Do you use your Labrador Retriever to blood trail?

Post Reply
User avatar
JonBailey
Rank: Senior Hunter
Posts: 183
Joined: Tue Apr 08, 2014 10:12 pm
Location: Boise, ID

Do you use your Labrador Retriever to blood trail?

Post by JonBailey » Wed May 14, 2014 2:10 am

Do you use your Lab to blood-trail wounded big game like deer?

Can the same dog trained for primarily doves, pheasant, and ducks make a good blood-trailer?
"Let Hercules himself do what he may, the cat will mew and dog will have his day." - William Shakespeare

User avatar
sdsujacks
Rank: Senior Hunter
Posts: 153
Joined: Wed Aug 29, 2012 2:57 pm
Location: Eagan, MN

Re: Do you use your Labrador Retriever to blood trail?

Post by sdsujacks » Wed May 14, 2014 11:23 am

No I do not, I don't think its legal to use dogs on blood trails where I live/have lived. Could they do it? Sure. If labs can be trained to sniff out bombs and find lost weapons, I'm sure they can be trained to track a blood trail.

User avatar
JonBailey
Rank: Senior Hunter
Posts: 183
Joined: Tue Apr 08, 2014 10:12 pm
Location: Boise, ID

Re: Do you use your Labrador Retriever to blood trail?

Post by JonBailey » Wed May 14, 2014 7:37 pm

sdsujacks wrote:No I do not, I don't think its legal to use dogs on blood trails where I live/have lived. Could they do it? Sure. If labs can be trained to sniff out bombs and find lost weapons, I'm sure they can be trained to track a blood trail.
In California, where I live, it is still legal to have ONE dog per hunter during regular deer season. In the South, hunting deer with dogs is still legal in many states there
and often dogs drive deer into shooters' stands there as in Virginia, Georgia and the Carolinas.

For the bird hunter, having a Lab that can handily find wounded big game as well as feathered critters is a big boon to the well-rounded hunter. I have read
that the Lab has a keen nose.
"Let Hercules himself do what he may, the cat will mew and dog will have his day." - William Shakespeare

USMC
Rank: Junior Hunter
Posts: 67
Joined: Sat Jul 30, 2011 5:38 pm
Location: Loveland, CO

Re: Do you use your Labrador Retriever to blood trail?

Post by USMC » Thu May 15, 2014 5:49 pm

A neighbor uses it and the dog is very good at it.

The dog is a blessing!

User avatar
Brazosvalleyvizslas
Rank: 5X Champion
Posts: 1340
Joined: Sat Sep 29, 2012 9:20 am
Location: Soon2be, Texas

Re: Do you use your Labrador Retriever to blood trail?

Post by Brazosvalleyvizslas » Sat May 17, 2014 12:50 am

JonBailey wrote:
sdsujacks wrote:No I do not, I don't think its legal to use dogs on blood trails where I live/have lived. Could they do it? Sure. If labs can be trained to sniff out bombs and find lost weapons, I'm sure they can be trained to track a blood trail.
In California, where I live, it is still legal to have ONE dog per hunter during regular deer season. In the South, hunting deer with dogs is still legal in many states there
and often dogs drive deer into shooters' stands there as in Virginia, Georgia and the Carolinas.

For the bird hunter, having a Lab that can handily find wounded big game as well as feathered critters is a big boon to the well-rounded hunter. I have read
that the Lab has a keen nose.
Are you saying its legal to hunt deer or just use a dog to track them? It surely is not legal to hunt with them In Southern Cali.

User avatar
deke
Rank: 3X Champion
Posts: 583
Joined: Wed Jun 15, 2011 3:03 pm
Location: NW washington, the state

Re: Do you use your Labrador Retriever to blood trail?

Post by deke » Mon May 19, 2014 11:02 am

Not intentionally, and I don't train for it. But both of my dogs have found dead deer. First one was a bad shot and we let the deer sit over night and just had the dog with me and he found it. Second one, was in SD and a young kid put a bad shot on a doe and she hid in a corn field, when we jumped her she was badly wounded and the dog chased her down and pulled her down by her face and held her until we could run down to the end of the field and get the kid to come put a kill shot on her.

Kstring
Rank: Just A Pup
Posts: 18
Joined: Tue Jan 14, 2014 2:15 pm
Location: Mississippi

Re: Do you use your Labrador Retriever to blood trail?

Post by Kstring » Mon May 19, 2014 8:28 pm

My GSP does it. He's a natural in hunting birds but put on a leash and on a scent he looks like regular hound dog on track. I haven't trained him to do it but he has found every deer he's been out on. Doesn't seem to affect him while bird hunting.

User avatar
JonBailey
Rank: Senior Hunter
Posts: 183
Joined: Tue Apr 08, 2014 10:12 pm
Location: Boise, ID

Re: Do you use your Labrador Retriever to blood trail?

Post by JonBailey » Mon May 19, 2014 8:39 pm

Brazosvalleyvizslas wrote:
JonBailey wrote:
sdsujacks wrote:No I do not, I don't think its legal to use dogs on blood trails where I live/have lived. Could they do it? Sure. If labs can be trained to sniff out bombs and find lost weapons, I'm sure they can be trained to track a blood trail.
In California, where I live, it is still legal to have ONE dog per hunter during regular deer season. In the South, hunting deer with dogs is still legal in many states there
and often dogs drive deer into shooters' stands there as in Virginia, Georgia and the Carolinas.

For the bird hunter, having a Lab that can handily find wounded big game as well as feathered critters is a big boon to the well-rounded hunter. I have read
that the Lab has a keen nose.
Are you saying its legal to hunt deer or just use a dog to track them? It surely is not legal to hunt with them In Southern Cali.
I should have said there is no reg in CA that prohibits the use of a dog to track a wounded deer but in CA there is a reg
that says that a single hunter may only have ONE dog in his possession while hunting deer during the gun season as opposed
to the bow or muzzleloader seasons. The dog regs in CA only relate to the NUMBER of dogs.
"Let Hercules himself do what he may, the cat will mew and dog will have his day." - William Shakespeare

slistoe
GDF Junkie
Posts: 3843
Joined: Mon Jun 04, 2007 7:23 pm

Re: Do you use your Labrador Retriever to blood trail?

Post by slistoe » Mon May 19, 2014 9:07 pm

It is not legal to use dogs while big game hunting around here, but there have been a few times where I have gone out hunting upland on a hot tip from friends. Lab, Brittany - didn't seem to matter. No blood trailing training required. 100% success rate.
A farmers kid stopped to help my wife one time with his Heinz 57 farm pet - the dog proved to be more valuable than the kid in that endeavor.

JKP
Rank: 5X Champion
Posts: 968
Joined: Thu Nov 26, 2009 7:14 pm

Re: Do you use your Labrador Retriever to blood trail?

Post by JKP » Sat May 24, 2014 4:36 pm

Most dogs can do blood tracking work. Its only when conditions are tough, that an experienced dog and handler have the edge.

Post Reply