Bust.

We got a little farther, but the blood was so sparse that we couldn't follow it, and Turbo wasn't turning up anything else.

I crawled on my hands and knees for about 2 hours at the last blood drop and was unable to find ANYTHING.

Sucks.

I'm disappointed that we couldn't recover her, but I couldn't be prouder of Turbo. I didn't know he had that in him. I was making our training trails WAY too easy. No wonder he was sprinting in the video I posted of one of our training trails.

A good cold-nosed hound probably could've taken us farther by just being able to follow the wounded deer's scent alone. I don't think Turbo will ever be THAT good, but he is proving to be an asset for tracking.

Don't underestimate Turbo! I think he might be able to do it. I'm not sure how hunting works really, but have you trained on aged tracks before with that little amount of blood? Keep it up. I'd love to hear the stories!

 Quote: Michael_Wise

I crawled on my hands and knees for about 2 hours at the last blood drop and was unable to find ANYTHING.

I can only imagine what was going through little Turbo's mind watching this human down on all fours...

Katie, I haven't aged then more than about 4-5 hours. I think that is what we made it to last time. I didn't make any tracks during the heat of the summer and can't remember where we ended. This is what kids do to you. Don't touch them. They are contagious.

The problem isn't so much with blood scent still being present. It is the scent of the individual deer that fades the most over time. They make a shoe that allows you to attach a deer's hoof to it. This allows you to use the deer's interdigital glands to put scent on the trail, too. I need to make a pair and start aging some trails.

Blood trailing isn't so much about blood if that makes any sense. If there is blood, who needs a dog. Last night, there was very little, and a dog was needed to fill in the gaps. This deer just quit bleeding.

Could be for several reasons. Sometimes flesh stops up a wound. Wounds can clot up. A lot of the time the end of the trail will be sparse because of a lack of blood left in the animal, or a lower blood pressure.

Or, which I'm starting to suspect in this case. A non-mortal flesh wound.

Barbara, you're suppose to lead by example, right?

 Quote: Michael_Wise

Barbara, you're suppose to lead by example, right?

Then be sure to keep the wafghan safely under wraps!!

It's mainly speculation on my part, because no one actually saw a dead deer, but a friend who lives close to the area we were searching saw buzzards in the area.

I think I screwed up and pulled Turbo off the trail too quick.

He would continue in the last known direction of travel, but I never saw any sign to prove to me we were actually going somewhere. We are still new at this, and I didn't really believe him.

I followed him another couple hundred yards past last blood until we reached another property. I remember him being reluctant to turn around and leave with me. I'm thinking now that I just screwed up.

I didn't know who owned the property. I should have gotten in the truck and drove over there, or got on the phone and figured out who owned it. Could've done more looking back now.

Hopefully I didn't set Turbo back any.

This is really bugging me that she was possibly wasted.

Michael, You are BOTH still learning and no, you didn't set Turbo back any... You probably learned to read him better and to trust his instinct a bit more.

And the deer did NOT go to waste. She may not have fed the hunters, but she fed many other creatures.

No, it may not have turned out as you hoped, but it turned out just fine. You learned, Turbo did great and got to practice, and buzzards, etc... took care of the carcass. NOTHING went to waste.

Thanks Barbara. That perspective does ease the sting a little.

It all makes so much more sense now, though. He led me "there", but followed me when we went back to the start. I should have seen it then.

This will pay off for the next one though. We will exhaust all efforts next time.

A while back, when telling you something difficult which had happened to Doug and I, you asked me "would you do it again?". My response was "of course".

Would you do this again? To learn what you learned?