Things are progressing at a nice pace. Heidi for the first time today wore her tracking collar and leash. The collar is German made by Akah, it is soft fleece lined leather, and the leash is also German, made by Niggleoh, which is 20mm wide Neoprene and 12 meters long. Both available from : www.paintandpins.com
The track laid was 50m long, created by using around 170ml of blood and liver drag with deer skin at the end of it. The track had three thumbnail sized pieces of liver along its length to give her some incentive and motivation, which you can see her find, stop and eat. The wind was coming from behind us, which I'm trying to stick to at the moment to encourage her to keep her nose to the ground, and not pick up air scent.
Apart from the start where I give her the instruction 'Track on', I try to remain quiet, so as not to break her concentration. Obviously praising her at the end.
Sunday, 23 May 2010
Friday, 21 May 2010
Heidi - The Next Step.
Heidi is now approaching 12 weeks of age, and we are continuing to take things steady. She is now getting used to being on a lead and walking to heel with no problem. Its not something I've tried to teach yet, but as I've been told by other BMH owners, they tend to do it automatically.
Trying to take her tracking steady, and only doing one or two a day (some say you can do around 5-9 short tracks), I've ventured out of the garden to the field next door, more for a change of environment than any other reason. the grass is longer, which seems to make things easier for her, but I believe the shorter the vegetation, the harder the nose has to work, and therefore the better the training!
The video shows her on a track of about 4-5 meters. It consisted of a liver drag, with blood trail all along the track. At the end was a piece of Roe skin, which was her first introduction to skin. Now as you can see, things started well then she lost the plot slightly in the middle of it, got back on track, then missed the skin right at the end. The main thing for me was that I considered that she followed the main track pretty well, and the next time will hopefully be better, now she realises what the skin is.
What I didn't show in the video very well, was that she soon afterwards, proudly picked up the skin, took it all the way back down the drive and into the garden, where she started to shake it and pull it to pieces.
Trying to take her tracking steady, and only doing one or two a day (some say you can do around 5-9 short tracks), I've ventured out of the garden to the field next door, more for a change of environment than any other reason. the grass is longer, which seems to make things easier for her, but I believe the shorter the vegetation, the harder the nose has to work, and therefore the better the training!
The video shows her on a track of about 4-5 meters. It consisted of a liver drag, with blood trail all along the track. At the end was a piece of Roe skin, which was her first introduction to skin. Now as you can see, things started well then she lost the plot slightly in the middle of it, got back on track, then missed the skin right at the end. The main thing for me was that I considered that she followed the main track pretty well, and the next time will hopefully be better, now she realises what the skin is.
What I didn't show in the video very well, was that she soon afterwards, proudly picked up the skin, took it all the way back down the drive and into the garden, where she started to shake it and pull it to pieces.
Heidi's Basic Training Begins.
Well Heidi soon settled in at home, and after a couple of days to find her feet, we were out in the garden, and I was dragging small pieces of deer liver around the garden on the end of a piece of string.
Each day we did something a little different, and by the end of her first week, she was introduced to a short blood trail, eventually around 3m in length, with a couple of small bits of liver along the track and of course at the end of it, which upon reaching she received lots of praise.
Now I can't say that she stuck solidly to the line, but for such a young dog I was pleased with her results.
Each day we did something a little different, and by the end of her first week, she was introduced to a short blood trail, eventually around 3m in length, with a couple of small bits of liver along the track and of course at the end of it, which upon reaching she received lots of praise.
Now I can't say that she stuck solidly to the line, but for such a young dog I was pleased with her results.
Heidi Comes Home.
Well we picked Heidi up from Mark and Alisons the other week at 9 weeks old, (thanks for the hospitality Alison), which gave us a seven hour drive back home. I have to say Heidi travelled back with no problems and is still treating being in a vehicle as second nature. She is small in frame and when we first met she was not the boldest in the litter, but very inquisitive, which is just what I was after. She is now becoming more and more confident every day and her boldness is increasing, but sticks to me like glue everywhere-perfect. Nothing seems to phase her, machinery sounds, bangs, people etc., all taken in her stride. Even in this grim weather, we're having great fun dragging liver around the garden and just intending to take things steady with her, not too much too soon. In future she will be working on Fallow, Roe and with caution, Muntjac.
Myself with Heidi's mum, Kremi.
I should just give a mention to Pete Garraway from Deertrackers, who kindly let the wife and I visit him last year to have a really close look at the breed, and answer a lot of questions. It was he who kindly put us in touch with Mark & Alison (www.paintandpins.com). After a few talks we were put on the list for a pup, sadly missed out on the last litter, but were lucky this time. I cannot thank Mark & Alison enough for all their help and support, and although they bred the pup I am trying to avoid the word 'breeders' as they are much more than this. Their knowledge and passion for the breed, keeping the lines as pure as possible, and ethics behind everything they do is to be acknowledged. Talking to Mark, his knowledge on scent and tracking is priceless and I would like to thank him for his guidance.
Heidi with her favourite toy!
Our Bavarian Mountain Hound - Heidi
Being a contentious deerstalker, I consider it my duty to have a trained dog, that can track a wounded deer due to a misplaced shot taken by myself or another person, and humanely dispatch it. Also that it would would be possible to follow up a poor beast hit by a vehicle, and do the same.
My old dog is now into retirement years, and I thought it would be a good opportunity to choose a breed that fits my specific requirements. That is solely for the purpose of tracking deer, not a general purpose dual role gundog. For this reason, after extensive research, I decided on a Bavarian Mountain Hound.
The Bavarian Mountain Hound (Bayerischer Gebirgsschweisshund) have the finest nose for following ground scent and trail; they are firm on scent, have a strongly developed will, to follow a trail and readily give tongue on scent. They were bred by Baron Karg-Bebenburg, Reichenhall around the 1870's from crossing the Hanoverian Scenthound, which were considered too heavy for rough an mountainous ground, with the Red Mountain Scenthounds. These Bavarian Mountain Hounds eventually became so popular that today they are considered the classical scenthound for the professional hunter on the continent.
So here we have our new pup 'Heidi' at 8 weeks old. She was bred in the UK, from the 'Zerno' kennels of Mark and Alison Montgomery in Cumbria, who I can only say are two of the most professional people I have ever met, especially when it come to the well being of this breed in the UK.
Heidi, (Zerno Cherub) is Kennel Club registered and is one of 10 pups, 6 bitches and 4 dogs. If anyone is interested her pedigree can be seen here: http://www.bazabgs.com/baza.php?op=show_tree&dog=13978
Over the next few days, weeks, months I will try to show Heidi's progress. I must stress however that I have never trained a dog purely for deertracking, and have taken on board everything that I have gleaned from those that have, and from books.
My old dog is now into retirement years, and I thought it would be a good opportunity to choose a breed that fits my specific requirements. That is solely for the purpose of tracking deer, not a general purpose dual role gundog. For this reason, after extensive research, I decided on a Bavarian Mountain Hound.
The Bavarian Mountain Hound (Bayerischer Gebirgsschweisshund) have the finest nose for following ground scent and trail; they are firm on scent, have a strongly developed will, to follow a trail and readily give tongue on scent. They were bred by Baron Karg-Bebenburg, Reichenhall around the 1870's from crossing the Hanoverian Scenthound, which were considered too heavy for rough an mountainous ground, with the Red Mountain Scenthounds. These Bavarian Mountain Hounds eventually became so popular that today they are considered the classical scenthound for the professional hunter on the continent.
So here we have our new pup 'Heidi' at 8 weeks old. She was bred in the UK, from the 'Zerno' kennels of Mark and Alison Montgomery in Cumbria, who I can only say are two of the most professional people I have ever met, especially when it come to the well being of this breed in the UK.
Heidi, (Zerno Cherub) is Kennel Club registered and is one of 10 pups, 6 bitches and 4 dogs. If anyone is interested her pedigree can be seen here: http://www.bazabgs.com/baza.php?op=show_tree&dog=13978
Over the next few days, weeks, months I will try to show Heidi's progress. I must stress however that I have never trained a dog purely for deertracking, and have taken on board everything that I have gleaned from those that have, and from books.
Sunday, 28 February 2010
Venison Ham
Okay, here it is. After three months of waiting, the venison ham is ready. This project was always meant to be an experiment, so instead of using a large haunch from a fallow, I started small with a muntjac haunch.
The first part of the process was to 'salt' the haunch in a bowl. This was done using table salt and gently covered the joint all round.
This salting process took about three weeks, and initially the salt was replaced every couple of days until the moisture stopped leaching from the joint, which in reality was about two weeks, and then left with a covering for around another week.
Finally the joint was removed and any excess salt was brushed off, and the smoker was made ready. I decide to smoked the joint, thinking this might give it a better flavour and assist in the curing process.
A careful eye was kept on the temperature, and made sure that the chips did not need replenishing. I got it just about right and smoked for about three hours.
Once finished smoking, the joint was wrapped in muslin and hung in a cool airy place. In this instance our pantry was used.
After three months of hanging this is the result.
The 'ham' was taken out of the muslin and as much salt crusting as possible was brushed off. The ham had become completely set and was as hard to slice as parma ham, and because of its texture was best to slice very thinly.Once sliced I trimmed off the salt crust.
The flavour was very tasty and quite a lot like jerky, but I must say it was a bit too salty. I found the best way to eat it was to cut it into thin strips and have with a beer or whisky, very similar to how you would have dried squid as a snack with a drink. Even though it was a bit salty tasting it didn't last long!
What would I do next time? Well now I know that the principle works I would use a larger haunch, probably not use as much salt and possibly only carry out this process for two weeks. I might also consider hanging it for two months instead of three, but weather and temperature might play an important part in this. If I have not covered everything or you want to have a go, but are not sure about something, contact me and I'll try to help - good luck.
The first part of the process was to 'salt' the haunch in a bowl. This was done using table salt and gently covered the joint all round.
This salting process took about three weeks, and initially the salt was replaced every couple of days until the moisture stopped leaching from the joint, which in reality was about two weeks, and then left with a covering for around another week.
Finally the joint was removed and any excess salt was brushed off, and the smoker was made ready. I decide to smoked the joint, thinking this might give it a better flavour and assist in the curing process.
For a fuel source I used Cherry chips. the intention is to cold smoke the joint as we do not wish to cook the joint, but just to add flavour.
A careful eye was kept on the temperature, and made sure that the chips did not need replenishing. I got it just about right and smoked for about three hours.Once finished smoking, the joint was wrapped in muslin and hung in a cool airy place. In this instance our pantry was used.
After three months of hanging this is the result.
The 'ham' was taken out of the muslin and as much salt crusting as possible was brushed off. The ham had become completely set and was as hard to slice as parma ham, and because of its texture was best to slice very thinly.Once sliced I trimmed off the salt crust.The flavour was very tasty and quite a lot like jerky, but I must say it was a bit too salty. I found the best way to eat it was to cut it into thin strips and have with a beer or whisky, very similar to how you would have dried squid as a snack with a drink. Even though it was a bit salty tasting it didn't last long!
What would I do next time? Well now I know that the principle works I would use a larger haunch, probably not use as much salt and possibly only carry out this process for two weeks. I might also consider hanging it for two months instead of three, but weather and temperature might play an important part in this. If I have not covered everything or you want to have a go, but are not sure about something, contact me and I'll try to help - good luck.
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