and a Dandie Dinmont terrier. This crossbreed produced an incredible nose for tracking, a longer, curly coat of hair for warmth and easier briar removal, and a stubborn, no-quit attitude.
The wire-haired dachshund’s history began in Germany just before the turn of the 20th century. They were intensely bred — best male to best female — to further the breed’s keen nose and tracking skills. As history tells, this breed was almost rendered extinct due to political and cultural stigmas. According to published reports, the dogs fell so far out of favor in England and the United States during WWI that dachshunds were stoned to death on the streets. In America, dachshunds were called “liberty pups,” and political cartoonists commonly used the image of the dog to ridicule Germany. The stigma of the association was revived during WWII, and was commonly used in association with Adolph Hitler.
Fortunately for the dog world, a handful of dedicated Breed Misters refused to allow the extinction of this grand hound’s bloodline.
As you would guess, dachshunds are the smallest of all hounds. The three sub-species of this strain are smooth-coated, long-haired and wire-haired. Dachshunds come in “miniature” and two “standard” sizes (this is a difference of 5, 15 and 20 pounds, respectively). Graduating from next smallest to largest of the hounds are beagles, bassets, coonhounds, bloodhounds, Hanover bloodhounds, and Bavarian bloodhounds. Of these numerous tracking dogs, why would a hunter choose the smallish wire-haired dachshund over a breed with longer legs, a stouter body and more of an ability to defend itself?
My friend Al Diehl was one of the first in our Illinois county to own a wire-haired dachshund. When I saw his scanty little 12-week-old pup, I thought Al had gone off the deep end when he told me it was a “deer tracking dog.”
I changed my mind when I saw Bella complete a complex deer drag ( practice blood-trailing effort) at only four months old. By six months, she could locate a downed deer within minutes (trails that I know would take most hunters many hours to unravel).
Diehl has since raised four sets of pups out of Bella, one of which is Meyer’s Chloe. Diehl contends that
Dog trainers prefer dachshunds as blood-trailers because they tend to be easier to train and are more friendly than other breeds.
this breed costs less to feed, is very friendly to strangers, houses and transports easily, and can maneuver through tangled brush and briar patches with less trouble than larger hounds. Diehl said his dogs are affectionate family pets, but some owners have reported that dachshunds can be “nippy” around young children.
The foremost U.S. breeders of the tracking wire-haired dachshunds are John and Jolanta Jeanneney of Berne, N.Y. John’s book Tracking Dogs for Finding Wounded Deer is a must-read for deer hunters whether you train a tracking dog or not. It will, without doubt, improve your understanding of wounded deer and how to recover them.
Jeanneney writes that wire-haired dachshunds have more “biddability” than all other hounds. This means they are easier to train and more handler-oriented.
Jeanneney goes on to state that wire-haired dachshunds are less prone to become confused by the trails of other deer when they cross the trails of wounded deer. Dachshunds, unlike many larger, more hard-headed hounds, learn quickly that a wounded deer is the one they will most likely catch up to.
Wire-haired dachshunds are not pack hounds, according to Jeanneney, and they acquaint more readily to people than other dogs. And, unlike most hounds, dachshunds cannot be used as a tool and taken out of a pen only for tracking. Their genetic makeup
requires regular affection and attention, which they pay back tenfold in recovery successes.
While I was interviewing both Meyer and outfitter Jeff Richardson for this article, the point was made by both men that it’s wise for an outfitter to own or have access to at least one good tracking dog.
It’s a common occurrence for guided and self-guided hunters to hit a buck, not find it on their own, and never tell the outfitter. With a tracking dog in camp, hunters are more inclined to report their marginal hits in hopes the tracking dog will find it. This is particularly true when outfitters have the rule, “If blood is drawn and the buck is not recovered, your hunt is over.”
Although Meyer only requests gasoline reimbursement for his services, many certified trackers charge from $25 to $50 per hour, plus expenses. If this seems high, consider that a purebred wire-haired pup costs $1,200 to $1,600 and requires months of faithful training by a handler.
Bow-hunter Michael Hyma of Michigan arrowed a buck near my home in western Illinois one fall and was charged $300 by a certified dog tracker for recovering the deer. My neighbor, Brian McNeff, filmed the entire recovery and said the look on Hyma’s face when they found the 225-inch, 29-pointer was, as you could guess, priceless!
Another great attribute of owning or hiring a tracking hound is recovery before coyotes destroy the meat and cape. This has become progressively more common throughout whitetail range. There are many regions in the Corn Belt where coyotes only need a few hours to destroy a hunter’s prize. This eliminates a photo shoot and venison in the freezer, not to mention the $150 replacement cost of the cape.
Jeanneney suggests that hunters imagine a deer’s scent as a cloud of microscopic dandruff that carries any number of bacteria-laden solids or various liquid secretions. The degree of a dog’s success for scent-trailing any deer hinges primarily on atmospheric conditions. Wind, temperature, moisture and barometer are the key elements in this formula.
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