Because of the sequence of the seasons most of us find ourselves tracking for the first time with young dogs during bow season when tracking is usually most difficult. For these young dogs it is especially important to take the time to start well.
Avoid starting your dog right at the hunters point of loss. This is likely to be the hardest part of the whole scent trail. Obviously the hunter lost the blood trail for a reason. Maybe the deer did stop bleeding, but there is also a good chance that the deer backtracked or radically changed direction. For certain the point of loss will be well trampled and saturated with human scent as the hunter searched back and forth to find another spot of blood.
Start by going back and reworking several hundred yards of the visible blood trail that the hunter tracked for himself. Unless the point of the shot is a very long way back it is usually worth the time and trouble to start at the very beginning. You may find something such as an arrow which the hunter missed and you are likely to find some sign to help you evaluate the hit. Reworking the blood line will familiarize your dog with the individual deer scent that you are interested in. Your dog may pick the backtrack, or with the “momentum” picked up on a well-defined scent line it may carry right through the hunter’s point of loss and show you more of the line.
Even if you run through several hundred yards of the old line the dog may well stall on the hunter’s point of loss. The hunter will probably have tracked blood scent and deer scent all over this area on his feet.
If you still can’t get started, the best solution may be to lead the dog slowly around a 50 yard radius circle, and then again on a 100 yard radius. Watch your dog slowly and she may well show you another spot of blood out beyond the limit of the area contaminated by the hunter’s search.
If possible avoid working a young dog on a scent line until it has been clearly established. Take your first calls with someone who has an experienced dog, and let them do the circling and casting if these are the tactics that have to be used to get started. These circling tactics won’t hurt and old veteran, but they are likely to slow the development of a young dog that is just developing “line sense.”
When you see a drop of blood mark it with biodegradable tape, or have the hunter mark it. You will save time in the long run if you are able to return with certainty to the marked line; if your dog loses the line later or seems to get distracted by fresh scent of another deer, it is good to be able to return to a spot of blood and start again.