A newer working sport has been emerging out here in the West. Dogs being used to track and recover big game animals. Most often heard of in the Midwest and in the Southern regions of the states, the Rocky Mountain Region has been developing a good list of trackers to aide hunters in the recovery of animals they have harvested, but been unable to locate. A well trained dog and knowledgable handler will be called out by a hunter who will then start them at the original shot site. With a quick introduction to the blood and a cue to search the dog begins to use their nose to work along the wounded animals path. The goal? To find the deceased animal and take it home or complete the kill and save the animal from any additional suffering after the original shot. Not all times will the dogs recover the animal, but with an incredible nose the odds of locating the animal are higher than a human trying to track the blood that may not be fully visible.
We quickly found the only nationwide club designed for big game recovery teams called the United Blood Trackers. After a phone call with a local tracker he encouraged us to "just try it." He explained that the dogs natural instinct quickly chimes in and with nothing but encouragement a dog can become extremely successful. He explained a few ways to practice at-home tracks, but really pushed us to take a few calls and try out the real thing.
I took a call from a local gentleman who explained that his son had shot a deer earlier that evening and they were unable to locate him. They were hoping we could go out and help them in the search. I explained that we were brand new, had little tracking experience, but would love the opportunity to try out a live track. Long story short, we didn't track the original deer, but we did track and recover a second deer that the daughter shot on our way out to the first. With such a short window of light, a lack of packs to carry out two deer, and not even reached the starting point for the first deer we called it a night and helped pack out the newly harvested animal. This experience was a great first experience for us as it taught us a lot of different things to prepare for with future tracking calls. From gear to wear, questions to ask, and expectations to set we we're one step into building experience for our future in tracking.