Tracking Dogs for Finding Wounded Deer deserves a place along side the very best dog training books ever published. I had some small inkling of its quality when I ordered it. Now that it has arrived, I'm blown away by its comprehensiveness, clarity, and practical orientation. My wife and I have dozens of dog training books at home, and yours is easily among the top three or four in quality.
   You've done a tremendous service over the years. Publication of this book ensures that the value of your work will continue for a very long time. Thanks.
Charles Elk, Executive Director, Kittery Trading Post Outdoor Academy, Kittery, ME; October 2006

Only days after submitting an article about tracking wounded deer I received a book from the US about the same topic.    Its author is John Jeanneney, who has according to the book some 800-recorded deer searches to his credit.    If shear numbers are a measure of a person’s experience than John is the most accomplished tracking expert in the US and probably in the world.    This is despite the fact that a great deal of John’s knowledge is based on European tradition and teachings.    The key to explaining this paradox can be found in the two country’s different hunting cultures and in particularly the huge numbers of deer and hunters in the US.    While hunting regulations differ from state to state, most have a bow hunting season, a black powder season and an open firearm season for the various deer species.    With so many hunters targeting deer it is inevitable that a corresponding percentage of them is wounded.    
   It is at this point where John and his fellow members of “Deer Search Inc.” and “United Blood Trackers” enter the scene.    Both organisations are made up of volunteers and their trained tracking dogs that assist hunters to recover wounded deer and bears that the hunters failed to locate with an initial search.   
   As if the task of training a suitable dog and subsequent searches were not difficult enough the book also eludes to a raft of regulatory obstacles facing blood trackers in different states of the US.    For instance some states prohibit night hunting with lights when some of the best tracking conditions exist after dark.   Other states have outlawed the use of dogs for deer hunting without making provisions for wounded game tracking dogs.    There are also conflicts over the permissible use of firearms to finish off wounded deer during the different hunting seasons that add to the list of bureaucratic inertia that these organisations had, and in some cases still have, to overcome.    To us in New Zealand the above makes astonishing reading to learn how inflexible hunting regulations can get in the way of shortening the suffering of a wounded animal.   It is to the credit of this dedicated band of humanitarians that their work is slowly becoming officially accepted and valued by the authorities and hunters.
   However, for US hunters and for us here in New Zealand the real value of this book lies in the copious practical content and in the fact that this is the first book on blood tracking in the English language.    It alleviates the need to decipher European hunting literature, which contains traditional hunting terms, he origin of which is often shrouded in antiquity.    
  The book I received was the second and much revised edition of a previous one whose 2000 copies sold out in two years.    Even though the book is authored by John Jeanneney it does not take long before one realises that John’s wife, Jolanta contributed a great deal of its contents.    Jolanta not only breeds tracking wirehaired dachshunds, she is also an accomplished tracker in her own right.    
   Although the book largely deals with tracking wounded deer with dogs, there is a lot of information and advice for hunters without dogs, such as a detailed description of the effects of shots to different parts of a deer’ body.    The signs left behind by such wounds and how to interpret these to help with the often-difficult task of a recovery.
   For those hunters who want to take this further and add a dog to their accessory list John offers a thorough guide to understanding of the intricacies of scent, what it is, where it is deposited and how it is affected by atmospheric conditions, terrain, time and the scent of other animals.    In another chapter he discusses the essential tracking tools, general tracking techniques as well as tips for tracking on difficult surfaces such as roads, swamps and watercourses. 
   Chapter three deals with selecting a tracking dog.   Here John gives general guidelines for all breeds, advice on how to pick the right breed for your local tracking/hunting conditions and tips on selecting a puppy.    He discusses the role of genetics on scenting ability, courage, intelligence and working style.    In chapters four, five, six and seven we get an overview of the suitability of dog breeds for tracking work.    From the various hounds to retrievers and the European versatile breeds to such US dogs as curdogs and cowdogs from the Deep South.    He also evaluates terriers, sheep dogs and Norwegian Elkhounds.
   The author gets down to basic and advanced tracking training of dogs and handlers in chapters eight and nine.    For me this is the highlight of this book and really shows the experience he has amassed from years of tracking wounded animals and breeding and training dogs for this work.    It only too true that not every dog is born to track and some have to be motivated before they get the bug.     John draws on a raft to case studies from his own dogs and those of his many contacts in the US and overseas, including Europe to offer practical guidelines on many training problems.    These two chapters contain such a lot of practical advice that one could train and run a good working dog with that material alone.   
   No two hunting situations are alike and the same applies to wounded animals.    John goes to great detail to differentiate wounds made by hunting arrows and firearms.    I have no experience with hunting archery but after reading chapter ten and eleven I can appreciate the distinction between the two “projectiles” as this applies to a tracking for a successful recovery.    This is the first time archery wounds have been discussed in such detail because the sport is largely outlawed in Europe.    Chapter twelve deals with wounded bears and although interesting it has little relevance for us in New Zealand.
   The same applies to the next chapter on politics and the peculiarities of different administrations views on the use of firearms out of season and other obstacles, which we have been largely spared in this country.    
   While a dogs attributes are all nicely contained in one package it was given at birth chapter fourteen makes it clear that this is not so for the handler of a tracking dog.    There is a list of “essential” equipment that would not be out of place in a Cabalas catalogue.    Maybe I still retain a bit of the deer culler’s obsession with hunting light and travelling fast (when we cut the handle of our tooth brushes to save weight) to be a good judge of the adequacy of this chapter.    Or maybe I conveniently overlooked that a lot of the gear John recommends wasn’t even around in those days and had it been we would have probably have used it too.     Just goes to show how nostalgia can creep up on you at the slightest opportunity.
   Chapter fifteen is interesting since it discusses the relationship between the hunter who has wounded a deer and the volunteer tracker who has been called in to assist with its recovery.    This situation is very common in the US but probably rare in this country partly because we do not have such tracking organisations to fall back on but more particularly because in the vastness of our often-impenetrable bush fighting ones way back with a tracker to where it all happened is not really practical.    Most bush hunting is done singly and hunters learn very quickly to be self-sufficient and self-reliant.   If there is a wounded deer to be tracked than the hunter must face this ethical and physical calamity alone.   
   As with our hunting dogs it appears that most members of the US tracking organisations accord their dogs a place within their families.    Chapter 16 gives much practical advice on how to integrate a dog into a household and to socialise it with other dogs, children and livestock.    It is a chapter worth reading for any dog owner regardless of the size, breed or sex of such a new family addition.   
   Apart from dogs of individual enthusiasts it is my guess that in New Zealand hunting guides and large “safari park” outfitters will have the greatest financial incentive to train and use  “professional” tracking dogs.     When clients pay thousands of dollars for a trophy animal they do not want it rotting in the scrub.    They want the trophy photo and the rack to take home.  It is up to the guide to see that this happens.   In chapter seventeen John gives examples of how at Tara Plantation, which is a large commercial deer, hunting operation comprising 27000 acres of Mississippi woodlands, tracking dogs are successfully used to recover deer wounded by Tara clients.    The Tara dogs are all Labs that are owned by the professional guides and live with them as part of their household.   I can see a similar situation developing here around the recreational hunting industry.
   Tracking tests give dog owners a certain measure of how good their dog is and how successful their training programme has been.   Chapter eighteen covers that in great detail.   Most training is done with artificial aids to duplicate as far as possible the real thing.    Test are also largely conducted using similar artificial means in order to ensure that dogs are judged fairly against predetermined standards and against each other.   As long as tests are used to improve the field tracking performance for the canine candidates such tests are beneficial.    Once tests become an end in themselves and become a competitive game with big rewards for dog owners then they lose much of their relevance for wounded deer recovery.
   Chapter nineteen offers answers to common tracking questions while chapter twenty canvasses US regional tracking traditions, which once again shows how different attitudes to blood tracking are in that large country and how hard it has been to overcome traditional mind-sets of hunting administrations and hunters alike.
   Even though I am quite familiar with European blood tracking practices I found the book invaluable to bring the need for the humane treatment of wounded game animals to the attention of English speaking hunters.    The hunting and subsequent tracking situation in most of the US might differ markedly from ours, yet John Jeanneney’s advice detailed over 350 pages contains all the elements with which to train good tracking dogs for our style of deer hunting.   John and his wife breeds and uses German Wirehaired Dachshunds from original European hunting strains for all his tracking.    While the use of such dogs would inevitably raise eyebrows in this country his choice of this breed must be seen in the context of the US situation.     However, from my knowledge of this breed I can assure you that the only thing these little dogs lack to make them superb hunting dogs for New Zealand deer hunting are a few additional inches of leg bone.
   This short overview of “Tracking Dogs For Finding Wounded Deer” can only sketch the contents based on a lifetime of field experience by one of the founders of Deer Search.    This is a unique voluntary organisation dedicated to finding wounded deer that cannot be recovered by any other means.   The book features a good number of case studies, photographs and sketches, which support the comprehensive text.  
   The Jeanneneys have published the book themselves and are only selling it privately.    You can contact them via their website: www.born-to-track.com or via e-mail: info@born-to-track.com .    I highly recommend this book to anyone supporting ethical hunting by furthering his/her ability to recover wounded game.     
Herb Spannagl, The Editor, New Zealand Outdoors, March 2007