Tuesday 28 September 2010

DEAD ON

Have just started to read John Jeanneney's second book, "Dead On". It covers deer anatomy and shot placement for bow and gun hunters, as well as tracking techniques for wounded Whitetails. That said the principles are pretty much the same for most species, and although a small book it is well worth adding to your collection.

Available through Amazon.com


Wednesday 22 September 2010

23/09/10 Hunt Cover

My friend Steve who keepers Hunt Cover, called me the other to say that he now has his pheasant poults in the release pen, and has noticed some fox activity close by, so could I take the rifle with me on my next visit in case I should spot the offender. Now I wasn't planning to do another track so soon, but as Steve had been kind enough to give me permission to use the wood so I decided to do a short track, as a confidence booster for both of us.
The track was to start at the far side of the wood, come inside, head down hill, then swing round and head back uphill towards the pheasant pen.
We had quite a long walk to our impact point, but we weren't in a rush and Heidi seemed to really enjoy the walk, so when we got to the start she was pretty relaxed which is always a good thing. I put her tracking collar on, followed by 'track on', and as usual she was away with no problem.


We continued into the wood, turning down hill slightly and she still had her nose to the floor, going at quite a strong pace, but not going to fast, although it gave me a problem as I was trying to pick up my markers as we were going along.


Next up came a left hand turn, at which point Heidi turned right, and my heart sunk thinking she was off on a wild goose chase, but she suddenly just stopped, turned around, and came back to the turn point, nose down, and was away in the right direction again.

Things continued to go well uphill until we came to another slight left handed turn, and Heidi just wanted to go straight on into thicker woodland? As I knew this was not the track that I had set, I let her go the full length of the leash, which she did almost pulling me along. I know the wind can do strange things with the scent, but could not figure out in this instance why it would have changed in this area, and also the trail was just a few hours old, so I pulled her up hard on the leash whilst verbally correcting her. This done we got back to the track line, and with the command 'track on' she got back to the job in hand.


This took us right up the side of Steve's pheasant pen. It was Heidi's first introduction with such an amount of game birds, and her reaction was to just stop and look for a few moments, intrigued by what looked like a mass of small chickens, followed by an urge to move towards them to investigate further. I gave the command 'NO', with a slight tug on the leash, which was enough for her to put her nose back to the ground, and carry on to the find (Muntjac head), without showing any more interest in the birds.


At the find she got her normal reward, followed by having a good chew on the head. I spent about 15 minutes or more with her here, and even managed to get her to speak a couple of times when holding the Munty head above her.

Age of track: 10hrs
Length of Track: Approx 3000m.
Type of track: Shoe and blood.
Amount of blood: 250ml.
Wind direction: From behind.
Wind strength: 25-31 mph
Temp: 18ºC
Weather: Warm, bright and windy.
Time: 05.30pm
Age of Dog: 6 3/4 months

Conclusion:
This was meant to be an easy practice, practice track using non diluted blood, and the age of track not being to much, but Heidi blatantly went past what I considered to be easy turns. It was only a few days since our last outing, and maybe she got a bit bored/complacent. I thinks I will leave it a couple of weeks now to give her a rest, and hopefully by then get some Fallow involved.

Friday 17 September 2010

19/09/10 Another Training Track in New Wood

Today’s plan was to take Heidi back to New Wood as previously she has been having problems here with the amount of live tracks and other wildlife. On her last mission in Hunt cover she got on a lot better, so this was to see if things have changed. Also the plan was to include a wound bed about half way through, and see how she dealt with it.
I laid the trail about 5.30pm in fairly cool weather as I had to go out later that evening, and we set out to pick it up about 7.30am the next morning, making it a 14 hour old track. At which time there was a frost on the floor, and the temperature was around 11 degrees.
As we approached the impact point I fitted Heidi's tracking outfit and gently led her in. Now I was a bit surprised, as she suddenly put her nose down and was off before we got started. The reason for this, well, call it old age, bad eyesight, or just the daylight not being at its peak yet, but I had missed my mark completely. It's a good job she knew what to do!


Anyway we were off at quite a good steady pace along the headland of the field, heading towards the wood. Once there we had a ditch to negotiate, cross a footpath, then up another bank. All of this was carried out with professionalism by Heidi, without any mistakes. Onwards we went deeper into the wood, heading for the next test, the couch bed. No of this was a problem, and even though I had had a good scratch around, and left a heavier amount of blood here, Heidi did not falter, but just carried on following the right line. I thought this was brilliant, and we were going a such a good pace, then wallop, she lost the line completely, and I let her take about three different lines of attack, but I knew two of them were no good. In the end I took her right back to the point where we had crossed the footpath, and her tracking was very strong. Again we got about 15 or 20 meters past the couch area, and she lost it again. This time I took her back top the couch area, and let her once again pick up the line, again she lost it after about the same distance. Once again, back to the couch area, and after a few seconds bingo, she pick it up, albeit very cautiously. Now I don't know what the reason for this was after being so strong up to this point. Whether it was the air currents causing a problem, live tracks or the sudden overwhelming scent, compaction and disturbance of the couch area, I really don't know, but I suspect it has to be one of the last two. The only good thing is that I feel that I am able to pick up on Heidi's body language now, and pick out when she's not on the right line, or at least I can most of the time!
Anyway at a very steady pace we continued on to an area of brambles that were just a bit higher than Heidi, and she needed a bit of verbal encouragement here to push past them, but we did get there, to a point where we came out on to and old concrete road that runs through the wood. She had a good shake here after coming out of the brambles, had a quick look around, put her nose down again, and pick up the light blood trail I had laid across the road. Once over it was a right turn, and suddenly there was no holding her back, as she continued on full leash, all the way to her find, where she was told that she was the best dog in the whole world!

Age of track: 14hrs
Length of Track: Approx 450m.
Type of track: Shoe and diluted blood.
Amount of blood: 250ml (1/5diluted with water).
Wind direction: Initially from the left, and in front.
Wind strength: 4-7 mph
Temp: 11ºC
Weather: Dull becoming brighter and cool, with ground frost
Time: 07.30pm
Age of Dog: 6 3/4 months



Conclusions:
This potentially was a really good job on behalf of Heidi. Her start was extremely strong, especially considering the age of the track for her. Things only went wrong, well inside the wood, and at just the one point after the couch area. Was this the sudden influx of scent or live tracks causing the confusion, I just don't know. Maybe next time I'll try a different venue and create another couch area to try and find out. Other than this the finish was also strong, so all in all a pretty good track in my book. Hopefully in the next couple of weeks we can also get her on to some cull fallow, which I'm sure will give her some extra motivation in her work.

Saturday 11 September 2010

Heidi Training Track Hunt Cover 3

This was our third time in Hunt Cover. Steve has started preparing the wood for his intake of pheasant poults in the next few days, and has now cut out some of the rides. So I decided to make the most of it by giving Heidi an overnight track to follow. I set the line around 7.00pm, finding my way around the new pathways now cut out, I seemed to be walking for ages, so much so it was starting to get dark, and rain was forecast.
The next morning, Heidi and I drove to the wood arriving around 7.30am. We'd had a shower or two overnight, and the wind was now pretty blustery. I lifted her out of the back of the truck, put her sling lead on, grabbed my kit bag, and set off to the start, which was a few meters inside the wood. As usual, quite a few meters before I changed her normal lead for her tracking leash, and she instantly new what was on, ironically whilst doing this I noticed a large Muntjac buck crossing the track line about 30m from us-this was going to be interesting I thought. Before we got to the starting point, her head was down looking for evidence. As soon as we reached my marker it was 'track on', and off she went. Her start was extremely fast and strong, but within a few meters she seemed a little confused, almost as though she was a bit cocky, not unlike a student that is still in training, but thinks they know everything. After a bit of confusion and looking around we settled down again, and she only hesitated briefly where the Munty had crossed. This took us up to the edge of Steve's pheasant pen, a Heidi was on form, taking us right around the outside. As we went along there was a path turn right off from ours, and Heidi decided to turn off here and investigate. I could tell by the change in her body language that she realised this was not what she should be following, and decided to let her go with it whilst standing at the turn. She went about 8m then decided to turn around, and get back to the line. I was glad at this point that she did not continue on what was probably a 'live' track.
Once we had finished going round the pretty much rectangular pheasant pen, we turned right, and with in a few meters turned right again, both with no problems.
After a short distance there was a right handed fork, which again she tackled with no problems. This led on to fairly straight section which then started to curl to the left, along here was another path running right, off to the edge of the wood, with which Heidi repeated her short investigation exercise as she had done earlier. Once back on track we came to a 'T' junction, where we were to turn left, no problem. With her head down we continued a left handed curl, heading back uphill, which bought us to our last right handed fork/turn. Heidi didn't even stop or slow down here, and carried on to the find with no problems, eager for her liver treat reward.

Age of track: 12.5hrs
Length of Track: Approx 550m.
Type of track: Shoe and diluted blood.
Amount of blood: 250ml (1/5diluted with water).
Wind direction: From the left, and slightly behind.
Wind strength: 25-31 mph
Temp: 16ºC
Weather: Bright and cool.
Time: 07.30pm
Age of Dog: 6 1/2 months



Conclusions:
Our start was a bit over exuberant to say the least. I keep Heidi calm when walking from the vehicle to the 'place of impact', and make a point not to be negative. For example if she doesn't walk to heel at this point, I ignore it. She knows what going on and can't wait to get started, but I think that once we pull off from the impact point I will try to steady her on the leash, just to keep her a little more focused and concentrated.
I'm glad she didn't get carried away on live tracks this time. On our last two missions this really caused a problem for her. I can't decided yet if the next track will be a similar location or go back to New Wood to try our luck again.

Wednesday 8 September 2010

Training Track New Wood 2

This track was not to be an exercise in length of track or the amount of time passed since laid, but to give Heidi some more experience of following a track over ground which has lots of 'live' deer activity. Her last track in this wood was a big problem as regard to this as she got completely miss guided a couple of times.
We started off fairly easily covering around 300m of open ground along the outside of the wood.
However when we came to the right hand turn into the wood, she ignored it and continued on almost behaving cockily, that she knew what she was doing, wrong! Well not quite, I assume there was recent deer activity on the line we were taking, and that's what she was concentrating on. I let her get to the end of the wood before holding her back and encouraging her to turn around, which she did, but then again went past the turn, and continued in the direction from where we had started. Again I held her back on the leash until she return to me and found the turn into the wood.
Once inside I think there was a couple of times where she picked up on 'live' trails, and she just needed a little encouragement to correct her. The good news is that she now seems to be willing to deal with obstacles such as brambles, and nettles. This gives her the ability to follow the track more precisely, and leaves me behind, slowing her down!

Age of track: 8hrs
Length of Track: Approx 450m.
Type of track: Shoe and diluted blood.
Amount of blood: 200ml (1/2 diluted with cleave juice).
Wind direction: From the left initially.
Wind strength: 8-12 mph
Temp: 16ºC
Weather: Bright and cool.
Time: 03.00pm
Age of Dog: 6 months



Conclusions:
Heidi still need more experience in working over areas that have 'live' deer trails, but I can sometimes spot the difference in her approach to the scent line when she's on the right track. Her attitude is a lot more steady and almost cautious, whereas on 'live' deer she seems very, very keen, almost cocky.

Training Track New Wood 1

This wood is a great training opportunity for us. A local landowner, Peter, has given us permission to use his woodland. It has no game shooting or deer stalking carried out on the place, but has a small abundance of Muntjac, Fallow and Roe. Just as importantly for us is has thick ground cover in the form of brambles, branches, shrubs and nettles. This combined with the deer population gives us very realistic training conditions.
We started on the field headland, and Heidi picked it up straight away, pulling very strongly on the leash right up to the right hand turn into the wood, which went down and up a very steep ditch. This was now problem for Heidi, but she had to wait for me to scramble through!
Once back together she carried on the right line, and I thought this was going to be too easy for her-wrong! After about 20m, she suddenly went off in totally the wrong direction, so I thought I would go with her idea for about 20 or 30m, hoping she would realise her error. Sadly she didn't and I had to bring an end to her ideas, and returned her to the correct line. At this point she did no more than go off in the completely opposite direction, but in a very convincing fashion, so again I thought I'd go with it for a short distance. Unfortunately it got us nowhere, as we started going round in circles, with the leash going round and round trees, so again I brought the proceedings to an end. Because of all this time wasting you will see I have left all of this out of the video so as not to bore anyone watching.
Not wanting to finish on a negative, I decided the best thing was to do was keep calm and quiet, but gathered up the leash with Heidi still in her collar, took her out of the wood by going well away from our track line, and came back down the side of the wood to point where we entered via the steep ditch. She immediately picked up the line again, only this time when we got inside things went a lot better, with her following the line very well, and only on one occasion did she think about going off on a different path, so I decided to correct her instantly, whereupon she went back on track with no problem, and continued very steadily and calmly all the way out of the wood, up and down another ditch, leading to her find just a few meters into a field headland.



Age of track: 12hrs
Length of Track: Approx 400m.
Type of track: Shoe and diluted blood.
Amount of blood: 250ml (1/2 diluted with cleave juice).
Wind direction: From ahead initially.
Wind strength: 8-12 mph
Temp: 18ºC
Weather: Dull, damp ground.
Time: 07.30pm
Age of Dog: 6 months

Conclusions:
Having Heidi work in this environment with lots of 'live' deer about was definitely a massive challenge for her. I could clearly see fresh slot marks everywhere when taking her through, they definitely weren't there when I put the track down. We both need more experience with this situation.
It also proves that taking the dog back to a point on the track to where you loose it, or if things go wrong can and does work.