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• flydown Posts: 6,464 Admiral

  July 2014 #2

  I don't have an answer for you, but I am interested in this topic as well. Good thread.

  DYING for me was the most HE could do. LIVING for HIM is the least I can do

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• Skunk Ape Posts: 3,860 Captain

  July 2014 #3

  Bass2bucks wrote: »

  I recently purchased an 8 week old basset hound. I'd like to train him to blood trail and was curious as to how some of you that have done it got your dogs to blood trail. I was told to start out with short distances and rewards when he got to the finish line. How far should I start out initially? Also is blood blood? Can I just use the blood from a raw piece of steak and expect him to still track deer smelling the same scent?

  What happened to Ricky? Basset may not be your best choice, but try a fresh piece of hide tied to a string of whatever you are wanting him to trail. Let him chase it, let him catch it and chew on it and reward him and make it fun. Next step would be to drag it and hide it then let him find it. As usual, let him tug on it and chew it some and reward him. The scent comes more from the hooves and not the blood, maybe use a deer hoof for the games. If the dog has any hunt in him he will blood trail just fine.

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• james 14 Posts: 3,168 Moderator

  July 2014 #4

  My uncle has done it with legs of deer he's killed and even with meat. You do want them to be familiar with tracking the blood as that's one way they stay on a particular track. One of the best trail dogs I've seen is owned by a guy I know. It's a Jack Russell mix of some sort. If the deer is hit at all she can pick up on it and trail it. She smells the blood.

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• PalmettoKid Posts: 847 Officer

  July 2014 #5

  You really want him to trail a deer's scent, not just the blood.
  
  Make sure you train it to stay on a single deer's scent. After he has learned to follow a basic trail, lay down a secondary trail with a different deer's hide/hoof crossing the trail you want him to stay on, give the dog direction when it gets to the new scent if it needs.

  No Shortcuts. No Excuses. No Regrets.

  Bobjr86 wrote: »

  Ok so i hunted florida for my first time yesterday and have to say i was really disappointed.

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• FLherritage Posts: 219 Deckhand

  July 2014 #6

  drain the blood from a deer into plastic bottles and freeze them. Then you can thaw them out over the year as you try to keep up the training . Drip them out and follow. I'd use blood with some stomach guts in it. I figure that will make it smell more like the the average deer that needs a dog to trail it.

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• Stillbroke Posts: 226 Officer

  July 2014 #7

  I would use a piece of deer hide and deer blood. If you just train to track hide or deer scent you will run into a problem when there are multiple deer using the same trail or in the are when you shoot. I would not try to train cross tracking with deer scent only. A good way to proof your dog is to get a good tracking foundation down tracking "blood" scent then throw in a deer "scent" only cross track. Keep in mind if you train only scent there may be fresher scent in the area by the time you get your dog and get ready to start tracking your wounded deer. Just my two cents.

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• Skunk Ape Posts: 3,860 Captain

  July 2014 #8

  Think about this, if you hit a deer good you normally don't need a dog, there's a good blood trail. A bad hit means minimal blood, maybe gut but mostly just deer scent. The deer you're tracking should have a pretty hot scent for a few hrs. And trust me, you're not going to break a dog off of a deer he jumps while tracking. You have to pay attention and keep the dog on a leash.

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• mindyabiness Posts: 8,149 Admiral

  July 2014 #9

  I trained mine with Deer meat scraps. Hide them and leave a trail of drops to get him started. Then once he smells deer he will want to play the hide the meat game. Works better with more than one dog as they each want to find the meat first. I use short one word commands to encourage them when they get the meat. Then use the same commands when in the field.
  
  I only used the dogs once or twice for friends but they got it done every time. I always kept them leashed.
  Once you find a deer for someone you are expected to jump every time someone makes a bad hit....kind of sucks actually.
  I never needed my dogs to find my own deer so I stopped taking them big game hunting with me, just left them home with the woman.
  A woman can spoil a dog in a matter of hours.......turn a good dog into an idiot.....

  Arguing with idiots is like playing chess with a pigeon... No matter how good you are, the bird is going to crap on the board and strut around like it won anyway.
  I AM NOT A RACIST

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• Panama86 Posts: 10 Greenhorn

  July 2014 #10

  Bass Pro has a Scent kit for training. They also have bottles of blood.

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• 22donk Posts: 425 Deckhand

  July 2014 #11

  Started my lab/pit mix on tracking hog blood. Mainly to help with archery hogs. I used the heart and lungs of my last hog kill. I will be adding hoofs and hide later. Touched it to the ground every other 5 feet. She trailed 3 different trails to the end with minimal effort. One thing I do is make the dog sit with eye contact before the tracking starts. Use key words before you put her on a trail, like "track the hog" for instance. Get her to know that she is expected to look for that scent, relating that command to the scent. As she is looking and finding scent I would keep asserting "track" and "find the hog". Of course at the end have a HUGE reward. Doesn't have to be large in volume, but high quality, like steak chunks. Most importantly, keep it low stress and fun, you will get better results with multiple short sessions rather than cramming. Also if the dog is very playful you can reward with a tug or a ball, as treats like steak or hot dogs aren't always practical. Look on YouTube there are very helpful vids there. If you can, like stated before get some hind legs, but get them off an animal that was not cleanly killed, one that ran. These hoofs/legs will have a different scent than a regular non-injured animal. Injured animals will put off a stress pheromone. This pheromone is what will help your dog track the wounded/hit animal, not healthy hog trails. Hope some of this helps.

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