Dogs: A Deer Tracking Hunter’s Best Friend?
Phillip, over at the Hog Blog, had a pretty interesting post on his blog today. The premise of the post is about tracking wounded deer with dogs, and if that should be allowed or not. This whole topic came to light because the Minnesota Deer Hunters’ Association is thinking about asking the Minnesota DNR to allow the use of dogs for recovering wounded deer.
Michigan already allows this, as long as the dog is on a leash, so I really didn’t realize that there were hunters who were against it. Apparently, though, as Phillip mentioned in his post, Jim Braaten, from the Sportsman’s Blog, doesnt exactly have the warm feelings about this issue that I do, or Phillip does.
Mr. Braaten feels that allowing dogs to track wounded deer “will only encourage hunters to be more sloppy and careless in this all-important process”.
I honestly found this way of thinking to be quite shocking. I have read Mr. Braaten’s blog many times, and have found that our thoughts on most issues were pretty much the same; with this issue we differ immensely, however.
I have tracked many deer in my life, and I honestly consider myself to be a pretty good blood trailer. Over the years Jeff and I have tracked many a wounded animal, and found many animals that other people would have given up on. We have also, as will happen to anyone who hunts, lost deer we shot. It happens. It’s part of the whole experience, but I can tell you that there were many times, that if we had a dog available to us, we would have used it. A dogs sense of smell is much more acute than a humans, and because of that, and because of my deep need to find a wounded animal, we would have used a tracking dog in a heartbeat.
I tend to not agree with Mr. Braaten that allowing the use of tracking dogs would encourage hunters to be careless with their shot placement and tracking abilities. I just think, because of the deep appreciation we hunters have for the quarry we pursue, that we should have all the available tools in order to find wounded game. We owe that to the animal don’t we?
Allowing dogs to track wounded game doesn’t cause a hunter to be more careless with his shot placement, or his tracking abilities; it simply puts another tool at his disposal that increases the chances of finding wounded game.
Isn’t that a good thing?
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I do think it is beneficial for hunters to be able to use tracking dogs to assist them in tracking deer they are otherwise unable to find. It takes longer than simply leaving your stand and following the blood trail for 30 or 40 yards (or a little more) and recovering your deer so I really don’t think that it would “encourage hunters to be more sloppy and careless…”
I believe having the tool of a dog to locate an injured deer would give hunters an edge, not to leave an unclaimed animal to die.
It is an interesting topic. Seeing that I don’t hunt it isn’t something I feel comfortable commenting on.
His statement – “Mr. Braaten feels that allowing dogs to track wounded deer “will only encourage hunters to be more sloppy and careless in this all-important process”. does give food for thought though, you have to at least say that.
Most hunters that I know, strive to be excellent shots and protectors of all wildlife and the outdoors. Most go out of their way to avoid sloppy, ill-placed shots.. because, really… who wants to brag about a gut shot deer around the campfire? While I do not use dogs and probably never will, I believe that I would rather see a wounded animal recovered, by whatever means necessary, than to know an animal lost it’s life for no reason.
I think using a dog to track a shot deer is a great idea and don’t see anything wrong with it. In fact, I think I’m going to start training my dog to do it this weekend!
I don’t think that even enters the equation. When I put the sights on an animal I am thinking ‘Kill dead’. I’m not thinking, ‘shucks I only see the back end of this deer so if I wound it I can always go get the dog.’ I’ve always been a proponent to tracking blood with dogs on leash. Evidently there is some reason there is resistence to this but I can’t believe it could be that hunters would become more careless. I’ve two sons and a father in law that are color blind and I know it would help them.
My view is this..I have seen many great placed shots on deer that have went along way! Or deer that have just found a great place to hide before dying..There have been a few nights when I wished I had a dog just for that reason! I have walked around a dead deer for hours only to find out he was within 30 yards. With a dog that wont happen!
“In my opinion it’s sort of a dumbing down of the hunter to think that the use of dogs is sometimes THE ONLY option for the recovery of game”
Jim Braaten, from the Sportsman’s Blog,
I apologize for being blunt, but what a load of garbage. A trail dog is a TOOL just like the rifle/bow you shot the deer with, the flashlight that you use to help look for your deer, the scope/pins you use to aim, etc.
Don’t get me wrong, you could make an argument that any and all of our modern hunting tools make hunting too easy. However we live in a modern world, and hunters use these tools to increase their rate of success. So unless we are going to go back to when we ran animals down and killed them with our bare hands, then hunters using tools to help kill/recover game is not going anywhere.
I say if anything, by using a dog on those animals that you can’t find, that you may actually even learn MORE than if you had just given up and left it to rot/be eaten by other animals. Because when you use a dog to find that “lost” animal, you can then see that it was a fatal shot (many hunters think that just because they didn’t find their deer, that it wasn’t a fatal shot). You can also then see how the deer reacted to your shot and then use that knowledge the next time you are tracking a deer. And of course the obvious best reason to use a tracking dog is so that you don’t WASTE an animal.