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A Tribute to
"Charlie" vom Wildflugel
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When I
whelped my "U" litter vom Wildflugel in 1998
little did I know that the smallest
puppy would have turned out to be one of the most talented dogs
I have ever produced.
Charlie's parents were Franka vom Wittlerbaum and Fox vom
Weidebach. Anyone familiar with
my breeding program knows how much Fox has
contributed to my line of drahthaars over the
years.
When it came
time for the new owners to come get their puppies, all the other pups were
selected except for one. Charlie
was the last remaining puppy. It might have been because of
his smaller size or his soft long coat. But for whatever reason, Charlie was left behind while
all his littermates went
to their new homes. A very good friend of mine was the tech at my
vet's office. Mikki, who is very familiar with my dogs, saw Charlie
when his tail was docked at
three days old. Marty Vlach, Mikki's fiancé at the time, had a older lab that was all but retired
from hunting. He was considering
getting another lab, but after talking to Mikki about Charlie
he decided to give a drahthaar a try.
While I was spot on regarding Charlie's coat (very soft, long, and open),
he proved me wrong
regarding his size. He ultimately grew to be approximately 25 inches tall
and weighs 65
pounds. When Charlie was a year and a half old, Marty decided to try blood tracking.
He
heard I was teaching an AKC tracking class and expressed an interest in
teaching Charlie to
blood track. Marty was the only one who completed the class and
I could tell that he was
hooked on blood tracking. He spent most of that
summer working Charlie on blood tracks of
varying lengths and how long the track had aged. By the time fall rolled around Marty was
anxious to put Charlie to the real test.
It did not take long for Charlie to get his first crack at tracking a
deer. Marty shot a doe with his
bow and he was 90 percent sure that it was a clean shot. He decided that
this was a great time
to get Charlie on a track that had a high chance of success. Marty
started
Charlie at the first
sign of blood. Charlies followed the track slightly down wind through
tall grass and short
brushy thickets. About 250 yards later he located the doe and instantly
jumped back totally
surprised at what he found. Most dogs will do this on their first find of
a whole freshly killed
deer. Marty encouraged Charlie to "get it" and he went up and started
mouthing the deer.
Marty is is a firm believer that if you initially set the dogs up for
success they will learn to love
tracking. One of the hardest things Marty had to do was learn to read
Charlie while he was
tracking and have faith that the dog was really on the track. Charlie has
tracked about 130 deer
over the years with a recovery rate of 70 percent. The
following pictures are some of his more
memorable finds:
As you
can see in the picture below, there were times
when tracking conditions were just down
right brutal. This photo is a great example of why a softer coat is not
ideal for working in the
woods. It also shows that tracking game is not for the faint of heart.
Most dogs would refuse to
continue with a face matted like that. But Charlie's strong desire and
love to work attitude
always carried him to the end of a track.
In addition to recovering dead or wounded deer,
Charlie has pointed and retrieved hundreds of
pheasants, quail, doves, ducks and geese. He has also pulled the
tail off of many a raccoon.
While he is not very efficient dispatching furred game, he sure
tries his best!
In November
2005 Charlie tore the ACL in his right knee. It
happened while pheasant hunting.
Charlie went on point and Marty flushed and shot the bird. When Charlie
pushed off with his
back legs to retrieve the bird, the ligament ruptured. Limping, Charlie
still made the retrieve.
The ACL was repaired and he was house bound during his six months of
recovery.
Charlie tore his left ACL in September 2007. It was opening day of
dove season and he
ruptured the ligament when he took off to retrieve a downed bird. Charlie
had surgery the
following day with the same period of recovery.
Charlie has has been a great family pet, guardian, and probably has more
personality than any
dog that I know of. Marty and Charlie invented a game of chicken that
they play in their back
yard. Click here
to view a short video of them playing the game.
Charlie is now almost 13 years old and has been retired from tracking and
hunting. Marty knew
it was time while watching him trying to track his last deer on October
14, 2010. While his
heart and desire are still there, Charlie's body just can not go any
longer. The following is
Marty's account of Charlie's final track:
"I shot the buck at 14 yards and it looked like it was a good hit to me.
As the buck bolted off
through the CRP field of waist to head high grass, I could see that the
arrow had passed through
both sides. The buck disappeared around a corner in
the trees. I waited 30 minutes and then
went to get Charlie. I called a friend and waited for
him. When we started tracking, we knew we
had to find blood or the arrow first. I found blood
and started Charlie on the track. He tracked
well for the first 100 yards and then lost it for a
short time
in a shallow river channel. He
picked it up on the other side about 45 yards away and up a
steep bank. Poor Charlie could not
make it up the bank without me pulling him up by the
collar. The two ACL surgeries and age
had finally caught up with him. Once we got on fairly
level ground he began pulling hard and
when he gets to a downed tree he struggles to
get over it. But with all of his heart and soul, he
continues on the track.
Another 90 yards into another Platte River
channel the blood stops at the waters edge. We
go
200 yards upstream then 200 yards downstream - nothing. We cross the
channel and the water
is over my hip boots. We reach the other bank and the muck is 8-12 inches
deep. Charlie can
not get through it without help. Sadly his hind legs are failing him, but
he has the will to keep
going. We track up and down the bank 200 yards each way and he is not
indicating to me that
the deer has come this direction. One hour later Charlie is spent, his
mental focus was gone.
Flat out tired and broke down, I opted to take him back to the truck and
get our three year old
female Roxy to finish the track. I told my friend to go to work, I would
look some more for the
deer myself. But my friend assured me that there was something laying in the river
down
around the point. We decide to check it out before leaving. We walk east about 400
yards and
there is the buck. He had floated 400 yards downstream. It was too bad the wind was
not from
that direction. I have no doubt that Charlie would have located it. I count it
as another find to
his credit. We are a team. Jill, Charlie was 1 1/2 when he ran his first real
track. It was the fall
after we took your tracking class at Pier Park and it has been an
addiction and passion ever
since. Charlie and I have tracked between 120 and 130 deer and he has
recovered about 70%
of them.
I have
learned so much from this dog. If you blood
track, you must have faith in your dog. Do
not even try to guess what and where a wounded deer will do or go. The nose
knows . . . Blood
tracking is a team effort. Over time you learn to read your dog, just be patient. Training tracks
are not nearly as difficult as the real deal. Charlie
learned to track individual deer that were
not bleeding for 40-60 yards.
It saddens me to know that I have to retire him. It has been a real
pleasure to watch him learn
and grow into an awesome versatile dog. Upland work, pointing, waterfowl
and fur, in
addition to blood tracking. Thank you, Jill for this dog. Thanks to my
wife for caring for me and
Charlie and tolerating us being gone so many nights tracking. And thank
God for the whole
experience."
Charlie will live out his life on the couch in Marty's front room, taking
short walks around the
neighborhood, and an occasional romp in the field. There will never be
another dog like
Charlie!
