Mooseman
01-11-2006, 10:04 AM
Hello fellow hunters,
As some of you may know there are several of us in BC that are practicing the old European tradition of tracking wounded game with trained scent hounds. We are in the process of getting organized and forming a club or association of some kind. That way we would be better able to offer valuable information and support to newcomers, experienced trackers or individuals that are just interested in the subject.
If this is something new to you and you are not so familiar with the tracking dogs history, dog training, handler training or the actual tracking work, I will try to give you a small introduction here.
Dogs have been assisting hunters from way back around 10.000 bc. But only in the last 250 years or so has there been a more focused effort on breeding dogs for the job of tracking wounded game. Since that time there have been some specialty breeds that are used mainly by the professional tracking dog handlers in Europe. But there are many other breeds of dogs that use rather scent then sight for hunting and can be trained to become excellent tracking dogs as well.
Sometimes a hunter might make a less then perfect shot on an animal and most of the times we are able to still find it after a long painstaking and difficult search. But in some cases we are unable to track well enough with our eyes and then the trained tracking dog is a very valuable tool. Once you have seen what a good dog can do you will wonder why you would ever have tracked without one.
A 24 hour old trail of a wounded animal that was rained on all night and has no blood or track left for us to see will still give off enough scent for a trained tracking dog to follow and find that animal for us. The top tracking competitions use a 40 hour old trail and it is amazing to see these dogs sorting out all the fresh tracks crossing the one they have to follow. There are many benefits this presents for all us hunters and outfitters. Some are financial, wildlife management, good PR for the non hunting public but the two that stand out with all handlers are "ethics" and how rewarding the work is for the dog and the handler.
If this has sparked an interest and you have further questions, please feel free to contact us. If you share the same interests or would just like to support the idea and join us and be part of this group, we would be happy to hear from you.
All the best to you and your families for 2006 !
Michael Schneider
michael@going-hunting.com
As some of you may know there are several of us in BC that are practicing the old European tradition of tracking wounded game with trained scent hounds. We are in the process of getting organized and forming a club or association of some kind. That way we would be better able to offer valuable information and support to newcomers, experienced trackers or individuals that are just interested in the subject.
If this is something new to you and you are not so familiar with the tracking dogs history, dog training, handler training or the actual tracking work, I will try to give you a small introduction here.
Dogs have been assisting hunters from way back around 10.000 bc. But only in the last 250 years or so has there been a more focused effort on breeding dogs for the job of tracking wounded game. Since that time there have been some specialty breeds that are used mainly by the professional tracking dog handlers in Europe. But there are many other breeds of dogs that use rather scent then sight for hunting and can be trained to become excellent tracking dogs as well.
Sometimes a hunter might make a less then perfect shot on an animal and most of the times we are able to still find it after a long painstaking and difficult search. But in some cases we are unable to track well enough with our eyes and then the trained tracking dog is a very valuable tool. Once you have seen what a good dog can do you will wonder why you would ever have tracked without one.
A 24 hour old trail of a wounded animal that was rained on all night and has no blood or track left for us to see will still give off enough scent for a trained tracking dog to follow and find that animal for us. The top tracking competitions use a 40 hour old trail and it is amazing to see these dogs sorting out all the fresh tracks crossing the one they have to follow. There are many benefits this presents for all us hunters and outfitters. Some are financial, wildlife management, good PR for the non hunting public but the two that stand out with all handlers are "ethics" and how rewarding the work is for the dog and the handler.
If this has sparked an interest and you have further questions, please feel free to contact us. If you share the same interests or would just like to support the idea and join us and be part of this group, we would be happy to hear from you.
All the best to you and your families for 2006 !
Michael Schneider
michael@going-hunting.com