by Keith Schopp
This one goes out to Mary, my friend’s two-year-old English Pointer that went missing one morning last January.
Just a month ago, in late December, I watched Mary point a wild rooster in Central Illinois and retrieve that bird. Good potential. But potential lost one Friday morning when she didn’t come back after her routine morning airing.
“Mary’s been missing all day,” Bob texted me that afternoon – nearly eight hours after the pointer disappeared.
“What the heck?” I responded. “I’ll come over to help look.”
We drove around the country roads. Walked the 40-acre property. Surveyed the landscape looking for a white bird dog in snow-covered fields and ditches. Nothing.
Then comes that sinking feeling when you realize your hunting dog is gone – perhaps for good.
Bob suspected she might have been picked up by someone looking for a bird dog or perhaps was hit by a car and wounded or dead in a ditch somewhere. “If she’s gone, she’s gone,” he said. “All we can do is wait and keep looking.”
If you hunt long enough with bird dogs, you probably have or will experience the instant anxiety and fear that comes when your dog’s lost, gone or missing in action – even if only for a few minutes.
My wife often says, “Don’t come home without the dogs!” And I think she means it.
As I drove home after the unsuccessful search for Mary, I decided to compile some wisdom gleaned from friends and personal experiences that could help lost dogs become found.
Minutes Matter
Sure, they might come back on their own, but why not increase the odds by being proactive? This applies to dogs in your neighborhood, but even more when you’re hunting in a 5,000-acre national forest or a section of cattails or standing corn in South Dakota. Mobilize your hunting partners or other hunters to cover more ground. In my experience, the longer a dog is gone, the odds of finding that dog diminish. Often, dogs that are only a few hundred yards away will come to the call or whistle. Deer chasers might venture much farther. The goal should be to get that dog back before nightfall, which brings freezing temperatures and danger from apex predators – depending on where you’re hunting.
Prepare for the Worst: Before You Turn Them Loose
Start with the basics: collars should be tight and owner contact information correct – a land line and home address on that collar is practically useless when you’re 1,000 miles from home. Microchip your dog and confirm the chip is still in place and functioning. Another tip: adding “Reward” and “Dog Needs Medication” to the collar tag could increase the odds of a response and a happy ending.
Take a Flyer
A friend from North Dakota shares a tip she learned: keep a supply of “Lost Dog” flyers in the glove compartment of your hunting rig. This includes a photo of your dog(s) and your contact information. Leave space for “Last Seen [when and where]” information. Overkill? Perhaps, until your dog’s lost and minutes matter. Again, saturating area mailboxes, local pubs or rest areas or hunter parking areas will raise awareness and expand coverage.
A Game Changer
The GPS collar has undoubtedly reunited many missing or lost hunting dogs with thankful owners. If you own a big-running, deer-chasing bird dog with high potential to disappear, consider the peace of mind offered by a variety of GPS units on the market today. A GPS can be pricey and it’s not a 100% fail safe, but knowing your dog is, or was, two miles east instead of two miles west can eliminate a lot of variables and improve your odds of recovery.
A pro trainer and friend from Wisconsin offers this tip: “Make sure your GPS unit or beeper collar is fully charged every time you go afield. Every hour of charge and run-time matters because your hunting dog could be lost and gone for days.”
Tap Into Every Resource
Use social media. Post your flyer on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter/X, or notify friends with dog clubs, breed clubs or hunting sites. Another option could be tapping into a variety of sites that offer online pet-finding services.
Go “Old Skool,” Notify rural mail carriers, animal shelters, veterinarians and conservation / law enforcement to be on the lookout. A good friend from Minnesota lost his German shorthaired pointer years ago and thought to notify the railroad because a major rail line ran through the property where his dog went missing. Sadly, he was contacted a few days later and learned his dog had been struck and killed by a train. At least he was able to recover his beloved bird dog and have some form of closure.
This past hunting season, I returned to my truck and found a note on the windshield asking for help finding a lost dog in the area. I traded texts and was on the lookout for days, but, unfortunately, never saw the missing dog. Probably a sad ending.
And Every Once in a While … a Happy Ending
That Friday night in January, my wife and I thought about Mary the young English Pointer – out there somewhere in the cold and rain. Was she dead or alive? We gave our own four dogs each a hug and didn’t sleep well that night.
Bob texted at 4 a.m.
“Mary is back home,” the text read. “We heard her whimpering at the door. Big bruise on her hind legs and rear end. Taking her to the vet at 8 a.m.”
Mary was gone for almost 24 hours. Definitely hit by a car, according to the veterinarian. Lots of bruising, nothing broken and should be fine and back to pointing birds in short order. My friend Bob vows to keep closer tabs on her.
Thanks, Mary, for the inspiration.
