Wild Game Recovery

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RockinU

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Just wanted to post a good resource for finding out whether or not it is legal to use tracking dogs in each state, and if it is for finding a dog handler in your area. Pretty Self-explanatory: http://www.unitedbloodtrackers.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3&Itemid=6

I know many feel they need to do all the tracking themselves, and that somehow bringing in a dog is cheating, but we owe it to the animals we hunt to make every reasonable effort to recover them after the shot. Some of these trackers may charge a modest fee for their services, but you need to keep in mind that it can be a lot of work to run a track, and that every time they take their dog on a track that valuable dog is put at risk, sometimes considerable risk.
 
While I can certainly understand rules prohibiting the use of dogs to hunt/run deer, once they're wounded I fail to see why at a minimum a leashed tracking dog should ever be prohibited. I hear stories all the time about hunters that tried for sometimes 2-3 days to track a wounded animal and ultimately gave up or if they found it about all it was still good for would be a European mount. Having a dog to track it might well have enabled not only a shorter period of suffering for the animal but would also prevent the wastage of the meat and hide. Also, considering that many (most?) hunters after abandoning the search for the wounded animal will go back to hunting and may well shoot another animal, the recovery of the first would have possibly given another hunter the chance to harvest an animal (at least in states with a 1/year bag limit), or allowed that second animal to grow that much larger and more impressive for the following year.
 
I agree completely, but it is against the law in many states. And in some states where it is legal there are crazy limits on it. I understand why many states require the dog to be leashed, but even that is going to diminish the recovery of leg shot deer. Others do not allow tracking at night, or if you do track at night you can not carry a weapon, while still others do not allow you to carry a weapon at all while tracking. That's all good and well until there is a live deer at the end of your track. Sometimes those live deer are pretty mad, and have violent intentions...and you have no way to defend yourself or your dog. United Blood Trackers is working hard in the political arenas around the country to try and remedy the problems.
 
To witch I'll add that you who nay say the use of dogs for coursing deer have never done it, don't understand it, and have many misconceptions surrounding the practice.

It is both sporting and ethical. Properly conducted it is no more destructive of the resource than any other method and likely that bias against it is a consequence of it's association with market hunting.

Truly, it IS the most difficult way to kill a good buck you'll ever try!

Guess it depends on what you term 'fair chase'............hot pursuit or ambush. Frankly, I just have a major problem imagining anything much more boring that sittin' in a tree and watchin' the grass grow!
 
dogrunner - I don't know the game laws or the general hunting situation of FL, but in WA its bad enough trying to get a buck in between all the other hunters out here, and if they allow the running of dogs it would quite literally make it too dangerous and difficult to attempt to hunt in the midst of a season where dog running was allowed.

If the area you're in has a high enough deer population to support courseing deer, go for it. I don't necessarially have a problem with it in that case.
 
I understand what you're saying, Rockinu.....guess I should've made myself a bit clearer with that post. My point is that it is simply stupid to prohibit the use of tracking dogs to recover wounded game and I strongly suspect that those positions are a direct result of the bias I referenced.

One thing is for sure, if one uses a good dog the recovery rate is dramatically increased. I have had 'still' hunters approach me or my group begging us to help them find a wounded deer that otherwise would have surely been buzzard food..

I grew up in the Appalachians wherein the use of hunting or recovery dogs for deer was strictly illegal.......utterly stupid and wasteful and served absolutely no management purpose whatever. And truly, using those dogs to hunt with is really very little different than using them for recovery purposes...........like I said, those that haven't done it, truly don't understand it. All it really does is get deer moving, much like man drives do.
 
Years ago, I was given this explanation from a local warden about the use of dogs for recovering wounded deer. This was his interpretation of the law and said it may vary amongst other wardens. In Wisconsin, it is illegal to use dogs to aid you in the hunting of deer....period. It is also illegal to allow your dogs to run live deer, whether they are wounded or not. It is also illegal to allow your dog/dogs to kill a deer....wounded or not, and then tag it as a legally taken animal. But......... it is legal to take your dog in the woods to help you find a dead deer that was legally shot with the appropriate weapon for the season...... as long as the dog is under control and you are not actively hunting.

In other words, he said you best not have a gun or a bow in your possession, while cold trailing a wounded deer with the aid of a dog. That goes for any one else that may be assisting you. This allows you to find a deer that would go to waste otherwise, be keeps one from bending the rules and taking a deer that was not mortally wounded or another deer you happen upon that was not wounded at all.
 
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