Stuck in the Rut

State biologist Mark Ternent discusses the Keystone State’s unique black bear bowhunting opportunities.

Listen to the free podcast HERE.

Hey folks, we’ve got our video player up and running on the home page, and we’re excited about all the great things we’re going to be able to offer with it in 2010.

The first two installments feature Field Editor Bill Winke with video companion segments for this two most recent Center Shots columns. Watch Bill as he walks you through some simple tweaks you can make to improve your bow performance. Going forward, we’ll be offering coverage of new bowhunting products from the ATA Show and a series of instructional videos on proper shooting techniques and bow setup. Check them out HERE.

If you have particular topics that you would like to see addressed in our video segments, just let us know!

The BOWHUNTING team will head to Columbus, Ohio, next week for the annual Archery Trade Association Show. This is the biggest annual gathering of the archery industry, and the place to be if you want to see all the new and exciting bowhunting products 2010 will offer. If you are attending the show, keep your eye out for a copy of our annual New Gear Guide, which includes information about more than 350 new products that you can check out on the show floor. The New Gear Guide will be distributed on the show floor and to the hotel rooms of show attendees.

Also, if you won’t be at the ATA Show, stay tuned for the New Gear Guide section in BOWHUNTING’s Feb/March newsstand issue. We’ll also be offering additional product write-ups, photos and videos after the show on our website at www.bowhuntingmag.com. We’ll let you know when our online show content is live!

Our December issue had an article by John Phillips about deer tracking dogs that help bowhunters recover wounded animals. In that article, which focused on the use of tracking dogs at Southern hunting operations, we included a promo box that directed readers to this blog for more information about tracking dogs in the North. Please see the sidebar article below:

Andy Bensing, president of United Blood Trackers, and his wirehair dachshund, Arno, located this tremendous, 203-inch buck in December 2008 for a hunter on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Arno found the buck piled up a thicket in the same area a group of hunters had grid searched for hours.

Tracking Dogs in the North

Many Northern states today use wire-haired dachshunds for tracking wounded deer. John Jeanneney, founder of Deer Search Inc., studied forestry and wildlife management in France while on a Fulbright Scholarship. He became friends with German exchange students and learned how they used wire-haired dachshunds to track big game. Intrigued, Jeanneney bought a dachshund in Germany.

“For the first 10 years I owned wire-haired dachshunds, I didn’t use them for blood trailing deer, which was illegal in New York,” Jeanneney said. “But then I wounded a big doe and searched for her an entire day. A week later, hunters found her about 300 yards from where I’d shot her. I knew I wouldn’t have lost that deer with a tracking dog.”

Jeanneney then applied for and received a research permit for leash tracking in 1976 from New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation to determine whether leashed tracking dogs could reduce the numbers of animals lost by hunters each year. After Jeanneney successfully used his dogs to find shot deer for conservation officers, the department allowed him to add designated agents who owned tracking dogs to his permit. Jeanneney and his friends then formed Deer Search Inc. and obtained support from sportsmen in New York to pass legislation legalizing the use of dogs to recover deer hit by hunters.

Today, some states allow hunters who want to use their dogs on leashes to help hunters find game to take a test and purchase a five-year license for $50. Deer Search Inc. has dispatchers who receive calls from hunters who can’t locate the deer they’ve arrowed. The dispatcher notifies the handler living closest to the hunter. Handlers with these permits and dogs can carry firearms with them at night to put down wounded deer and/or to protect themselves from predators, always working their dogs on leashes. Most Deer Search members use their dogs voluntarily but do accept donations to help with mileage and travel expenses.

Jeanneney, whose dogs have found deer up to 48-hours later, explains that, “I like my small wire-haired dachshunds for tracking because they’re easy to carry on a four-wheeler and make good pets. A good tracking dog even can follow the trail of a wounded deer that’s covered by six inches of snow. Also, rain isn’t a problem for a quality tracking dog unless the area has a torrential downpour. The hunter may not be to see the blood, but the rain spreads the blood out and that enables the dog to smell the blood better.”

Jeanneney believes tracking dogs first learn to trail deer from the smell of the blood. However, as the dog gains more experience, Jeanneney believes it learns to smell scent particles that come from the deer’s wound and interdigital glands.

“I’ve even learned that a dog can identify an individual deer from other deer and stay on that one deer’s track, perhaps due to the scent of the interdigital glands. I’ve even laid out a trail with deer feet and then used other deer feet to cross that trail. The dog can distinguish between the trails I’ve made and will remain on the original trail.”

More recently, Jeanneney helped found United Blood Trackers, an organization that promotes the use of leashed tracking dogs to recover wounded big-game animals. UBT also sponsors numerous training seminars and blood trailing workshops to help interested dog owners develop their own tracking skills.

For more information, visit www.deersearch.org or www.unitedbloodtrackers.org.

– John E. Phillips