I'm going to start off by saying that I love tracking dogs and I think they are an amazing asset and should be used whenever they can help recover a deer that might be otherwise lost. I have used a tracking dog twice with one successful recovery and I spoke to another handler on the phone prior to making a successful recovery on my own. Every time I have called for a dog has been when it rained between my shot and attempted recovery.
BUT.. I think they are leading to a loss of critical blood trailing skills in hunters. Over the past 5 years or so I continue to see threads posted across the internet where people seem to put forth a lackluster tracking effort and the responses are "just call a dog".
Blood trailing is an acquired skill. The only way to get good at it is to go out and shoot deer and track. You'll make mistakes, you'll jump deer your thought were dead, but you will come out of it a better blood tracker and be able to recover more deer on your own.
BUT.. I think they are leading to a loss of critical blood trailing skills in hunters. Over the past 5 years or so I continue to see threads posted across the internet where people seem to put forth a lackluster tracking effort and the responses are "just call a dog".
Blood trailing is an acquired skill. The only way to get good at it is to go out and shoot deer and track. You'll make mistakes, you'll jump deer your thought were dead, but you will come out of it a better blood tracker and be able to recover more deer on your own.