Off season tracking training...tracking plans
In the previous post I talked about making a plan, and having a method to your tracks. This of course is dependent upon having a dog that is already running routine lines of various ages with some efficiency. Each training line should have a goal in mind that will allow you to "train through" some of the problems that you may encounter during real tracks.
I still recall the first difficult track I ever ran with my dog. We had been training on lines aged over 24 hours without any real difficulty. He had quickly recovered a couple of deer that I had shot, but both were deer I would have easily recovered without him. Then a call came for a real track. The deer had been shot very poorly in the head when the hunter accidentally hit his release as he was readying for the shot. The deer had fallen, but quickly gotten up and run away. We arrived several hours after the shot, in the dark, and proceeded to try to follow the faint blood trail. Several times we lost the trail, and had no idea if we were on the track or not. I was not confident as to whether or not we were on the trail until picking up blood 75 yards after we had lost it. The next couple of hours were spent blindly following the dog for a period, then restarting him again. I did this over and over until I became frustrated, and called off the track. Restarting the dog was not something I had practiced, and it was a challenge in the logged thicket we were tracking in. Add to this the fact that this was a night track, and it was a set up for disaster. I felt embarrassed and frustrated that we were not able to advance the track much, or at least find much more sign.
My frustration was misplaced, however. Had I trained effectively and developed more confidence in my dog, I could have left that track (though today, I would almost certainly not have taken such a low success track) with a sense of confidence that the deer was almost certainly still alive and not recoverable. In fact, that deer was shot by a rifle hunter a few weeks later with the arrow still embedded in its sinus cavity while it was in hot pursuit of a doe. Also, by training for simple tasks such as marking last blood, and bringing the dog back to restart a trail would have made for a much less frustrating task.
Some training plans are made to work through a particular task that you may have to accomplish during a track. Others are used to create an effective tracking pattern in your dog. The story above is an example of the former. Some of the tasks that I like to train for are performing "call backs," performing re-starts, sitting and restarting, and crossing obstacles.
When introducing any new task or process, I find that it is helpful to stick with a single training task on any one particular track, but to repeat it 2 or more times when possible.
Performing a call back is easy to train for, but also easy to overlook. Most dogs will require a call back on a difficult track without you having to create the scenario. Whenever your dog has lost the trail, and is having difficulty picking up the line, is the perfect time to work on a call back.
I prefer to actually pick the dog up and carry it back to the line when possible. For bigger dogs, I recommend shortening up the leash to only a couple of feet and walking the dog directly back to where it lost the line. It defeats the purpose of the training in my opinion, if you help the dog through the track at this point by starting it on a section of line that it did not run on its own. In real tracking scenarios it is likely that you will not be able to help the dog in such a manner. The goal of physically bringing the dog back to the spot is to get it to stop randomly searching once it has lost the trail, and rework the trail from the point of loss. Often times this restart will refocus the dog's effort, and allow it to work the track out. In a clearly marked training track, it is easy to restart the dog at the exact point of loss. In a real track, I use flagging tape and a GPS to mark the trail and any sign as we go. You may find yourself returning to the same point more than once or performing call backs at various points of a difficult line.
A restart is basically a call back where you go back to the beginning of the track. This is a common situation in real tracks, especially when there is very limited sign to start the track. A common scenario is when a hunter hits a deer that is accompanied by others or in an area of high traffic such as a food plot or bait station (where legal) and minimal sign is present at the hit sight. Getting the dog started on the right line is VERY IMPORTANT to keep from going on a wild goose chase. Also, keeping the dog on the right deer track is important. When training for restarts, I like to lay the track in a high deer traffic area. I almost always lay the start of the trail with hoof scent only. After a period of 50 yards or less, I like to stop the dog's progression, and restart them again. This can be confusing to the dog when it is on the trail, but it serves a purpose. When tracking in a live scenario, your dog may be on the right trail, as well, though you may not know it. If your dog gets confused by a restart, it may refuse to track back down the same trail. I have experienced this on multiple occasions on real tracks, resulting in a dog that wouldn't restart a line. There is little more frustrating than having a dog completely shut down on a trail that you have traveled a long way to run. Train for restarts!
Another issue that I now train for that has caused me difficulty in the past is restarting at track after an extended sit. I hate training for this situation as it requires idle time, but not training for it has caused my dogs confusion in the past. A common scenario where this occurs is when you reach a property line that the hunter has to get permission to cross. I always instruct my hunters to get permission in advance, but often times the deer goes further or a different direction that anticipated. Generally, this requires taking the dog off the hot trail and sitting him down for a period of time while accommodations are made. Another situation where this occurs is when you have completely lost the trail and want to conduct a visual search to see if you can get the dog back on track. I like to sit the dog or leave it with someone while I take a look around. Stopping the search in this way may break your dog's concentration or confuse it, causing it problems when you go to restart. To train for this situation, I simply take my dog off the know trail and either sit with it or have someone else sit with it for a period of time. 5 minutes is about all I can stand on a training track, though on real trails the duration can go for much longer. After the wait, I simply restart the dog at the point of the trail where we left off, and encourage it to move down the line again.
Crossing physical obstacles has never really been a problem for me while tracking, but I know of other trackers who struggle with this, so it is worth training for. Roads and waterways tend to be the most common obstacles. In these scenarios, the dog will have to be moved across the obstacle, and encouraged to re-engage the track, perhaps blindly. A good way to train is to have your track end at a creek or hard paved road. I then lay some blood or hoof scent a few yards past the far side of the obstacle and mark it well. When I move my dog across the obstacle, I like to purposely cause it to miss the track and do a search pattern on the opposite side. Though circular searches are usually most effective, I prefer a linear search along the far edge of the obstacle in these situations. Work your dog along the far edge of the obstacle, and see if it captures the trail on the opposite side. If not, begin working it further and further out until it picks up the trail.
These are a few of the "tricks" I like to use to prepare for adverse situations. Next time, I will discuss ways to help avoid or correct scent distractions during a track.
Good hunting! Brady