The toughest tracking conditions for a young dog come right at the beginning of bow season. If you have a dog who is just getting started on live lines, pick your first deer calls with care. Warm breezy afternoons of mid-October offer the poorest chances to get your dog off to a good start. Because freshly fallen leaves are blowing around and conditions are dry, there is often no real “line” to work.
Try to avoid getting your young dog into a situation where she is wandering around finding vague traces of scent only here and there. Save these tough lines for an old experienced dog. Most young dogs will make hit or miss work out of it because they have no idea of how hard they must work to “carry” the line from A to B.
To put “direction” on a wisp of scent an experienced dog will dig for more, working her nose down into and even under the leaves. Those little clicking snuffling sounds in the nose are indication that the dog is pouring on the effort and concentration. Many good dogs never come up to this level until they have ten or more calls under their collar.
The toughest tracking conditions for a young dog come right at the beginning of bow season. If you have a dog who is just getting started on live lines, pick your first deer calls with care. Warm breezy afternoons of mid-October offer the poorest chances to get your dog off to a good start. Because freshly fallen leaves are blowing around and conditions are dry, there is often no real “line” to work.
Try to avoid getting your young dog into a situation where she is wandering around finding vague traces of scent only here and there. Save these tough lines for an old experienced dog. Most young dogs will make hit or miss work out of it because they have no idea of how hard they must work to “carry” the line from A to B. To put “direction” on a wisp of scent an experienced dog will dig for more, working her nose down into and even under the leaves. Those little clicking snuffling sounds in the nose are indication that the dog is pouring on the effort and concentration. Many good dogs never come up to this level until they have ten or more calls under their collar.