Shed hunting GWP

Post Reply
TxBarley99
Rank: Just A Pup
Posts: 17
Joined: Fri Dec 01, 2017 1:08 pm

Shed hunting GWP

Post by TxBarley99 » Tue May 01, 2018 8:39 pm

Looking to train my GWP to shed hunt and blood track for deer. What opionins do y'all have to booms to use amd study up on to train such skills?

Sent from my LG-H871 using Tapatalk

Mike da Carpenter
Rank: Junior Hunter
Posts: 49
Joined: Wed Dec 06, 2017 8:55 am
Location: SE Michigan

Re: Shed hunting GWP

Post by Mike da Carpenter » Wed May 02, 2018 4:55 am

Start them out as soon as possible and just get them outside in likely locations, and NEVER tell anyone your area once you find a place to “hunt”.

Here is Levi, our GSP, at about 3 months old...
64E09D95-66EA-426C-B953-D56F9DD4C01A.jpeg
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.

averageguy
Rank: 5X Champion
Posts: 970
Joined: Mon Dec 04, 2017 8:07 am

Re: Shed hunting GWP

Post by averageguy » Wed May 02, 2018 6:20 am

I recommend you buy and read "Tracking Dogs for Finding Wounded Deer" by John Jeanneney. I have trained and used several GWPs for recovering wounded deer and turkeys. I start when they are babies, dragging a dead pigeon in a straight line in grass for about 30 yards. It is a scent highway and easy for the puppy to follow. What I am teaching is the verbal track command and hand signal. The puppies all eagerly follow the scent and find the prize at the end. I then move to more difficult longer older drags which are still easy but continue to expand the puppies' skills. Once I have the track command and hand signal in place I move to blood.

I hunt whitetails and use the Glad disposable food containers to scoop coagulated blood from the body cavity of the deer I kill and dress. Wipe off the outside, put it in a freezer bag and into the freezer for training use. I also cut off the tails and hind legs to use as prizes for the dog to find and retrieve at the end of the track. I will thaw out the blood, cut it with water in a blender to get it to a consistency that will spray through a cheap hand pump house plant sprayer you can buy at Walmart. I start with easy 100 yard long straight tracks, spraying some blood every other step and place the leg at the end. I use a silver large dog bell on a snap swivel and attach to the center ring on my dog's collar when tracking. It allows the dog to build an association with tracking while wearing it so the dog understands what task it is being asked to perform.

As the dog succeeds, I lengthen the tracks, add turns and age them. I end up running the dog on 12 hour old tracks, a qtr of a mile in length with three 90 degree turns, spraying blood only ever 3rd or 4th step. A good dog can work that track on a run and it prepares them to recover wounded deer.

This is my current dog when he was one year old. The track was his first, 250 yards long with no visible blood and he went right to buck.

Image

As to shed hunting. I gave this pup a small deer antler to play and chew on when he was a baby. Moved to playing fetch with it including tossing it into heavy cover. Then I moved to hiding it and telling the puppy to "Hunt Dead" and making a big deal over him when he found it. This dog will run to me with every deer bone it finds now.

Image

Those are the methods that have worked well for me and my dogs. Best of Luck with your dog.

TxBarley99
Rank: Just A Pup
Posts: 17
Joined: Fri Dec 01, 2017 1:08 pm

Shed hunting GWP

Post by TxBarley99 » Wed May 02, 2018 9:20 pm

Thank you for the response.


Dang great looking pups and nice deer sir.

Sent from my LG-H871 using Tapatalk

Post Reply