Traditionally dogs have been used and valued as important assistants to stalkers and have been used for hundreds of years in Europe. In the UK though we still fall way behind the rest of Europe in the use of dogs for deer. In the last 50 years however the importance of stalking with a dog has been growing in popularity as it was realised that they are necessary for the humanity and compassion of deer. In many countries it is unlawful to stalk for deer without a trained dog.
The work that is carried out by stalkers /deer managers dogs, needs to be clarified. In Scotland on the open hill it was traditional to use Deerhounds, Wolfhounds and Greyhounds to hunt or course deer and are not associated with stalkers today.
The modern stalker uses a single dog that works at heel and is steady to live deer that may pass in close proximity, before or after the shot. After the shot, the dog is taken at heel to the spot where the deer was standing when shot. The dog then follows the scent and or the blood trail until the dead deer is found. The dog may be worked on or off a leash, depending how it was trained to work and the type of habitat. Locating the deer quickly is a good reason to use a dog, so that the stalker can quickly ascertain the deer was killed outright. The venison too is important as it goes into the food chain; the quicker that it can be dealt with the better for the quality of the meat.
If an injured animal is tracked, the dog bays when it finds the deer. The art of baying is to retain the animal without actually catching it, by staring at it, while barking and moving in front of the deer to stop and turn it to avoid it moving away. This gives the stalker the chance to get into a safe position so the deer can be despatched by the rifle, quickly and humanely. Almost all the injured deer that I attend are road traffic accidents (RTA), with today's fast and busy roads it is inevitable. The skill of locating a badly injured RTA deer without knowing the exact place of impact and sometimes hours after the event takes a very skilled dog. RTA's often, although mortally injured, do not bleed from impact injuries, instead bleeding internally, making it difficult to track, impossible for a human especially in the dark. These RTA deer may take days to expire if they are not found and humanely despatched.
The most experienced dogs can even follow a wounded animal through a herd of deer, where the scent of deer must be almost over whelming or on a scent line more than 24 hours. The dog's dedication often prevents deer from suffering and save stalkers hours of time. After a deer has been culled unless it is a head, neck or spine shot which would have immobilised it, a chest shot deer although mortally injured will run. If the cover is dense or heavily timbered or if darkness is falling, the deer will be difficult for a human to track. The dog's acute senses are far superior to humans.
Some dogs while working at heel will even indicate that deer are in the close vicinity, by winding or pointing, thus warning the stalker to stalk with more care. Dogs with this ability make them a huge asset to the stalker.
Many different species of dogs are used to locate deer, I have seen Jack Russell's, Staffordshire Bull terriers, Labradors and even spaniels being used but by far, the most successful are the specialist breeds from Europe such as Teckels, German Short-haired Pointers, Hanovarians and Bavarian Mountain Hounds. I use Bavarian Mountain Hounds and are completely dedicated to their vocation and me.
In general dogs with small ears work with the head up to use the air scent and their sight, greyhounds for example. Dogs with large ears work with heads down to gather scent from the ground, bloodhounds for instance, the big ears, fall forward to form a funnel so the scent streams up to their nose. Bavarians are original bred from bloodhound and are classed as sweat hounds that use both methods of scenting, therefore having the ability to work in extremely difficult situations.
Training is long and slow as all other gun dogs, but obedience is paramount and dogs should not be introduced to blood or deer until under complete control. For a dog to sit and watch deer walking or running by takes great restraint so does sitting under a high seat for hours quietly watching, but without moving. When the basic training is complete, experience and confidence need to be gained on working cold deer blood. Facing a dangerous live animal as wounded antlered deer should not be attempted early in any dog's career. Dogs always work better if trained for one only one job, they then become dedicated to it. Do not attempt to use for pheasants or rough shooting as the dog will be completely confused and will not work well on any task.
The species of deer should not make any difference to the ability of the dog to work it, as deer are deer, but each species of deer does have is own particular odour. If a dog has been frightened when in close contact with a particular species of deer, even an experienced dog will remember that odour and act very cautiously the next time. Sika and Muntjac are very aggressive when wounded and some dogs will not work on them at all, never mind facing them when wounded.
Dogs for deer do not have to be fast or particularly strong, but agile and single-minded so that they do not stray onto other scents when tracking gets difficult. They have to be 'laid back' in character to put up with long stints when there is nothing to see or hear, stalking is sometimes quiet and without incident for hours on end. Short legged dogs such as teckels although brilliant on blood trails are not able to traverse long thick heather or dense cover easily and not really 'man' enough to stand up to a large wounded deer. Whatever species!
Once trained and experienced dog will work in any weather, or on any species of deer, whether stalking on the hill, thick woodland or in dense cover. The 'deer' dog is a huge asset as well as a great companion and friend especially when its dark and cold and home is still a long way off.
