Deer dog - breed choice!

Have a lab pup with a view to him being my deer dog. Anyone got any links to decent books etc as never trained a dog to do this! Plenty for picking up and beating.
 
Used to have labs then GSP and now have GWP. All worked well and had their strengths. Labs easier to train in my opinion but wirey has been the most challenging but rewarding. My GSP was the most initiative and possibly multi purpose. Just my tuppence worth.
I've had labs most of my life and always found them easy to train, my GWP is now 17 months old and is just starting to calm down, his nose is incredible but that leads him to chase. I will continue to train him and see what happens. Look up Tollerholme working gundogs on fb he came from them.
 
About Deer dogs.
Like @levigsp said, it depends on country what we think of, when saying "good deer dog".
Here in Denmark, we use a lot of German pointers, but also see labs and spaniels, the ones trained as deer dogs do not get to go on birds.
A deer dog here is usually called after the shot, so it does not accompany the stalker, thats a big difference to UK.

Here the perfect deer dog, is the one who will find any wounded ainimal and keep it on the spot to the shooter can come and end the matter.
The perfect way to keep the wounded animal on the spot is to kill it when small, like a roe or fox, and without touching it when the animal is to big like a fallow buck.
Bavaian and Hanover hounds are considerd top, but they are only for very experienced and dedicated dog handleres.
They are really stubberen and get easily offended, once you offend them, they will not work for you anymore.

Link to movie where a deer dog holds a wounded fallow buck on the spot to the shooter finish it off.



That shooter in the movie is a registered Deer tracker, and can move over any land, without permission from land owner, but has to inform after the tracking and, surrender the animal to the landowner.
Here in Denmark anyone can call a registered deer tracker free of charge 24 hours a day, and most calls are for animals wounded in traffic.
When a private hunter calls for help to animal he/she wounded whit shots, the hunter only have to pay for petrol to the deer tracker.
Those trackers and the dogs do it for free out of interest. Our local deer tracker has tracked and found 4000+ wounded animals over 25 years, he now use a Bavarian and they are a great team.
 
This made me lol….👍🏻

It's all amusing till you are going back to find a shovel. Thankfully only happened once . It's my second border and the first was as good as gold never so much as batted an eyelid at anything apart from cats but this one is just feral. Zero fear and insatiable appetite to kill small critters and once even got a young red stag at bay. I think had the stag not been so bemused and young, an older one would have splatted him.

Great companion though but my god he tests you.
 
Have a lab pup with a view to him being my deer dog. Anyone got any links to decent books etc as never trained a dog to do this! Plenty for picking up and beating.
That's all you need. Get the brakes fitted, really good recall, some idea of working using dummies and the rest it will learn when you are out and about. After their first lick of blood from a carcass and they know what they are looking for.

There isn't a book on how to train your lab to go up to the corner of a ride, have a look round and tell you if there are deer. That's between you and your dog.
 
Get a black lab. A easy life is underrated but in the future when you're out with a friend and they can't find their teckel or to scared to let it off the lead or that other friend thats got a GWP and they are hiding all the stuff it's killed and saying its perfect but it has a high pray drive. The black lab might not be fashionable but it will fit in around family and work and won't take forever to mature and train. It will also sit next to you as other dogs are chasing squirrels and other stuff thinking what are those other idiot dogs doing 😂. I been around lots of deer dogs and most of the really great ones have been black labs. one of the best black labs I've ever seen. when we were on the open hill and crawling into deer would also crawl on his belly and would go off to find a shot deer and would pull a tuffed of hair and bring it back almost to say I found it.
 
About Deer dogs.
Like @levigsp said, it depends on country what we think of, when saying "good deer dog".
Here in Denmark, we use a lot of German pointers, but also see labs and spaniels, the ones trained as deer dogs do not get to go on birds.
A deer dog here is usually called after the shot, so it does not accompany the stalker, thats a big difference to UK.

Here the perfect deer dog, is the one who will find any wounded ainimal and keep it on the spot to the shooter can come and end the matter.
The perfect way to keep the wounded animal on the spot is to kill it when small, like a roe or fox, and without touching it when the animal is to big like a fallow buck.
Bavaian and Hanover hounds are considerd top, but they are only for very experienced and dedicated dog handleres.
They are really stubberen and get easily offended, once you offend them, they will not work for you anymore.

Link to movie where a deer dog holds a wounded fallow buck on the spot to the shooter finish it off.



That shooter in the movie is a registered Deer tracker, and can move over any land, without permission from land owner, but has to inform after the tracking and, surrender the animal to the landowner.
Here in Denmark anyone can call a registered deer tracker free of charge 24 hours a day, and most calls are for animals wounded in traffic.
When a private hunter calls for help to animal he/she wounded whit shots, the hunter only have to pay for petrol to the deer tracker.
Those trackers and the dogs do it for free out of interest. Our local deer tracker has tracked and found 4000+ wounded animals over 25 years, he now use a Bavarian and they are a great team.

The Danish system is good. It’s a shame the UK doesn’t have the same tracking laws!
 
GWP x Lab otherwise known as Perthshire pointer. Best dog I've had - very quiet stalking, follows up well, sits under a high seat. Also points deer and game and retrieves gamebirds. Only trouble is getting hold of a good one. My lab is also good deer dog though as he is a greedy bugger. He see's a shot deer as a meal ticket so wants to get there as quick as possible!
GWP x Lab I think is the Pennine Pointer. The cross originated with the Pennine grouse moor keepers of Northumberland and Durham over thirty years ago. Still a way off being recognised by the kennel club lol 😂, but makes a fantastic deer dog nevertheless. I’d have another in a heartbeat.
 
About Deer dogs.
Like @levigsp said, it depends on country what we think of, when saying "good deer dog".
Here in Denmark, we use a lot of German pointers, but also see labs and spaniels, the ones trained as deer dogs do not get to go on birds.
A deer dog here is usually called after the shot, so it does not accompany the stalker, thats a big difference to UK.

Here the perfect deer dog, is the one who will find any wounded ainimal and keep it on the spot to the shooter can come and end the matter.
The perfect way to keep the wounded animal on the spot is to kill it when small, like a roe or fox, and without touching it when the animal is to big like a fallow buck.
Bavaian and Hanover hounds are considerd top, but they are only for very experienced and dedicated dog handleres.
They are really stubberen and get easily offended, once you offend them, they will not work for you anymore.

Link to movie where a deer dog holds a wounded fallow buck on the spot to the shooter finish it off.



That shooter in the movie is a registered Deer tracker, and can move over any land, without permission from land owner, but has to inform after the tracking and, surrender the animal to the landowner.
Here in Denmark anyone can call a registered deer tracker free of charge 24 hours a day, and most calls are for animals wounded in traffic.
When a private hunter calls for help to animal he/she wounded whit shots, the hunter only have to pay for petrol to the deer tracker.
Those trackers and the dogs do it for free out of interest. Our local deer tracker has tracked and found 4000+ wounded animals over 25 years, he now use a Bavarian and they are a great team.

Its a good system and works very well,
Pre covid myself and other UKDTR members would travel to DK for the opening of the roe buck season to gain more knowledge of dog work and how things work.
Looking forward to returning next year.
 
Sunday night my neighbor shot a red deer that didn't fall in the shot. It rained all night between Sunday and Monday.
Monday morning at 09:00, our local deer dog team came and started the search.
The Hanoverian bloodhound took 1.5 hours to follow the trail 1500 meters over a small river trough wetlands/swamps to where the dead stag lay in some tight bushes.

The deer was on another man's land, but the landowner gave permission for the hunter to take his deer.
14 point stag 160kg, so medium size danish stag.
This time of year the meat is not the best so a lot of sausages will come out of such a one.

Great respect from my side for the fantastic dog work from our local tracking team.
Thats what we call a good deer dog here, where dogs do not traditional accompany the stalker during hunting.
However I dont know if a dog like that is of any use for UK traditions where the dog accompany the stalker during stalking, as those dogs are specificly breed to come after the shot.
 
Sunday night my neighbor shot a red deer that didn't fall in the shot. It rained all night between Sunday and Monday.
Monday morning at 09:00, our local deer dog team came and started the search.
The Hanoverian bloodhound took 1.5 hours to follow the trail 1500 meters over a small river trough wetlands/swamps to where the dead stag lay in some tight bushes.

The deer was on another man's land, but the landowner gave permission for the hunter to take his deer.
14 point stag 160kg, so medium size danish stag.
This time of year the meat is not the best so a lot of sausages will come out of such a one.

Great respect from my side for the fantastic dog work from our local tracking team.
Thats what we call a good deer dog here, where dogs do not traditional accompany the stalker during hunting.
However I dont know if a dog like that is of any use for UK traditions where the dog accompany the stalker during stalking, as those dogs are specificly breed to come after the shot.
Fantastic work by the tracking team and just shows what a good cold scent dog can do.
It probably would have been pointless fowling up straight away as it would have just gone further.
A good weight, about the same as the UK.
We have cold scent dogs in the UK and our organisation standards are based on the DK standards.
The law in the England does not allow us to cross boundaries
 
My border has a superb nose will track anything but…. He can’t really be trusted off a lead not to go to ground or go self employed for small critters. I think just about any working dog can follow a fresh track but if it’s any longer than that you need a proper dog for the job.
Mine would point as well.
 
I had 2 x weimarner. Absolutely superb if you can control them. Had trouble with my younger one but when it learnt eventually he was fantastic!
 
Most of the professionals in NZ are using huntaway's - strong eye sheep dogs or similar.

I've always had GSP's, but that was because I hunt pheasants 4 months of the year, so a versatile dog is a bonus. If I was just chasing deer 12 months per annum I'd be using a huntaway also.

That said, I've now got a dedicated bird dog (Pointer) and am back to doing deer unaccompanied.

P.s. all 3 of my GSPs would hold a wounded deer, and my old Lana decided at 9 years old to hold (unwounded) pigs as well - she was the dog of a lifetime, and terribly missed.
 
Anyone using a Bavarian? No question about their tracking abbilities, just wondering if they are easy trained to walk at heel

I have stalked with a mate who owned one. That dog was great following blood but my mate never got him fully trained for heel walking, so you never know whether he was going to stay calm or run after the deer!
 
I'm on my 5th GWP with the last 3 being imported from Denmark and I wouldn't have anything else. Tracked a gut shot today 150 meters in thick commercial forestry with my 2.5 year old, the deer got up but I couldn't take a shot so let the dog do his work. Tracked him on GPS and found him and a mature roe doe another 100 meters away dead.

Don't know if its coincidence but all 3 of my Danish GWP's seem to have a nicer temperament and are friendlier with other dogs than my first 2 from UK breeders.
 
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