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Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Blood Tracking Dog Training



Tracker Mike Riepen and Cash on a training session

Help find a deer i shot

This is exactly the type of call we get daily throughout hunting season, and we are ready to answer the call day or night. Like Batman awaiting the light in the sky. We live to track wounded deer. Here are a few tips to help increase the odds of one of our teams being able to recover your deer/bear/or elk. The more accurate information you can give to us the better our advice on what to do will be. We try our best to determine exactly what kind of shot you had, the circumstances surrounded your shot, and what you did following the shot. By collecting some information on what happened we can give you an honest opinion on what the chances of a successful recovery are.

-try your best to see exactly where you hit the animal, keep a sharp eye to see if any blood is dripping down the deer and from where.

-take note of what the animal does after the shot (i.e. run, walk, limp, stumble, fall, tail up/down)

-make an effort to locate the hitsite, look for your arrow.

-take note of the color of the blood, and the size of the blood spots. I usually reference money, I start at pin head size drops, dime sized, quarter sized, or dollar bill sized spots. Keep in mind the ammount of blood does not necesarily dictate a successful recovery. I have recovered deer with little or no visible blood, and I have seen muscle shot deer bleed all over the place and have not recovered them.

-If you decide to begin tracking, mark your trail where you find blood, A good tool for this is toilet paper. It is very easy to see in the woods and easy to carry with you. I lay a few squares next to each blood spot i find, and hang a long streamer of TP where I find significant sign. It is also very important to mark where you have lost the blood and to inform your tracker when he is getting close to your last blood.

-We do know and understand that as trackers we are usually a hunters last resort in recovering a deer, which makes our job very difficult. Grid searching with a large search party is by far one of the biggest challenges we face as trackers. When a number of people grid search they most certainly will get blood/hair/and other scent from their wounded animal on their boots, as the search party disburses in different direction, so does the track scent. We are skilled at working through these situation but it does make it more difficult, in a perfect world there would be no grid searching done. We will need to know how many people have been on the track, and if you have done a grid search. When tracking with the dog we will need to know where you did your grid search so that we are aware that the dog may be tracking a false track. This will help us evaluate our dog should the track scent come to an end and the dog gets confused on where the scent has gone.

- When you meet your tracker please follow all of their instruction, each tracker has their own set of "rules" so to speak when it comes to how they work, each dog has a different personality and your tracker will explain the do's and dont's on the track behind their dog. As well as each trackers specific rules, we are also required to follow the laws set forth by the Department of Natural Resources on the use of tracking dogs.

- We also ask that immediately upon recovering your deer(assuring the deer has expired) that you notch your tag and affix it to the animal in the proper manner.

We look forward to serving you in the 2012 hunting season and for years to come, Good luck to all of you.

Deer tracking dogs Byron Michigan

Don From Durand shot this perfect 8 point during his evening hunt. This buck was chasing doe so Don had to make a quick shot resulting in hitting this buck back in the intestines. I started Sypris on this track and she did great considering all the distractions this track had to offer. I would guess I saw at least 30 deer through the entire time trying to track dons buck. After about 1/2 mile of tracking I had to switch out dogs because this track was to difficult for sypris. This buck left a very good blood trail for most of the time. After the buck left a over grown field Sypris had no clue where the buck went so I grabbed scout and he also could not figure out where the buck went. I took him across a picked bean field and that is where scout found the buck bedded in a thicket. We jumped him STILL ALIVE and after 2 miles of pushing and jumping the buck the hunter was able to go get his bow and finish the hunt.

Deer tracking dogs Byron Michigan

Byron Mi. This was a liver shot buck that did not leave a blood trail. Jason tried tracking the buck the same night however was not successful do to lack of blood. The next morning the hunter and his brother and the neighbor tried to find blood and was able to track the buck about 100 yards. After that they all started down the deer runs looking for blood. Last ditch effort the hunter went up ahead and did a small circle looking for his deer. The area was full of blown down trees and yellow swamp grass so doing a body search was going to be difficult. Scout started of very slow do to all the human contamination. we worked through all the human contamination and found two very small drops of blood to confirm Scout was on the deer. After about 150 yards farther i found another spot of blood to find out the neighbor shot adeer there the day before. Jason buck ran right through another blood trail. After two restarts Scout worked past all the blood and found the buck STILL ALIVE about fifty yards farther. The hunter went and got his bow to humanly put the buck down. Total distance track around 450 yards and the trail was 15 hours old.

www.michigandeertracknhounds.com

MDTH Tracker: Rob Miller: (810)240-4891 Mike Riepen:(248)200-9805 Jeff Murphy:(517)449-2638 Brian Wetsre:(616)430-7938 Jim Mayer:(906)440-3516 Chuck Collier:(989)255-3825

This was a very interesting track Jon made a 42 yard shot on this nice 9 point buck. The shot hit right a the third from last rib bone resulting in a liver hit. Two blade RAGE broad head and his arrow completely passed through the buck. He had a decent blood trail for about 50 yards and after that the blood trail disappeared. Jon waited three hours before he started blood tracking. Jon made it to last blood when he notice the buck walking at a very slow pace through the woods so he watched the buck through his bino's. The buck bedded down twice and licked his wounds and would get up and walk off very slow. Jon could see exactly where he hit the buck and he knew it was a fatal shot. Jon backed out and waited till morning before tracking his deer. The morning came and went and Jon still could not find his deer. Jon hunts 60 acres that is surrounded by subdivisions and condo's so the property is basically land lock by homes. The property is laid out with the woods shaped like a "L" shape with a swamp to the east and one to the west and three large tall weed fields to the north. While Jon watched his buck it stayed just on the inside of the woods just behind all the homes. Jon was certain the buck stayed in the woods because the buck would have had to walk up a pretty decent incline to make it to the field to the north and when Jon last saw the buck it looked very week. I started the track with Sypris and she nailed the 50 yard blood trail and after that she could not connect all the dots to make the recovery. After about one hour I decided to go get Scout my seasoned tracking dog. Scout did the exactly same things as Sypris did and once again would could not figure out the line the buck went. So we searched the swamp to the west with no luck and at this point it was looking gleam and I could not believe my dogs are unable to find this buck. So I decided to take scout to the north and check all the deer runs leading in to the tall weed fields. The fourth run I noticed blood on a weed so at this point I was very confident we are finally going to recovery his buck. Well scout totally shut down and was not interested in tracking so once again I went back to the car and grabbed Sypris to complete the track. I told Jon to get on his four wheeler and start grid searching the field while i start Sypris at last blood. Once I got Sypris to last blood she started voicing and took off right in to the field and by the time I was able to stop her she was at the buck. She air scented the buck out in the field. The buck was only 40 yards off the four wheeler trail. When we started tracking in the beginning we flushed a few doe from the woods and while we were field dressing the buck there was three doe standing 75 yards away watching us. Jon said it was not uncommon to see 20-30 deer while hunting. My conclusion on why my hounds were struggled because in the woods was the over abundance of fresh scent masking the old scent. The blood trail was 25 hours old and the buck was almost 100% bleeding internally. The buck made it about 500-600 yards before it took a dirt nap.

Michigan deer trackn hounds .com

MDTH Tracker: Rob Miller: (810)240-4891 Mike Riepen:(248)200-9805 Jeff Murphy:(517)449-2638 Brian Wetsre:(616)430-7938 Jim Mayer:(906)440-3516 Chuck Collier:(989)255-3825

Seth shot this Michigan stud during his evening hunt behind a friends house out in Columbia ville. The shot was a little far back and high resulting in a single lung hit. The blood trail for the first 100 yards was very heavy and easy to follow. The buck must have clotted up because the blood trail came to a stop and that is when Seth decided he would need some help. After our phone conversation I decided we should take up the trail in the morning because you do not want to push a single lung shot. Scout started of great tacking us out of the woods/swamps and thru peoples back yards and across a paved road and thru a small woods and then across a drive way and then thru a small woods and then into a corn field. Once the buck crossed over the road the blood trail picked up and it was very easy to see and follow. The buck bedded down several times with in the last 100 yards. The buck traveled at least 600-800 yards land the line was about 14 hours old.

Blood tracking dogs


Scott Krohn Testimony


The morning of Nov.11th. a large 8pt. buck that I had been hunting for was rubbing a tree in thick cover 40 yards away.As the beautiful buck headed in my direction I mentally prepared for the moment of truth. As the buck entered the shooting lane I drew back, and as he cleared I bleated and he stopped with his shoulder slightly back and I picked a spot and released. To my delight the arrow went exactly where I wanted it! What I didn't know was he was slightly quartering to me. I called my tracking partner and an hour later he showed up and picked up what I was certain to be a short blood trail.
200+ yards later,the blood trail ended, and I thought, this cant be happening to me. After several hours of frantic grid searching, my buddies and my wife went online and gave me Rob's phone number. Realizing the deer  was dead but we had no idea where, I knew a tracking dog was the best solution to recover the buck.
Rob agreed to make the trip to Bad Axe. And when he and scout arrived at 5:15pm I thought to myself, how can a dog that small track a deer? Little did I know what this dog was capable of! We proceeded to the middle of the blood trail and scout quickly picked up the trail. The blood was very scarce but scout followed it through 3 property lines which consisted of woods,CRP,and a small marsh! We had tracked about 700 yards. When we approached very thick woods, Scout picked up the pace and Rob said the deer would be close. Suddenly Scout jumped the deer getting within inches before got up! In order to better analyze the der, Rob asked me to keep up and see how far he goes.
To our amazement the buck back traced exactly back to where he had come from. After following 200 yards, we again jumped the buck and could see he was really hurting.At this point the decision was to go home and come back in the morning.
The next morning Scout easily picked back up on the trail and the buck continued almost the same path he had left on! After 250 yards we found several beds and Rob stated,"He will be close." Scout followed the trail like a champ and we got back up near the woods where the chase began. The deer made every effort to confuse the dog by circling and doing figure eight. At that point I started to get concerned again.
Scout however, expertly followed the buck and 100 yards later, we found the buck expired!Field dressing revealed a single lung/liver shot.
Without Scout, this deer would not have ever been found. I am so great full that Scout and Rob found my trophy. The 1,300+ yards the deer covered with no blood trails is a testament to the quality of this team. Rob was very professional and Scouts' desire to find the deer was relentless! I am so grateful that God brought Scout and Rob into my life. This was an adventure none of us will ever forget!

Scott 8 point green score 125 7/8. nets are for fishing

LET THEM GO! SO THEY CAN GROW!

Q.D.M.A.

Deer tracking dogs

This was a wounded buck that was shot during muzzleloader season. The hunter was not sure of the shot so he called for a dog to help. The shot ended up being good and the deer only went 200 yards.
Jeff Murphy 517-449-2638