FF,
I filled a "country crock" margarine container with deer blood from a fresh kill and froze it.
Then in the spring, i made a drag out of old buck tail (might've beena doe
) and some line. I then soaked the tail in a bit of blood and dragged it approx 100-125yds into the brush. At the end of the trail was a treat. She was not able to see me do this.
It took a while (2-3hrs with breaks), but she figured out the game. I made a BIG deal out it when she found the treat.
A few days later, I used a cheapy foam paint brush and spattered what little deer blood i had left into a trail that went approx 75yds, she pegged it quickly. I ran out of blood and training stopped. This is late spring.
My Brother -in-law arrows a deer the following October and calls me, "bring a lantern and that water-headed dog of yours". He hit it high and couldn't pick up the trail. It was very dark. He had only his "mini-mag".
It took my shorthair just a few minutes and she found that buck piled up in a dead fall roughly 80-90yds away. She was promptly rewarded with some heart meat, and that dog has been trackin' ever since.