Leashed in Ohio
And this is where the trackers could also help in the process. I don't think the trackers in NYS are allowed to charge a fee as it was originally set up as a service to augment and supplement the efforts of the hunter after they tried to track and couldn't find the deer. I have had two occasions where I called a dog. Both deer were unrecovered. Both deer were bucks. One was a whopper..... my fault, I used a 7/8" diameter broadhead and it went just below the spine. It still haunts me. Anyway, at least how it used to work here in NY, you had to call, you spoke to dog tracker and he asked you a ton of questions first and most of it was trying to "wheedle" out the lazy SOB who didn't want to bother putting in the time and effort themselves first. But I agree with you @Bowonly, you would hope that would be the only time someone would elicit the skills of a tracker and tracking dog. And yes, they do accept donations but they are volunteers here in NYS. Unless that has changed. Its called "Deer Search" here in NY.
This is a valid point but I would also make an argument from my point of view as a handler of 2 black mouth cur recovery dogs (one is still in training). I'm apart of Nose to the ground in Virginia where we track for free. I walk through a set of questions with every hunter. This list is not in order, but goes like this. Tree or blind, if it's a tree how many feet up and how far was the deer? That's for an idea of the shot angle. I ask the orientation of the deer when the shot occurred, where the hunter thinks they hit, and how the deer responded when it left the hit sight. Lastly I asked how much have they tracked and for a picture of the blood trail if they have it, and what the blood trail was like. If it looks like a decent blood trail and everything is consistent with a solid vital shot I encourage the hunter to push farther to see if they'll pick up on blood again. Where I disagree with this is if the hunter puts forth 1000% before I arrive but it was an iffy shot, they've made my dogs job much harder. Now my dogs have to determine if the blood or scent from the interdigital gland on the ground is from the hunter tracking it through the woods on their feet or if it was the deer. My dog always has to determine if the hunter just did a figure 8 or if the deer did. In my opinion if you think you need a dog, especially with nose to the ground, reach out. The worst answer you can get from me is no, I'm not available. By the way, @Red Beard invited me to this forum a few weeks ago because I want to get into saddle hunting myself and I enjoy it!! Thank yall!!
The Coleman Lantern probably has saved many a bowhunter a lot of grief over the years.
I like this discussion! I’ve recently heard on multiple platforms I immediately backed out & got a hold of a tracker. What’s troubling is you don’t know what effort was put forth in the initial assessment to make that call. I had a shot this season recently that all that was needed to recover a fatally wounded deer was time & woodsmanship , it turned out well. I had another that I lost all blood going through a marsh & went back out with the intention of grid searching, but also brought my beagle pup. He went through the marsh until it was too deep , I picked him up & got him to dryer ground he immediately started wind checking & signaling. He bee lined to my doe from the downwind side no blood trail. I think I would’ve eventually found that deer that afternoon but he saved me hours & I was able to spend that time back tracking her trail so I could better learn how she used that marsh to escape. It should help my recovery skills long term & maybe a new ambush spot… I don’t dislike the use of dogs I just don’t like if it’s being promoted as a bailout for iffy shots or poor woodsmanship.
Me and my female Riley went knee deep in a swamp few weeks ago. We don't have too many swamps in Virginia. Track was 30 hours old and about 600 yds long. We bumped the buck off a bed. Confirmed it was him from the diarrhea and blood in the bed.
I remember when those string kits for arrows were heavily advertised at least 30 years ago. There was also some old technology that placed a tracking chip in the arrow tip to locate the arrow, if it stayed with the deer.
Where do you live? I know the county Redbeard is in so just curious how far you traveled for his track.
I live in Stafford County. It was only 30 minutes for me. Don't know if you're familiar with the VA area but I've gone all the way to great falls on a track. I've also gone all the way out to orange. We try to stay within an hour from home but it doesn't always work out like that.
