NY Bowhunter

It's perfectly legal to track wounded deer with dogs. Illegal to hunt with dogs. In fact I believe a licensed tracker with his dog can finish the job with a sidearm if he comes across the deer still alive (not 100% sure on that, but I believe that's true).

I had a wirehaired dachsound track a buck for me years ago. It was a high hit with a very weak bloodtrail. I shot it in the afternoon andbloodtrailed on my hands and knees for about 20 hours straight (took a break to get something to eat and drink). Finally got to that dreaded point of not another drop of blood for another 2 or 3 hours. Followed the tracks as far as we could untill we lost them in some thick junk(another 2 or 3 hours of searching). Last resortto call a bunch of buddies and grid search (don't know how many hours). It wasdark again (more than 24 hours after I first started). I told my buddies to beat it, they were pretty whooped from helping me. I plugged away alone for a few more hours with the lights. Had no concept of time at that point. Went home and grabbed a few hours of sleep and headed back at first light. I walked a nearby creek up and down for a few miles to no avail. I worked my way backwards at last blood and looked at different avenues he may have gone. Followed 2 or 3 different avenues for a few hundred yards each looking for another print or drop. NOTHING!! Almost 2 days into looking for him and I was pretty much bummed and out of options.

Soooooooooo I called my archery shop and got a number of a couple of different trackers. He came out with his pooch. I have to say I was totally amazed at how the dog worked. We started heading to where I shot the buck and the dog was on the trail following my ribbon line like a string. What took me sometimes a half hour to find a drop of blood 50 yards apart, this dog was on in a second. We got to my last ribbon and I was interested to see what was going to happen next. The dog didn't miss a beat. He stayed on the trail and the tracker would yell out "more blood" (size of an eraser) as the dog kept going. He ended up following it for more than 500 yards and got a little sidetracked when the deer crossed the road. Took him awhile to pick it up again after that. He seemed to be on something, but we couldn't see any more blood. He followed a trail of something to a creek (different one) and couldn't pick it up again. We decided at that point to call it off. After he and the dog left I walked around the creek where the dog lost the trail for a few more hours. I wish the story had a happier ending, but we never recovered the deer. I'm inclined to believe he is (was) still walking around.

I will say that I was amazed at the distance the dog followed the trail after my last blood. From what I understand they actually follow the scent of the deer track rather than blood. The tracker said next time (hopefully won't be) call as soon as you can so the trail is still hot and the dog has a better chance. He also seemed to believe the deer probably wasn't fatally wounded.Made me feel a little better but not much. If I ever have a real screwy bloodtrail that I'm not 100% sure of I won't hesitate to call a dog again.

All in all I think the whole ordeal was close to 3 days of looking for him.