The past few months have been a busy time at my house, as it is every year from late October to mid January. It is deer hunting season! My husband and many of his friends and family participate zealously, so there are usually plenty of deer to be processed- yum!
Sadly, sometimes even a perfect shot can go awry, leaving an injured deer that must be found. This leaves the hunter with a long walk through the woods, putting their tracking skills to the ultimate test. At times, even the most dedicated human cannot find the deer, who either survived and got out of range, or died without being found.
One day this scenario happened, and Brutus and I happened to be close enough that we were called to help find the deer. I had absolutely no tracking experience and neither did Brutus, but the general consensus was that we should have a better chance with a canine nose. I always have an extra harness and long line with me when I travel with the dogs, so I dressed my dog up and went into the woods.
Immediately, Brutus zeroed in on the spot where the deer was shot. I had no idea- I was just hanging on to the line being dragged along! The hunters were excited and more confident than I was. There were a few drops of blood on the ground, and a spot where even I could tell the deer had fallen down. After a few frantic seconds of sniffing and circling, we were off!
Running through the woods may not sound too tough if you do not do it often. IT IS. As Brutus trotted determinedly with his nose to the ground he was completely nonplussed by the myriad of branches, spiderwebs and tree roots that seemed to reach out to slap me in the face and tangle my feet. Instead of going around thick patches of briars, he plunged through or underneath them. I was wearing short sleeves but luckily had donned jean pants, or my legs would have been just as scratched as my arms were. My sweet cuddle-bug Brutus did not notice any of my discomfort however, he kept on trucking through those woods.
After some time, maybe 10 minutes of so, he aruptly stopped and not only his nubby tail, but his whole body was vibrating at a high speed! I caught up to him, and there were a few drops of blood on some leaves! We cheered and petted him and Bru was so overwhelmed that he was hopping like a maniac... until a chipmunk startled by our noise darted about 20 yards away from us. I was jerked off my feet as he took off after it, baying like the hound he is. I can laugh now, but my posterior was sore for a few days! We reeled him back in with the long line, and showed him the deer blood again after a few minutes, when he was calmer.
Brutus was on the trail again! Nose down, tracking like he was born for it! I was tired but it seemed effortless for everyone else. We went all over- unexpected turns, across a creek twice, over a large pile of rocks, and through spiderwebs that brought out the ninja in me (I waved my arms but still ended up with spider silk in my hair). Gradually I realized we were gaining speed- I was almost at a flat out run trying to keep pace with Brutus! We all got excited and began encouraging Brutus "Go on boy!" "Good nose! Find 'im!"
I ended up having to hand off the long line to someone who could keep up better with Brutus. I fell a bit behind, but was keeping them in sight, when a loud chorus of shouts went up. I sprinted as best I could to see what all the fuss was about.
Brutus had found....... my husband. Brutus danced! And pranced! He gave kisses! He hopped and wuffed and generally looked extremely pleased with himself. He ran from my husband and back to me a few times.
My husband had been the first person out to track the injured deer. After a lengthy conversation, we were able to determine with a fair amount of certainty that we had taken the same path my husband had. The path began at the place where the deer had been shot, so we all assumed the dog was following the deer track.
We never did find that deer. I had a good laugh though.
We did find out that my stripey rescue dog has one great nose! It has inspired me to do a lot more research to help learn more about how to teach Brutus to isolate a particular scent to follow. Ignorant handling and lack of a tracking training foundation doomed us from the start on our first hunt, but now we are discovering a lot! I just went yesterday to watch a tracking test in Huntersville. Hopefully by next year we will be ready to help. Wish us luck! :)
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