Newly discovered deer finder

Kev, reminds me of a long departed shooting mate's Black Lab, used to collect ducklings from nests along the drain, softest mouthed dog I ever saw.
 
Bogtrotter and Will until you have seen a properly trained tracking dog work,report to carcass or bay a beast how can you say that any dog is better than none when you haven't seen the aforementioned properly trained tracking dog,this is not a dig but a question?!?
As for cold scenting for 60 hours rare but doable,sometimes other dogs will have failed looking for a medal etc,in comes the specialist(this is what a cold scenting dog is,as any dog will find with hot scent)perhaps with people having walked all over the track,dogs and animals,then tell me any dog will find your beast
Longest age of track I've worked was 36 hours old,if dogs not trained to that age of track you will not find.You may be lucky though.
Will you say that you like to get the best dog that you can afford,I like to get the best out of any dog I've had whether its needed or not to track an ancient scent,the skill to do so is there if required
Any dog will find with hot scent with blood or guts there but what to do with no blood and it's then an overnight track that's what the difference is
Bogtrotter youre a professional stalker or keeper me thinks and you say you haven't the work for a fully trained deer dog?Now you've me puzzled or is it that you prefer all rounders in the kennel?
Money has never been mentioned.

Yes professional, last needed a dog to find a beast three seasons ago, and mine found it OK, would not be fair to keep a dog for soo little use better with my all rounders.

I have lost deer as has anyone who has done any amount of stalking, but can't honestly remember when, have had wounded beasts of course and found them with dogs I have.


Never had to wait longer than the next morning to look for beast and even then rarely so maximum of 16 hours




Following ancient trails is more about the dogs ability than any concern for deer welfare.
Not taking away from yours dogs ability in following a 36 hour trail, if I have to wait 60 hours as someone posted or even 36 as you say then I have failed.


To each his own and if trialling and testing dogs is your bag fair play to you, its not mine , if and when I loose a deer 99.9 % of the time I will be able to get a dog on to it quickly, so my all rounders will do for me.
 
As you say,over a day and I'd think I'd failed too unless you've been called in,that track was an RTA which I was told was hit on the Saturday night and I wasn't called until Monday morning,don't know why but there you go,probably hit on Sunday night;)
Not only dogs but handlers ability as well,I honestly think more handlers muck up searches than their dog would,not a dig at anyone either or their dog
Trialling and testing dogs isn't my bag it's only an extension to my stalking,a handy one.My stalking like you is a job not just a hobby even when I'm not full time I still treat it as a job,all it is with the dogs is I love getting the most out of them,always have done even when I had springers,terriers,lurchers or anything else I've owned and worked.
I won't need to tell you either that rushing in with a dog is sometimes the worst thing you can do.So quickly isn't always the way to go.
I agree fully if you don't need one don't get one if you've dogs that'll already fulfill your needs and requirements
ATB
 
Can't argue with your reasoning, I am not liable to be called in be anyone to look for a deer think all the stalkers , keepers in my area have a dog that will find deer to some degree, and as I said already its not something that I have any great desire to get involved in.

Can also understand what you say about RTAs I have been involved with a few of them, I may be lucky but so far have never needed a dog to deal with one.


Also never had the problem of being called in days after like you have ,Police in this area have a list of people who will deal with RTAs when one is needed they just go down the list until they get someone prepared to attend
straight away, would be very surprised if it took longer than an hour for someone to be on the scene.

Can understand that if RTA took place during the hours of darkness and the animal made of that it would not be practical to track it until daylight, that has never happened to me in all the RTAs I have attended apart from two ,the beasts have been so badly injured that its just been a case of dispatching them on the road , of the two one was a Roe buck hit at mid day in the local village and had to be dispatched where it took refuge in a garden.


One was a stag hit in the early hours of a summer morning he left a trail that was easily followed no dog needed
went 100 yards or so where he was found dead.

I get your point about handlers, and agree that rushing in with a dog is not always the best strategy, in fact rushing after a wounded deer is often the wrong thing to do dog or no dog.

I have no axe to grind with those that wish to train a dog to the high standards that you wish, my gripe was that on reading some of the posts, the implication was you should not be looking for wounded deer unless you had a dog trained and tested to these high standards.

Which begs the question what should we do leave it? hardly, call someone with a deer trained dog well maybe if you can find one, there are not that many trained to the standard that posters were advocating, if you can find one how long are they going to take to get there? or use the dog you have in the kennel who will probably find your beast but he has not been trained and tested. Oh shock horror.

Different strokes for different folks I suppose.

However in general I find myself in agreement with what you say.
 
Bogtrotter,training and testing someone's deer dog and them is not rocket science and it's also not mandatory to call said tested dog and handler to a call out,however why not train to as high a standard as is possible then when difficult tracks do appear there is a bit of piece of mind.
Continental friends know more about this than us and have been doing tracking much longer as well(you know all this anyway)what stops us I feel is the work that's required to "polish" our dogs to the same standard,they're more than capable as we are,all we need to do is be more willing to accept it.
Why not breed tested dogs to try and get better dogs,after all this is what we should all be aiming to do with dogs,get the best out of them for certain jobs,as you say different strokes for different folks,whenever I've bred a litter it's always to get better dogs when possible if not possible don't breed,if only everybody followed this.
I've no doubt most do
 
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