Hey there,
I live in the South Island of New Zealand and hunt red deer, chamois and tahr.
I have trained my dog to find my deer I have shot and he has since started to indicate live deer to me now too. Is this allowed in the USA as I have not seen this topic on any forums? Just like to connect with others to share info, training etc.

No it is not legal inMinnesota I know,but I do not know about the rest of the states. I think that there has been some discussion about using dogs to find wounded deer. It is definately not legal for them to track live deer. I have heard of some people using labs to find sheds in the winter and spring. I think that using a dog for wounded deercould be useful if there is not much of a blood trail, but if the deer is still on the move it seems likeit could end up just chasing the deer too much.

Have you hadgood luck with your dog locating wounded or dead deer?

In Alabama, US ... using hounds to "run" deer is still legal ... with certain well defined limitations. This has been a point of contention for decades. The main reason for the friction is the "slob" hunters that intentionally push dogs onto land they either have not leased for hunting or own ... and "stand" the along the boundary, staying on land that they do have under lease or own. Once upon a time, in the 1974-75 time frame, I had deer dogs. There were no restrictions then. Dog hunting was a great social time. But I soon tired of "hunting" my hunting dogs all night long and gave them to a good friend. Went back to my 1960's roots as a stand hunter and have been here ever since.

Most of the dog hunters use the usual suspect scent hounds. I know of no one that uses Coursers. Not enough open ground to "sight run". The more popular hounds down this way are Redbone, Plott, Walker, Black & Tan, Beagle, Catahoula Curr, etc. ... and every imaginable cross there of.

As for "blood trailing". That too is legal here. I use Dachshunds. I have 2 ... Mojo and Tex. They both have been very good, with Tex (now 15 and at the end of his career no doubt) being superb. Mojo is 4 and did super last year. Mojo found 9 total last fall, 3 we would not have recovered otherwise.

Its not allowed in pa. and as far as i know nydoesnt allow it either.
sorry whizz

hey wizz send me a pm and ill hook ya up with any type deer hound web site and forum you would want.

Hey dirtybird,
Yep, I trained him for just this purpose and he has found all deer I have shot when hunting with him. He stays at heel till after the shot when I command him "seek". He then leaves me and finds the downed animal where he sits beside it. If he and the deer are out of my sight then I begin walking in the direction I last saw him he will come back to me if i haven't found them both whereupon I command him seek again repeating the process until I find them both. This has worked on all the deer we have harvested together. As for live deer he stays at heel at all times and I keep an eye on his body language. He scents high with his nose and becomes quite animated when fresh scent is on the wind. I never let him chase live deer it is not lawful and it is an anathema to me anyway. When he finds on a wounded deer he comes straight back to me and will not return to the animal without me i.e. he leads me to it but not the same as if it were dead. I never taught this it is something he learned himself. I would really like it if he learned how to butcher, pack and carry them out too! I would post a pic of him but don't now how?
Whizz

Hi dirtybird,
I think I have worked out the photo upload. This is Moss a greyhound/heading dog cross a breed known as a lurcher. The breed was used mostly for chasing game like hares etc in Europe I believe though I don't allow Moss to chase anything except a ball or stick.

Wow, that is fantastic. In Colorado hunting with dogs is not leagal nor is it leagal to use dogs to track game. Here it is pretty much state by state. I would love to have a dog that I could take big game hunting with me. There are several breeds out there that I think would do well finding birds, shed antlers and wounded game.

We are working on legalizing it in PA. There is a bill in the house now.

It most certainly is legal in NY with licensed dogs, it's legal in MD, NJ, and OH as well as many other states.

Check out http://www.unitedbloodtrackers.org/

In Illinois you can use a dog to track wounded deer, but I do not think you can have any type of weapon while tracking.