Hi 3D welcome to the forum. Right now only about 2/3 of the United States allows the use of tracking dogs in one form or another. Some states allow the dog to search free other restrict it to the dog must be on leash. I have the info for most states right now as to what they allow. You do not have to have a dog on retainer to hunt. In fact there are still a lot of hunters that do not know that a tracking dog can increase thier recovery rates.I am workng on the legislative page to a new organization forming here in the states to promote the use of tracking dogs. http://www.unitedbloodtrackers.org/

As far as using dogs to pursue big game, this is more restricted. There are a few states that allow the use of dogs to "drive" the deer to the hunter, mostly in the southern states. Also some dogs are used in the pursuit of Hogs and Mountain Lions.

Were in Europe are you located? I am using Bavarian Mountain Hounds to track with. We have 3 at this time. We have 2 females from Poland and a male from Norway. My web site is http://www.geocities.com/kapkep/You can see some pictures of different BMH's from around the country that we have helped people import.