Top Of Texas Tracking

10/23/2021

Young Rey, on her 2nd solo track, went hunt-drive ballistic and persisted in pursuit of a non-lethal hit buck for 6 hours, over really rough cactus infested country and gyp rock, covering 7.3 miles. Blood spots all along the way. After dealing with no roads, box canyons, impenetrable brush, muliple river crossings, and lost GPS contact for a few hours, I finally caught her and forced her to quit. Beat Annie's record by 1 mile. Rey is out of commission for a week or so due to raw feet. I am astounded by her determination.

10/05/2021

One of my biggest rules in tracking - Don't steer the dog.

I put the big, female bluetick, Rey, on this trail. She's still learning to stay on the injured deer and leave the others alone, and given the smaller size of the property, I kept her on lead (in Texas we can track off lead). That way, if she got distracted on a nontarget, I'd still have her in hand. When we were about halfway to the hit site, with a corn feeder present, she popped her head in the air and started pulling hard to the west, into the wind, while loudly expressing her dislike about the lead rope. Assuming she was winding live deer congregated by the feeder, I tugged her on toward the hit site only 50 yards away. She worked through the area, and I made sure she headed the general direction the hunter, Joseph, had seen the buck go, but she kept pulling left. The hunter said the buck had gone straight ahead. I kept tugging Rey straight ahead, and she suddenly stuck her nose in the grass and started really tracking the expected direction. We went about 200 yards and she self corrected a turn, an unusual turn of 90 degrees, went another 100 yards and made another 90 degree turn. About a 1/4 mile ahead of us, we saw 3 flagging tails running across the prairie. I made the assumption that Rey was tracking that group of deer, so I decided to quit training Rey and tend to business of recovering a customer's deer.

I put Rey in the truck and turned Annie loose. We got about halfway to the hit site when she tossed her nose into the wind and headed west. Exact same spot where Rey had done the same. Now when Annie picks a direction, I don't question her. We followed her about 150 yards to the dead buck. Apparently, he had taken a hard left just as he'd gotten out of the Joseph's vision and made a half loop back toward the corn feeder. Given the buck had been scavenged by coyotes, and the weird path Rey tracked, I interpreted she was tracking a blood covered coyote. Which happens.

After a decade of being spoiled by Annie, I had forgotten the frustration and stress of wondering if the dog was on the right animal or not. Rey just needs the experience now. To chase non-targets until exhausted and then get back on the blood trail and find the prize. But dang it's hard to set up that scenario. She'll get there.

Sorry, Rey! The boss screwed up! She was not a happy camper. But Joseph was. Congrats on a really cool buck!

10/01/2021

We're out for a morning walk to get the old joints limbered up...Annie's also. I'm completely amazed that Annie is going to make the opener of another Texas deer season. Her 14th season starts tomorrow (Saturday) morning!

09/18/2021

Ol' Annie, after a stroke last year, a resulting perpetual tilt to the right, thyroid cancer, and being stone deaf, proves her nose still works by kicking off her 14th season with a bull elk recovery in New Mexico. Her response to the huge elk was priceless! And another species notch added to her collar. Thanks for the call Brian. Good dog, Annie! Good dog!

09/09/2021

Latest addition to the tracking team, The Dude. At 5 months old, already despises photo time...with attitude.

04/02/2021

Ol' Annie girl is hanging in there! Still looking at the world a little cock-eyed, but gettin' along fairly well. Can't navigate downhill to well but she's still aching for a tracking job. Good dog, Annie! Good dog!

12/17/2020

As Ol' Annie is approaching life's sunset, I thought a celebration of her 13 season career was in order. She's lived an adventurous life, and I just wanted to share. Good dog! Good dog!

For best enjoyment, quality speakers or earbuds are a must.

Thirteen hunting seasons packed into a 5 minute video of Ol Annie Girl. She's one of the best, and loves to track. She's had a great, adventurous life, and a...

11/10/2020

Just a quick reality check - We went 1 for 4 on tracks this last week. It's easy to get the misconception, especially from social media, that dogs can recover almost every deer they go after. T'ain't true.

11/06/2020

Just a quick catch up on a few recoveries before the Texas General Season opens Saturday, Nov 7. It's been the busiest archery season we've ever had. Look quick before Facebook police censor the gruesomes.

11/01/2020

When you're old enough that you still sleep with an alarm clock by the bed and forget to roll clock back 1 hour for Daylight Savings Time Fall Back. A nice, quiet hour to sit in truck, wait for hunter, and listen to some Jerry Jeff Walker .

10/22/2020

Yet another first for 13 year veteran, Annie. A shattered humerus bone from a bow shot! That's pretty common during rifle season, but nearly unheard of with archery gear. Congrats, Lisa!

10/18/2020

Third time Annie has uncovered a coyote meat cache. Coyotes can strip an entire carcass in 1 night. They eat what they can, run off a ways, dig a hole, puke it up, bury it, then go back to the carcass for more. Each time she's found these caches, we were casting large circles around the point of loss in an attempt to get beyond the stomp-zone. She encounters a "blood trail" from the coyote, tracks it, and finds their cache. The good news being, you know the deer is dead and somewhere "nearby". This cache was 580 yards away, straight-line, from the dead deer.