Easily train your bird dog to recover big game before this fall season

My mind was still racing with nervous energy as I walked back to the truck along the standing cornfield last September at last light.

I had just shot a great buck with my bow. The shot hit its mark perfectly, but the deer ran into the corn after the shot. That’s an uneasy feeling.

After waiting a half an hour, I got down from the tree and followed the blood into the corn for about 20 feet before losing the trail for a few seconds.

“Back out,” I thought. “This is what you trained him for.”

The “him” in this situation was my black Lab, Gus. He was waiting back in the camper with my wife and two young daughters. This would be the first time he had ever tracked a deer.

I had seen this buck with another 10-pointer the day before at 20 yards, but never had a shot opportunity through the trees. Scouting here in early August helped me identify a worn-down buck bed on the tip of an oxbow in the river. That’s where I assumed they were bedding.

The next afternoon, I used a strong south wind to cover my sound as I got about 40 yards closer to that oxbow in an area that gave me a shot to the corn edge.

He came out on a lightly-used exit trail to my left that gave me a shot at 2 yards. I called my wife to tell her the news, and her excitement matched how nervous I still felt in that moment.

“I haven’t found him yet,” I cautioned her. “Get the girls ready, and I’ll come and get you. We’ll all come back out and look with Gus.”

We got to where the buck had entered the corn, and Gus’ whole body was shaking with excitement. I sat him down with the tracking leash attached and gave the command. “Work!”

Gus burst through the corn as I ran to keep up. Almost a minute into the track, I had to sit him down to get the leash untangled from the stalks. Ready to resume, we restarted. This time it didn’t take long – about 15 seconds – before the tug on the leash stopped.

That could only mean one thing. I followed the lead to find Gus standing over the buck. He jumped all over me as I knelt down to praise him.

I am not a professional dog trainer, but that’s why I share this story. You don’t need to work with dogs every day to train your dog to recover big game. Many deer hunters are like me in that we’re bird hunters, too. The tracking sense is hard-wired in these bird dogs. Gus is proof of how naturally talented they are if we just give them a little bit of guidance.

Here are the simple steps we took in the summer to get him there.

What you’ll need

Using dogs to recover big-game animals after the shot is legal now in most states, but it is important to check the regulations where you hunt.

Almost every state I have looked at requires that the dog is leashed in order to be under control of the handler at all times during the track. That prompted me to buy a new tangle-proof check cord, which alleviated many headaches of going through thick cover using a rope leash.

RELATED STORY: Tracking dogs may now be used without a lead in Michigan

The other key ingredient in getting started is introducing your dog to the scent he or she will need to identify when tracking a wounded deer. I purchased the tracking dog training system for $39.99 through a Wisconsin company called DogBone.

That kit includes a training manual, a bottle of scent, a piece of dried deer hide you will place the scent on, and a drag line to lay the track with during training.

Start slow and watch them grow

There are multiple videos online of various lengths that detail everything you might need to know about training a dog to track deer. If you run into trouble, seek those out.

Gus is currently 4 years old and has many pheasant hunts under his belt. He has all the basic obedience training already down, and all of his experience helped him pick this training up quickly. 

The dog needs to understand the difference between when we’re bird hunting and when we’re tracking a deer. Putting that check cord on Gus is his indicator that we’re looking for a deer. I never use it pheasant hunting.

By day two, he seemed to understand what we were looking for when I put down a track, and that confidence only grew as time went on.

When using a dried deer hide to lay the track, rehydrate it by soaking it in water and wringing it out. From there, add a few drops of the “blood-trail” scent.

This scent simulates the trail of a wounded animal. When tracking big game after the shot, dogs are smelling the interdigital glands that are on the hooves of deer – glands that when a deer has been shot will emit a stress hormone.

I introduced the smell to Gus by letting him sniff the hide and watch me pull a short drag across our lawn to get him excited. The first blind track confused him. I made it too long.

With Gus back in the house, I put down another track by dragging the hide over the grass a much shorter distance, only about 30 yards before leaving the hide out of sight behind a building. I brought him back outside and sat him next to where the track started before giving the one-word command. “Work!”

Gus shot from his sitting position and followed the short trail to the hide. I praised him and then threw the hide a short distance to encourage his excitement. He was hooked.

Gus goes crazy every time I put the orange check cord on him. It’s no different than how he can’t contain himself when I grab a shotgun and an orange vest to hunt pheasants.

We worked together through July and August, laying two or three tracks a night about three days a week. Keep making the tracks harder and harder as the dog gains more confidence.

Then get him on every real track possible during the hunting season. Be courteous about it. You don’t need to bring a dog into a public area you know others are hunting if you can easily get a deer out without one, but every early track a dog goes on builds experience.

It’s hard to explain how proud I felt watching Gus find that buck and then the two does he took me to later in the 2022 season. Teaching your dog to track big game will recover more animals, maximize the dog’s natural talents and build that bond even stronger we all have with our hunting dogs.