Trailing in wet conditions?

[Noah]

We got out for a hunt yesterday, took just the young dogs and ended up catching 7... Whaler and Spinner were out on a run and struck on a sounder, caught a little boar, and rolled out after the sounder when we got to them...

... well here's the strange part 

Where we caught the hog was out in a flooded chop, probably 6-8"s of water... We all sat there watching Whaler trying to pick up the scent trail in the water... however, none of us had ever seen this "method" used by a dog before lol     He was at a lope, literally running big zig-zags with his nose dragging THOUGH the damn water haha, CRAZY to see I gotta tell you!!!

He ended up catching 3 out of that bunch after working it for a good 2-3 hrs, that dog is developing waaay more nose than I expected him to... crazy as I bred his momma to a super short range dog with the intention of losing some bottom lol... oh well, have to roll with it now I guess 

Any of yall ever seen a dog try and smell the water like this?

[T-Bob Parker]

All the cotton pickin time! Weird isn't it. 

I go you one stranger, I saw my Ratty do it across a shallow section of a moving bayou. You know dang well that water didnt smell, its moving!!!! All I figured was the boar must have left scent on the bottom and the water was lifting it as it rushed over.

[3Whoghunter]

Look up the show myth busters they had an episode one time on trailing with blood hounds one of the experiments was to swim up creek to see if that would throw the dog off. It didn't not one bit actually the dog trainer said the water holds the scent alot better than the ground

[Reuben]

seems like the times when the dogs have trouble trailing is low humidity conditions and all is dry with the sun already coming up and a gentle breeze...low humidity and dry conditions causes higher evaporation rate...this makes sense in that the scent evaporates faster...anyone else have the same happen and have come to the same conclusion? This seems to happen more with dogs that are conditioned to take hotter tracks...

[Noah]

Yep, when it's super dry, my dogs run on winding ability almost exclusively

[djhogdogger]

I have heard of police using a dog to locate bodies at the bottom of lakes.

[3Whoghunter]

Dang Dj those must be some bad dogs be able smell bodies at bottom of lakes

[Reuben]

I like hunting in a misty drizzly day. lots of water on the ground ok...

[Noah]

On the same note, certain dogs seem to have a harder time trailing in standing water... 

Has anyone noticed a patern?

[Bar W]

I've heard of the cadaver dogs locating bodies under water also

[Reuben]

All the cotton pickin time! Weird isn't it. 

I go you one stranger, I saw my Ratty do it across a shallow section of a moving bayou. You know dang well that water didnt smell, its moving!!!! All I figured was the boar must have left scent on the bottom and the water was lifting it as it rushed over.

one thing I do know is sometimes the dogs are not running a track but running off of wind currents. The dogs appear to be running a track but might actually be 20 yards on the downwind side of the tracks (crosswind).

 I can see the dogs picking up the smell if the water current is moving toward their direction. If the water current is moving away then it is possible that the dogs will look for the track and get down wind from it and then they will jump in the water and follow the scent...

not saying this is what is happening but that makes the most sense to me. also, the current always appears to be going faster that it really is...

[SCHitemHard]

ive had some coon dogs do that before, most of them learned to get to the other side and work down river to follow the scent

[Cutter Bay Kennels]

Typing from the IPHONE, but here goes. Noah, this is where most coon hunters can help explain. I'm sure Underdog and some of the others that have coon hunted for years will have some good stories.

Several years ago, I was over at my coon hunting buddy's property.  It is cow pastures, woods, and small Cyprus ponds. We were discussing track speed. I had two of my females with me in the box. Philip had a coon in a cage. He asked if I wanted to help turn it outta one of his ponds. Well, we rode the Ranger to that part of the property, and I opened the door and shook him out at the water's edge. He did not go right or left. Instead, he bailed off into the pond. It was a very calm and still. We watched every ripple as he swam across it.  He did not go directly across it, but rather, he swam the length of it.  He popped out the top side and into the old flag pong he went.

About 30 minutes past, and I retrieved my hounds. I sent them on as we entered the wood's edge. Both went in search of a track. They both stumbled onto the spot I had shook him out. Instantly, the bawls began. We watched as they went right, then left 10 yards each. It was then, Beulah entered the pond. She placed her nose directly on top of the peaceful water, and increased her level of bawling. Within a second, Ramsey had joined in. They would swim zig-zagging across the pond. Oddly, they took the same path across the water not getting more than 10 feet from the route the coon had taken  It was not long, and they reached the top side. After working it on a run through the Cyprus, they fell treed. Beulah threw her locate, and I knew he was there. He treed in a small Cyprus in the middle of the old flag pond.

Watching that chain of events was very insightful. I'm not certain how it is in the Summer in Texas, but here in Florida, we get a couple weeks of heavy pollen. It gets so heavy, that it will literally leave a thick yellow-green film on the top of standing water.  When you begin walking across this film, it will part, only to mesh back together once you pass. It is really neat though, as you can see the path that animals have swam across that body of water. It takes about 10-20 minutes for it to fill back in. I've actually figured where hogs have crossed a body of water using this key.  Anyway, this to me is a great representation of "scent" that lays on the top of water. Obviously, the more current the top layer of water has, it is going to affect this.

Another good example is when you place olive oil in water that you are going to boil for spaghetti noodles.  You can see it moving in the water. Even after minutes have passed, you can still see the olive oil.  I think scent works very similar. A good dog that learns to "track" using water to their advantage can truly be an asset when the conditions get hard on us humans.