My name is Brady, and I am the owner of High Caliber Blood Tracking in Monett, Missouri.  I am an avid (sometimes obsessed) traditional bowhunter, dog lover, and outdoorsman.  It was my passion for all of these things that guided my path into blood tracking.  My story is not unlike many trackers I know.  I never wanted to see a mortally wounded animal go unrecovered.  

As a hunter, I had experienced the anguish of being unable to recover an animal that I had arrowed.  After all the hours of practice, all the days in the stand, all the years of commitment to making myself the best hunter that I could be, I had still on rare occasion found myself at the end of a trail with no more blood and no game.

The fall of 2008 was one of those times.  I jumped a single lung shot buck  from his bed, and never saw him again.  I fretted the loss for weeks, but my frustration blossomed into determination.  Determination that I would take even more measures to keep such a loss from ever happening again.

I grew up a dog guy.  I had many different breeds of working dogs and hunting dogs over the years.  Now I was intent on owning a blood tracking dog.  I had read about them occasionally in an obscure article of one hunting magazine or another.  I had also heard of other hunters who had dabbled with the use of one local hound or another to aid in the recovery of deer that they had struggled to find on their own.  Unfortunately, I didn't know of anyone who had successfully trained a dog for such a task.

  I began researching everything that was available at the time, even using online translators to read articles from European countries where blood tracking had been widely used for centuries.  Articles were limited, but they were available.  Then I came across the "Bible" of blood tracking books, Tracking Dogs For Finding Wounded Deer, by John Jeanneney.  I contacted the author and ordered a hard back copy right away.  When it arrived, I read the book cover to cover 3 separate times, which fed the fire that was already smoldering within me.  I also began to research specific breeds of dogs best suited for tracking and my lifestyle.

Then in the fall of 2009, I took the plunge and bought my first dedicated tracking dog, Caliber.  Caliber is a wachtelhund, a German versatile spaniel typically used for a variety of tasks including hunting upland birds, waterfowl, wild boar, and you guessed it...scent tracking.  His training began a few weeks after he arrived home, and so too did my journey into blood tracking.

Caliber recovered several deer his first season, and I soon realized that this was a resource that was too valuable to keep to myself.  I was also surprised by how much fun I had recovering lost game not only for myself, but also for others.  Tracking became almost as much fun as my own personal pursuit of game.  

Since that first season, Caliber has recovered numerous deer for hunters in Missouri, and more recently Kansas.  Also since that time, I have owned and trained several tracking dogs of various breeds.  What began as a hobby has become a busy part time business that I look forward to any time I can sneak some time off from my full time job.

Recently, Caliber has gone into retirement.  He occasionally has the opportunity to run a short track, but his age has continued to creep up on him, making long, hard tracks too difficult on his body.  These days he mostly enjoys a life of leisure hanging out with family, and teaching the other dogs the ropes.

Another one of my very talented trackers was placed in a new tracking home in 2017.  Echo, a beagle/healer mix, recovered a truckload of deer in the 2 seasons that we tracked together. He was sold to a fantastic new tracker, and has flourished in his new home. Echo continues to show great growth, and impress everybody he tracks for.  He is truly one of the most gifted dogs that I have worked with. 

My current "tracking team" consists of  2 very talented and motivated tracking dogs; Layla, a Bavarian hound/lab mix who was an unintentional addition to our family, and Boone, a remarkable Hanoverian Hound.

 Both dogs have their own strengths and weakness, but both are capable and dependable trackers, having collectively recovered many deer for hunters.  Boone received his UBT 2 certification in the Spring of 2018 under some of the most adverse tracking conditions imaginable. Extremely hot, dry conditions compounded with sustained winds of around 30 mph made for one of the most difficult tracking tests that one could imagine. He was the only dog in a very large group of talented dogs to complete the test using hoof shoes and 3 oz of blood over the 800 meter track instead of the standard 8 oz of blood.  He accomplished this difficult task at just 10 months old!  I am extremely proud of this dog, and look forward to lots of years tracking together. 

We currently provide tracking services for hunters in Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Northern Arkansas.

We hope that you never require our services, but should your shot go awry or your track get tough, we would be honored to give you the best chance at recovering your game.

Starting in the Fall of 2018, High Caliber Blood Tracking will provide blood tracking training as well as basic obedience training to a select number of dogs. I am not a full time trainer, so I will limit the number of dogs I am working with at any given time. This will allow each dog I work with the one on one time that is required to develop it to its full potential.  I prefer working younger dogs and puppies, as that is the best time to instill good tracking behavior.  However, I will also work with older dogs who show an aptitude for blood/wounded game scent work.  If you are interested in learning more, please contact me by phone or email. 

Good Hunting!  Brady

Ephesians 2:8-9, "For it is by grace that you have been saved, through faith-and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God -not by works, so that no one an boast.