Genuine Outdoors Forum

genuine · Joined: 29 Mar 2007 Posts: 1631 Location: Central MD

In early October of 2006 my girlfriend and I picked up a 10 week old Wirehair Dachshund. We started acclimating the pup to the new home and exposing her to the scents tastes and feel of Whitetail Deer in hopes of raising her as a tracking dog.
Here is BayLynn in the front yard chewin on an antler...

She was quite playful and had great intrest in tracking deer scent around the yard even at this young age

_________________
Everything I do is dangerous, Don't try any of it...Cause I am still learning
Curt

genuine · Joined: 29 Mar 2007 Posts: 1631 Location: Central MD

A few weeks later we drove over my parents house and I laid BayLynn's first liver drag. I had taken a deer earlier and froze the blood, liver and parts of the hide so that we could train.
Laying a liver drag onthe lawn is quite easy but there's a lot of details to try and keep straight. The basic rule is to keep human scent as small as possible. So I wore rubber boots and used a 12 foot bamboo pole with the small peice of liver attached to the end of the pole by a nylon rope. Keeping the wind in mind I dragged the liver 50 yards then turned 90 degrees to the left then another 50 yards and another turn untill I had used up all the yard and ended up at the edge of the woods leaving the pole hidden behind a tree with only the liver showing at the base of a large oak...Now all that was left was to find a way to walk out so that my scent didn't cross the line I had just laid (kinda like painting onself into a corner if you're not careful.. so plan you escape route....)

With short liver tracks in the backyard one can easily remember the exact trail without any markers. However on longer tracks later on it is VERY easy to forget exactly where the track was laid. The best markers I have found is scentless toilet paper. It's light to carry, easy to see, easy to poke through thus hanging on branches up high to see from a far distance and if you forget to pick them up they break down and don't leave a mess in the woods. You can also use plasitc flagging...

I waited 30 minutes for the blood to dry changed my boots, then walked her back to the starting point. I clipped on her tracking collar and took off her everyday collar (later I would learn to take her muzzle and gently put it at the first sign of scent and use the long slur word "SSSsscent, SSSccceent" this is a good phrase to use on the trail to encuorage her as well) This usually mild mannered pup turned to a "nut case" of frenzied power pulling at the line wanting at that smell of liver and blood. We buzzed along the line at a fast pace with her muzzle a millimeter off the ground sucking up the scent better than any "Electrolux or Hoover" until we hit the first turn.

This when I realized that BayLynn is "Left Handed" by this I mean that when she looses a scent she slows, picks up her head from the ground and drops her tail. Then she turns her head to the Left, then circles left and comes back to the original line she had just walked and slows then works out the turn. We then blew through the straight aways till the next turn. Some dogs overshoot turns by many yards however this little pup circles at about 3 yards from loosing the scent. I made sure to praise her when she got back on the line after loosing trying to make the connection between brains... ( I know a dog's nose is good enough I think the hard part is getting it in her brain what I want her to do)
She would stuff her nose deep into the grass and "huff and snort" By this I mean she would literally push her muzzle down into the scent to the point that she would bend her nose to the side and inhale deep, hold her breath then blow it out and repeat. If the scent is really old or dry she paws at it scratching (supposes this "freshens" the scent) then she would do the huff and snnort again and again....

A little over 100 yards and 2 turns later we were at the end of the liver trail. Strange how she first approached the liver, sheepish just for a moment then I thought I had a wild wolf at it's latest kill on the end of the line.

Her muzzle filled with bright red as knawed over and over then she broke through the first bite of liver and then big chunks. She had no intentions of leaving the liver till it was demolished.

I praised her for a long time with petting and using the words "SSScent" and "Complete" to let her know that this is what the SSSSceent word leads to at the end of the trail and "Complete" works well so that in the event that we don't find one in the future she can know that the trial is over...

We took a good amount of time after rolling in the grass and making sure the fun time was had....

After this I went back and got the pole and line out of the woods and brought it up in the yard. She chewed a bit on the blood stained end of the line and pole...

Hope all enjoy
_________________
Everything I do is dangerous, Don't try any of it...Cause I am still learning
Curt

genuine · Joined: 29 Mar 2007 Posts: 1631 Location: Central MD

The pup 12-13 weeks old

Went back over to mom and dad's for another simple liver trail but to challange he little pup I let it age a bit more this time... 1 hour before starting the run. A few twists and we were to the end. No real challange, I realize I need to let it age more and quit the liver drags. She really seemed to enjoy the deer heart at the end!

Look at how low she gets tryin to stay on the "prize"

Hope all Enjoy
_________________
Everything I do is dangerous, Don't try any of it...Cause I am still learning
Curt

genuine · Joined: 29 Mar 2007 Posts: 1631 Location: Central MD

The next Sunday we headed back over to Ma and Pa's for tougher training.

Now 13 weeks old I think we are done with Liver drags as she has NO problems with them. I though we would switch from a solid line ( from drags where the scent is a constant line ) to a "dotted line" So I took a small piece of deer leg and tied it off to the same old Bamboo pole and "bounced" it along a trail with a few turns. Again no problems... Good to see the pup can tackle the next level.

Later that week a friend shot a doe and we got to run a small short fresh line but didn't have the camera. Took a few pics when we got back in the yard. Nice to see that the pup has no fear of a full sized "prizes"

I don't know what Baylynn was whispering in her ear...

Hope all Enjoy
_________________
Everything I do is dangerous, Don't try any of it...Cause I am still learning
Curt

genuine · Joined: 29 Mar 2007 Posts: 1631 Location: Central MD

Early Nov: We are into the 15th week for this little pup....

Got to practice on the real thing for a hunter in a small park which was overrun with deer. The Hunter thought the arrow hit a bit far back and that it didn't pass clean through bu the good thing was that the angle was strongly quartering away. Another distraction to this young inexperienced pup was it was a large doe shot out a set of 3. This could certainly confused the pup and put us on a wild goose chase...

We showed up about 3 hours later it had been dark for awhile now. The lights on and it made no difference to this litle pup. We crossed a small creek that had very steep sides. She hesitated at the creek with boulders bigger than her and water half way up her sides... But with a little encouragement we made it. Up the steep hillside covered with fresh leaves and we got to the shot impact point. I small bit of blood and turned up leaves were all we had to go on. I was a bit amazed that she had no problems starting... We were off and only 50 yards away we found the broadhead and 6 inches of arrow. From here on out the blood was small but steady. The pup kept her nose down and sucked it up.
We got to a large tree stump and the blood trail led down over the next steep bank headed towards a river. Seems the steep downhill BayLynn doesn't like soo much. With a little coaxing we slid down the hill together. The loose leaves made for a nice ride... As we hit the bottom of the hill into a swampy river side she worked along the river bed with good blood we found the doe piled up another 150 yards away.
BayLynn sure enjoyed the scraps from the gut pile!!! I think is getting the idea that there's a serious reward at the end of the right scent. Now all she needs is few years experience...

Some pics from the doe and dog

Hope all Enjoy
_________________
Everything I do is dangerous, Don't try any of it...Cause I am still learning
Curt

genuine · Joined: 29 Mar 2007 Posts: 1631 Location: Central MD

Sat Nov 11th the pup was about 16 weeks old I probably shouldn't have taken the call but I did...

Did a track for a guy in Howard Co. Saturday. Didn't find it, had too many distractions for a young pup...

If you want the long part of the story... 9 AM Baylynn went to the Vet for 2 shots, one in each back leg and started on antibiotics and childrens Benedryl (sp?). Not the kinda morning I want if I'm gonna do physical work 5 hours later at a mere 10 pounds...
The hunter shot low at 7 am Sat morn... Thought he missed... Then saw 9 more bucks pass around 10 AM crossing the same trail that the deer he shot had run out to escaped. He thought that his deer had turned and traveled with these. I got the call around noon and we he was able to make it back out so we met at 2:30 PM. We got to the shot area and Baylynn started trackin the trail about 80 yrds till she hit the area where she lifted her head from the trail and started "wind scenting" with nose in the air. It was a dead doe which had been there for some time and was quite "ripe" even I could smell it. Not sure what was goin on in her head when she found that as she was lookin for a dead deer.. But I put her back on the trail and got started again finding more blood and hair that the hunter's group had not found. She then got to the area where the 9 bucks had crossed the trail. She got a bit turned around and could not get her 16 week old brain to follow the old cold scent instead was interested in the entire area. With no new blood to show that we were on the right trail I let her work on faith for some time and distance but turned up no new physical evidence to know we were on the right trail. We got into some landowners who did not want us to go any further so the day was cut short not knowing if she had lost the scent or was in the right way. I figure she was NOT on the right track as she seemed to loose interest, when she is on a definite track she locks her nose tight to the trail and this was NOT the case. Backed it up and headed for home
_________________
Everything I do is dangerous, Don't try any of it...Cause I am still learning
Curt

genuine · Joined: 29 Mar 2007 Posts: 1631 Location: Central MD

Sun Nov. 12th 2006 after having a tough track on Sat. I figured we needed an easy track... But I wanted to make it a challange and a few new twists. We started at last light and used NO blood.

On Sun I took her and did a training run around my parents property with only deer hooves for a trail. She nailed a 100 yrd trail crossing a FRESH coon trail several times without leaving the 1 hour old trail. Several 90 degree turns in the trail and in the light rain. I put a tail at the end and she really seemed to enjoying chewing the tail... Good feeling after the previous days "unknown trail"

Hope all enjoy
_________________
Everything I do is dangerous, Don't try any of it...Cause I am still learning
Curt

genuine · Joined: 29 Mar 2007 Posts: 1631 Location: Central MD

Success... Kinda...

Had a track two weeks ago for a guy in Howard County, on a managed hunt. I got the phone call at work (in DC) and dumped everthing, drove half hour home then half hour to Howard Co. by 4:30PM. Met the hunters and DNR agent lookin for a nice buck which had been arrowed at 10AM, they had been trackin ever since. They had called me when they lost the blood trail in a deep thickety ravine which led up to a busy road (remember this is is at rush hour in a far overpopulated area or Maryland)
I met the 4 men at the roadside and watched the expresions on their faces as they saw this 15 week old puppy with big floppy ears squirm to get outta my arms and onto the trail. The Hunter had a huge smile on his face as he had seen a wirehair save his buck a few years back by relative of the same bloodlines of this very pup. The DNR agent did not have the same smile of confidence. I can't blame him or anyone else as the size and age of the dog leads one to a the wrong conclusion about her ability. Not to mention that the agent was in a bad spot, the deer had dissappeared in "his county's" park and has great probability of darting into traffic starting a potential HUGE issue of safety for the public and the future of managed hunting in suburban areas....
Back to the track: the Agent said I could try walkin the dog down to the corner along the road side (which had about a 30 yard wide shoulder covered with grass) Baylynn started to get jumpy as she crossed sevceral places where deer had crossed however she did not stay on any of them. At this ripe old age of 15 weeks (I had had her for only 5 weeks!) I made the assumption that deer had crossed there but I could not tell for sure if it was the one that they were lookin for and that if they would take us back to where the last blood was perhaps I could be sure. The DNR agent had not changed his facial expression and said I could walk her 200 yards along the road in the other direction. We started along when it looked like someone hit my little pup in the back of the head with a ballpeen hammer! her nose crushed into the ground and the deep "huff" inhale and exhale and intense jamming her nose deeper into the grass and down to the dirt let me know we had some blood! I whistled to the group of 4 and the hunter yelled some sort of glee. Baylynn started to track the buck backwards into the park I allowed her to go the wrong way for a time getting all the scnets of interdigital gland and the type of blood hit well into her nose and pattern into her brain. By then one of the guys yelled out that he found blood in a flat spot where the shoulder met the park cover (assuming that the buck had stood at the top for a short time to look over the open road and check his back trail.) Seems we work as a team in tracking as her nose is some 300 times better than mine and my experience is atleast 15 years more than her 15 weeks...
The tracks in the downhill grass leading out of the park clearly showed that the points of the hooves were pointed towards the thick woods across the road. Infact one of the hoof prints was MUCH deeper than the others. I asked the group if the deer had a broken leg? The eyes of all were peaked and increased their faith in this young team...
Now the story turns as the official location of the hunt was controld by the park the Agent said the official hunt was over and that he was leaving the location. We ofcourse were free to do what we wanted. With the facts of this story being that the deer had been hit since 10AM (7 hours now) and without a whole lot of blood and obviously a broken front leg and rush hours and the deer in a "safe spot" I told the hunter that the choice was his. We could continue the track across the road and probably jump this buck up OR we could wait till midnight or so and try after "letting him die". I was skeptical that the deer would die at all since the time passed and nature of the wound I figured this deer had only a broken leg and that it would recover if left alone. However if it were shot in the chest as well it should have died by now but defintely by midnight. The hunter chose to back off and let him die.
Cause this was close to my house (about 15 mins) around midnight we got back together and started the trail on the other side. Baylynn was nose to the ground sneaking through greenbriars with ease as I learned that a good tracker would need some serious leather gloves the hard way!!! Wow and did we ever need to learn the "easy or Whoa" command! We found more blood on the hill with 2 lights and behind million dollars houses the buck jumped up out a bloody bed (this was only enough blood to cover the wound bed, remember it had been 7 hours passed so to me this was little amount of blood, supporting the broken leg and this deer will recover theory) Down the other side of the hill we raced hot on the trail of fresh scent, this was too easy for Baylynn to stay on the trail however bad news as we went from being in a "common area" of the community to being directly behind million dollar houses. Now at 1AM with a dog and lights this is not the time to be trespasing Nor knockin on doors asking for more permission to cross into the next piece of woods!!! We called it a night. The hunter was happy that we had proved that infact it was his buck which had crossed the road and ws impressed at how at such an early age trackin was already in her nose. He ws kind enough to give me a few dollars for gas and he said he would return the next day to look for his buck. I had to go to work and was convinced that it was a wound that would be survived....
Two weeks later the Hunter called me back and shared that he and some friends had done a grid search in the woods behind the houses and found a carcass with "horns" cut out. The carcass was estimated a few days (not weeks) old. I'll always question if this truly was his buck or not but he was convinced. Either way I had met another friend and the pup had a great experience trackin !!!
Baylynn is getting sharper every track and I have a plan for another training run ..

Enjoy life it may be shorter than we think
_________________
Everything I do is dangerous, Don't try any of it...Cause I am still learning
Curt

genuine · Joined: 29 Mar 2007 Posts: 1631 Location: Central MD

well Nov 18th was a good Saturday

got a call for a small racked 9 point tracked however it was an easy trail.

Sat Morn about 8am the 9pt was shot at close range with a hole directly through the heart and a complete pass through...

they don't go far and leave enough blood that a blind man could "slip his way" along the trail to find his buck! None the less we waited till 5:30pm to let the track age. Teaching the pup to track old cold lines rather than the hottest line there. No problem.
She started with great power and confidence then hit a small swamp (dog shoulder deep) but with a little coaxing she went right across and picked up the scent 15 yards on the other side. Nose stuck to the ground like an oreck, electrolux, stanely steam cleaner... (insert favorite vacume name here) she followed the 9 hour old 80 yard track directly to the spot where he was gutted out. There we celebrated with a chew on the liver (saved from earlier that morn) and lots of praise.
As an added bonus we tracked the drag line out to the parking lot to lead the way home.

_________________
Everything I do is dangerous, Don't try any of it...Cause I am still learning
Curt

genuine · Joined: 29 Mar 2007 Posts: 1631 Location: Central MD

Sunday Nov 26th A friend laid a "blind track" for Baylynn and I around 3 PM using some rubber soled boots and a set of deer hooves for laying scent with absolutely no blood. He gave me a rough idea of the trail he took so that I wouldn't end up miles away teaching the dog bad habits chasing some "hotter" scent.

I waited till after dark then around 6:30 PM I brought a different friend to pose as the hunter (thus giving a possible distraction to Baylynn) Pulled up in the car and walked her over to the beginning scent track and snapped on her trackin collar. Away we went at a good pace. She stuffed her nose far into the 4 inches of leaves looking for the next step of deer hoof scent. As the yards ticked by she grew more confident and seemed to increase pace, which I don't mind so long as she doesn't miss things or get off the track. (perhaps this is a mistake as moving at this pace could mean I miss important sign on the trail which could help me to make decisions) We reached an old barb wire fence and it took her a few moments to get in the track ( I wondered if my friend had gotten caught up on the fencs and had to find a good place to cross, I need to ask) We quickly got back to speed and I slid down a steep bank to the creek at the bottom as she in four wheel drive paced down with no problem. She danced around at the creek trying to find a way to cross, ( I will continue to have water hazards on the training ones as it seems she needs to cross with confidence) perhaps the 17 week old pup needs some slack...
She crossed the creek and headed just as fast up the 40 foot rise at a good pace. I had to let out some line so she didn't have to slow and break concentration on my slower ascent. At the top of this side the trail turned a hard right 90 degree turn. This gives her a small problem as she is "left handed" always overshooting and having to make "3 lefts" in a circle to come around and pick up the trail again. She found it confidently and did not miss a step on the left 90 degree turn in a short 10 yards. Then it was a shot 30 yard downhill run to the spot where the cleared out dirt circle with a stick driven into the center and toilet paper in the overhanging branch to signify the end of the track.
A good frenzy of chewing on the liver brought out as rewards mixed with plenty of verbal and physical praise made for a great time before giving plenty of snacks to distract away from the liver as it is a bit dangerous to put ones had down into the jaws of the liver loving mutt... I gave the command "COMPLETE" to let her know that the track was over...

Enjoy
_________________
Everything I do is dangerous, Don't try any of it...Cause I am still learning
Curt

genuine · Joined: 29 Mar 2007 Posts: 1631 Location: Central MD

Dec 3rd 2006
The Sunday training went well !

I have to say a huge THANK YOU to Don of Westminster for laying out a challanging run for us today. He gave away his morning to set a line out along with some blood and 2 sets of hooves from different deer to take BayLynn out of the elementary school and into High School if you will by laying a track and then crossing it with a different deer's scent.
This is very hard for a 18-19 week old pup to resist. And she did go off and follow the second scent for a short while. Although coming to the end of it's line there was no reward so hopefully that big nose and brain put those two things together making this the start of "staying with the old cold line" that I start her on.
She also was challanged by the second "check" a setup to look like a deer had come to the edge of a field then milled around before entering the woods. BayLynn also got stuck here for a short time goin along the edge of the field ( we call this casting) which is natural for a dog to do trying to find where the deer left the area again. You can tell that your dog is doin this by the fact that she picks her head up and then works in patterns trying to "Start" again. She did several good things here... She checked up a natural deer trail only goin about 10 yrds up the trail before coming back and starting on the known trail again. However the one fault she had was that she would not naturally try to cast into the thicket (something she must learn as it is soooo natural for a deer to do) So we let some time go by to see if she would figure it out alone then restarted her back a known trail... then set her cast up into the thicket. She got her nose back down again and buried herself in briars, after a short tangle with the lead she made it through the thicket and into the more open woods. THen it was high gear, right to (and passed) the hooves used for laying the trail! I let her work around the site while I got the 1/4 deer heart out and all praised her for a COMPLETE track
while she munched on the piece of heart.
--Something to learn here as she grows so does the size of her Jaws and teeth AND love for venison heart... Three bites and it was nearly down her throat! I tried to recover some of the chunk but got little. Ah well as Don said "protien"

We then laid a fresh second trail for fun and ease as it was no time to age and I layed it with my old boots full of scent I am sure that she is used to. She smoked through that trail even skipping a turn and just running through it then circling into the brush and catching the trail as she does when we are on a fresh trail with full confidence... We celebrated at the end of this as well.

Got to spend some time waxing on about how great hunting is with Don. Always refreshing to see a fellow outdoorsmen and hunter excited and willing to help out!

Thanks again Don

Hope all Enjoy

_________________
Everything I do is dangerous, Don't try any of it...Cause I am still learning
Curt

ohioboy · Joined: 29 Mar 2007 Posts: 16 Location: Eastern Ohio

Those are some good pictures Curt. I was really impressed with the way she worked the drag you laid for her when I visited. I have never seen a tracking dog of any breed start that young and do that well. Now if I can only shoot something worth her tracking. LOL

genuine · Joined: 29 Mar 2007 Posts: 1631 Location: Central MD

THanks, I think the dog is great it's ME who has to do the learning!
_________________
Everything I do is dangerous, Don't try any of it...Cause I am still learning
Curt

genuine · Joined: 29 Mar 2007 Posts: 1631 Location: Central MD

Had a Double Header Thur Dec. 7th. 2006

Set up a track in Hampstead MD to train the pup lastnight when a real track came in...

The training track was a good one. Around 7 PM I laid the track out across a grass field to start with nothin but hooves. Put a couple 90 degreee turns in to get warm then about 50 yards in I went across a plowed field (Don't know why it would be plowed this time of year) taking advantage of a new surface that BayLynn had not encountered yet. Then a Sharp Left and back to grass. A long straight run then another 90 to the right and a 90 to the Left and we left the grass into a brushy area there I circled and milled for about 3 mins coveinrg the area of a vehicle just making a mess. Then I jumped out of the "circle" and started a path out to the left along more brush and along a Cut corn field. About 30 yards further and a sharp Left into a thicket and hide the hooves under a small set of saplings in the thicket.
I waited for about an hour and a half (actually wanted to wait for 4 hours but the wind started to blow hard and it started to flurry so I wanted to get Baylynn trackin out in the snow as this would be her first time. Even if it was only a flurry.
We started out and with 2 guests from Ohio "in tow" we started out.
She blew through this fresh scent with no problems even the circle area was worked through with relative ease... We we at the hooves and eating treats and getting praise in short time. total distance of approx. 200 yards. I was well impressed with the snow and wind but the 1.5 hours old and lack of other deer scent was too easy. I think aging is a bigger factor than the wind or snow...

I had gotten a phone call from Harold a hunter in Harford Co. MD (about an hour away from where I was) We took the call but I think I should have passed.
It started about 10 PM in a cold and windy area without the proper clothing Nor shoes but I was an hour from the house so I figured how bad can it be... BayLynn was pumped to get started and she blew through all the flagging tht the hunter had left marking the blood trail. As we passed the last flag at a steady pace we crossed a small creek and headed up the small rise to a open oak flat. There we milled and She started to cast out looking for the scent again when my cell phone rang. It was my girl in the car as the police had pulled up and were interested in what she and the Vehicles were doin there. The in turn called the DNR (Dept. Natural Resources) they all showed up and wanted to talk as they had had alot of poaching in the area. We came out of the woods to talk with them. The hunter had most of his paperwork except written proof of the lease to hunt. So we never did get a chance to see if she could work her way out of the lost scent area up on top that hill. Kinda a bummer cause she really seemed like she was "casting" out of the area then coming back in, in a pattern. The hunter and DNR agent were impressed with this young 18-19 week old pup.

Think I may shoot one with the Bow just for a good real find in the woods again as it has been atleast 2 weeks of training runs and the "no find" lastnight.

No pics from either trail as i didn't have the camera

Oh also got a call from a hunter but decided not to take the call in the middle of the day. Actual an email. Seems the arrow hit was not deep enough and in the shoulder. With a small area of permission and and Anti hunter owning the adjoining property which they believe the deer had gone onto it was tough to say no but the hunter agreed. Sorry to see it happen but I hope the buck survives and the hunter gets to tag him soon

Hope all enjoy
_________________
Everything I do is dangerous, Don't try any of it...Cause I am still learning
Curt

genuine · Joined: 29 Mar 2007 Posts: 1631 Location: Central MD

Sunday Dec. 10th 2006

Well She did Quite well on the 500 yard, 5 hours old, NO blood, only hooves track. There were too many sharp turns to count. Which just happened unplanned cause of piles of Junk in the woods, (didn't want those young paws cut up on glass) A few places where I milled around and a nasty briar thicket, and an open grassy area near the end.
I used the hooves off of two other deer (one buck one doe) as added distractions as the real woods will be this way. As I would walk along laying the track I would stop at other deer paths and throw the "distracting" hooves out along that path then pull them back to me and throw them out the other side of the trail causing an intersection. She DOES have problems at these places. She will turn off and check these out. Which is a definite hurdle that we will have to train with every time. When we get to them I do not correct her as in the real tracks I would not know that this is a different deer. So she goes to the end of the "distractions" scent and it would magically dissappear... She would work her way back without prompting and goe down the other path... it would end then return to the "true" track and continue on. Hopefully she learns quickly that the "distraction scent trails" lead to nothing and the old cold scent leads to reward and praise. She did have intersections that she would "blow through" without checking out the distraction however I don't know if this was because she missed their scent or she was learning. For example the last 2 distractions she skipped completely and stayed with the true line.

Couple things of note that I learned from this track:
1) I started at an athletic field which was a bit muddy and filled with "people tracks" she had a tough time getting started on this 5 hr old track. She was interested with nose to the ground and sniffing everywhere yet finding the right direction was the issue. I wonder if the 5 hours on an open field and a light wind blowin all day blows the scent in all directions thus making a cloud at the heavily scented start area??? also wonder if all the scent of people playin on the field (not Sunday but in previous days) is a mix. I'll have to run some test tracks to decide this

2) She had the most issue with the other deer hooves / intersections.
On the shorter Wed track I plan to lay out a straight track with a little blood on the hooves then cross it with intersections and see if she is learning to leave the "different scents" alone. As soon as she masters this I plan to make it even harder by laying a old five hour old track then just an hour before put in fresh, hotter intersections and see if she can avoid the hottest newest trails and stay on what I start her on... Hmm have to do this near a road side so I can stay in a car and throw the "distraction lines" without tainting with my scent. Have to wonder what the people driving by will think... (here's some guy throwing deer hooves ona line across a field and draggin back across...)

3) I can see why books and people have advised to start the dog on the scent at the shoot site and not at the point of last blood. IT REALLY DOES take some time for the dog to get the scent deep in her nose and "memorize" the scent she needs to stay on.

I'll post a few pics with what "I think" are body language of the pup...