# Bad guy captured



## Terry Holstine (Aug 5, 2008)

For those interested here is a quick story about a capture Saturday 08-30-08. I got a call from the Pittsburgh County SO that deputies had attempted to serve folony warrants out of Texas on an individual at a rural residence. When the deputies arrived the perp was down in the pasture with his son attempting to catch a couple of horses. He saw the the unit pull up to the house and got some gone. The son walked up to the deputies and told them he didnt see which direction the perp ran. When I arrived I was briefed and decided to try to go around the area where both subjects had been trying to catch the horses. I didnt make a big enough loop and struck the track of the son which led back to the house. We caught the dogs and made a bigger loop around the area and did not pick up a trail of any kind. Off to the south a big thunderstorm was brewing and begin to spew forth lightening bolts that would make the hair stand up on your head. We decided to go back to the truck and wait it out. When the storm passed we again made a sweep around the contaminated area with no results. We mulled the situation over for a little bit and decided he was still inside the loop we had made. While we were descussing the situation the wind changed direction and a couple of the dogs threw their noses in the air and went to a large thicket of blackberries and honeysuckle and bayed. The perp was hiding in the thicket. He was hid so well my partner almost stepped on him before seeing him. This is one of the most difficult situations to deal with, tracks going everywhere with the target well hidden inside the contamination. The hounds are trackers by nature but are developing good air scent capabilities. Anyway the bad guy is back in Texas facing charges.


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## Matthew Grubb (Nov 16, 2007)

Great Job!! The type of tracking you do fascinates me! 

For those of you who don’t know or have never read about Terry… a good day of tracking for him is 9 hours on the back of a horse or mule working a pack of hounds in some CRAZY conditions that would run off the most dedicated Police K9 Handler.


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## Guest (Sep 2, 2008)

Terry,

You need to write an anthology. Seriously.


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## Howard Knauf (May 10, 2008)

Nice job Terry. Pure commitment to the job usually pays off. 

Howard


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## Carol Boche (May 13, 2007)

Great Job Terry. 
As always, it is great to hear stories like this. If I could get away with running a pack, I would. Probably not for SAR, but it would be really cool to track cats for the GP & P. I have gotten to do that once and it was way fun. 

Not sure a lost person would be able to stay calm with a pack of hounds coming up on them.


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## Jennifer Coulter (Sep 18, 2007)

Way to get'er done=D>


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## David Frost (Mar 29, 2006)

Ya gotta love it when the good guys win. Great job. The only thing missing is my favorite phrase; subjects in custody, roll medical.

DFrost


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## Howard Knauf (May 10, 2008)

OK David. Be carefull or the DJJ will be looking at you.=D>:-\"


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## Terry Holstine (Aug 5, 2008)

Steven, I am going to write a collection of short stories about my experiences when I retire. I am going to try to go five more years. Carol, some of the hounds would be ok to track lost folks, if the new GPS tracking collars were used I think it would be very easy to find lost people. The trouble with hounds is that they track really fast and a person on foot just cant keep up but if the GPS collars were used it would just be a matter of going to their location when they stop. Some of my dogs are just big babies and wouldnt harm anyone. I think these collars might have a place for folks that usually run on a leash. Sometimes when the cover becomes a pain you could drop the leash until you got through the bad stuff. I tried to run Spot on leash one time and we were both tuckered out in just a little while and he was really hacked off about the whole thing. David, usually by the time we catch these guys everybody there is wore-out and glad its over, most of the perps are completely done in and I usually wind up feeling sorry for them, they usually drink what water I have left and we exchange pleasantries about the chase. Most are facinated about the dogs and exhibit a lot of respect towards them. Ive even let a few of them ride ole Sally back to the truck, with me leading her of course.


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## David Frost (Mar 29, 2006)

Howard Knauf said:


> OK David. Be carefull or the DJJ will be looking at you.=D>:-\"


Uhhh gee, I meant I was concerned for their welfare after being in the wild. I just want to make sure they aren't hurt. yeah, that's right, that's the ticket.

DFrost


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## Lisa Preston (Aug 21, 2008)

Nice that you waited out the storm in the truck while he had that thicket to call home. 
Great catch...good for you and congrats.

And back in TX already? Then I'm also impressed that your circuit lets LE send the guy out of state so quickly.


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## Jennifer Coulter (Sep 18, 2007)

I have a question...kinda related to some things being discussed in this thread...MODS we can move if you want, it is kinda directed to Terry...

Terry,

Have you ever lost any hounds while tracking a suspect or training? I know you use GPS units but does training (you and the dogs) help you to not loose dogs?

I ask because we have some hunters that do have packs of hounds they use for bear and cougar hunting (I never see the dogs otherwise). Every year around my place I run into the same couple of hunters looking for their lost hounds. Last year they lost two, never found, the year before they lost one, never found)....the year before that I found a hound with a tracking collar and nametag on it was up and over a mountain pass and 30 km from where it was lost 24hrs before (porcupine quills in face)

I do live in a very mountainous region so I suppose that the tracking collars are of limited use. Seems expensive to loose dogs though:-o Is this a training issue or a fact of life in the hound game? (I suspect training issue)


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## Terry Holstine (Aug 5, 2008)

Jennifer, I havnt lost any dogs yet. We had one hit by a car and killed during a chase and another one killed by a wild hog. I have had pups lost for a short period of time during training runs but they usually come back to the truck. If we leave before the pup gets back I will throw one of my old jackets or shirts on the ground and they will usually be lying on it when I get back. I have had a couple stay all night in the woods but they were asleep on the coat when I came back the next morning. I dont always run the collars during training runs because they take a lot of abuse and they aint cheap. Most of the time if a handler is constantly losing hounds, he probably isnt wearing out enough shoe leather with them. The exception to this would be the boys running wide ranging game. I had a litter of pups that were out of a line of local dogs that were deer running machines, I never could break them. They got after a deer on a training run and I didnt see them again for seven days. When I found them they could barely walk and looked like a red worm with all the crap slung out of it. These pups were dropped from the program, I dont waste my time on stupidity. So short answer to your question is it can be lack of training or bad genetics in the hound. A really good hound wants to hunt with and for the handler, once he understands what you want he will kill himself trying to get it for you. Oh, someone asked about the perp being sent back to Texas so fast, we took him down about a mile from Red River and turned him loose. We told him we were going to turn a pack of hounds on his trail ten minutes after he took off. Rumor is he he was spotted swimming so fast you could see the dry bottom of the river in his wake.:---)


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## Terry Holstine (Aug 5, 2008)

Well folks here is another short story of a very stupid individual doing stupid things and then attempting to rectify the situation by running into the night. One of our criminal interdiction Troopers stopped a semi on I-40 about 50 miles West of Okla. City. The driver of the truck stopped briefly then rammmed the OHP unit. The driver then exited and fled into a rural area. The country in this area is pretty flat with little cedar choked draws running in all directions. We were called to track this individual, my partner and his pack was about 2 1/2 hrs away and I was about three hrs away. Anyway my partner arrived and deployed the pack after a short briefing. The dogs struck the trail traveling South from the Interstate and after fifteen minutes had the bad guy bayed under a bunch of cedar trees about 3/4 of a mile from the origin. The suspect gave up without incident. The semi had approx 400 lbs of a green leafy substance in the sleeper. I was still a ways out and started picking up bits and pieces of the radio traffic between the chopper and the dog team. Suddenly I heard Tommy say 10-15! Suspect in custody! We continued on to the scene and attended a debriefing, let the dogs and mules out to stretch, then turned the old Ford Southeast back to Gods Country.


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## David Frost (Mar 29, 2006)

I enjoy hearing your stories about successful tracks. I just miss my favorite ending. You know, 10-15, roll medical. ha ha. Sunday night on the news Music City had one, a home invasion, guy was contained in a wooded area. Canine was sent in to conduct a track. I saw it on the news. The TV reporter said the subject was captured and transported to General Hospital before being taken to jail. Ahh, a happy ending.

DFrost


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## Howard Knauf (May 10, 2008)

Can't wait till the new series on animal planet (K9 Cops) starts so I can get my fill of David's favorite (and mine!) radio transmission! 

BTW David, I see you are on Police Link. I shouldn't be surprised.=D>

Howard


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## David Frost (Mar 29, 2006)

Howard Knauf said:


> Can't wait till the new series on animal planet (K9 Cops) starts so I can get my fill of David's favorite (and mine!) radio transmission!
> 
> BTW David, I see you are on Police Link. I shouldn't be surprised.=D>
> 
> Howard


yes sir, I am. I take you are as well. Some of the dog handlers that post there are scary, ha ha. Seems like they are very young in the business. Couple of pretty smart cookies too though. 

DFrost


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## Terry Holstine (Aug 5, 2008)

The hounds are a little different than the PSD. I think it is the way we train them from pups. They are very precise in their bite and go for the clothing. A few of the perps have been nearly naked when I got to them, with no injuries except minor scratches and abrasions. Most will climb a tree or get under something where the dogs cant reach them, those that try to keep running fare a lot worse than those that stop. If a perp stops and stands still they usually just circle and bay. A couple of the dogs will fight a decoy in a bite suit and it will make the hair stand up on your head just to watch it. They take full bites and are really serious abuot what they are doing. They fight on a real deal with just as much agression but they shift the bite to remove the clothing. The perps usually think they have been eaten alive when in reality they only get a few nips.


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## David Frost (Mar 29, 2006)

That'd be fun to watch, of course I mean as I'm running to catch up to stop them. 

DFrost


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## Howard Knauf (May 10, 2008)

David Frost said:


> That'd be fun to watch, of course I mean as I'm running to catch up to stop them.
> 
> DFrost


Running...right. Hard to run when you are videotaping all the fun LOL


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## Jehane Michael Le Grange (Feb 24, 2009)

I am fascinated at this tracking how do you start, say a litter of Bloodhound pups on this sort of tracking? I know the South African Military or SANDF used to have bloodhounds tracking like this but what they would do is use harnesses with lights on and follow the dogs with helicopter as back up...(Usually a patrol dog or two would be in the helicopter) These dogs were mainly used to track ANC/MK terrorists during our apartheid years if they committed farm attacks or were known to be hiding in the bush.

I would really like to learn how to teach dogs to track like this...What is the best form of 'motivation' for these dogs? Food? or Toy? how does it all work?


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## Terry Holstine (Aug 5, 2008)

Jehane, training these mixed breed hounds to track is not complicated at all. They are born with the instinct to track. It is just a matter of starting a hide and seek game with them at a very early age. I wrote a fairly lengthly description of the process on Leerburgs website. It will be in the police tracking threads. If you cant find the threads let me know and I will help you find it. I dont think Bloodhounds are suitable for the kind of tracking we do, we are usually on-site within 3-4 hrs after the fact. The dogs we use must be open mouthed because they run off-leash and it is not uncommon for them to be a quarter of a mile ahead of handlers who are on mules or horses. This allows the handlers to stay out of harms way until they locate. Some of our tracks have gone in excess of eight miles and the dogs are running full speed most of the time. It takes a tight wound dog with a lot of heart to do this, the good ones will actually run themselves to death on a fast track without water in hot humid conditions. They require no external motovation, their Mamma and Daddy gave it to them at conception. If you are LE I will help you get started. The problem may be finding the right kind of dogs in your country, I have no idea what would be available. I do know the Selous Scouts attempted to do this and failed. One source cited problems with the dogs 'trashing'. He stated one could not train hounds to run men because they had rather run animals. This is totally false, they either had the wrong kind of dogs or the wrong people training them. The dogs I take on hunts are straight. Let me know if I can be of help.


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## Terry Holstine (Aug 5, 2008)

Well, stupid decided to beat his wife with a 22 cal rifle early this morning, he laid her forehead open from one side to the other. She got to the phone and he ran out of the house and into a rural swampy heavily timbered area. The track was four hrs old and we caught him shortly after striking his track. He had gone about a mile east of the residence and hid the rifle. He then backtracked back toward the house. We met him and took him into custody. Some of the pack stayed on the original trail and found the rifle buried under a log.


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

HUGE congrats for some excellent work!


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## ann schnerre (Aug 24, 2006)

i'm thinking this may be where you could use one or two of don's "hog dogs" to maybe see if he was so tough whoopin' on a "dog" (bitch would be better yet, haha). 

heck give the bastard a crowbar against them and see how he comes out. a pig IS a pig, right? 

i hope he goes to prison and finds his own special "bubba" . i hope the woman is "ok" (tho THAT"S kind of a joke), and i hope they had no children to witness/live with it.

and i'm GLAD you guys/dogs caught the bastard.

and would anyone like to know how i REALLY feel????


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## Drew Peirce (Nov 16, 2006)

Got any photos of your current dogs terry?


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## andreas broqvist (Jun 2, 2009)

Terry.
Wery interesting reding and a interesting styl of work
What kind of hound mixes du you use?


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## Howard Knauf (May 10, 2008)

Good catch Terry! What you need is a big ol nasty Dutchie to finish the job and send him to the ER in the room next to his wife.

Howard


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## Michael Wise (Sep 14, 2008)

Terry, you've already got at least one of your books sold when you decide to put it together.

I get a rush reading these stories. Can't imagine being there.


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## Debbie High (Jul 2, 2006)

Good job! I'm so glad you caught the asshole! Love reading about your tracking adventures.....I'm like Michael....it gives me a rush when I see your name on a post!


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## Terry Holstine (Aug 5, 2008)

Drew, I have a few photos, Ill have to get around to posting some of them if I can figure out how to do it. Andreas, They are just old ******* stock, Blk/Tan, Redbone, Blutick crosses. One has a touch of Catahoula. Thanks to all for the kind words, I am putting togather a few memoirs which may turn into a book if there seems to be enough interest in this sort of thing.


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## Jeff Oehlsen (Apr 7, 2006)

Are you kidding me ?? Have you read what is being published nowdays ?? Bunch of crap on the shelves, and even the mystery writers are giving it away in the first 10 pages. Mind pablum bullshit.

I think you would do well.


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## Connie Sutherland (Mar 27, 2006)

Terry Holstine said:


> Drew, I have a few photos, Ill have to get around to posting some of them if I can figure out how to do it. Andreas, They are just old ******* stock, Blk/Tan, Redbone, Blutick crosses. One has a touch of Catahoula. Thanks to all for the kind words, I am putting togather a few memoirs which may turn into a book if there seems to be enough interest in this sort of thing.


I would love it.


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## Connie Sutherland (Mar 27, 2006)

Debbie High said:


> Good job! I'm so glad you caught the asshole! Love reading about your tracking adventures.....I'm like Michael....it gives me a rush when I see your name on a post!



Me three.


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

Is it printed yet? Huh! Huh! Is it printed yet? 
Definately will be on my need to read list!


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## Terry Holstine (Aug 5, 2008)

Well folks, I have been telling you about some of the captures,heres one that didnt go so well. It seems Stupid got out of prison. Evidently the rehabilitative process failed, he promptly got a slew of warrants in another state. I wont bore you with all the details but he became involved in a pursuit that left two police units destroyed, one officer critical and the other one with a messed up back. The bad guys Dad also has a heap of junk replacing the nice car he owned earlier this morning.

Anyway to make a long story short, things did not go well. The police left out a few details on their movement prior to my arrival which resulted in an hour or so chasing cops. I finally sorted all that out and struck the bad guy who had entered one of the most god forsaken places ever I see. To make matters worse he promptly became lost and proceeded to lay the most confusing conglomeration of a track I have ever had the displeasure to try to work out. It had long back tracks, crosstracks, loops and scent pools. He also had climbed several trees to try to see the landscape in the distance. He beat me, thats all there is to it. One day its chicken, the next day its feathers.

The funny thing about the whole affair is that while the chase was on I thought Stupid was the most dog wise individual I had ever got behind. As it turns out he was just lost, wet, scraped, and may be one-eyed the rest of his life from running head-on into a Bo-Jack tree. His final flash of brilliance was to go to a hillbillies house and proceeded to demand a ride. Yep, he wound up on his face with a 12 ga. screwed in his ear. The nice folks called HQ and asked that we come and remove some trash from their yard.


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## Jeff Oehlsen (Apr 7, 2006)

Write the book. I will buy the first copy, and would you be so kind to autograph it for me ??


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## Debbie High (Jul 2, 2006)

I want mine autographed too and the names of your favorite dogs handwritten in the front!!! I'll need about 10....will make great gifts.

Gee Terry, did you ever think you'd make two women "have a rush" at the mention of your name!!:lol:


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## Brian Jones (Jan 31, 2009)

LOL Yea thats it. :-\"

Grats on the hit!


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## Terry Holstine (Aug 5, 2008)

Debbie, Im flattered and surprised. Yall may be the only gals on the planet that has gotten a "RUSH" because of anything Ive done let alone because of the mere utterance of my name. Some have reported feeling nauseated in my presence. I reckon its the combination of the odor of mule sweat, wet dog and whatever odor an unbathed hillbilly generates.


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## Jennifer Coulter (Sep 18, 2007)

Terry Holstine said:


> Some have reported feeling nauseated in my presence. I reckon its the combination of the odor of mule sweat, wet dog and whatever odor an unbathed hillbilly generates.


That is some funny sh** Terry. Put that in the book too.

I am thinking a made for tv movie should accompany the book. You would play yourself of course.


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## Howard Knauf (May 10, 2008)

Don't feel bad, Terry. It never ceases to amaze me the dumb luck criminals have.....from beating a charge with some obscure legal technicality, slight improper handling and investigation of a case to, as you already know...dumb ass luck in fleeing the police.

We can take solace, however on that same luck being very sparse....otherwise they'd be in Vegas. In the end, the bad guy is apprehended but unfortunately officers were injured. Too bad them hillbillies didn't make him squeal like a pig and pray with that purty mouth before callin the police.

Howard


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## Chris McDonald (May 29, 2008)

Terry Holstine said:


> Debbie, Im flattered and surprised. Yall may be the only gals on the planet that has gotten a "RUSH" because of anything Ive done let alone because of the mere utterance of my name. Some have reported feeling nauseated in my presence. I reckon its the combination of the odor of mule sweat, wet dog and whatever odor an unbathed hillbilly generates.


This is classic,


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## Terry Holstine (Aug 5, 2008)

Jennifer, dont look for me in front of a movie camera any time soon, believe it or not I am shy almost to the point of being recluse. After a capture I usually hand the bad guy over to other Troopers or the requesting agency and split. There is no shortage of folks willing to parade the perp in front of the cameras.


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