always strive for a humane, clean shot, but the hunting gods can throw some wicked curves at even the best hunters. A good tracking dog can follow a blood trail even after it has been washed thoroughly by rain or even covered by snow. They can follow the faintest blood trails that would otherwise be impossible for a human to see. This is why more and more savvy deer hunters believe that deer recovery dogs are worth their weight in gold.

Tracking Dogs

New York, Wisconsin, Maine, Vermont, Indiana, Texas, British Columbia, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Alaska all recently passed laws joining the ranks of states that allow the use of dogs to recover deer and other big game. Tracking dogs have been used abroad to blood-trail big game for centuries. In North America, the southern states were first to utilize these unique dogs, and the practice is rapidly gaining acceptance across the rest of the country.

Professor Lawrence Myers is a noted expert on canine olfaction. He’s a researcher in the School of Veterinary Medicine at Auburn University. Myers has been quoted saying that dogs can smell one million times better than humans can. He says that a dog’s ability to detect scent varies depending on the type of odor, air temperature and humidity and the physiology of the dog.

Soon after Michigan passed a law allowing the use of deer recovery dogs, I began training my then 6-year-old Labrador named Shrike to blood-trail deer. Labrador retrievers make good blood-trailers. Breeds like dachshunds, Deutsch, Drahthaar, bloodhounds, beagles, dachsbrackes, bassets and curs are also popular deer recovery dogs. Basically, any breed with a good nose could be used to trail deer. It’s all a matter of proper training.

Deer blood used for training can be collected from your own harvested specimens. Use new zip lock bags to collect blood during field dressing. Also, every time you thaw out some venison, blood usually drains from the meat and can be collected. I like to transfer the blood into old syrup containers, which works well for dribbling out training trails. I trickle out a sparse blood trail and have a piece of deer hide at the end of the scent line. Before starting an inexperienced dog on a blood trail, let the trail age for at least 15 minutes.

As dogs gain expertise, the trail should be aged longer. The dog should be kept on a lead during the trailing process, and plenty of praise should be given when he or she finds the end of the trail. I even put little pieces of meat scraps at the end of the trail to sweeten the pot for my dog. Keep the training sessions short and fun for your four-legged friend. This way the dog will look forward to the training. Once a week is plenty. Allowing dogs to find dead deer that have already been tracked by hunters is a great training aid, too. The dog won’t be the slightest bit upset if the deer he finds is already field-dressed.

John Jeanneney is the founding member of Deer Search Inc., a non-profit group whose members assist hunters in finding wounded deer. Jeanneney has written a 325-page book titled “Tracking Dogs for Finding Wounded Deer,” in which he offers the following tips. He says, “When starting an inexperienced dog on a recovery, pick up the trail at the point where the animal was shot. This allows the dog to gain experience along the entire blood trail. Blood trails are easier for a dog to follow after the dew settles in the evening and also at night. This is the best time for the dog to track. Dogs have a much harder time blood-trailing on warm, windy days.”

There is no charge for the services of Deer Search’s members, but hunters may make contributions to the organization, which reimburses its members for mileage expenses on tracking jobs. Go to www.deersearch.org for more information on the organization. Their website has information on tracking laws, dog training tips, tracking advice and contact information. You may also phone 518-872-1779 to talk to a Deer Search volunteer, but please do not call this number in the middle of the night with a dead deer out in the woods. Wise hunters will line up individual members before the season begins.

The Test

I put Shrike’s tracking skills to the test for the first time when I arrowed a huge buck in a remote, Upper Peninsula cedar swamp. The buck was hit just before dark and unfortunately it started raining soon after the shot, so the visible blood trail was washed away and I couldn’t follow it. I knew the hit was good, but the area was so infested with coyotes, wolves and bears that leaving the deer overnight would have been extremely chancey.

Returning later with Shrike, I really didn’t know what to expect. I led him to where I hit the deer and commanded to him, “Find the deer.” With his nose to the ground, he immediately started pulling me in the direction where the deer had run off. He progressed steadily and, in just a couple minutes, Shrike was sniffing my dead buck. Shrike died last summer but he left a legacy of recovering many deer for me and other hunters. I now have a new lab pup named Harry. He’s being trained to hunt birds and recover deer just like his predecessor. With any luck, Harry will aid me in my deer hunting successes for years to come.