Hunter’s Best Friend Banned?

The first tenant of ethical hunting is to do everything in your power to make a quick, lethal shot. At Deer & Deer Hunting, we pride ourselves in being the No. 1 leading resource for hunters to learn about shot placement and whitetail anatomy. (See our ground-breaking Shot Simulator app.)

Next is your responsibility to recover your game. We’ve also covered
blood trailing and finding Blood Trailing Whitetailsyour deer to the nth degree. In fact, this week’s
show (airing Saturday morning on Versus) really delves into the subject, and we are now offering a master resource for hunters who want all of our tracking and trailing information in one place. It’s called Blood-Trailing Whitetails, and it’s available now on shopdeerhunting.com.

But even the best tracker’s can use a little help sometimes … especially in warm weather or in areas loaded with coyotes.

This is where blood-trailing dogs come in. Blood-trailing dogs have been legal in most Southern states forever. However many Northern states outlawed blood-trailing dogs in the late 1800s. Today, that trend is reversing. In the past 25 years, 15 states have legalized the use of blood-trailing dogs for the recovery of big game.

A few years ago, Wisconsin legalized blood-trailing dogs, provided they are leashed. I have personally witnessed dogs finding deer when the blood trail seemed to dry up. (Although the leash provision can be a hindrance to the dogs’ performance, as human companions often lead the dogs astray.)

These animals are invaluable resources for ethical hunters. Yet, as many as 16 states ban there use. This is a subject few non-hunters have heard about, and many current hunters barely think about. Why are these valuable tools being withheld? Perhaps its time for hunters to speak up. There’s no shame in asking for help in finding your game. Whitetails are incredibly resilient and a "dead-on-its-feet" deer can go a long way. Lets do everything we can to recover that animal.

state regulations

For more information on blood-trailing dogs and a resource for getting legislation started in your state visit www.unitedbloodtrackers.org.

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