I had Miley out this evening. I was going to put the SD card in the trail camera and set it for the evening.
At the barn, Miley assumed this posture:
I zoomed in on her.
I knew she was smelling something at the far end of the meadow.
I told her to sit, and she did.
As I came around behind a black cherry that had already lost its leaves, I noticed a gray form standing on the grassy point on the far end of the pasture.
I zoomed my camera in from behind the cherry tree, and I saw antlers!
I was able to adjust my position, and I got this shot of him.
This buck has been on the trail cam many times, but this was the first I got him on my handheld camera.
Miley was able to smell this deer from over 100 yards.
Golden retrievers have good noses, and they also have a lot of sense.
You can learn so much when you go out with them.
Now, I certainly would have seen this buck had I continued on without the dog, but Miley gave me a heads up and a chance to plan my shot out a bit more.
The human and dog relationship is “primate seeing” and “canine smelling.”
And it works pretty well.
Nice demonstration of how the dog-human partnership may well have begun!
Doesn’t it though? This was the edge that made hunter-gathers and their wolf/dogs so successful.