In November we assisted in locating a missing hunter. The dogs were trailing the subject when the search was called for the night for unsafe conditions. Early next morning ground teams were dispatched in the direction the dogs were heading. Meanwhile another dog team was sent to different area where a possible article of the subject was located. The dog team determined that the article found was not the subject’s and gave a negative ID. The ground team located the missing hunter in the area the first dogs teams where trailing towards.

Early March 2015 the team responded to a call of a missing elderly man. A trail in the snow was discovered and thought to be the subject’s. After procuring a scent article from the man’s home, a dog was scented up in the trail’s vicinity which the dog then took. The dog team trailed the subject to a flooded river’s edge. The subject’s body was recovered after the flooding subsided 3 weeks later 7 miles downstream.

In June team members assisted law enforcement in trailing two juvenile individuals from a stolen vehicle to a cabin then on through the woods. Articles that the juveniles were alleged to have also stolen were located along the trail. The search was called off by LE within half a mile of where a second vehicle was stolen.

A few weeks ago, the team was called out to confirm that an individual had fallen in a pond. Scent was taken from the individual’s truck door handle. Two dogs separately trailed the individual down a steep bank to give their ID at the pond’s edge. Police later reported that the subject’s body was located in the deep water directly below the spot the dogs identified.

To anyone who would doubt the Kocher method, I offer up these results. From vehicle pickups, to negatives, to casting for trails, or providing direction of travel, our team has been able to provide a service that greatly benefits our community.