I recently lost my beagle of 12 years that I used for blood trailing. She was mostly a house pet, but I trained her early to trail since I always took her with me as a companion. I'm curious what breeds or mixes people use for blood trailing. 12 years ago, I was looking for a Bavarian Mountain Hound but didn't want to pay the costs to have one imported as they were not all that prevalent in the United States. Still might go with that breed but would be interested to research others. Ideally, not more than 40-50lbs as the wife doesn't take kindly to larger dogs. Also prefer a more docile breed like a hound than a hyper breed. I don't solicit tracking services. Just mainly do favors for friends and adjacent landowners. Thanks in advance.

A Kopov would be a good choice.......Jeff Richardson in Peoria, IL has them

Original Mountain Cur, would be an excellent choice.

I used to love watching my 9lb Chihuahua blood trail . Was my hunting buddy for almost 15 years

Ten crazy ass pitbulls released in the bad side of a city during a night time demonstration.There will be a blood trails going in every direction.

I’ve really been impressed with the Lacy dogs I have seen work.

TX Blue Lacey’s have been amazing that I’ve seen. I’ve also seen several other mixed breeds do amazingly well, mostly of cur lineage.

Lacys are great dogs but he specified he doesnt want a hyper dog......Those things are about as wiry as it gets. That was the reason I recommended a Kopov....They're bred to be very laid back

Wirehaired dachshunds would also be another good choice for a pet-tracker combo if you're just wanting to track for friends and family......

Woodrow was very impressive when I got to see him work.

How would You get in contact with him and how much does a puppy cost?

They were $750 when I bought mine but that's been 10 years ago......

Richardson Farm Outfitters
217-285-1300

Woodrow was technically a mutt……He was a cross between a wirehaired and a cocker spaniel I believe it was. He had a lot of aggressive prey drive in him which was what made him great and turned out to be his downfall as well…..It can happen to any of them but I’ve found over the years that if you’re going to do very much tracking for the public you better get a little bit bigger dog that’s a good swimmer and can hold its own in a water situaton. That’s really one of my only knocks on the Kopov….They arent great swimmers....I have to be really careful not to let Otis get himself in a situation where he gets drowned.

My brother's lab took to it naturally and does pretty good. Didn't have to train him or anything.

Here's another number if that one doesnt work......309-267-9939

they tough dogs too

personally I want a dog big enough to stop a wounded deer.

Fred , i had a big male Doberman one time that took up running deer by chance training a couple walkers hounds . hed catch a wounded one ,, other dogs would bay one up but not catch .

ever body called him ding-a-ling because of the bell i put on him . he would them long legged walkers in his dust too .

dog was funny as hell . you kill a deer in front of him hed straddle the deer and wouldn't let the other dogs get close . then once i guess he showed the other it was his hed come back to me . he wouldn't do that if he wasn't first to the deer .

ive had some good dogs some were a little strange though lol

I’m a beagle guy but if I was you I’d go with Mt.Cur as well. Most I’ve seen are very biddable and would fit that role well. Plus you could thin your coons out and kill a few squirrels if you wanted as well.

Thanks everyone for the input. @CNC, I like the traits of the Kopov and will be exploring that more.

I've had 2 dachshunds over the last 12 or so. The first had more prey drive than about any dog I've had anything to do with. I always used my hounds to trail deer back then and they always worked well, so I never put him on a wounded deer. I accidently ran him over one evening. After that I bought a little female smooth hared one. My son wanted a deer hound and I told him if he trained this dachshund to blood trail, I'd get him a deer hound. She took to it pretty naturally. She has found a bunch of them. My brother can't shoot straight and he's always calling me and asking me to bring the Wonder Weenie. She wouldn't do good on a deer that wasn't dead, but she has impressed me on the dead deer she has found.

We had a black lab that retrieved 49 deer over a span of about 8 years.

My first (Field Bred English) cocker was good at it. My current one, at 3 years old, is still figuring it out. I think any field dog with a good nose has potential. I feel like I just need more deer to train on more than I need a different breed of dog. I sure got excited about those Lacys somebody had available a week or 2 ago, but I'm better off working with the dog I've got.

I know a guy with these things that he hog hunts with and trails occasionally
His are off some specific lineage named after a famous guy
https://www.akc.org/dog-breeds/jagdterrier/

Know a guy that has a dogo Argentina and a some curs. He loves trailing is an understatement
That dogo doesn’t play.

You may be referring to this guy https://www.jaegertracks.com/. I follow him on socials and his dogs work trails really well. I have also considered this breed.

I think cartervj is talking about the little yak-terrier.....That's the way its pronounced. I've seen a couple of them at the tracking conventions.....Neat little dogs bred to go down into badger holes I think it is......A guy down here in Bullock Co has one.

my first Malinois , Taz, would track wounded deer and bay them if alive when found. I saw her grab a gut shot 200# buck by the nose. The buck slung her 20 feet. He would of died from his wounds but was very much alive when found, less than 30 min after being shot.

Taz was put on a track prolly 4 hours after another deer was shot. Looking at blood and sign on the track I said buck was leg shot. When it was jumped 20 min later it held one front leg out and ran on three. Taz bayed it 100 yards later and the deer was killed. Its hoof was shot off!!!! Now, in my extensive experience with deer a foot/hoof wound is always fatal because it is low enough the the deer tries to walk on it, reinfecting the wound, leading to death from infection. Might take a couple weeks but it is a dead deer walking.

Yep……I’ve found a lot of gut shots over the years that were still alive 12-18+ hours after the shot…….At a certain point you just have to give it “X” amount of hours and go in always prepared to have to finish one off.

This one was hit just a little low was what I was told when I got the call that afternoon…..We found him the next morning in a privet thicket a 1000 yards from the hit site…..He didn’t even try to run….just stood up and squared off on the dog. It was only after we finished him off that we discovered the original shot placement.

It’s along those lines he call his a jagd
I didn’t even realize he hog hunted until some guys were telling me about their hog dogs and mentioned them. I as like I’ve never heard of those dogs and they were like we got some off so-n-so. I was like heck I didn’t know he hog hunted. Next time I saw him was asking and he was trying to get me to go with them anytime. The lineage is off some older fellow and maybe a South African fellow. He travels there often.
Teckles is another name by them but I think that’s hat to our referencing.

He also crosses some airedales he hunts with.

This is his main one

The dog in your picture is a jagdterrier......That's different than a Teckel......Teckel is another name for the wirehaired dachshund

Best deer tracking dog I’ve seen was a German shepherd named reco he would walk out and circle the field and walk straight to the dead deer no trouble to follow with no leash he would just show you the deer

I have a German shorthair she’s a jam up tracking dog wouldn’t trade her for another one just like her. With that being said if I ever get another one it’ll be a Bavarian mountain hound they’re bred specifically to track

If you didn't have the size restrictions it is hard to not say a
Lab with your other wishes. Like CNC mentioned about Woodrow,
try to find one with an obvious predator drive.
My lab starts hunting if I walk outside with a gun and he is just a yard dog.
Never been hunting in the 10+ years I have had him besides tracking deer.
He just took to it naturally with zero training.

I’ve got a Mal that I tracked one with last year. He seems to really like it.