With experienced dogs, you can almost see them thinking their way through things. And their ability to work out the trail of a deer that’s pulling some pretty crazy stuff always amazes me. But their ability to work a difficult trail is pretty amazing they’ve taught me that the scent of blood can be on the ground, even when no blood is visible. When I put them on a trail and they just power off, I know there’s a dead deer not very far away. “I’ve learned, for example, that a mortally hit deer simply gives off more scent than one with a less-severe wound. “They’ve taught me so much about working a track,” he said. I want the dog to learn things on his own and be able to process information, not just follow another dog.”īloodhounds possess the right balance of natural scent-tracking ability with an intelligence that he’s come to respect. For that reason, I don’t simply run a young dog with an experienced one on a hunt, like you can do with other breeds. “I set up a training experience that teaches a dog to do something very specific an ability that I know the dog will need when it’s in the field. “I start my puppies very young, working trails I create,” he said.
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Every pup is a kind of a gamble you start with a dog that you think has the right potential, a stable disposition, an inherent desire, and is bold enough to do the work.”Įngelken saves blood from deer throughout the year, and then uses it during off-season training that’s done every day. I typically own five dogs at any given time, and consider three of them ready to hunt. “But the bloodhound is the only dog that has been bred for that sole purpose for centuries. “There are other breeds that can follow blood trails and find game,” he said. We can’t hide from that, and we owe it to the game we hunt to make every effort to retrieve it.” And, to these sentiments I’d add that dogs are a universally accepted, if not integral, tool for retrieving upland game and waterfowl, so why not deer?Įngelken uses bloodhounds exclusively. Even arrows and bullets that seem perfectly placed don’t immediately kill deer.
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“Hunting is like any endeavor despite our best efforts and intentions, things can go wrong. “I guess I don’t understand these attitudes and laws,” Engelken said. Photo courtesy of John Engelken.ĭespite their proven game-finding ability, tracking dogs remain illegal in several states and are frowned upon by some hunters. “They are always on a lead, and they never engage or pursue the deer.” Even seemingly deadly shots often don’t bring down a big buck quickly, and sometimes not at all. “My dogs are trained to follow a blood trail, and nothing more,” Engelken said. If, for example, you imagine a pack of hounds running down an injured deer, you’re barking up the wrong tree. While the popularity of tracking dogs has grown recently, there are still many hunters who don’t understand the concept. Instead of tromping all over a farm for several days, looking for a buck that probably isn’t dead and might never be, we are in and out and they can get back to business.” And if I can’t, the deer probably isn’t recoverable, and I can determine that pretty quickly, too. I can come in and, if the deer is dead, find it quickly and efficiently. “When the rut arrives, their clients may shoot several deer in one day, and, of course, not all of them are perfect shots. “Obviously, everyone wants to find a buck that they’ve wounded, but for outfitters, tracking dogs are a perfect tool,” Engelken said. In addition to tracking deer for the clients at the Illinois Connection, Engelken is also on the speed dial of several Midwestern outfitters, as well as many noted hunters and television personalities.
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His “Tracker’s Shack” is located on Illinois outfitter Doug Benefield’s property. GEAR ESSENTIALS FOR TRACKING & TRAILING WHITETAILSĮngelken is that busy because he’s that good. All that I do, even in the off-season, revolves around helping hunters find their deer with my dogs.” It can get pretty exhausting, but this is what I live for. Sometimes I’ll hit a stretch where I may not sleep for three days I’m just going from one track to the next. “There are days in the early season when we’re not on a track, but once the rut comes, I can get pretty darn busy. Engelken, a native of upstate New York, moves to Illinois each fall and spends the entire hunting season trailing deer for hunters, using his highly trained bloodhounds.