Thermal vs dog

[Bonzo dog]

So in brief(ish), I shot a roe doe this evening at about 5pm, circa 150m out in a field which boarders woodland, mostly birch regen and bracken. Comfortable chest shot from a high seat. It ran straight back into the wood. I let some time pass, went to the shot site to inspect for signs. Found some blood which looked like lung shot, relief can't be far. Unfortunately, I didnt have my lab, for reasons I wont bore you with. I'll be able to find it with the thermal in the woods I think. Could I hell! So had to call for back up in the shape of my brother and his vizla and within 10mins the doe had been found. Stone cold dead, heart lung shot, but had still managed to run 100m before expiring in thick bracken rendering my thermal useless.

Despite all the high tech kit we all carry, sometimes a mk1 canine nose is priceless.

Cheers
Bonzo

 

[.25-06]

Unlike my dog the thermal also has an off switch. Handy, so handy.

 

[waggy 1]

A Dog is without a Doubt the Best for finding Deer after your shot and most times letting you know there’s a deer somewhere in front of you before the shot , regardless of the obstruction caused by trees etc

 

[Mungo]

Thermal needs unobstructed line of sight. Dog doesn’t!

On the other hand, as someone pointed out, thermal has an off switch and doesn’t suddenly decide that squirrels are FAR more interesting.

However, I have found one or two using thermal when the dog failed. Every time when night shooting at herds. Dog gets confused/distracted by all the live foot trace (and she has a horrible habit of being more interested in live tracks if she has decided she knows where the dead one is).

 

[paulbshooting]

I often have a scan about with the thermal when at the shot sight then send the dog in so I can watch him work. He's a young lab and mostly steady. If i suspect ot maybe a more involved follow up, i put him in his tracking harness and on a line. He's already got me out of trouble a few times in high summer with crops and cover. He always foot stalks with me

 

[Ratel]

Too old to spend stupid money on thermal. If my little dog can't find them they ain't there. She sticks to the blood spots like s..t to an army blanket.

 

[Brittany boy]

If I had to choose it would be the dog every time. Can scent the deer ahead and give you the heads up through trees over hillocks round thick scrub where the thermal can’t , same with the follow up, if it falls in a ditch or clear fell . Thermal has its place but the dog wins.

 

[Cootmeurer]

I can’t imagine any great story starting with - there I was, just me and my thermal ………

I don’t bond with tools, I don’t mourn when I lose a tool. And I don’t have joy when a tool works in a difficult situation. In ten or twenty years thermals will be replaced by the next latest and greatest tech (AI bullets?) but the dog will still be the dog, and still be man’s best friend.

 

[dredlad]

The blood cools very quick, you’d have to be at the strike point immediately to have any chance of following a trail.

 

[jb1]

Thermal are not the answer to everything, they do have a place, albeit not everyone agrees with the advance in technology. Years ago i lost a dead fox in a stubble field, spent 30 odd minutes looking for it with thermal, no joy. Went back the following day and found it where it was shot, the stubble wouldn't allow me to pick up the heat source.

 

[Heym SR20]

Thermals don’t wake you up with a cold wet nose and a wagging tail saying it’s breakfast time, they don’t get excited before going out stalking, nor indicate that deer are close with nose, nor sit next to you keeping you warm when sitting up nor curl up on your feet when you are back home after a long day in the woods or on the hill.

And a decent dog costs less than a thermal and probably lasts substantially longer.

 

[Ratel]

Thermal are not the answer to everything, they do have a place, albeit not everyone agrees with the advance in technology. Years ago i lost a dead fox in a stubble field, spent 30 odd minutes looking for it with thermal, no joy. Went back the following day and found it where it was shot, the stubble wouldn't allow me to pick up the heat source.

I know that feeling. I keepered on a couple of hunting estates a few years ago and generally abided by the boss's rules. However on one place I had trouble with a fox so we lamped him about 1am in the morning and couldn't find him after the shot. It was in one of those. "landed" grass fields with the rolling ridges and furrows where there used to be a village in mediaeval times. I was panicking so back out at 4am and luckily found him.A very quick burial but somehow the boss knew and asked me if I had shot a fox. I honestly said no, he then asked if Liz my wife had shot it so I had to say yes. Fortunately he thought that amusing. I had no dog with us that night.

 

[rookstorm]

So in brief(ish), I shot a roe doe this evening at about 5pm, circa 150m out in a field which boarders woodland, mostly birch regen and bracken. Comfortable chest shot from a high seat. It ran straight back into the wood. I let some time pass, went to the shot site to inspect for signs. Found some blood which looked like lung shot, relief can't be far. Unfortunately, I didnt have my lab, for reasons I wont bore you with. I'll be able to find it with the thermal in the woods I think. Could I hell! So had to call for back up in the shape of my brother and his vizla and within 10mins the doe had been found. Stone cold dead, heart lung shot, but had still managed to run 100m before expiring in thick bracken rendering my thermal useless.

Despite all the high tech kit we all carry, sometimes a mk1 canine nose is priceless.

Cheers
Bonzo

Get a 22.250 and fifty grain vmax .You dont walk very far

 

[Len the dog]

Get a 22.250 and fifty grain vmax .You dont walk very far

Not legal on Roe in Englandshire.

 

[Jh1986]

My dog is a purebred retriever, whose sole mission in life is to find my dispatched quarry... all of which has been hard undone by my ham feeding, sofa/bed allowing, wife. I swear the next kid is going to be a direct cross between my wife and my dog. Bloody traitor, I feed him, train him, exercise him.

 

[NullMac]

thermal can't see round corners

self-propelled deer radar....

 

[SussexSteve]

No comparison dog everyday will find deer you won’t with thermal

 

[CookM]

I use a thermal,but when it expires it recharges,when my two dogs expired we all fell flat at home.

 

[Jon P]

Dog over thermal every time,,shot a roe doe in thick cover last Wednesday- no more then 60 yds, could not find it at all , dropped to the shot- fallen down between a fallen tree and an old tractor grip. Dog found it in 30 seconds- I had spent 10 -15 mins looking. Downside of the dog. Sometimes the deer are not fit for the game dealer once she finds them. But at least they are found and can go in my own freezer.

 

[DavyG]

Wouldn’t be without my “Peggy”