66: How Running Tracking Dogs Replaced Deer Hunting As The Best Part Of His Season With John Sturtevant (Iowa)

John grew up with no hunting family and no mentor, just a buddy, a .22 LR, and some creek bottoms to run around in. They trapped muskrats and coons before school, shot anything that moved, and figured it all out the hard way. That foundation turned into decades of bow hunting across multiple states and continents, all with bows he built himself from Osage wood he split by hand. He has made hundreds of bows, harvested hundreds of animals, and still will not pick up a compound. These days John runs a certified blood tracking operation using wire-haired dachshunds bred in Europe specifically for this work. He does not charge. He just shows up with his dogs and tracks until the deer is found or it is not. He has found deer with zero blood, zero arrow, and zero sign other than what his dogs told him. He talks about how dogs read declining health pheromones, why a good tracking dog will find deer a drone never will, and what it feels like to walk up on somebody else's dead deer and get more excited than the hunter does. He also bear hunts in Canada every fall, hog hunts in Texas every winter with traditional bows, and once tracked a wounded bear through thick brush wearing flip-flops while his rescue party walked into a yellow jacket nest on the way to help him. This episode covers traditional archery, self bow building, blood tracking dogs, bear baiting in Ontario, and why John gave up deer hunting most days just to run his dogs instead. A Hunter's Legacy is exactly where a story like his belongs. **Want to be a guest?** Ready to share your hunting legacy? Apply here. **Like what you’re hearing?** Hit subscribe so you don’t miss an episode. New stories drop every week. **Follow A Hunter’s Legacy:** Instagram Facebook TikTok Youtube Website Share the show with a buddy who lives for cold mornings, heavy packs, and quiet woods.