January 31, 2004 Liberty trailed an arrow shot buck, and she pointed him out to us 100 yards away on the side of a hill.
Wednesday 12/7/2005 we shot a doe fawn that showed up with a broken leg, from a car or a gun we don't know.
Three days later, Saturday 12/10, Liberty trailed where the deer had been dragged (ungutted), under 5" of new snow!
She pushed her nose down under the snow, and snuffled her way toward the site of the kill.
After she had followed the trail halfway, we called her off, and got her back in the house.
Then on Monday 12/12, she trailed it again, this time the whole distance, after another 2 inches of new snow!
She sure has an excellent nose, to follow a very slight blood trail 3 to 5 days old, under 7 inches of snow.
It wasn't like she just remembered it, she had never gotten the opportunity to follow the whole trail until 5 days later.
If we hadn't seen it ourselves we wouldn't of believed it.
We often hear dogs can't follow a turkey track more than about an hour old, but we've observed Liberty following them a day later, on dry leaves in October and November. The moist snow probably provided ideal tracking conditions, but either way she has an exceptionally good nose. She'll never track or chase a live deer, but will find any wounded one.
When she finds old or new turkey scent, she goes to work. Liberty learned, all on her own near the end of her life, to pick up her head and scatter the birds.