# labs for trailing deer?



## willeye (Mar 2, 2007)

love bow hunting but i shot a doe wed. and couldn't find her. good blood for a hundred yards then nothing. my black lab has a great nose for birds, but was wondering if yall think she would trail a deer. i don't want to mess her up or anything


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## Chunky (Oct 15, 2006)

There have been some very, very, good blood trailing labs. 

I have one who shows no interest in birds. I tried her on a fake blood trail yesterday with good results. So, I am going to try and convert her.

I don't know if doing one will mess up the other.


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## willeye (Mar 2, 2007)

yea i read a few articals today, and i am going to try. what did you use for a fake trail.


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## GEAXNFISHN (Aug 20, 2011)

That's all my father in law uses. They are great for finding wounded deer. He trains them by dragging deer hide around his yard and hiding it.


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## GEAXNFISHN (Aug 20, 2011)

Also they almost never use a blood trail. They go off sent of the deer.


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## chapman53559 (Jun 19, 2009)

I had a lab that hated gunshots, but I like to take her to the lease anyway. A buddy shot a pig and it ran off on a Fri. night. The next day we went looking for it and my dog came along for the ride. We were standing over the place where he shot the pig and there was some blood. I jokingly told my dog to go get that pig and she wandered off down a trail so we followed. About 300 yds. of crawling through brush later she took us right to it. Surprised the heck out of both of us.


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## Chunky (Oct 15, 2006)

I have been trying to get a hide or fresh blood...but so far all the deer I am seeing at the lease are ones to let go.

I thawed out a couple of packs of deer steaks, there was probably 4 or 5 ounces of blood left in the baggies. I put it in a coke bottle and made a trail around the outside of my house. I then put a tanned deer hide at the end of the trail. She went right down the trail. It was a very easy one, and very fresh....but it was a start.

Oh, and I put the cubes steaks in the crock pot for about 6 hours with a gravy mix and some onions...over mashed potatoes, and was excellent.


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## willeye (Mar 2, 2007)

Sounds good chunky. My wife is thawing out my last pack of backstrap now. Gonna have to get her to save the blood for me.


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## lowtide (Apr 3, 2006)

*''*

I had a great lab for both birds and deer. If he has a good nose give it time and they will surprise you. After going on several tracks with Hindes family at our ranch down south I learned a lot. First is put your dog around dead deer let them smell and lick up all the things that go on around the skinning shed. There is a lot of scents you can't make out of a tail or old meat. One thing Roy told me was when your dog starts to mature it slows down and tracks better because it takes its time. Just like they do on birds after 3-4 years. I taught mine at about 5 years old with the back legs of deer that way it had the hocks and scent gland in the foot. After watching him go 300+ yards in buffle grass I put him on dead deer that ran 100 or so yards from bow impact. After he got those I put him on several more. In 3 years he found 8 deer and lost 1 because the deer was not mortaly hit. If you think watching a dog retrieve birds is fun putting one on deer as well just makes you love and respect your dog more. Good luck.


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## willeye (Mar 2, 2007)

Thanks guys! I thawed out a pCk of deer meat yesterday and saved the blood. I put a few drops of it on an old rack with hide still on it. I drug it around the yard alOng with a few drops of blood here and there. Three different trails and she found it everytime! I'm stoked!


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## tokavi (May 6, 2006)

Most labs will trail with a little training. With training they can make great tracking dogs. My buddy has one that sits in the stand with him or still hunts along with him. If you shoot a deer or hog he's on the trail and usually at the deer before you can get to the start of the blood trail. He is older now but still gets fired up going after a deer. We were still hunting his weekend on my hill country lease with the dog at heal. Found a group of axis deer and I dumped a good buck. The dog took off towards the buck. The buck kicked as he reached the deer and it started to roll off the edge of the creek. He grabbed the buck by the neck and started shaking it like a rat. We were laughing so hard at the old guy the deer drug him all the way to the bottom before we could stop it. He was standing over it proud as he could be when we reached them. He has found at least 12-15 animals for us over the years that would have givin us problems. Whitetails, mulies, pronghorns, pigs you name it. Just because he likes it so much we seldom track any deer that runs off. We just get Virgil out and let him do his thing. We put a bell on him to find him in heavy cover. By the way he's a top notch bird dog also!


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## willeye (Mar 2, 2007)

Awesome story!


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## RB II (Feb 26, 2009)

Typically, a lab that is a good bird dog can be trained to trail deer. They are usually smart enough to figure out what you are trying to do, when they do that, the rest is very easy. They definitely have the nose for it, at least a warm trail.


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## wet dreams (May 21, 2004)

Yrs back the first cpl of yrs after the dog running ban, there were some folks who used Labs cuz they didn't bark while on trail or running. As far as useing Labs on a blood trail MOST any poopeater will do with just a little training, I use a JR....WW


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