Tips on blood trailing dog training

[rocker4x4]

I have a beagle mix, last year was the first year I worked with him on this. the way it started is every time I would bring a deer back to the house, I never seen a dog so excited and smelling it, so I though I'd give it a try one day after I shot one to see if he could pick up on sent, and he did! I think he may have some potential, He found 3 deer. 2 were not very far(75yrd or so), the 3rd was few hundred yards. What I would do, on a lead, bring him to the area where the deer was shot, as soon as he picks up on the blood, he almost pulls me in the direction the deer went, he'd run in straight line, yet weave back and forth some to stay on sent. The last one was in the snow, almost dark, and he stayed within 2ft of the deer tracks in the snow. Once we arrived to the deer, I would praise him, and let him spend a few min with it. So for you professionals out there, do you have any tips or tricks you can share with me? Am I doing things somewhat right with him? I'm not looking to get into business, just want to be able to help out close friends and family when needed, Thanks

[HighCotton]

I don't have a ton of experience. I'll offer a few bits of info, though. I first learned how to start blood tracking from a couple who highly recommended this site:
www.unitedbloodtrackers.org/
They helped me get my pointers started. The first thing they told me was to not get in a hurry and learn to read my dogs. Hard to explain but each dog had a bit of a different reaction to following blood.
Praise the dogs on finding blood! Get them succesful on first runs, especially as pups.
Use deer liver, chopped and frozen then thawed for training. A little goes a long way on a drip and drag.
Dont lay the trail in a straight line. Zig zag with some gaps between drips.
Lay a trail the night before you work them and use different fields if possible.
Get as much information as possible from the gunners or hunters on the deer kill like shot placement, direction of travel, how much the other trackers have tromped through the area.

My hardest lesson was on the first track where both dogs lost the trail. We didn't recover that deer. Its so hard to know when to quit.

One other note, if you are not already aware, check out the information here on this site:

huntingindiana.proboards.com/board/11/blood-trailing-services

[Woody Williams]

Good information guys.

As with training dogs for anything patience is the key..

[rocker4x4]

Thanks for the info, Oct is on its way here, going to try few things get him ready for the (hopefully) big year!! I'll let you know how it goes.