So we certified 7 SAR dogs Saturday. One of our members has 200 acres of timber/grass in his family that we were using, and we were told no one should be out there. I roll up about 0900 (last one there) and get told I drew 1st out dog. I worked the night before (til 2300) and of course I couldn't/didn't sleep for shit because of work crap swilring in my head, add to that being nervous because this is my 1st cert. with this dog. So here I am tired. hungry, nervous, and rushed (tired and hungry by themselves were making me VERY pissy) and getting the dog ready.
Soon as he's out the cage he stuck right by me all clingy (unusual) so I knew he was sensing my anxiety. We get told the boundary area (victim in grass not woods) and I get 1 trailer to go with and he's a new guy (like a month in). Normally we take 3-4, 1 for comms. and 2 for lookouts. We get to the south edge of the field and go off lead, dog goes north about 150ft, hits the edge of the search area and then keeps going. I recall and he keeps going back to the same area, I trust my dog so I let him lead. We go north about 200yards outside the search area but still in the grass until we hit the edge of the woods and he finds a Kia SUV. Look in the window and saw a cooler and an empty bow case (archery deer season is in in IL). We stop and make a call back to command and they said there shouldn't be anyone there. So I think "shit, last thing I want to do is get myself or my dog shot and hafta drag a mo-fo outta his tree stand for a beatin".
Command says they are making calls and to proceed but stay out of the woods. Keep in mind they couldn't see us and they thought we were still in the search area. So I get the dog to reset and he starts heading east of the Kia. About 100yds later we hit the other edge of the woods and he finds a god damn GMC truck with an empty crossbow case in it. So at this point I think this is all a set up by command to screw with us, this time I make a phone call and get "are you serious?, I told those guys not to hunt out here today and that we were training" to which I replied, "best get a hold of them, friends of yours or not if we get shot at I will yank a sumbitch outta his tree stand and stick it someplace he wont want it...and why the F didn't you come out here to check before we started all this?!"
We end up working our way south back to the starting point and reset again, this time heading straight west along a fence line separating the search area and a cow pasture. We're now 45 minutes into this so I'm thinking screwed on a certification. We work west about 150 yards and no indication (wind was out of the south), so we turn around and head back as the wind shifted out of the north. Halfway back to the start dog sticks his nose straight up and runs northbound about 50 yards and starts barking. I hoped like hell he had found a hunter and scared the shit out of him. Turned out he found the victim (our chief). I tell the chief about the hunters and he had no idea that anyone else was there.
After heading back to the staging area we run 4 more dogs while still phone calling the hunters. They all find within 15 minutes and cert. The hunters finally come out, apologize and leave. We run the last 2 dogs and each one has no problems making their find within 15 minutes, both of them getting certs. I get a second chance to see if mine makes the find again and he does without any problem, so he also certs. The chief said he would've certed him on the first run alone because he found 2 other things that none of the other dogs did even though it was out of the search area.
So lessons I re/learned here.....1. Trust in dog, even if you think he/she is wrong they are probably right. 2. Always expect the unexpected. 3. Carry a gun if you can, never know when you may run into an unexpected armed guy in the woods. 4. Train like you fight, and just because its training don't think it couldn't get real world pretty friggin fast. 5. Some asshole named Murphy and his law is always lurking around somewhere, usually when you don't want him to, that dick. 6. Even though you are having a bad day, things can always make it more interesting, so relax.