I’m not sure how many tracks he’s been on but I had a local tracker tell me just the other day that he’ll make around $60k the last couple years tracking deer. Now he travels all over the state doing it. He said the distance traveled, recovery or non recovery determines his price. He may be full of chit but I can’t prove that. I’m not a smart man but I guarantee that’s more then a couple dozen tracks.

Is deer tracking becoming a lost art? Yes, assuming we are talking about a human doing the tracking.

I see people hurting today that don’t know what direction north is, which way the wind is blowing or what a CID # is, but they’re deer hunting.
I think tracking a deer I’ve shot is my responsibility as a hunter and enjoying doing it when I have to.
I think tracking dogs are a great tool but they are just that.

""Probably " in answer to original question... blood trailing ( because we are not truly tracking) is not studied and relied on as much due to onset of tracking dogs . What I think is a lost art is marksmanship, which eliminates a lot of looking for missing deer. . I wouldn't hesitate to call a dog before I stumbled around hoping like I used to in my younger days. Have not lost many, but ones I did were on me and I wish tracking dogs had been a known resource back in the late 80's early 90's.
Besides- what better read is there in on here than " A Tracking Story"....

So what is an acceptable "margin of error" for a group of hunters who shoot 300,000 deer annually??......Is tracks in the "dozens" really a lot or is that just the perception due to social media?

He's probably full of chit......Do the math......Most trackers will run 25-100 tracks a year.......Multiply that times $100-$200 per track (maybe less on some), take out expenses and tell me what you got. There's only so many days in the season......

Louisiana’s deer season starts in our area September 15 and runs till late February in some areas of the Basin. I agree there’s a possibility he’s full of chit but he said he tracks somewhere almost everyday of the season. Many days with multiple tracks. That’s the reason I had asked him what he charged for a track. I told him that had to be hard on his dog. He told me he has 4 different dogs he uses. If he’s far from home he will carry all of them with him. If he’s close he keeps 2. He seemed squared away but I know people tend to stretch things. Like I said, I can’t prove he’s not telling the truth. That’s got to be hard day after day. That kind of stuff is for the young guys.

I’ll say this…..there may be a few out there who are doing it to that level but its not the norm……I know I’m nowhere close and I stay pretty busy. The vast majority of guys are just making a little pocket change at best after all is said and done. Like I said, you can do the math for yourself and see what someone would have to charge and how many they would have to track to make that kind of bank…..especially if we’re talking about taking out all of the gas, tires, dog food, truck wear and tear, etc....its not really all "profit"

I agree 100% with you. I have a hard time believing him and that people would pay that much to recover a deer when I’m sure there are guys that still do it for donations. I can’t prove him wrong so I will just go with, “It could happen but I doubt it” for now.

Have always just used a Remington 788 in .243 and Remington 100gr Cor-lock ammo and never needed to track a deer.

Oh my!!! Can anyone say JINX!!

Dont underestimate how much knowing the land helps in tracking.

There is no excuse for not knowing the property you frequently hunt like the back of your hand.

You're about an aggravating SOB I wish you'd phuck off somewhere and let these people have a conversation. We get it you've got blood trailing dogs nobody gives a shucks

This and bamahuntin is the only social media i do so i dont see alot about it really. I dont know how many trackers thrre are in alabama. Pretty sure theres alot more hunters than there ever have been. I know theres alot more than 30yrs ago. Im not sure the average hunter was ever a good shot. I lived with some sort of gun in my hand since i was a kid. Im no sniper but i can shoot above average i guess, at a reasonable distance. And im not bragging, i figure average is pretty un impressive

Todays hunters don’t know what they have. They don’t get out and look at their land, topography, creeks, habitat types, trails, etc. They just hunt over food plots and corn for the most part. If they have to leave the field to trail a deer they’re as lost as if they were in a Brazilian jungle. 😂

I’m not kidding. I’m making a generalization here, but it has shifted to more of this type hunting over the other. I even feel slightly convicted by it at times because I’m not teaching my boys to hunt anything like I did as a kid.

I guess my point was that you got to have some perspective on the situation……We follow social media and see people calling for a dog…..calling for a dog…..calling for a dog….. and make the assumption that its rampant and hunters are horrible shots, the art of tracking is lost….etc, etc, etc…..after we’ve seen 100 stories posted……But when hunters are shooting 300,000 deer then the reality is actually a little different. There could be a 1000 stories posted here and elsewhere and it would still only represent 0.003 of the total being shot……Gotta be careful about blowing things out of proportion. People start believing things that might not necessarily be true

A couple years ago we had an old friend of ours come hunt at the camp. He shot a deer and it ran off. My 2 buddies that were up there with him went meet him. They blood trailed it about 200yds to the north of the plot. My buddy was telling me about how bad of a drag it was back to the plot. I asked why they didn’t drag it another 50yds to the north to the main road to the camp. He had no idea that they were that close to the road. My brother and I have walked every inch of our place turkey hunting and I also pay attention and learn how the land lays out when areas are clear cut. You learn your property well turkey hunting.

Yeah we ain’t hunting or tracking like we use to do..
This weekend we may make some man drives, shoot some deer and God forbid make some noise.😜