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Interdigital Gland and Blood Tracking #3593141
01/24/22 09:48 AM
01/24/22 09:48 AM
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I’m starting this thread and asking this question out of sincere curiosity and so we have a better understanding of what we’re talking about…..and not just trying to be a gotcha a-hole.

For any of you other trackers or anyone who may know……Can you post up a research article talking about this concept of deer excreting an interdigital scent specifically when they are mortally wounded? All the stuff I can find on interdigital gland talks about how it’s a normal scent they secrete on a daily basis as a means of communication with the other deer. In other words, its how the young does trail the rest of the group after they’ve gotten way ahead or something of that nature. There’s nothing that I can find that says there’s suddenly a distinguishable difference in one that’s been shot…..especially if we’re taking it a step farther and saying one that is “mortally wounded” versus not.

I know this information has been talked about a lot at the tracking conventions but where is the data/facts that its stemming from.


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Re: Interdigital Gland and Blood Tracking [Re: CNC] #3593154
01/24/22 10:04 AM
01/24/22 10:04 AM
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I don't have an answer for your question but common sense tells me that the glad's scent is just part of the picture to the dog. That being said I've heard 4 different stories of trackers saying their dog only tracks gland scent of a mortality wounded deer and their dog never leaves the area where the deer was shot.. 2 of those stories the tracker took money and kicked rock.. imo it's a scam.


ggg
Re: Interdigital Gland and Blood Tracking [Re: !shiloh!] #3593173
01/24/22 10:23 AM
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Originally Posted by !shiloh!
I don't have an answer for your question but common sense tells me that the glad's scent is just part of the picture to the dog. That being said I've heard 4 different stories of trackers saying their dog only tracks gland scent of a mortality wounded deer and their dog never leaves the area where the deer was shot.. 2 of those stories the tracker took money and kicked rock.. imo it's a scam.


I’m not saying what any one person might or might not do but for the majority of the folks talking about this its has nothing to do with a scam. It’s completely because trackers have given speeches about it at tracking conventions and the info has spread. I believe it has been well intended folks just unknowingly spreading misinformation that they heard from someone else.

Here’s kinda what I think has happened at some point in the past……There’s a lot of tracks where we aren’t able to find any blood but the dog is still able to track to the deer…..As the humans we look at what is happening and ask “How is that dog able to track this deer when there is no blood to be seen?”……So we come to the conclusion that “Oh, it must be something else he is tracking.”……and we tie it to something like interdigital gland scent that may not really be the case.....I mean potentially......potentially grin

What I think is actually happening in these situations is that the deer IS actually putting out blood. Its just in an amount so small that we don’t see it but the dog is still capable of detecting it. At some point though that runs out and that’s when the dog usually dog runs into a “check” that he can never work past and stops. This is why I go from one call where Otis tracks down a leg shot for over 1000 yards and the next where he pulls off of it after 75-100 because it’s a backwhack……I don’t believe that these tracks have anything to do with an interdigital gland scent. What is happening on my tracks and others just doesn’t add up to the idea being true. It points to it being blood that they track.

This is not saying that you cant take a dog and teach it to track that gland scent you extract out of the deer but I just don’t think its transferring over to tracking the way we think it should be.

Last edited by CNC; 01/24/22 10:24 AM.

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Re: Interdigital Gland and Blood Tracking [Re: CNC] #3593177
01/24/22 10:25 AM
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Seems like the only way to train a dog to do this is to mortally wound deer until dog is trained. It makes no sense to me.

Re: Interdigital Gland and Blood Tracking [Re: CNC] #3593178
01/24/22 10:26 AM
01/24/22 10:26 AM
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No idea if there is any research on that topic, but it seems like those tracker conventions would have the most knowledgeable folks to ask. Idaho Mike was the first person to ever explain it to me. Made sense at the time, but no idea how it could be proved.


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Re: Interdigital Gland and Blood Tracking [Re: foldemup] #3593208
01/24/22 10:45 AM
01/24/22 10:45 AM
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Originally Posted by foldemup
No idea if there is any research on that topic, but it seems like those tracker conventions would have the most knowledgeable folks to ask. Idaho Mike was the first person to ever explain it to me. Made sense at the time, but no idea how it could be proved.



One aspect of this I’m curious about.......

From what I see unfolding on real life tracks it would point to this interdigital gland scent being left by the deer as being a short lived scent compared to blood. I think the amount a deer is leaving naturally too is likely different than someone “milking” that gland and using it to train by. It seems like a scent that would be much more effective to track if you’re able to get on the track within say 2-4 hrs……On the tracks that are 12-24 hrs old I just don’t believe that this scent is still able to be tracked the same.


Last edited by CNC; 01/24/22 10:45 AM.

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Re: Interdigital Gland and Blood Tracking [Re: CNC] #3593215
01/24/22 10:53 AM
01/24/22 10:53 AM
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I was going to start a similar thread. Guess it fits here close enough. I have deer hunting dogs. That are not tracking dogs. Sure the hunting dogs can be used to track a deer that has been shot. I have used them for this purpose. But it will not work if there have been other deer around. Especially if the track is old and there have been other deer come through since the shot was made. They are trying to find a live deer to run. So you have the same question sorta. What makes it a tracking dog. How does it know to follow a certain deer. Even though there may be hotter tracks nearby.

Re: Interdigital Gland and Blood Tracking [Re: Backwards cowboy] #3593221
01/24/22 10:59 AM
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Originally Posted by Backwoods cowboy
Seems like the only way to train a dog to do this is to mortally wound deer until dog is trained. It makes no sense to me.

Not true

Re: Interdigital Gland and Blood Tracking [Re: CNC] #3593231
01/24/22 11:03 AM
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If deer only puts out scent when it's mortally wounded, how would one acquire that scent to train with , without a mortally wounded deer? I know there has to be more to it because I have also witnessed dog "blood trailing" without blood. Never really thought of it till this happened but has really got me curious on what these dogs are smelling when they are tracking a deer

Re: Interdigital Gland and Blood Tracking [Re: CNC] #3593236
01/24/22 11:09 AM
01/24/22 11:09 AM
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Here is my take Harold. And this comes from Paul and some other folks that train dogs as well as from reading John's book. I don't know if it's interdigital or some other scent or pheromone but there is definitely something a fatally wounded deer gives off or it's a combination of several scents that really gets my dog fired up. I can get a good idea in a couple hundred yards by the way the dog acts if we are gone be successful or if we're just walking around in the woods. You got a better relationship with Otis than I do with mine maybe ask him. Lol. I had 2 the other day one was shot dead square in the but first couple hundred dog didn't really get excited until we found a wound bed with a couple clots in it from there to the end he acted like a completely different dog as far as how he behaved and worked. Went to the next one which turned out to be a backwhack and he wasn't at all interested in what was goin on so we went hiking in the woods and never found anything he wanted to mess with. I don't know if that's interdigital or what or if just something the dogs know that we don't but I do know there is something

Re: Interdigital Gland and Blood Tracking [Re: Backwards cowboy] #3593238
01/24/22 11:11 AM
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Originally Posted by Backwoods cowboy
If deer only puts out scent when it's mortally wounded, how would one acquire that scent to train with , without a mortally wounded deer? I know there has to be more to it because I have also witnessed dog "blood trailing" without blood. Never really thought of it till this happened but has really got me curious on what these dogs are smelling when they are tracking a deer

Get a processor to save feet off that deer that run a lil bit and make a tracking stick and get the goo from the gland and smear it it on the foot and go fo a walk

Re: Interdigital Gland and Blood Tracking [Re: CNC] #3593239
01/24/22 11:12 AM
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Backwoods. Cowboy if really interested in al this madness get the book tracking dogs for finding wounded deer and read and study it and learn from it

Re: Interdigital Gland and Blood Tracking [Re: Ar1220] #3593246
01/24/22 11:19 AM
01/24/22 11:19 AM
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Originally Posted by Ar1220
Here is my take Harold. And this comes from Paul and some other folks that train dogs as well as from reading John's book. I don't know if it's interdigital or some other scent or pheromone but there is definitely something a fatally wounded deer gives off or it's a combination of several scents that really gets my dog fired up. I can get a good idea in a couple hundred yards by the way the dog acts if we are gone be successful or if we're just walking around in the woods. You got a better relationship with Otis than I do with mine maybe ask him. Lol. I had 2 the other day one was shot dead square in the but first couple hundred dog didn't really get excited until we found a wound bed with a couple clots in it from there to the end he acted like a completely different dog as far as how he behaved and worked. Went to the next one which turned out to be a backwhack and he wasn't at all interested in what was goin on so we went hiking in the woods and never found anything he wanted to mess with. I don't know if that's interdigital or what or if just something the dogs know that we don't but I do know there is something


I really believe it’s in the amount and “type” of blood the wound is putting out. As soon as we humans stop being able to SEE blood on the ground then we draw a line and call that “no blood”. However that is far from the case. The dog is able to continue detecting blood long after we stop seeing it. Also, there are other scents that are associated with the type of blood that the dog is smelling….. like for instance….was this blood from the liver or guts??....or is this blood from a meat wound??…..I would think the dog can distinguish those things in the blood they’re smelling and why you see them get so excited when its gut hits…..I think they also smell the blown up bone marrow and why they get so excited on leg hits. These are ways we as trackers can distinguish what we’re likely dealing with by the dog’s reaction….my very point in some of this when you tell someone that they likely don’t have a recoverable deer.


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Re: Interdigital Gland and Blood Tracking [Re: CNC] #3593255
01/24/22 11:30 AM
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I agree on the amount of blood part especially the small amount even though we can't see it it could very small drops that the dog still detects. I still think the nose knows as far skint up vs hurt.

Re: Interdigital Gland and Blood Tracking [Re: Ar1220] #3593268
01/24/22 11:45 AM
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Originally Posted by Ar1220
I still think the nose knows as far skint up vs hurt.




I do too…….I just think that its because of things about the blood that tells them this and not about an interdigital scent gland…….


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Re: Interdigital Gland and Blood Tracking [Re: CNC] #3593274
01/24/22 11:54 AM
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Could be I have no idea just thoughts based on what I see from my dogs reaction when he gets whatever scent that he finds that flips his switch. But I can say this and my luck is gone run out eventually but I have yet to leave a track where I told the hunter the deer was not dead and had them find it. Unless they shot it a week later.
I will also add this I think alot of tackers that are new or learning and may not be quiet as seasoned hunters in some respects as some of us older guys are and not willing to put in the extra effort before they call it off. Tommy dale Strickland and I had a conversation about this awhile back.

Re: Interdigital Gland and Blood Tracking [Re: CNC] #3593293
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So answer me this, if deer bled good for 100 yards. Wouldn't it be reasonable to assume deer would lay down after not being pressured? If so would I be wrong to expect at least , a half decent dog, would track it till it jumped it or at least beyond last place I found last blood. Neither of which happened with me. Neither dog really took track from the start. Which is why I think it was dog. But idk

Re: Interdigital Gland and Blood Tracking [Re: Backwards cowboy] #3593302
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Originally Posted by Backwoods cowboy
So answer me this, if deer bled good for 100 yards. Wouldn't it be reasonable to assume deer would lay down after not being pressured? If so would I be wrong to expect at least , a half decent dog, would track it till it jumped it or at least beyond last place I found last blood. Neither of which happened with me. Neither dog really took track from the start. Which is why I think it was dog. But idk

From my experience dog hunting, no, a deer will not lay down after a short distance with a flesh wound. I have put my dogs on deer that people shot with only a few specs of blood. It will be a damn half mile before they catch up to it. I won’t the do it anymore. Unless I either have them on a leash or there are people on the other side to stop the dogs.

Re: Interdigital Gland and Blood Tracking [Re: Backwards cowboy] #3593307
01/24/22 12:23 PM
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Originally Posted by Backwoods cowboy
So answer me this, if deer bled good for 100 yards. Wouldn't it be reasonable to assume deer would lay down after not being pressured? If so would I be wrong to expect at least , a half decent dog, would track it till it jumped it or at least beyond last place I found last blood. Neither of which happened with me. Neither dog really took track from the start. Which is why I think it was dog. But idk


The deer you shot may have not bedded up for 500-1000+ yards somewhere. Unless you are there right after the shot then the dog needs a blood trail to follow to where he went. Usually on grazed tracks the dog will take it anywhere from 50-200 yards past where the hunters lost blood and then lose it as well….It just varies from track to track depending on the severity of the wound.


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Re: Interdigital Gland and Blood Tracking [Re: CNC] #3593325
01/24/22 12:39 PM
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Cowboy I get a couple things from your last post.
1. Just cause a dog was brought in doesn't mean they is gone be a deer found.
2. Good blood is subjective to who is looking at it
3. I go back to a above post I feel like the nose knows as far as what's dead or hurt or skint up.
Like Harold said they can sometimes go aways before they lay down and as a rule the further that is from the hit the less hurt they are

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