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/

Beginnings of the United Blood Trackers

Compiled by Jolanta Jeanneney

The need for a national organization of blood trackers became evident in March 2005 when Henry Holt ran into problems regarding using tracking dogs on public land in Illinois. In his email circulated within borntotrack group (for owners of dogs bred by John and Jolanta Jeanneney), hosted by smartgroups, he wrote:

“Last season here in Illinois there was an emergency administrative rule issued prohibiting tracking on public land. Just before the season opened, Larry Gohlke, Cheri Faust, Al Diehl and I all attended a meeting in Springfield with Tim Hickman, the DNR head of public lands, Jack Price the DNR attorney in charge of wildlife and administrative rules, and Mike Kennedy a Captain in Law Enforcement (and also a Drahthaar trainer). It looked as though everything was on track until I saw a new rule published on the DNR website.

1) Tracking on public land has to be conducted outside of legal shooting hours which are 1/2 hour after sunset to 1/2 hour before sunrise.

2) Dogs must be certified as deer tracking dogs by a national dog tracking organization.”

At the time there was no national organization able to provide this kind of certification. After many emails and lively discussion, several members of borntotrack yahoo group decided to go ahead and form the organization. Ken Parker, an owner of Bavarian Mountain Hounds, was invited as well.

An organizational meeting was held July 21-22, 2005 at the home of John and Jolanta Jeanneney in Berne, NY.

Top row from left: John Jeanneney, Henry Holt, Larry Golhke; bottom row: Andy Bensing, Cheri Faust and Ken Parker. Jolanta Jeanneney was behind camera.

Present were John Jeanneney, Jolanta Jeanneney, Henry Holt, Ken Parker, Andy Bensing, Cheri Faust, Larry Gohlke, Tim Nichols (Friday).

We discussed:  Bylaws, Deer Search, Inc., Testing, Judges, Benefits of Membership, Membership Application and Dues.

The following were selected to serve on the Board of Directors:

Larry Gohlke (2006) – appointed Director of Testing

John Jeanneney (2006) – appointed Director of Education

Cheri Faust (2007) – elected as Secretary

Henry Holt (2007) – appointed as Director of Membership and elected as Vice President

Susanne Hamilton (2007)

Ken Parker (2008) – elected as Treasurer

Andy Bensing (2008) – elected as President

Jolanta Jeanneney (2008) – appointed as Director of Publicity

Initial UBT-approved judges were:

•             Larry Gohlke

•             John Jeanneney

•             Jolanta Jeanneney

•             Henry Holt

•             Andy Bensing

A Board of Directors meeting was held September 23, 2005 at the Black Horse in Denver, PA, and on September 25, 2005 at D-Bar-W Equestrian Center in Reinholds, PA. Present were: Andy Bensing (President/Director-2008), Cheri Faust (Secretary/Director-2007), John Jeanneney (Director of Education-2006), Jolanta Jeanneney (Director of Publicity-2008) and Larry Gohlke (Director of Testing-2006)

The Secretary received a letter from Henry Holt, who resigned as an Officer and Director.  Dave Johnson was elected for the Board of Directors to serve as Director of Publicity.  John Jeanneney was selected to fill the vacancy of Vice President.  Jolanta Jeanneney was appointed as Director of Membership.

In 2005 Bylaws were drafted, finalized and incorporation was filed with the State of Illinois.  A website (www.unitedbloodtrackers.org) was established.  The Board of Directors has exchanged over 1,600 messages via the email group list, in addition to private emails, telephone communications and discussions at other events for organizational purposes. Even though the organization was started mainly by handlers of tracking dachshunds, it has never discriminated against other breeds. From the beginning handlers of all kind of tracking dogs have been accepted, regardless whether their tracking dogs were purebred or not.

The next meeting of the Board of Directors was held on June 12, 2006 at Neal and Debbie Meyer’s, Quincy, Illinois, the site of Trackfest 2006. Even though this event was not officially affiliated with the United Blood Trackers, it was organized by the core of the UBT and everybody present was encouraged to join the organization. The report from this events is at http://www.born-to-track.com/trackfest.html.  Neal Meyer’s dachshund Chloe was the first dog certified by the UBT. This was a press release describing it:

First Dog Certified To Track Wounded Deer On State Lands

Chloe, a wirehaired dachshund owned by outfitter Neal Meyer, was the first dog tested and approved to track wounded deer on state-owned lands in Illinois. The bill passed in 2004 legalized the use of leashed tracking dogs. The associated regulations require that any dog tracking on Illinois state lands must pass a test demonstrating basic ability and training.

Chloe’s blood tracking test was administered by United Blood Trackers (www.unitedbloodtrackers.org), a national organization, on June 11, 2006. The dog was required to track a blood line with two sharp turns for a quarter of a mile to part of a deer that was placed at the end of the line. The small amount of blood used for the simulated trail, combined with the heavy ground cover, would have made the line very difficult or impossible for a hunter to track by eye.

Dachshund Chloe has little in common with the beloved wiener dogs of cartoonists. She is bred from German hunting stock, has longer legs and a harsh, wirey double coat. Chloe weighs only 20 pounds, but in her own mind she is a “big dog”, big enough to track those huge Illinois bucks, even if they are still alive.

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:

New Jersey’s Leashed Tracking Dog Program: Call to Action

by Darren Doran

This article was published in the Winter 2015 issue of Tracks and Trails, publication of the United Bowhunters of New Jersey

Unlike in the Southern States dogs and deer hunting have never mixed in the Northeast. Over fifty years ago the New Jersey legislature passed a law that prevented dogs to be used to hunt deer. The law is as follows.

23:4-46. Dogs not to be used

No person shall at any time, or for any reason, hunt for, track, search for, seek, capture or kill a wild deer with a dog.

Amended by L.1957, c. 116, p. 488, s. 1, eff. July 2, 1957.

This law was enacted to protect a fragile, recovering deer population from over-hunting, and what was considered an unfair advantage with the use of dogs.

Since that time New Jersey and its whitetail population has vastly changed. The loss of habitat to development and the ability of white-tailed deer to adapt to these landscape changes has created a thriving population of deer as well as greatly increased hours of recreational hunting in order to manage this increased deer population. Bow season now starts as early as mid-September in some parts of New Jersey when it is typically hot and the forest is still in full foliage. Add the seemingly increasing presence of coyotes to the scene and it becomes extremely important to recover deer that have been shot by hunters as quickly as possible to prevent spoilage or loss of venison from scavenging.

Most deer shot by bowhunters are recovered by the hunters themselves, but every bowhunter knows that even a well placed arrow that kills quickly can produce a blood trail that is very sparse or non-existent for a human to follow. A deer is a valuable resource and every ethical hunter will do everything in their power to recover a deer they have shot. A leashed tracking dog is a conservation tool that can help recover a deer that a hunter might not have been able to recover him or herself. This law that was originally designed to aid in the restoration of whitetails never took into consideration the conservation use of a leashed tracking dog to help recover a deer for a hunter.

Currently there are 37 states that allow some kind of big game recovery with a dog. New Jersey’s experimental tracking program began in 2008 when the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife issued a special wildlife management permit to study the usefulness and feasibility of using a leashed tracking dog to recover deer that had been shot by hunters who were having issues recovering those deer on their own.

The research permit is issued to Dr. Leonard Wolgast and it is he who is tasked with compiling and analyzing the data from the sub-permitees which are the dog handlers. That first permit had only three handlers on it which covered a limited area of the state, and had a very limited scope. Today there are 11 certified handlers and dogs on the permit, and tracking by these handler/dog teams may be conducted statewide.

The tracking permit is issued before the start of the early bow season in September and a new handler must be certified by mid-August in order to be included on that permit.

In order to show credibility to the program and basic ability, a handler and dog must complete at a minimum, a United Blood Trackers UBT 1 evaluation. This evaluation is a pass fail evaluation administrated by a UBT judge and requires the dog and handler to complete an unmarked test line consisting of 8 oz. of deer blood, 400 meters long with two 90 degree turns and 1 wound bed. The line is at least 2 hours old and the dog must lead the handler to the deer skin at the end. There are currently two UBT judges in New Jersey.

Upon successful completion of the evaluation, the handler and dog team will receive a certificate from the United Blood Trackers and inclusion on New Jersey’s permit. The handler by inclusion on the permit is then required to complete the tracking data and submit it monthly to Dr Wolgast. A tracker that does not submit their monthly reports or year-end report may be removed from the permit.

Before a tracker enters the woods with a hunter a track report is started. This includes the name, address, phone, email and CID number of the hunter. The location of the property is also included on the report. The hunter then signs the top part of this report stating that he has permission to hunt this property and that tracking is allowed. The handler then calls the regional law enforcement office in that area and reports the tracking attempt to the office. If the deer is recovered the hunter must sign the report stating that the deer was recovered.

During the tracking process all Fish and Game laws and regulations pertaining to that season must be followed. The tracking of a deer does not allow trespassing on private property without permission of the land owner.

In the early years of the research permit, few New Jersey hunters knew this service was available to them. As time passed the word has spread, and today more and more hunters are taking advantage of certified tracker and dog teams to assist in the recovery of a deer they can’t find on their own.

All the trackers are volunteers and there is no cost for this service (though a tracker is allowed to accept a donation for fuel, vet bills, dog food etc.). Please keep this in mind when you call a tracker and they are unable to respond. They all have jobs, family commitments and most of them are hunters themselves.

The New Jersey permit has stood the test of time. Past and present permittees have proven that a certified leashed tracking dog can work successfully in New Jersey. There have been no incidents involving law enforcement since the study’s inception. The United Bowhunters of New Jersey, The Traditional Archers of New Jersey, the New Jersey Outdoor Alliance, the New Jersey State Federation of Sportsman Clubs, and the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife support this. So why isn’t it legal? The answer is simple. The law needs to be amended by legislators in both the state Assembly and state Senate and then signed by the Governor. This is not a law that can be changed by members of the New Jersey Fish and Game Council via a Game Code amendment.

The Division of Fish and Wildlife has proposed the added language that would legalize tracking in the state of New Jersey and is as follows,

23:4-46 Dogs not to be used

“No person shall at any time, or for any reason, hunt for, capture or kill a wild deer with a dog. This shall not preclude the use of certified tracking dogs on leads by persons permitted by the Division of Fish and Wildlife to search for and recover deer lost by hunters during the regular deer seasons.”

We have reached our goals with this permit, and it’s now time to approach our legislators and let them know this is important to us. Every hunter I have ever tracked for, whether we found the deer or not was grateful and supportive of the service. We’re here to help you and now I’m going to need to ask you for some help. In the near future, with the help of the UBNJ, I need to initiate a letter writing campaign to selected legislators to let them know this is important to voting hunters. Very few bills that are introduced are ultimately passed each year in Trenton, and in order to stand a chance of amending a bill that most legislators would consider insignificant they need to know it matters to their constituents. A flood of letters from voting hunters will get their attention.

If this amendment became law a certified tracker would still need to call the Division of Law Enforcement before tracking, track on lead, obey the game laws, and respect the private property rights of landowners.

It will be the responsibility of the handler to obtain the required UBT 1 certification for each dog they track with and have it in their possession while tracking. If asked to produce it by a Conservation Officer while tracking, the handler must produce it or risk a citation.

The reason this will be required is to insure that this amendment will not be used as a loophole to have a dog in the field actually hunting deer. Calling the track in and having the certification will insure that the use of the dog is for the ethical recovery of a deer. The handler and leashed tracking dog team is a conservation tool used for the recovery of a dead deer. A leashed tracking dog being used to recover already shot deer is no different than a retriever used for recovering upland birds or ducks. The hunting of the deer has already been done.

Currently there aren’t enough trackers permitted in the state to meet the demand. Legalization would open the doors and attract more handlers that might be interested in tracking, but aren’t really interested in doing the paper work required to be on the permit. The more trackers available the less chance a deer with no blood trail or a lost blood trail will go unrecovered. We as hunters owe the deer we hunt every legal option we can use for recovery. A certified leashed tracking dog is another conservation tool to help meet that goal.

If you have a dog that you would like to check to see if it has an aptitude for tracking you will need to get some training materials. One way to do this is to collect blood, the liver and skin from your own deer harvests. Collect the blood and liver when you gut the deer and put it in a zip lock freezer bag. Once at home put the blood in a blender, strain the blood pour into 8 oz water bottles and freeze. One bottle will be the right amount for a training line. Take a cap of the same type of bottle and drill a few small holes in it. When you are ready to dispense the blood, switch caps. The liver can be divided into thirds and used as a drag. Take a knife and poke a slit through the liver and attach a piece of parachute cord for the drag. These can be frozen and used more than once. The hide will be saved and used to represent the deer at the end of the trail. A half of hide is plenty and these can be refrozen and used over. You will need something to mark the line so when you come back with the dog you will know exactly where it is. Clothespins with strips of flagging material work well. Clip these on branches or brush at eye level. Remove the pins as you pass with the dog. Don’t make the line too hard. Remember your first step is to see if your dog has an interest in this activity. Place the skin at the end, wait a couple of hours and see if the dog can get you to the skin. You may just find that your dog is a natural.

The time to legalize the use of certified, leashed tracking dogs to recover deer in New Jersey has come, and with your commitment to help this might become a reality.

For additional information about tracking dogs in general go to www.unitedbloodtrackers.org.

For additional information about the New Jersey program or certifying a dog please contact Darren Doran at Darren@rvwsinc.com.

Kansas and Pennsylvania are big deer hunting states where tracking dogs are still illegal

It is great to see some good articles being published in the states, where the use of blood tracking is still illegal.

• To read "Tracking dogs can sometimes help recover deer", but not in Kansas by Michael Pearce, The Wichita Eagle click here
• And in Pennsylvania the fight for legalization continues - read "Dogs could be useful in deer hunts" by clicking here

This picture shows Darren Doran's young dachshund Theo who recovered this deer in New Jersey yesterday. In New Jersey tracking is done on a special permit only. This was Theo's 16th recovery this season (out of 36 calls that Darren has taken).

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.

The use of blood tracking dogs is growing: two recent articles

There are so many blood tracking dogs working in the field these days that it is impossible for us to include all the reports we have been getting. I have never thought that a day like this would come! For John, who for decades has been promoting the use of dogs in recovery of wounded big game, this spread and rising popularity of canine trackers have brought a lot of satisfaction. Just recently he wrote an article that has been published in the October issue of NYS Conservationist under the title given by the magazine editor: "Born to Track: The Dogs of Deer Search". You can read it on DEC website or download it from click here.

No doubt there is much to be done as big deer hunting states states such as Pennsylvania and Kansas have not legalized the use of tracking dogs yet. However, it is just a matter of time. One of the best articles on this subject has been published by Scot Bestul on his Field and Stream blog "Finding Lost Deer: It’s Time For Tracking Dogs To Go National, where he writes: "We should all strive for close, lethal, and ethical shots on game. But the reality is that, if you deer hunt long enough—whether you shoot a bow, crossbow or firearm—sooner or later you’re going to hit a deer in a spot that makes finding it difficult. And sometimes rain, snow or dense cover can complicate the picture. In situations like these, using a tracking dog is not only logical, there is no more ethical option."

Of course the rising popularity of blood tracking dogs creates new challenges such as recruitment and education of new handlers, dog training and testing, and so on. We will try to make our blog as educational as we can and from now on some posts will have "themes". They will take more time and we won't be able to post daily (especially during hunting season), but in the long run it will be more informative, educational and enjoyable. For example we can write posts under themes such as training on the job, first recovery, liver-hit deer, versatile dogs, multiple finds, adolescence problems, tracking with older dogs and so on. There are many possibilities. Right now we are working on "women handlers".

We are ending this post with reports from calls that ended up with recoveries by two brothers, Theo and Thor.

Darren Doran from New Jersey who tracks with Theo von Moosbach-Zuzelek wrote:I received a call from a hunter who had shot a deer around 12 noon on the 5th. He had tracked the deer with blood about 150 yds. and then lost it. He had gut material on the arrow and had searched all around the area with no luck.

We would be tracking south of my home in Colliers Mills WMA. This is large tract of mature oak, pine and green briars surrounded by oak scrub. This land scape is mostly flat and looks pretty much the same. It is broken up by various fire trails through out. We arrived about 9am 21 hrs. after the shot and proceeded to the hit site. I told the hunter to locate the blood trail so I could start the dog. He had no marks and looked around for a while with no luck. I was beginning to think that I had been misled and was starting to get a little frustrated. I told the hunter to stop and I would do a controlled search with Theo to find the line. I put Theo down and asked him to ‘’search here’’ and within seconds he had the line and was showing us blood.

We tracked the first 150 yds. with ample blood to the hunters point of loss. At this point Theo continued on another 150 yds. showing an occasional drop of blood. We came to a spot that had an oak leaf with a quarter sized drop of blood on it. This was the last blood we found. At this point I had the hunter mark this spot and stay there. Theo continued on and we hit a sandy opening in the brush. He worked around in here a while and I wasn’t sure if he had it or not. I brought him back to the last blood and put him down. He immediately took the same direction and flew down the line. I called to the hunter and followed.

In the next 200 yds. I didn’t see a drop of blood. It was pretty thick here and Theo was tracking hard at the end of a 50 ft. lead and I couldn’t see him. All of a sudden the line when slack and I knew he was on the deer. This track took less than 30 minutes and the hunter was amazed at this. He knew would have never found the deer without the dog. This was Theo’s 9th find and one of our longer tracks that ended in a find. This makes up for the 2 hours we spent yesterday in a nasty swamp coming up empty.

Darren Doran with Theo

Bob Yax, a member of Deer Search of Finger Lakes, owns Thor von Moosbach Zuzelek (Theo's littermate) and last weekend this team recovered three deer. This is one of them. The buck laid down about 75 yds from the hit site. The hunter snuck up on him and shot another arrow at him. He missed, but the buck jumped up and went 10 more yards before laying down again. The Hunter then backed out for a few hours, but when he came back the Buck jumped up and ran off out of sight, looking pretty healthy again. The hunter called us and we came in next morning. I was thinking it was a liver hit. We found the deer dead about 150 yds up the trail, probably 300 yds from the hit site. Not sure how long he was alive at that location. The arrow caught 1 lung and put a 3 inch long x ¾ inch deep cut in the Heart. You can see the entrance wound in the other photo. The exit was out the bottom of the deer.

Bob Yax with Thor

New Jersey handlers promote the use of blood tracking dogs

On September 14 and 15 The United Blood Trackers had a booth at the New Jersey Outdoor Expo. This event is hosted by the Division of Fish and wildlife and was held at Colliers Mills WMA. The event was attended by 8,400 visitors over the 2 days. This is a 17% increase in visitor participation from the 2012 Expo. Together with exhibitors and volunteers, a diverse crowd of more than 8,700 people participated in this successful outreach event. The event is free and has a multitude of outdoor activities that are geared towards adults and kids that don’t necessarily have allot of knowledge about the outdoors.

 

The UBT booth was manned by members of the New Jersey tracking permit. Stan Kite and Rilla, Nola Wunderlich and I with Karl and Theo were there on Saturday. Rich Stollery and Ember, John Drahos and his daughter Rylee along with two new trackers Jeremy and Arthur Garey filled in on Sunday. This was pretty good considering this was the opening weekend of our archery season.

 

Blood tracking demos were held both days and were well attended by spectators. The dogs were a real magnet to kids and adults alike and we were able explain a tracking dogs function to people that had no idea what we did. This type of positive exposure to the general public will pay off later.

 

On a side note:

Over the last three years the UBT has been a member of The New Jersey Outdoor Alliance and has a seat on the Conservation Foundation. The NJOA has been assisting the tracking dog legalization effort here in NJ. At a recent meeting with the Governor’s office, the NJOA discussed the legalization of a leashed tracking dog. A bill is being crafted and is being backed by Governor Christi. Our next step will be finalizing the language and getting a Republican and Democratic sponsor. Over the last five years our tracking permit has been issued, we have slowly won over Fish and Wildlife, the Law Enforcement component, and finally the Politicians. This has been hard work and the amount of paper work our trackers have had to submit is cumbersome. I would like to thank them all for their commitment to the cause.

 

Submitted by Darren Doran, NJ Tracking Permit Coordinator

 

Arthur Garey and Dennis

 

Stan Kite with Rilla and Karl

Jeremy Garey and Faline

Daren Doran's tracking dachshunds: Karl and Theo

Rylee Drahos with Theo and Karl

A big thank you to Darren Doran for all the work that he has put into the New Jersey tracking permit. It is starting to pay off, that's for sure!

 

Support the proposal to leaglize blood trailing dogs in East Texas

Reposted from kjas.com  (thank you Claire for the link)
by Steve W Stewart

The Texas Parks & Wildlife Department says they want public input on a proposal to bring back a currently illegal deer hunting practice of tracking wounded deer with dogs. The state agency says public hearings are planned, and if approved, tracking wounded deer with dogs could soon be brought back in 12 East Texas counties, something that has been illegal since 1990.

State officials say they will take the results of the public forums into an August 22nd meeting at TPWD Headquarters in Austin.

Currently, tracking wounded deer with dogs is illegal in 34 East Texas counties. Texas Parks & Wildlife says the rule was necessary because the department determined that dogs were being used unlawfully to hunt deer, which was causing depletion.

However, the state agency says that by 2000, they determined that the practice of using dogs to track wounded deer had declined to the point of being nonexistent in some of those counties, so they removed the restriction in 10 counties.

Texas Parks & Wildlife officials say they now believe the prohibition could potentially be lifted in Harris, Harrison, Houston, Jefferson, Liberty, Montgomery, Panola, Polk, Rusk, San Jacinto, Trinity, and Walker Counties.

The meetings will be held:

~ Tuesday, July 30th, 6:00 p.m., in Woodville at the Woodville Elementary School Community Room, 306 Kirby Drive.

~ Wednesday, July 31st, 6:00 p.m., in Lufkin at the Angelina County Courthouse District Courtroom, 215 East Lufkin Avenue.

~ Thursday, August 1st, 6:00 p.m., in Hemphill at the Sabine County Courthouse District Courtroom, 201 Main Street.

Officials also say details about the proposal, along with an opportunity to provide public comment, can be found online at

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/business/feedback/public_comment/proposals/201308_deer_dog.phtml

Comment may also be made in writing, and mailed to Robert Macdonald, TPWD Regulations Coordinator, 4200 Smith School Rd., Austin, TX 78744.

Lacy Dog is an official dog breed of Texas

Blood tracking dogs become legal in Ontario

Residents of Ontario, Canada have a reason to celebrate as tracking dogs became legal there. Thanks to Joe Kopcok for the news:

Hi John. I met you in Wisconsin. My Name is Joe Kopcok  and I have Slovensky Kopov dogs. Just wanted to let you know that Ontario has legalized the use of tracking dogs. I called Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters to see what was going on with this legislation. I spoke to Mark Ryckman and he had told me that the OFAH Big Game Advisory Committee and the Wildlife Policy Section of the Ministry of Natural Resources had a meeting on May 31. The OFHA was advised that there was an amendment to the Environmental Bill of Rights with regards to use tracking dogs for big game retrieval. This is wonderful news. Dogs must be licensed, and all normal rules are to be followed (hunter orange valid big game licence etc.)

More info at
http://www.e-laws.gov.on.ca/html/source/regs/english/2013/elaws_src_regs_r13171_e.htm

This is GREAT NEWS!

Blood tracking dogs are now legal in South Dakota

We are happy to report that on March 12, 2013, South Dakota Governor Dennis Daugaard signed the House Bill #1093 which says that "A dog that is leashed and under the control of a handler may be used to track and retrieve any big game animal that is wounded or presumed dead, if the handler complies with the conditions and restrictions prescribed in this chapter and the rules promulgated pursuant to this chapter."

The history and full text of the bill can be accessed at http://legis.state.sd.us/sessions/2013/Bill.aspx?Bill=1093

Many thanks and huge congratulations go to Jonathan Eckrich, a United Blood Trackers member from South Dakota, who made it happen!

Jonathan Eckrich with Hanzo, an 11-month old Shiba Inu

that is being trained

for blood tracking.

Amendment to allow the use of leashed dogs to track wounded or presumed dead big game passes in the South Dakota House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee.

Jonathan Eckrich, a United Blood Trackers member from South Dakota reported today:

 

Today the South Dakota House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee passed (13 yea : 0 nea) an amendment to allow the use of leashed dogs to track wounded or presumed dead big game.

The bill HB1093 can be found at: http://legis.state.sd.us/sessions/2013/Bill.aspx?Bill=1093 Audio of the hearing can be found at http://sdpb.sd.gov/SDPBPodcast/2013/hag21.mp3.

 

The next step is to get it passed by the full house. This vote should occur today or tomorrow. Then the Senate Ag Committee will review it, and if it passes, send it to the full Senate. Then the governor will have to sign after that. Then the real work of hammering out the details with the GF&P begins.

This is a good start.

 

Congratulations Jonathan! This is a big step forward.

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 and their handlers at the NJ Wild Outdoor Expo 2012

By Darren Doran

Last weekend  The 2012 NJ WILD Outdoor Expo drew more than 7,200 visitors to the Colliers Mills Wildlife Management Area to learn about and experience a wide array of outdoor activities available within our state. Together with exhibitors, vendors and volunteers, more than 7,600 people participated in this very successful and highly commended event. This was a 43 percent increase in participation from the 2011 Outdoor Expo. Many of these visitors have no outdoor or hunting experience. A number of visitors remarked that the Expo was an “excellent family event” and it provided “a great introduction to outdoor skills and learning about the environment.”

The UBT booth was a great success. We had many visitors and answered a lot of questions about blood tracking and our dogs. UBT members Stan Kite and his son Lee and a friend Brandon, Rich Stollery, Nola Wunderlich, John Drahos and his daughter Rylee and myself manned the Booth for the two day event.

We put on two blood tracking demos each day and had a large gallery of spectators watching demos by Rich and Ember and Stan and Rilla on Saturday. I and Theo took the Sunday shift. This type of positive exposure of the non-hunting public to blood tracking dogs can only help the legalization efforts in New Jersey. And you never know, someday I just might be knocking on their door for permission to track across their back yard.

Rich Stollery while manning the booth

Darren's two dachshunds, Karl and Theo

Darren doing a demo with Theo

Nola Wunderlich with a drahthaar

Rylee Drahos with Theo

Stan Kita and Rilla

Rich Stollery's Ember and Darren Doran's Karl are littermates.

Thank you Darren and good luck this season!

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.”

Leashed blood trailing dogs approved by Utah

GREAT NEWS from Justin Richins from Utah, who wrote:

Utah just passed a leased tracking dog law. It was proposed at our RAC meetings and approved on Tuesday.

The wording is:
R657-5-15. Party Hunting and Use of Dogs
... (1) A person may not take big game for another person, except as provided in Section 23-19-1
and Rule R657-12.
(2) A person may not use the aid of a dog to take, chase, harm or harass big game. The use
of one blood-trailing dog controlled by leash during lawful hunting hours and within 72 hours of
shooting a big game animal is allowed to track wounded animals and aid in recovery.
Source: http://wildlife.utah.gov/public_meetings/info/2012-04_packet.pdf

Tracking news from Canada - Nouvelles Canadiennes de la Recherche

by John Jeanneney

The first Canadian Province to legalize leashed tracking dogs was British Columbia on their west coast. This occurred more than a quarter of a century ago. “B.C.” is an important province for big game hunting, but strangely the idea of tracking wounded deer,  elk, moose and bear never caught on there. Michael Schneider, a German who emigrated to B.C. and became a licensed guide, uses an Eastern European tracking dog Slovensky Kopov for tracking moose, but his successes have not inspired many to follow his course.

The French speaking Province of Quebec, on the eastern side of Canada, was the second province  to legalize, and here chiens de sang  (blood tracking dogs) caught on quickly in a big way. The reasons for the success of blood tracking in Quebec and the contrasting lack of interest in British Columbia are not easy to explain. The French speaking trackers in Quebec drew their tradition and inspiration from Europe, mainly France and Belgium, while in B.C. most guides saw blood tracking as a radical, foreign and unnecessary idea.

Chantal Bellemare with her wirehaired dachshund and their find. Chantal lives in Victoriaville, Quebec

In Quebec Simon Lemay, one of the major outfitters, maintains that you have to find a dead moose within six hours after its death if you are going to salvage the meat. The heavy coat, body mass, and internal body heart cause rapid spoilage. In British Columbia, which generally has warmer temperatures, there is little concern about this. Go figure! On certain things we hunters tend to think with our guts instead of our brains.

This moose was recovered by Denis Fortier with his teckel. Denis resides in Victoriaville, Quebec

A small group of hunters in Ontario, just west of Quebec, are pushing for legalization and it appears that they will succeed, No one knows what form the legalization will take since the Ministry of Natural Resources plays their cards close to the vest. I have worked with the trackers and provided them with background information, but they are now encountering doubts among hunters and wildlife officials, These are as negative as anything I encountered in New York State in 1975. If hunting practices are not tied into existing traditions, as was the case in Quebec, it takes a long time for things to change.

Nova Scotia, a small province on the Atlantic Coast, is the third province to legalize, and I will look forward to digging out the story of how this happened. In a former life I was a history professor; sometimes when I’m poorly focused on dogs and deer blood, the old urges come creeping back.

Returning to Quebec, the success that the trackers have had is really remarkable. Currently there are about 48 active trackers and many of them use European wirehaired dachshunds (Teckels). The small dogs have an advantage when tracking through thick back spruce, cutovers clogged with dead branches and in those awful alder swamps where all the alder shoots grow out at a 45 degree angle. They go under the trouble. Tracking on a long leash is mandated by law; in that wilderness country the trackers use about 18 meters of 4 mm polyethylene marine cordage. It works beautifully and doesn’t hang up in their type of thick stuff. I have tried it in our goldenrod fields, and here it is a nightmare.

Steve Durocher from Warwick, Quebec

This year the Quebec trackers found 103 whitetail deer, 86 moose and 6 bears. Their recovery rates ran about 40% which is a little better than what we do down here in the leashed tracking dogs states.  The trackers in Quebec are pretty consistent in maintaining this recovery rate from 2008  to 2011. These guys are good and tough to compete with. I haven’t come up yet with an excuse for why they do a bit better than we do, but I’m working on it.

Bows and crossbows are big in Quebec. About 73% of their calls are to track big game wounded by these two weapons.

Record keeping for tracking in Quebec is more tightly organized than in any of the American states. Alain Ridel does this on a voluntary basis for his tracking organization ACCSQ and for the Province of Quebec; it is a lot of work!

Gilles Deziel and his dachshund Whiskey

This moose was found by Bernard Demers and his dachshund

Stéphanie Marcoux from Warwick, Quebec

More pictures of big game recovered by trackers from Quebec can be viewed at http://www.accsq.com/photos.html