Shed dog question

hunter_614

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Can anyone on here tell me if Shed dogs are able to scent older antlers (whites) or do they generally just pick up the browns with the fresh deer scent? Some of the information I found on the Internet claims that the whites actually have more scent, while others claim the dogs do not pick up scents from old sheds. Maybe its just what you train the dog with? If you train him solely with a brown then he will recognize that scent and same as the whites?
 
My lab use to pick up more whites than browns. Not sure if that was by chance or because there was more scent on whites. She used a combination of her nose and sight so maybe she was picking up the whites by site??
 
my pup will choose whites over brown out in the yard every time.i really think the dogs will find 99% of sheds the same way you do. by site.
 
Take the scent test yourself. Try smelling a white antler and then try smelling a brown antler. In my opinion a white antler puts off more smell than the brown. Why? Because the white antler is deteriorating. Dead stuff that is rotting will put off more smell. Sometimes my dog will smell an antler in melting snow from a good distance. Beacause the water helps put off smell easier than a totally dry antler. This is all purely my opinion but I believe it.
Also, if you train with only brown antlers then your dog will look for brown antlers. Same with white. So train with both white and brown antlers as well as different sizes of antlers. Train in the daytime and at night. Train in good weather and bad weather. fatrooster.
 
If you don't have a very good nose and can't quite smell the diff between brown and whites you could put a giant pile of fresh found browns in your back seat. Let them sit for a couple days and I doubt you will even notice the smell. Do the same with a pile of fresh found white or slightly chalk antlers and you will smell what Fatrooster is talking about. Smells like something died, especially when it's HOT in the truck.

NvrEnuf
 
Very true NvrEnuf. Good to see that your still lurking around Shawn. I don't get to spend a lot of time on here like I used to. I used to work night shift but now Im day shift and don't have as much computer access time. But I love MM and gotta catch up from time to time. fatrooster.
 
Scent is the most important, and olds give off more of it. I have watched Topaz turn into the wind and go straight to a horn from 30' under perfect conditions... half that for fresh once the blood is washed off and scent too (the smell of the actual animal) they don't seem to catch his nose much.

Antelope sheds he can wind from 30-40 yards away they really stink.

He finds some fresh by sight. Over the years he gets me from 20-25% of my total fresh sheds based on my records but even though I don't keep notes on olds I bet he is at 80-90% of them.

But noses vary a lot, my Lab now can't smell a bear turd and only finds horns if he trips over them. My young pup has a great nose but no brain to go with it yet, jury is still out on her.
 
Thanks again for all the reply's, here is an update on my dogs. I have a 7 year old short hair that will find an antler that I hide using his nose. He will turn from downwind as far as 30 yards and find the antler but when it comes to ones that I have not hid, that have no human scent, he would walk right over them at first but now that he knows the command find a bone he will search and pick up an antler that I spot. I try to stop right where I am at when I spot an antler and give the command so that he learns to find them on his own. He will find them and bring them back but he has yet to find one that I did not spot first. I do not think he uses his sight very much but rather relies on his nose. He also gets sidetracked with the grouse, rodents, porcupines etc.

I have a young black lab about 3-1/2 months old that I have worked with quite a lot on various commands including shed hunting and she will often find the antlers before my short hair because she uses her vision and can spot them quite well. She has retrieved a lot of the antlers that I have spotted after I give her the command to find a bone, she actually found one last week "a tiny two point" that I had not spotted and brought it back to me. She also picked up a two point set that I found yesterday on the trail without me having to give her any commands she brought the first one to me then went back and got the second one, granted these were only 10 feet from me but I believe she knows what I am looking for and what she needs to do. She is still pretty small and does not venture very far from me so she does not produce a lot but I feel that will change as she gets a little bigger. She shows so much promise and I will continue to work with her.

I kind of think that taking the two dogs together is hindering my shorthairs progress because the Lab is often close to me and will find any sheds that I see before the Short hair can get there, so maybe I will alternate which one I take.
 
I think you're on the right track for sure! What you are doing reminds me of when I trained my lab to find antlers. I even used the same, "Find the bone" command. Anyway you mentioned your pup bringing you the antler without having to give her the command. I started off having to tell my dog to find the bone, and then when she did I would tell her, "Bring it". One of the challenges with my dog was getting her to actually retrieve the antlers she would find without being told to do so. Probably a mistake on my part to tell her, "Bring it" in the first place I guess but she would smell the antler and run over to it all excited! Then she would look back at me and wait for me to tell her to bring it... Sometimes she would stand there staring at me for like 10 seconds waiting! I realized each time I would say the command I also held my hand out so I started to say it more and more quietly each time until after a couple of weeks I just put my hand out and didn't say anything. Then I slowly worked my way to the point that when I saw her cut scent of an antler I would quickly turn and walk the other way ignoring her all together. Next thing I know she was bringing antlers to me that I never knew where there. Fun stuff! I wish old Koda was still around... Got a new pup now and we're in training. New pup knows what, "Get the bone" means and will retrieve anything that she fit in her mouth. I haven't spent near as much time with her around antlers. Training them to find and retrieve a stinky old bone is not easy, especially when there are rabbits and all kind of other distractions but it sure is fun to have a good dog out hiking with you either way. Good luck with you pup.

NvrEnuf
 

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