Help needed NOW with the Leashed Tracking Bill in PA

This came from Andy Bensing and his organization Deer Recovery of Pennsylvania:

The effort to legalize Leashed Tracking Dogs for recovering wounded deer in PA has been ongoing for 17 years and right now we are the closest we have ever been and almost there.  The PA Game Commission, PFSC, USP, UBP, QDMA ,NRA and 97% of PA hunters as of the last survey taken support the legalization of Leashed Tracking Dogs.  HB1722 which will legalize the use of Leashed Tracking Dogs has passed the House and is awaiting a final vote on the Senate floor. 

The problem is that HB1722 has been languishing on the Senate Calendar for the last month and has not been brought up for the final vote.  There are 2 weeks left in Harrisburg before the Senate goes on Summer Recess.  If HB1722 doesn’t come up for vote by the end of June, PA hunters will be going another hunting season this fall without access to Leashed Tracking Dogs.

The Leashed Tracking Dog movement needs every hunter’s help right now.  
There is no time to waste.  To help make this finally happen, here is what you need to do.

Send an email or letter to Senator Jake Corman right away.  Tell him you support HB1722, the Leashed Tracking Dog bill,  and ask him to bring it up for a final vote on the Senate floor.  If you are really feeling motivated, in addition to sending an email, call his office and let his office know you would like him to bring HB1722 up for vote.  Senator Corman is the Leader in the Senate and he is in charge of deciding which bills get a chance to be voted on.  Here is the contact info for Senator Corman: http://www.senatorcorman.com/contact/

Are leashed blood tracking dogs going to be legal in Pennsylvania soon?

It has been a very long and difficult road to legalize the use of blood tracking dogs in Pennsylvania. Nobody knows it better than Andy Bensing, President of the United Blood Trackers and Deer Recovery of Pennsylvania. In October 2014 he wrote an excellent article "Why Can't I use My Dog?", which gave a good analysis of the situation and objections to tracking dogs in PA and other non-legal states.

Next week identical bills allowing leashed tracking dogs will be voted on in the PA House and the Senate. See the full text here.  Quote: "It shall be lawful to do any of the following:

(1) Make use of a dog to pursue, chase, scatter and track wild turkeys during the fall wild turkey season.
(2) Make use of a leashed blood-tracking dog to track a white-tailed deer or bear in an attempt to recover an animal which has been legally killed or wounded during any open season for white-tailed deer or bear." 

According to Andy there is a very good chance that both bills are going to pass. We are going to keep our fingers crossed that PA is going to turn green on this map:

Leashed Blood Tracking Dogs in Pennsylvania – Update

By Andy Bensing

The Senate Game and Fisheries Committee met on Wednesday 12/4/2013 and HB451, the leashed blood tracking dog Bill, was on the agenda.  I was pretty excited when I heard the week before that the Chairman had decided to put the bill on the agenda.  I and other Deer Recovery of PA members have been working for over 13 years to gain legalization in PA.  We have gotten 3 bills out of the House of Representatives during that time and into the Senate Game and Fisheries committee.  Our current bill under consideration in the committee, HB451, was unanimously passed by the House last May.  Well my excitement turned into another letdown when once again the bill was tabled for purposes of further discussion/clarification.  The committee members’ general consensus was that they needed more clarification as to how the dogs would be used and how the program would operate in the field.

This is quite frustrating to myself and other hard working members of DRP.  We have been working for years to educate the legislature.  We send them packets of information, offer unfettered access to us to answer questions and meet with them or their assistants to explain what we do and answer questions.  Just this past August and September one of our members personally met with 10 of the 11 committee members or their assistants in one on one meetings at the capital to explain what we do, why we do it and how it is done in other states.

With all this effort on our part our tracking dog bill has been brought up in the Senate Game and Fisheries 3 times in the last 18 months and always has ended up with the same result.  Tabled because they need more information.

The meeting did have one bright note in that the consensus was that the committee was not completely against the bill, they did table it instead of voting it down, but they wanted more specifics written into it as to how it would actually be run by the Game Commission once enacted.  Several members of the committee spoke with us after the meeting and asked us to assist with that.  Also, the Chairman did commit to holding an informational public hearing early next year to try and work out some of these issues.

So all in all the meeting did not live up to my early expectations but we did inch forward a little bit.  One thing about blood trackers that’s for sure, we don’t give up easily.

Urgent call for help! Support legalization of blood tracking dogs in Pennsylvania now!

These are just few pictures of many that show deer recovered by Andy Bensing and his tracking wirehaired dachshund Eibe this fall. Even though Andy lives in Pennsylvania these deer were tracked in Maryland. Andy loves helping hunters recover deer that they are not able to find by themselves but unfortunately the use of blood tracking dogs is illegal in Pennsylvania. Read more what Andy posted on Facebook today:

 

I and many of my friends have been working for 13 years to change a hunting law in Harrisburg to legalize the use of leashed tracking dogs to help recover deer that a hunter has shot and has not been able to locate himself just using his eyes. Our current bill is very close to becoming law. If you would like to help please read the rest of this message and send a few emails to Harrisburg ASAP.
Thanks in advance,
Andy Bensing

Recent developments in Harrisburg make it urgent that you email or call to all the Senate Game and Fisheries Committee Members immediately. Please contact them yet tonight or tomorrow. Send your email on Thanksgiving day if that is all the sooner you can get to it but PLEASE get it done.
Chairman Alloway is considering putting HB451, our Blood Tracking Bill, on the agenda for passage next Wednesday, December 4th, but it will only happen if the other committee members express their support for HB451 to Chairman Alloway in advance. That's why you need to contact all committee members right now and ask them to support HB451 and request it be put on the agenda.

Get any of your interested friends and relatives to write as well. The more the better. With enough hunter interest and support this may actually happen finally this year.

Here is a list of all the Senate Game and Fisheries Committee email addresses. Just address your email, "Dear Senator" and BCC copy it to them all.
Write your own letter or use the Sample below but please just write and do it immediately. There is no time to waste.
alloway@pasen.gov wdando@pasenate.com cmcilhinney@pasen.gov jscarnati@pasen.gov lbaker@pasen.gov mbrubaker@pasen.gov jcorman@pasen.gov rrobbins@pasen.gov boscola@pasenate.com brewster@pasenate.com SenatorSmith@pasenate.com

Sample letter:
Dear Senator,
I am very happy to hear that Chairman Alloway is considering putting HB451, the Leashed Blood Tracking Dog Bill, on the December 4, 2013 Senate Game and Fisheries Committee meeting agenda for passage out of committee. I support the legalization of leashed blood tracking dogs here in PA and I hope you do as well.

I ask that you let Chairman Alloway know that you are in favor of HB451 and you would like to see it come up for a vote at the upcoming committee meeting.

The legalization of the use of leashed blood tracking dogs for the recovery of wounded deer and bear has been rapidly spreading across the country for the last 10 years. All the major PA sportsman’s clubs (PFSC, UBP, NWTF, USP, QDMA) support HB451. The PGC has supported HB451 with a resolution and Governor Corbett on the advice of the Governor's Advisory Council for Hunting, Fishing and Conservation supports the bill as well. With all this support I hope now will be the time to finally pass this bill. I hope you can help.

Support PA Bill HB881: urgent call to action!

by Andy Bensing

 

This photo could soon be a reality in Pennsylvania!

 

There never was a more critical time than right now for legalization. We are very close. This week the Pennsylvania Game Commission re-confirmed its commitment to passage of HB881 and our bill now sits poised to be brought up again in the Senate Game and Fisheries Committee in early October. To make sure that happens successfully everyone needs to immediately email all the Committee members and ask them to vote yes for HB881 when it comes before them in committee. Your email does not have to be very detailed. Just express your support for HB881 and ask them for theirs. If you are not a PA resident, let them know how well blood tracking dogs have worked in your state. Here is a list of all the Senate Game and Fisheries Committee email addresses. Just address your email, "Dear Senator" and BCC copy it to them all.

alloway@pasen.gov 

nsilcox@pasen.gov 

wdando@pasenate.com 

jscarnati@pasen.gov

mbrubaker@pasen.gov 

jeichelberger@pasen.gov 

wozniak@pasenate.com

 brewster@pasenate.com 

boscola@pasenate.com 

cyniguez@pasen.gov 

cmcilhinney@pasen.gov

Time is of the essence. There are only a few days left in this legislative session. Please act now and send those emails.

Short Sample Version:

Dear Senator,
I am writing to ask you to support HB881 and assist in its passage. HB881 will allow for the use of leashed tracking dogs to recover wounded deer that the hunter has been unable to recover on his own. 32 other states, including our neighbors, NY, MD, and OH have been allowing this for years with no problems and I do not see any reason why it should not be legal here in PA. Please vote yes when it comes in front of you for a vote.
 

Sincerely,

Blood tracking dogs in the press; the situation in Pennsylvania

Recently there have been quite a few articles in the printed and online press on the subject of blood tracking dogs:

•  The July issue of Dog World has an article by Darren Warner "Deer Detectives" on page 38. Darren Warner is a freelance outdoor writer, photographer and deer hunter from Michigan. The article is spread over four pages and contains numerous pictures, some of which we supplied. The Dog World has a section of extras online and there is a link to our video of Summer when she worked a line as a young puppy.

• The August issue of Deer & Deer Hunting magazine has an article "A Nose For Deer" by Alan Clemons (page 33). It mentions United Blood Trackers.

Much has been written recently about the situation in Pennsylvania. The PA House Bill 881 was passed unanimously in the House  (197-0) on May 22. Things were looking really promising, but once the bill got to the Senate it got, unfortunately, referred it to the Game Fisheries Committee. The recent history of the bill can be viewed here. the below articles deal specifically with Pennsylvania.

• Release the Dogs by was written by Ad Crable for Lanacaster Online and it was also published this week in Pennsylvania Outdoor News.

• Two days ago Lancaster Online published another article This dog is on the right track by P.J.Reilly. The article is about Kevin Lutz from Columbia, PA and his wirehaired dachshund Archie (who happened to be sired by our Billy). Kevin, just like Andy Bensing, lives in PA but is not able to help fellow hunters there. He loves to track so he travels to Maryland.

• Craig Dougherty dedicated his recent blog post on Outdoor Life website to the Pennsylvania situation. Its title is very appropriate: Pennsylvania Sportsmen Fight to Allow Tracking Dogs for Deer Recovery.

For more information about the battle in PA go to Deer Recovery of Pennsylvania.

Andy Bensing's wirehaired dachshund Eibe cannot be used for recovery of wounded deer in Pennsylvania, where it is illegal to track with dogs. Andy has to travel to Maryland to track there.

Is the use of blood tracking dogs going to be legal in Pennsylvania soon?

Andy Bensing reports: After finally getting out of the Game and Fisheries committee where it languished for the last year our Tracking bill traveled quickly, for legislation in PA, through the House of Representatives over the last few weeks and was passed today by a vote of 197-0. Now it's on to the Senate. There is a reasonable chance we may be tracking in PA yet this year.

From Rep. Jeff  Pyle's link:

HARRISBURG – The House of Representatives today voted overwhelmingly to approve House Bill 881, legislation authored by Rep. Jeff Pyle (R-Armstrong) that would help reduce the instances of hunters losing wounded game animals.

The measure simply permits hunters to use a leashed tracking dog to locate a wounded large game animal (whitetail deer or black bear) if needed in order to conserve Pennsylvania’s wild resources and to ensure the animal does not suffer needlessly.

“The idea for this legislation came from my constituent, Susan Edwards of Buffalo Township, who was concerned about the wasted resources resulting from game animals that are wounded but never found by the hunter,” Pyle said. “It also helps make certain our game is harvested humanely.”

Support Pennsylvania House Bill 881

Reposted from http://www.publicopiniononline.com/opinion/ci_18636739

Pennsylvania House Bill 881 was introduced in March. This bill would provide deer hunters with a remarkable tool to aid in the recovery of their deer. HB 881 would allow the use of leashed tracking dogs for the recovery of wounded deer in Pennsylvania.

These dogs have been featured in many hunting magazines and outdoor TV shows. Studies show them to be highly effective at recovery of mortally wounded deer the hunter was unable to find himself. This method of finding a down deer is legal in 33 states.

Some outfitters in those states will use a tracking dog on every shot, to provide an efficient way to find a deer that is not observed to go down. This is very important to disabled or color blind hunters. This protects their herd from waste, is less disruptive to other hunters, and provides valuable information as to whether the animal is mortally hit.

State Rep. Mark Keller sits on the House Game and Fisheries Committee in Harrisburg. Deer hunters in his district should contact his office to ask why this method -- surveyed to be 97 percent favorable among deer hunters across the state, and supported by the NWTF, the Pennsylvania Federation of Sportsmen's Clubs, United Bowhunters of Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Game Commission -- was not on the agenda for the June committee meeting.

We can use trained dogs to aid and recover various small game in Pennsylvania. Is that wildlife any more important than whitetail deer?

Susan Edwards
 

Susan Edwards with her beagle at Trackfest 2008 in Pennsylvania

Support legalization of blood tracking in Pennsylvania!

As a member of Deer Recovery of Pennsylvania I got this message from Andy Bensing, who is a leader of this organization.

We are gearing up for what hopefully will be a successful drive to finally get Blood Tracking legalized here in PA this year. To that end I have started a new thread on Huntingpa.com. There is a poll on that thread and it would be great if you could log on and vote. The poll is going well but the greater the number of people that vote the better. Please go to click here.  If you are not already a member of Huntingpa.com it only takes a minute to register. In addition to voting, try to leave a brief comment on the thread to bring the topic back up to the top of the Forum so it gets good exposure. I will be going to Harrisburg shortly to begin lobbying the new legislature and I would like to take the results of this poll with me and have it show that a lot of hunters are supportive so again, please log on and vote.


It has been a really long battle to make tracking wounded deer with leashed dogs legal in PA. On June 29th, 2010 Pennsylvania Game Commissioners officially supported House Bill 2526 that would amend the Game and Wildlife Code (Title 34) to legalize the use of leashed blood tracking dogs to recover lawfully harvested or lawfully wounded white-tailed deer. Let's make it happen!

Related post:
http://borntotracknews.blogspot.com/2009/01/objections-raised-abut-legalization-of.html

Deer Recovery of Pennsylvania

Deer Recovery of PA has been very active over the last few months soliciting support across the state for legalization of the use of leashed tracking dogs.  Legalization won't occur anymore this year but the stage seems to be set for big progress early next year when a new legislative session begins.  Their recently updated website includes a good video explaining blood tracking to the general public.  Go to http://www.deerrecoverypa.org 

Blood tracking dogs in the press

Today I have come across two articles on the use of blood tracking dogs.

The first one is Dogs on the Trail by P.J. Reilly, Woods and Waters was posted today click here. It covers recent developments regarding possible legalization of blood tracking in Pennsylvania. Andy Bensing, a good friend of ours and a driving force behind Deer Recovery of Pennsylvania,  is featured in the article.

And Bensing and his wirehaired dachshund Eibe

The second article comes from the current issue of North American Whitetail and was written by Tracy Breen - The Scent of a Whitetail. It can be viewed click here. I am glad to see that John Engelken featured in the article has a book coming up soon "Tracking Monsters". It can be preordered from his website http://www.bloodtrackingdogs.com/. The picture comes from the article and shows John's bloodhound Jesse.

Call for hunters' action in Pennsylvania

From Andy Bensing of Deer Recovery of PA:

On June 29th, 2010 Pennsylvania Game Commissioners officially supported House Bill 2526 that would amend the Game and Wildlife Code (Title 34) to legalize the use of leashed blood tracking dogs to recover lawfully harvested or lawfully wounded white-tailed deer. Now Pennsylvania hunters need to contact the Chairmen of the Game & Fisheries Committees in Harrisburg: Representative Ed Staback EStaback@pahouse.net  and Senator Richard Alloway alloway@pasen.gov.

Tell them you want blood tracking dogs legalized in Pennsylvania!