I failed to trust her. I shot a doe deer with my muzzle loader and as usual, I took Kate to find it. I always do this even if I see the deer fall. Anyway, we went to the place where the deer was standing and She started to pull me along.
By law She has to be on a leash and so She pulled my 6'4", 285 pound through the brambles and vines for about 60 yards and I have not seen one drop of blood. I decide that She is on the trail of the wrong deer, so I stop her and we go back to where I shot the deer. I tie her to my ATV and look around where the deer was standing when I shot, and I see no blood, no hair, no nothing. This is not good. I take Kate down wind of that place a little and make a circle, and She pulls me down the same trail that She did the first time and I am still seeing no blood, but I keep going. About thirty yards past where I stop her the first time, lays a dead deer. I can't figure how a deer that is double lunged with a .50 caliber Barnes sabot does not leave lots of blood, but that was the case. Big holes on both sides of the ribs and blood coming out the nose and mouth where she laid, but none on the trail. Kate knew but I did not trust Her and I should have because She has never let me down. Sorry Kate. miles

Miles I wish we could use dogs to track deer.

The nose knows.

I wish it was legal everywhere. I can't see a problem as long as they are on a leash. I have been doing it for lots of years and have found deer for people that would have been lost otherwise. I only do for myself and my hunting partner now, as it takes too much of a toll on me, but I enjoyed it when I was younger and better able to follow. I never turned anybody down if they asked me to help find a deer. miles

I am thinking you owe her a big box of bacon wrapped milk bone.

Don't worry too much about Kate, she'll forgive you. Dogs are remarkable that way....

have to look but i think we can do it now....couple years ago i wanted to use my GSP also for tracking wounded game since they are used as an all around dog in other places and not just a bird dog. talked to Fish and Game and they said law says absolutely no dogs for hunting big game other than lions.....i asked if they really wanted me to loose an wounded animal cause i couldnt use a tracking dog and after a pause was told if the dog is on a leesh im just walking it and not hunting with it

"Let That Dog Hunt"

Give her a big ol leg bone to chew on and she'll forget all it.

I gave her a piece of the lower leg and a piece of backbone. Both had lots of meat and she promptly buried them. I do feed her well, and all she will eat. She works it off and is not fat, like me. miles

Odd you post this. For all my scent work students I have a hat that says " Trust the Dog"

I double lunged a deer last season. It was high in the lungs, and the deer traveled a little ways, not leaving a bit of blood until the last 10 or so yards, but that blood was on the foliage it had brushed up against.

I knew the shot was good, and was surprised at the lack of blood trail.

The old coot that I ran around with before he up and left us had a beagle, Max. Max was the best-behaved critter imaginable. One day John thought that Max had committed some infraction of decency (I don't even remember what it was) and upbraided him quite loudly about it. Some time later, John had incontrovertible evidence that he had been wrong and Max had been completely innocent of any transgression. He went out to apologize and was met with all of his pot-started tomato plants torn from their pots, with plants, pots, and dirt strewn all over the patio. He had to admit that this was a just response. He managed to get everything repotted, and all three of us had some beer when I showed up.

Yup, what's that old saying about "you'll do well to be half the man your dog thinks you are?"

Ha. Great story.

I flung a load of #8's at a timberdoodle last Saturday. I wasn't sure I hit it, but knew whereabouts it went down or landed. Searching the area with Remmie, our labradoodle, turned up nothing. Nothing that is until I paid attention to her. she'd sniffed out the darned thing right away, but because she was 15+ feet from where I thought it went down, I didn't think she was on it.

Tough to fool a pooches' sniffer.

I know better, I just did not do better for some reason. miles

It is now legal in Montana.
I tried it last year on an elk that a friend shot without success. Anyone have a good training tips for teaching a couch hound to track a wounded animal? The husky is even less interested than the boxer.

Ya know she still loves ya, Miles!

Lots of tips...but they begin with:
a) Don't use a Husky
b) Don't use a Boxer





Actually any dog that shows an interest will work, even the poorest amongst them has a nose so far superior to ours its impossible to quantify. I used my AussiexBorder collie for years, she was a natural at it.

One of the best trackers in our county was the game wardens old rat terrier! Deer finding pooch! That dog!!

That was kinda my conclusion after a half day trying to get the boxer to track.

Here is the info from the MT regs:
Dogs
Montana law states that a person may not use
dogs to hunt or chase game animals. Dogs may
be utilized to recover or locate wounded big game.

Yeah, Im familiar with them. Im really glad they came to their senses on that one.

When I was in So. Africa I had a shot at a Zebra. The bullet hit a branch and sent the bullet who knew where. The Zebra was in the brush and I couldn't imagine not getting hit by the bullet. We went back and got the rancher and came back to where the shot took place. Within a couple of minutes the dogs had the Zebra worried to the point it didn't see anyone coming up to put in the final shot. Good dogs.

Yeah, we used a Dachshund x Fox terrier a lot in Africa. Goofy looking little dog, but the hunt was in him...

did you ask her how she wanted her steak cooked when you got home?

I have another one. If you want to know who your best friend is, lock both your wife and your dog in a closet for an hour. Then see which one wants to kiss you when you let them out.

If we are talking about this dog, yes I did. She led a really good life!

Kate eats good but not steak. I have had extremely good luck using Great Pyrenees. This one is a half breed with the mother being Great Pyrenees and the father unknown. We had the Great Pyrenees to keep the coyotes out of the ducks and chickens but the deer tracking was a bonus. miles

Kate is a great name for a dog!!

Why would you lock em in the closet when the trunk of the car's handy.

Are you familiar with the kids' program "Mel and the Green Trashcan"? It was about a boy and a Great Pyrenees. It was one of the programs that wore out the TV when my son was small.

I don't know about elk, but our late mini Dachshund was a fool for caribou. Anytime we were traveling caribou country we had to leash him or he'd disappear for an hour or two, then give us the stink-eye when he got back. No predator ever got him, and he always tracked us down too - no we never waited for him on caribou. Did spend hours and hours waiting on him over the years until he got tired of chasing hares tho...

Cook her up a pound of bacon and I'm sure she will lie at your feet again.

In Sweden, if one is to hunt ungulates, you have to have a tracking dog (or be able to get one quickly if needed).

The dogs that my hunting consortium uses for moose are awesome!

John

Sadly, I am not. Sounds like a great show. miles

Baby Kate. I think she is the brown one on top.



Last year picture of her.

Here is Tee and her first deer........ I sure do miss her.

I know Gene. Kate goes everywhere with me that I will let her. I mostly let her go unless it is too hot for her to stay in the truck for a long time. miles

On reading the title, first thought was, "Uh oh, you shat by the back door in the early am?" But, maybe that only happens at my house.

Wow that Pyrenees cross made for a good looking
dog. I never heard of that before.

That was my first thought too.
Almost looks like a hound.

My cur dog's a natural at finding game.
Unfortunately for her, I don't hunt big game very much any more.
I make up for it by letting her run my little trap line with me though.

She is a real good dog. I gave all of the other pups away and don't have any feedback as to how they turned out. I took them to a local flea market and had no trouble giving them away. miles

Accident. the Mother got bred when she was too young and I took her to the Vet and got a shot to keep her from having the puppies. For the next five years She never came in heat so I quit watching for it. One evening when getting ready to get on a deer stand, She did not act interested in going (unusual), so I told my partner, something is wrong with Purl and I went over to her and She was about to pop. She had pups three days later. Her long hair and big size kept me from noticing until the latter stages. She always lost weight in the summer and put it back on when it started getting cooler, so I thought nothing of her increase in size. Big surprise to me. miles

A buddy an myself shot a doe at about 200 yards once with my 50... BMG... put a nice 50 cal hole through both lungs. Easy trailing area to see blood and such, had to follow tracks almost 175 yards to where she piled up on a trail... with a pool of blood not bigger than a plate at that point. Never saw a SINGLE drop of blood.

OTOH we did find the path of the bullet and could trace it almost all the way into the ground....was hoping to find it but it went to dirt in cactus....

Good job on Kate. Hoping to expose the new dog to deer trails here in a week or so.

I shot a deer in the lungs once and blew an enormous exit wound in the animal. It ran about 60 yards through some heavy brush and i never saw a drop of blood. When i got to the animal most of the destroyed lung was hanging out of the wound. I wish i had a dog to help me find that animal. It hit the brush and i lost sight of it immediately. It took me over an hour to recover an animal just 60 yards from where it was shot. A dog would have been most useful.

Great story.

kwg

Boxers are supposed to be good at trailing, but didnt try mine. Not legal in good ol Pa. Did help with a pup to Drahthaar club standards. Their standards sound like a lie and take a book to explain. Anyhow it was very impressive

Was a scout master in college and took my kids to a summer camp annually.... the camp directors had two HUGE DOGS... a Pyrenees and a Newfoundland, and later got a St Bernard...

all three were pretty impressive animals, yet were so good with all the kids running lose all summer...

With all the hair, and size... we made jokes that the lake rose a foot when they went in, and dropped a foot when they came out...

left a trail of water coming out that resembled water my 23 ft SeaRay used to do when I pulled that out of the lake back in Minnesota...

My daughter and family adopted a dog from the pound a couple of years ago. She is half Pyrenees and half Golden Retriever. She has turned out to be one of the best family pet dogs I have ever known.

She is great with the grand kids. Very loving, loyal and obedient. She is protective, too. The Pyrenees were bred to protect sheep herds. It seems like they would be very good at it.

She enjoys jumping on the big trampoline with the kids, and sometimes all by herself. Pretty amusing. She is a happy dog named Daisy, which seems to fit her well.