Deer Tracking with Dogs

[Rebel 831]

Hello,

Not sure if this is the right section?

Do many lads on here use dogs for tracking wounded deer?

What dogs do you use, what's involved in training?

Do you have to break them on hunting other game etc. etc.

Thanks for your help.

[planete 120]

https://www.deerstalkinguk.com/magazine/2017/06/01/dogs-for-deer-tracking/

The British Deer Society also run  deer tracking courses leading to qualifications.  I trail live deer with my lurchers strictly on an amateur basis as part of wild life watching and they find nearly every time we go out.  I keep mine on a long lead while tracking.  A dog whose natural quarry would be deer seems to avoid being distracted by other scents and to stick to the trail best.  My best one is a saluki cross bitch with a very high prey drive ( a nutter really!). But I am sure some more professional people than I am will be along with more useful advice!

[Rebel 831]

56 minutes ago, planete said:

https://www.deerstalkinguk.com/magazine/2017/06/01/dogs-for-deer-tracking/

The British Deer Society also run  deer tracking courses leading to qualifications.  I trail live deer with my lurchers strictly on an amateur basis as part of wild life watching and they find nearly every time we go out.  I keep mine on a long lead while tracking.  A dog whose natural quarry would be deer seems to avoid being distracted by other scents and to stick to the trail best.  My best one is a saluki cross bitch with a very high prey drive ( a nutter really!). But I am sure some more professional people than I am will be along with more useful advice!

Thanks very much, I'll have a look at the website

[Born Hunter 17,622]

@Tyla

[Tyla 3,179]

Cheers BH. I'd missed this. 

I'm a ukdtr member and track using my lurcher. She / we were trained by them. She still does all the other jobs a lurcher should do. I also use her as an indicator dog while stalking. I don't do enough tracking to justify a single purpose dog for it.

If i put the tracking harness on her then she knows it's tracking time so ignores other stuff. She also knows the difference between a shot gun and a rifle and acts accordingly.

Dogs are cleverer than we give them credit for. 

[Rebel 831]

3 hours ago, Tyla said:

Cheers BH. I'd missed this. 

I'm a ukdtr member and track using my lurcher. She / we were trained by them. She still does all the other jobs a lurcher should do. I also use her as an indicator dog while stalking. I don't do enough tracking to justify a single purpose dog for it.

If i put the tracking harness on her then she knows it's tracking time so ignores other stuff. She also knows the difference between a shot gun and a rifle and acts accordingly.

Dogs are cleverer than we give them credit for. 

Thanks for the info

[Tyla 3,179]

16 minutes ago, Rebel said:

Thanks for the info

Let me know if you want any tips, I'm no expert but she is very handy to have about. If you are planning on starting a pup off I'd have a look at the Deer Dog Blueprint. It's a training system designed by an Aussie and his YouTube videos are impressive. I plan on using it with my next pup

[foxdropper 17,092]

Any dog will blood trail and is very easy to teach .

[joe ox 2,547]

Loads of deer tracking dogs in the lurcher section

[Tyla 3,179]

48 minutes ago, foxdropper said:

Any dog will blood trail and is very easy to teach .

That's the easy bit lol. The hard bit is teaching the handlers!

[Dogdaft 12]

I’ve used my terrier for following up wounded deer or for finding deer. Great little dogs for the job. Easy to lift over fences or they can get under. 

I feel lost if I’ve not got a dog when I’m stalking, amazing how many deer they’ll alert you to that you’d other wise not know where there

[elisderyn 496]

Good lurcher doesn’t need a trail or does it leave one  

[socks 32,253]

It’s harder to train a lurcher NOT to find deer

[Aussie Whip 3,822]

I've got a parson type Russell,not a hard terrier but good for bushing rabbits to the whippets,he has bailed a couple of fallow stags recently as deer are on the increase here,just picked it up himself.He won't go in and bite but his hard to live with barking and relentless annoying seems perfect for the deer.As said if deer are around he seems to prefer them which is difficult as I mainly target small stuff.He would make a good tracker for wounded deer I think.

[3175darren 1,093]

Rebel as said above any dog will blood scent, is it good practice to have a dog to hand well without doubt yes, is it compulsory no, what you have to remember is good field craft will find most if not all sensibly shot deer, as regards the dog most who use a dog to and spend that one on one intense time, with there dog never look back, they add to the experience and it builds a dog and handler relationship massively, I have used dogs around deer for around 20yr and Tyla is right the dog knows exactly what is expected, 
this is a young lab I took on 18 month old and he was gun shy his first find, the doe dropped within a few meters of the shot, so I took him down wind and let him free hunt up the scent line, he goes with me all the time now and he’s a good hand too, but don’t get hung up on breed

my short legged Russel this dropped in the edge of long grass, I was only 100 yd from the car so I let him scent in, he went straight to it and there was plenty of other scent there to distract him, I had done about three blood trails for him prior to this, a week or so before, I can lift a small thin  turf up in the garden, put maybe 2-3 ml of deer blood under it, let him out the kennel, and leave him to it, I use him now when I sit out foxing, he knows what he’s doing and sits / waits till the shot, 

above is a teckle terrier brilliant nose, 
my lurcher sat under the tree just before dawn, 

Edited April 5, 2020 by 3175darren
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