Heidi. 15 Weeks and a Real Deer!

The other evening a good friend of mine by the name of Kim, invited me to see if we could shoot a Muntjac on one of the places that he stalks. One of the reasons to be invited is that he and his wife wanted to meet Heidi, as they are thinking about the possibility of getting a BMH in the future. Another reason was that I had mentioned to Kim a while ago, that any deer bits would be useful for Heidi's training.
We arrived on Kim's land around 8.00 pm and had a slow drive around to see if anything was about, and to generally show me the place. Not seeing much activity regarding Muntjac, we parked up, leaving Heidi in the back, and went and sat up a high seat for a while. Presently a buck briefly showed itself but there was too much cover between us, then after about ten minutes a doe and buck came out into an open piece of ground, and it was very clear that they had other things on their mind! Kim suggested that I leave the buck, and within seconds the doe lay motionless on the ground.
After a few minutes waiting for the buck to leave the scene, I unloaded and we both got down from the high seat. As the truck was in sight and very close it was agreed that we would take the rifle back to the vehicle and pick up Heidi, we then took her on a lead to within about thirty meters of the motionless doe, whereupon I changed her lead for her tracking collar set up. Then quietly and patiently encouraged her to 'track on'. Now as this was not a proper follow up on a shot animal, i.e. it dropped on the spot, I did not expect too much, however Heidi soon had her nose down and was scenting where the Munty had been walking prior to being shot. I slowly let out the tracking lead, and very soon she came upon the fallen beast. Initially her reaction was one of uncertainty, looking at the animal and sniffing the air from a distance of about two meters, then with some words of praise, she went up to the animal, sniffing around, and started to lick a small pool of blood, and the entrance wound. This was obviously followed by lots of praise and fuss, which she accepted very well.
The picture below shows Heidi, still showing interest, once we had returned to the vehicle. I think the small size of the Muntjac was a great way to introduce her to the real thing, without her becoming to overwhelmed.