Tracking "on lead" like that guy is doing is for the birds.......The habitat he's tracking in is as easy as it gets from that standpoint and he's still spending his entire time trying to chase after it and keep it untangled. It just makes things WAY more cumbersome than they have to be....especially in thick cover

You ain’t lying CNC. I tried that once with my dog. Lesson learned. I ended up putting a bell on her collar. If she got to far ahead, she would come back to me and I would send her back on the track, if we wanted to continue. We had a good 11 year run.
Globe, I enjoyed the video. Watching my dog work to recover a deer that might never have been found was very rewarding to me.

I think there are only 3 states that allow tracking off lead. Alabama, Arkansas, and SCAR I believe are the only ones.

NC and VA you can still run dogs. I’d assume you can track off leash too

Here's a link that shows the current regs for each state......Click on the drop down box and you can switch from state to state. They all have rules that are a little bit different from each other. A lot of them only make sense on paper in my opinion. Having to keep a dog on lead because your afraid the it may bark and run after a hurt deer just doesn’t make a whole lot of sense when you get in the field and see things actually unfold. The real reason is not about tracking but more about not wanting to open a can of worms for dog running…..Its just not the same game but leashes is how they want to go about distinguishing the difference. Again, I think these are rules being made by a bunch of folks with no experience in the matter



https://www.unitedbloodtrackers.org/state-regulations/AL

Yeah I was thinking while watching that video, man that’s some open woods. Wouldn’t work in an Alabama pine thicket. I love watching dogs work, I sure miss it.

Most people I know that have tracking dogs use the radio collar tracker system. I'm not sure how expensive these are but they sure are nice.

They not cheap but are a necessity. I have to run my dog on lead while we track in TN (hate it but I still do it) and I still always put the collar on her. We can finish a track much quicker off lead though and it is much less aggravating.

Something with this on lead or off lead discussion that is more easily seen by the folks who are doing the tracking is that a lot of what determines how the story unfolds is simply time. Take the deer below for example……It was clipped low in the guts on an afternoon hunt……I got there the next morning and jumped him still alive and finished him off on a bay. If I was forced to track on lead it would have probably not been possible to recover……However, give the same deer another 12-24 hrs and he may be dead or able to simply be dispatched in his bed without being bayed…….He may also be completely eaten by coyotes by then as well…….

That’s the conundrum of it with every track we go on…….How long do you wait?? The longer you do the less lively the deer is likely to be in the event that its still alive but also the more likely for it to be a complete waste if the yotes find him during that time……If you force trackers to track on lead or don’t allow them to track and night, etc…..then those rules themselves are making tracking more about just recovering racks as someone jokingly said in another thread. It doesn’t really make good practical in the field sense…..

The reality that I’m hoping folks in charge are able to see is that it’s a dead deer no matter what…..Whether I get there in 4 hrs and it’s a little lively or I get there in 24 hrs and its dead on arrival. The dog chasing it and baying it has little to no bearing on that fact with any deer we recover. Making someone stay “on lead” is just a feel good measure that doesn’t do anything to prevent abuse from occurring that would have happened otherwise. I hope Alabama doesnt feel like they need to follow suit with what those other states are currently doing

Heck, just the fact "a tracker" can dispatch a deer and not tag it probably puts Alabama in a league of their own.

If two people shoot a deer……what determines who the deer belongs to in the end?? …..Is it the last person that shot it??.......If that’s the case then I’ll just take along a .22 pistol so the hunter can fire one into it and be the last one to shoot it……..This is why this is a stupid thing to even try to enforce as a rule……..I mean, the powers that be could go there with it if they wanted to…….but why……..What good does it do anyone to try and fight a battle on that hill??.......

Almost every state counts the last shot. Ive know people that have had guns and mounts taken over this issue. One guy was practically disabled and had someone go get his animal and it was finished off still laying there. Lots of fines and embarrassing labelling as poachers.

I forgot about Texas when you made this comment.....


"Texas is complicated. In most of Texas it is legal to use up to two dogs off lead to find wounded deer. There are a number of counties in East Texas (the Piney Woods Country) where this is not allowed. In these counties there is no legal provision for tracking dogs, but it seems to be tolerated if the dog is on a leash. The use of firearms at night is a grey area."


Mississippi's stance on it.........


"The department supports recovery of wounded game. There are no regulations, however, that specifically address using a track dog to trail and recover wounded animals."


Georgia's stance.......


"There are no specific laws making it legal or illegal to use tracking dogs in the state. Dogs can be used on leash or off, and tracking may occur at night. If you are tracking at night, you can carry a weapon but you must be able to prove to the game warden you are tracking a wounded deer and not just night hunting. State lands have more restrictions as to when you can track with the use of dogs."