Here is the original article of my pals dog testing day. On 21st March 2012.
Deutsche Jagdzeitung - das erfrischend andere Jagdmagazin für den praxisorientierten Jäger mit spannenden Jagdfilmen auf Pareygo.de
djz.de
Here below I have translated the German text as best as I could.
He is BTW located near Saarlouis on the German French border and was my best jagdschein teacher in 1998-9 and we became very good pals.
Looking for– wounded game!
They have their own dog cemetery, state-owned dogs and the abolition of territorial hunting boundaries: tracking work with the Hanoverian bloodhound is a supreme discipline.
DJZ hunting magazine accompanied one of the "tracking detectives" on his main test in the Soonwald forest.
The meeting point is a parking lot in the middle of the Hunsrück region. The driven hunt is over in 15 minutes. A report should be made for wounded game. That’s how long there’s coffee and cake left. The mood is a bit tense. Everyone knows: It is important to assess the shot area and the severity of the injury in the shortest possible time in order to then distribute the work for the test dog aspirants.
Enigmatic
In theory, everything is very clear. But in the practice it looks very different:
Case 1: A sow was shot in the neighboring district that had already been previously shot. The shooter of the first round cannot be determined.
Case 2: A calf was shot at, but has died. Later it turns out that two shooters had already spoken of it as having been wounded, but they couldn't shoot because there was no backstop. A special kind of puzzle.
Main exam
The difficulty of this day: Finding a search that is sufficient for an exam assessment. You have to search for at least 400 meters. If there is a hunt afterwards, the dog can also be judged with regard to the sound and location of the game.
The search for the calf (case 2) was successfully completed by René Wiese (44) (now he is over 50) with his male dog “Delf vom Ibengarten”, but lasted only 100 meters. Good for the piece, bad for the team. Too short for an exam assessment. Mr Wiese has been available on call for a main test since 2009. However, a team of auditors would also have to arrive. To this day, it has failed to meet both points.
Herr Wiese has now made around 300 searches with his dog. In his opinion, 25 to 35 difficult tracking jobs are necessary before a main test should be performed. That is why he registered for the main exam of the Hirschmann club in the Soonwald club on November 12th. But, it actually went differently: He should act as support for the examinees in case control searches or simple death searches are pending. But then it became his own test.
The Hirschmann Association has guaranteed enough dogs with guides for this weekend. If you want a test for a dog, and the handler is convinced that it can be an examination candidate, you swap. The exam candidate takes over. It is therefore not surprising that a total of 11 tracking dog teams are on site on this day. The course of the two simultaneous driven hunts cannot be calculated.
Long search
Delf vom Ibengarten is already in his 7th year. This is actually a very old age for a test, but the dog must have the experience to be able to cope with the test conditions. From a breeding point of view, it would make more sense if the dogs came to the test much earlier, for example in their fourth year. However, since the dogs have to be judged in practice during a search, this is very difficult to plan.
The best prerequisites for an exam-relevant search is a high running shot. The wounded game usually flees a few hundred meters before it goes into the wound bed. If the dog finds the piece, pointing and barking is usually necessary. With such a search, the entire range of abilities can be assessed.
René Wiese was already looking with Delf yesterday. A sow was shot at on a driven hunt. Only the group leader was available as a contact person. He could only say what the wild species was, nothing more. The shooter had already left.
During the preliminary search, Delf turned off at once after about 40 meters. The first drop of blood after 50 meters. Plenty of blood over the next 500 meters. But after almost two kilometers, the search leader had to break off because it was getting dark. No wound bed until then. The hit position remains a mystery. Probably a graze shot on the hip.
Odyssey
After the rain during the night, stalking signs are no longer to be expected. Even so, early in the morning the search team is back at the point where it left off yesterday. Before that, she had wandered ten kilometers through forest paths through the bush. There was no local helper there yesterday. Today it is difficult to explain to the locals where this point is.
After 1.5 hours the test group is at the finish and the male Delf is back at the beginning of a difficult search. Like yesterday, he works very calmly and concentrates on the wound track. There are hardly any confirmations for his guide any more, only now and then a stamp which the experts read as a path to wound bed. The layman hardly recognizes this without explanation. There is no more blood. The wound has probably already closed up.
After it went steeply down the mountain, a gate with good cover gives hope. The sow could be stuck here. Suddenly movement. The examiners have problems sinking deeper into the wet ground following the dog and handler. Then cracks and rushes. Delf stays on the track with his nose down. The old animal and the calf have fled.
After 4.5 kilometers of searching over two days, this is the end. No bed of wounds on the entire route. Only once did the piece briefly give way before a path. This sow is not to be found, the dog handler and the examiner agree.
The way back to the car is long. It goes mountain up, mountain down. Thanks to modern GPS technology from those familiar with the area, the entire search is recorded. No wandering around like in the morning. Back in the search bar, there is a stew for refreshment. After the wet bush and the exertion, just the thing. Unfortunately, these efforts were not rewarded: neither an animal found nor an examination award.
Passed
But the search for a red calf turns out to be a suitable test piece. The end is already known because it was the animal already found (case 2). Only the way was longer, as the dog was placed 1.2 kilometers away at the point of the first hit. The two-day search for the sow is of course taken into account by the judges as well as a subsequent search for a sow over a further 2 days.
Working on 3 pieces and 10 kilometers of searching over 4 days were assessed:
René Wiese passed the main test with his male Delf.
Note: You can find his contact on the homepage of the Hirschmann Association
Hirschmann | Home For a list of bloodhound handlers.
