LITTLTEH EKING OF DEER RECOVERIES
It wasn’t always this way, but most states now allow hunters to use tracking dogs for blood-trailing purposes. And, although a wire-haired dachshund is not much bigger than a marsh rabbit, it is, without a doubt, the premier breed for finding mortally wounded deer.
The scenario usually unfolds like this:
Bow-hunter Brian Mabe agonized about making a marginal hit on a giant 12-point Illinois buck. After a failed recovery attempt on that November day, his outfitter, Aaron Milliken, called neighboring outfitter Neal Meyer to enlist his tracking services.
Mabe was in good hands, because Meyer owned a 3-year-old wire-haired dachshund named Chloe that was astutely trained to find wounded deer. The key to this breed’s success, however, is to allow the dog to follow as “clean” a trail as possible. Therefore, Milliken was asked to call off his search, vacate the woods and wait for Meyer to arrive with his dog the next morning.
At daylight, Milliken took Meyer and his dog to the hit-site. When Mabe told Meyer the buck was a “Boone & Crockett-class animal,” Meyer thought to himself, “Most nonresidents guess an Illinois buck 20 inches more than they’ll gross, but that won’t matter to Chloe. She’ll find him whatever he scores.”
Meyer showed Mabe a deer photo and asked him where the arrow had hit the animal’s body. Mabe pointed high and just past mid-body toward the rear. Meyer warned that the buck could easily still be alive even after 24 hours.
The hit-site was covered with an uncon-ceivable amount of deer and turkey sign and almost no blood. However, Chloe eventually worked the scent through an open field and into a big patch of woods.
When Meyer’s dog slowed and started to circle back toward the hit-site, Milliken and his guides continued into the big woods, suspecting the buck had headed that way.
BY LES DAVENPORT
However, Meyer trusted Chloe’s nose and followed her across a brushy, timbered ravine to within 200 yards of their parked trucks. There, 500 yards from the hit-site, lay one of the biggest bucks Meyer had ever laid eyes on. The buck was still alive and hiding with its chin flat against the ground.
Standing only 20 yards from the buck, Meyer had to restrain Chloe from barking for fear the giant whitetail would bound away… or turn on them and attack.
It took a while to gather both Milliken and Mabe and dispatch the mortally wounded buck. The cost of finding Mabe’s deer: a tank of gas for Meyer’s truck. Retrieving this 184- inch 12-point: Priceless!
For many years, East Coast hunters have legally used wire-haired dachshunds to retrieve wounded deer. It’s only recently that many Midwestern states have passed legislation allowing deer retrieval with leashed dogs. Today, the word is out on this unique breed, and pups are sold long before they’re born.
Looking at these short-legged little canines, one would never suspect that they are members of the hound family. The word dachshund generally brings thoughts of a tubby, tube-shaped, unassuming lap-dog. That’s anything but the case for this more than century-old cross between a smooth-coated dachshund, a German wire-haired pinscher
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