I have had dogs come by me chasing deer and coyotes and still had deer around me not long after. I don't think they pay a lot of attention to the dogs running unless the dogs are chasing them. I have also on several occasions seen dogs come by not barking or chasing and deer came by on the same trail not long afterwards not in the least bit spooked.
How good a dogs nose is
Bowhunting one evening several years ago. Hadn't been there long before I here dogs barking in a very 'we're chasing something' manner. Of course I thought - Please don't come this way, you will not help my deer hunting efforts!
Not long later, a coyote busts into the woods from a nearby field. He was obviously the one being chased, but he had a good head start and didn't appear to be super concerned. But he didn't hang around either and never stopped long enough for a shot. I was able to watch him and probably a couple hundred yards of the path he took moving on.
As you may have guessed the barking gets closer & closer and finally 2 dogs show up 'hot' on the trail. One beagle and some other mutt.
My first thought were, I hope this is over with quickly. And it was.
Amazingly quick.
The amazing part was how far off the path the coyote took, that those 2 dogs could be, and still know right where that coyote went!
The dogs were sometimes 10-15 feet off of the coyotes trail and still never slowed down or wavered. That little bit of distance didn't seem to matter a bit. I expected to see them loose the scent and double back, but it never happened, they never needed too.
At one point, the coyote had trotted down into a creek with steep banks, probably 4 -5 feet high. He ran through some water in this creek bed and kept going.
As I saw the dogs get to that area, they didn't go in the creek, but stayed up on the bank, a few feet from the edge. I thought, OK, surely they've lost the scent now.
Wrong, again. Dogs never slowed down for this either.
I never really understood how good a dogs nose was, until that night. It seemed like tracking that coyote was not the least bit difficult to them, no matter how far off his track they got.
And I'm pretty sure that these were not highly trained tracking dogs.
I doubt those dogs ever caught up to that coyote.
But those dogs seemed to be having a fun time with it. A dogs gotta chase, right?
Kinda like a hunter has to hunt.
Didn't get a deer that night, but in the end what I saw was plenty memorable.
Not long later, a coyote busts into the woods from a nearby field. He was obviously the one being chased, but he had a good head start and didn't appear to be super concerned. But he didn't hang around either and never stopped long enough for a shot. I was able to watch him and probably a couple hundred yards of the path he took moving on.
As you may have guessed the barking gets closer & closer and finally 2 dogs show up 'hot' on the trail. One beagle and some other mutt.
My first thought were, I hope this is over with quickly. And it was.
Amazingly quick.
The amazing part was how far off the path the coyote took, that those 2 dogs could be, and still know right where that coyote went!
The dogs were sometimes 10-15 feet off of the coyotes trail and still never slowed down or wavered. That little bit of distance didn't seem to matter a bit. I expected to see them loose the scent and double back, but it never happened, they never needed too.
At one point, the coyote had trotted down into a creek with steep banks, probably 4 -5 feet high. He ran through some water in this creek bed and kept going.
As I saw the dogs get to that area, they didn't go in the creek, but stayed up on the bank, a few feet from the edge. I thought, OK, surely they've lost the scent now.
Wrong, again. Dogs never slowed down for this either.
I never really understood how good a dogs nose was, until that night. It seemed like tracking that coyote was not the least bit difficult to them, no matter how far off his track they got.
And I'm pretty sure that these were not highly trained tracking dogs.
I doubt those dogs ever caught up to that coyote.
But those dogs seemed to be having a fun time with it. A dogs gotta chase, right?
Kinda like a hunter has to hunt.
Didn't get a deer that night, but in the end what I saw was plenty memorable.
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I have watched beagles run rabbits many times just like you described. They would be off to the side of the track 10 feet and never miss a beat. Granted these are very fresh tracks but still impressive IMO. Never really paid attention but thinking back I wonder now if they were on the down wind side of said track?
I used to do a little bit of competition beagle hunting on wild rabbits and had my dogs penalized for not showing proper line control. Never mind that they were obviously running the track, just off to the side.
I used to do a little bit of competition beagle hunting on wild rabbits and had my dogs penalized for not showing proper line control. Never mind that they were obviously running the track, just off to the side.
This is why I watch videos with dogs used to vet out new "scent killing products".
Dogs never lose. Scent killers always do.
Dogs never lose. Scent killers always do.
Bowhunting one evening several years ago. Hadn't been there long before I here dogs barking in a very 'we're chasing something' manner. Of course I thought - Please don't come this way, you will not help my deer hunting efforts!
Not long later, a coyote busts into the woods from a nearby field. He was obviously the one being chased, but he had a good head start and didn't appear to be super concerned. But he didn't hang around either and never stopped long enough for a shot. I was able to watch him and probably a couple hundred yards of the path he took moving on.
As you may have guessed the barking gets closer & closer and finally 2 dogs show up 'hot' on the trail. One beagle and some other mutt.
My first thought were, I hope this is over with quickly. And it was.
Amazingly quick.
The amazing part was how far off the path the coyote took, that those 2 dogs could be, and still know right where that coyote went!
The dogs were sometimes 10-15 feet off of the coyotes trail and still never slowed down or wavered. That little bit of distance didn't seem to matter a bit. I expected to see them loose the scent and double back, but it never happened, they never needed too.
At one point, the coyote had trotted down into a creek with steep banks, probably 4 -5 feet high. He ran through some water in this creek bed and kept going.
As I saw the dogs get to that area, they didn't go in the creek, but stayed up on the bank, a few feet from the edge. I thought, OK, surely they've lost the scent now.
Wrong, again. Dogs never slowed down for this either.
I never really understood how good a dogs nose was, until that night. It seemed like tracking that coyote was not the least bit difficult to them, no matter how far off his track they got.
And I'm pretty sure that these were not highly trained tracking dogs.
I doubt those dogs ever caught up to that coyote.
But those dogs seemed to be having a fun time with it. A dogs gotta chase, right?
Kinda like a hunter has to hunt.
Didn't get a deer that night, but in the end what I saw was plenty memorable.
Ashamed you didn't get a shot at that 'yote though. Good post!
Ive seen dogs track a two-day old track. Pretty amazing I think.
Ive seen dogs track a two-day old track. Pretty amazing I think.
Here is something I came by this morning....
Deer have a sense of smell that humans can barely even begin to imagine. Which is why it is critically important for hunters to do everything they can to minimize their scent. Before we give you tips on making your hunting clothes and yourself scent-free, we wanted to give you some information on a deer's sense of smell.
Deer have up to 297 million olfactory (scent) receptors in their nose. In comparison, dogs have 220 million and humans have just 5 million olfactory receptors. Not only do deer have a huge number of olfactory receptors in their nose, they also have a secondary scent gland called the vomeronasal organ that is located in their mouth.
Deer have 2 large scent processing areas in their brains. These processing areas are 9 times larger than a human's scent processing area. So a sniff test of yourself or your clothing is nothing compared to what a deer can do.
Deer have a sense of smell that humans can barely even begin to imagine. Which is why it is critically important for hunters to do everything they can to minimize their scent. Before we give you tips on making your hunting clothes and yourself scent-free, we wanted to give you some information on a deer's sense of smell.
Deer have up to 297 million olfactory (scent) receptors in their nose. In comparison, dogs have 220 million and humans have just 5 million olfactory receptors. Not only do deer have a huge number of olfactory receptors in their nose, they also have a secondary scent gland called the vomeronasal organ that is located in their mouth.
Deer have 2 large scent processing areas in their brains. These processing areas are 9 times larger than a human's scent processing area. So a sniff test of yourself or your clothing is nothing compared to what a deer can do.
That is why I only count on the wind.
I have never had the experience of using deer tracking dogs but talked with a friend who did a couple years ago. His daughter while bowhunting, had hit a nice buck . They tracked the blood trail in some fairly rough swampy area and lost the trail. He contacted a person who offers deer tracking by dogs. He said the dog was taken to the blood trail for scent detection. My friend thought the dog would follow the blood trail but didn't. It went on a beeline of about 120 yards to the dead deer.
Totally amazing how that dog accomplished finding the deer.
Totally amazing how that dog accomplished finding the deer.
Thanks for sharing! That sounds like a great day!
Dogs have a totally amazing sense of smell. Deer even better than dogs. A veterinarian gave me a good analogy one time.
He said when we walk in the house at night we might smell stew simmering on the stove. If we were a dog we would smell a gas fire, hot iron, beef, carrots, potatoes, onion, barley, and we would know exactly where those aromas were coming from.
He said when we walk in the house at night we might smell stew simmering on the stove. If we were a dog we would smell a gas fire, hot iron, beef, carrots, potatoes, onion, barley, and we would know exactly where those aromas were coming from.
But he forgot, sometimes they smell things like dirty socks, underwear, and toilet water and head straight for them!!!.....Dogs have a totally amazing sense of smell. Deer even better than dogs. A veterinarian gave me a good analogy one time.
He said when we walk in the house at night we might smell stew simmering on the stove. If we were a dog we would smell a gas fire, hot iron, beef, carrots, potatoes, onion, barley, and we would know exactly where those aromas were coming from.
No wonder I'm dogless!
I had a friend who was a registered 'leashed blood trailer' with his Dachshunds. He was very experienced and had hundreds of recoveries to their credit. He told me that the dog could follow a 3 or 4 day old trail if the weather had been dry and 2+ days if it rained!
I hunted snowshoe rabbits with my beagle/bluetick hybrids for 30 years and was amazed at how well they did. Even more amazing considering that they rode in the backseat of a vehicle with 2 guys chain smoking the whole trip.
I hunted snowshoe rabbits with my beagle/bluetick hybrids for 30 years and was amazed at how well they did. Even more amazing considering that they rode in the backseat of a vehicle with 2 guys chain smoking the whole trip.
1 - 12 of 12 Posts
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