The end of the hunting season is often a busy time for our tracking teams. In many places, there are still plenty of driven hunts going on, most of which have been organised to comply with mandatory shot figures — the aim being to cull any cervids not accounted for before the season for that species closes. Occasionally, the government grants an exception and the mopping-up process can continue, but that doesn’t reduce our workload.
This year was no different. Our association’s tracking teams were standing by right across Belgium, with a few even stationed in Germany and France. I was on call for the weekend with my dog Jazz in a 2,000-hectare terrain close
