Thought I’d share a neat story about one of the moose antlers we found yesterday with Finley & Trip.

We got into an area with a ton of moose activity mid morning and decided it was an area we really wanted to focus on. We circled downwind to see if Finley and Tripper would pick up the scent of whatever was in there. In all honesty, the wind was swirling pretty bad so I didn’t get my hopes up that the dogs would be able to smell much. Anna and I split up about 200 yards apart and starting walking parallel into the wind. The dogs would be splitting their time between us, searching for whatever we couldn’t see. About a mile into our search, I noticed Finley indicating he could smell an antler, (his nose goes up into the wind and he starts zigzagging, trying to pinpoint the location of the smell). I started to follow him, as very rarely his nose is wrong. Unfortunately, the wind wasn’t cooperating and changed directions several times and Finley lost the scent. I decided to trust his nose, get up on a high point and started scanning the area. Sure enough, 300 yards away, I spotted the unmistakable brown/shiny glint of the backside of a moose paddle in the sun. With no real easy way to get to it, I called Anna and Trip up to me and we made the plan to circle down on it and let the dogs find it. As we got close to where the antler was laying, the wind shifted perfectly to both dogs and they made a beeline for it. Trip got to it first and retrieved it. Lots of treats and praise followed!

Every antler find is unique and imprints a memory on the dogs that makes them better every time. So fun watching them work! (Finley wouldn’t keep still long enough for a pic)