Red Dirt Rosie a GSP turned 1yr old new years eve. Yesterday morning I shot a doe through the lower chest cavity. It ran about 100 yards and laid up. I waited thinking it would expire but no luck, after thirty minutes I decided to walk up closer to place a final shot. Well as I walked to about 200 yards this deer jumps up and heads to a tree line next to the ranch road. Since the doe jump the field fence I decided to call reinforcements give the doe time to expire. I headed back to camp and retrieved Rosie and one other hunter and headed back to where I last found sign. The shot missed the heart but did substantial damage, unfortunately the blood trail was intermittent. I showed Rosie the spot were the doe laid an leade the her in the direction of the known trail to the point it was lost. At this point we released the dog as we approached the timber.

Rosie being a year old and being as green as a leaf, appeared to be running in circles. Well we walked the area looking for sign for a minute or two when I notice Rosie about 10 yards in the timber with her nose down licking something and sure enough it was another blood spot. The spot was about 10' from the road and I called for Rosie to keep searching. I expected her to move accross the road but instead she circled to the left so I started looking for sign on the road. My hunting buddy called out and said he found another spot, you guessed it was where Rosie went. At this point we started paying closer attention to the dog and followed the track accross the road toward a deep draw where again we lost the track. I noticed Rosie made a beeline up the other side turning the trail right about midway up into thick briars. I found the track she took and the blood was now more constant. The payoff came another 50 yards along the trail when I found Rosie standing by the deer. The briars were so thick my buddy had to crawl into the briars to pull it out.

In the end what I learned was the dog already knows what to do. I learned it is me that needs training. I need to learn what the dog is trying to tell me. Maybe with time and more experiences like this one I will.

I've been wanting to try my GSP on blood trailing but I don't wanna deer to cross the fence to do it. Good job by Rosie.

It's different training for sure. I've put my pup on four pigs so far. The first two I knew where they were so watching her was easy to know where she was going. The last two I shot while spot and stalking, dog at my side, and she trailed them both up. One I probably wouldn't have found without her. The more trails you can get her on the better.

Good job for Rosie.
Save the blood from the deer and pigs you shoot, make artificial tracks for Rosie , have her on a check cord, lay the track with the wind to your back so has to use her nose, always leave a piece of fur at the end of the track. a good blood trailing dog will save you and you friends a lot of time and game. Forrest