CALLING IN A TRACKING DOG
Approximately, 15 million U.S. residents participate in
hunting in any given year. This
represents approximately 5% of the U.S. population.
As hunters, we all have an ethical and moral
responsibility to exhaust all possible means of searching out and recovering
any game animal we have tried to harvest yet fell short by merely wounding the
animal.
Regardless of how good of a hunter or marksman you may be,
no one is perfect. It boils down to the
law of numbers. Everyone will eventually
make a mistake.
Minimizing the chance of error should be the number one
goal of every hunter.
This can be accomplished greatly by following common sense
practices.
Not shooting unless lighting is adequate, not shooting at
an animal when it is in motion, waiting for an unobstructed shot, and waiting
for the animal to turn perfectly broad side are just a few examples. This list goes on though most everything that
falls around this subject is common sense.
Unfortunately, all seasoned hunters know that no matter
how cautious or ethical you may be around harvesting game sooner or later you
will make less than the perfect shot.
This would require a significant amount of effort to recover the wounded
game.
Often wounded game animals not being recovered is because the
animal can not be tracked by site. If a
hunter can not visually see the path (blood trail) the animal took then it might
be virtually impossible to recover. A
trained tracking dog would be the best solution at this point.
Fortunately for us, most Texas counties allow tracking dogs to be
used in helping the recovery of wounded game.
Specially bred and trained tracking dogs attribute every year to a
substantial increase in the amount of wounded game recovered.
A well trained dog with a well developed nose can recover
wounded game many hours or even days, in most cases after the shot.
It’s important to note, however, that success with finding
your animal is not a given just because a good tracking dog is called
in. The tracking dog is most always faced with many challenges such
as the quality level of scenting conditions.
Another challenge is the point where the hunter loses the blood trail as
this is the area where the hunter's search has been most intense. So obviously, this area has the
most amount of false disturbance. A blood or scent trailing dog will
have to work through this contaminated area.
To improve your chances of recovery, always try walking
off to the side of the blood trail instead of directly on it and when possible
always try to do more looking than walking.
Tracking is hunting, and it's
safe to say success is never guaranteed around hunting. When
the tracking dog and his handler show up, it's important to assist and
cooperate with them allowing them to exercise their best possible tracking
skills. It's certain that the handler is just as
determined to find your animal as you are. The handler knows
his dog, is experienced in tracking game with dogs, and should not be
distracted in his progress in recovering your game.
We all want success. The dog handler is dealing with the entire
process of blood tracking an animal that might still be alive and could
possibly be a danger to you, him, and the tracking dog. To be effective, the dog handler needs
complete control of all the operations required to successfully and safely recover
your trophy.
Remember, success is not
guaranteed, but will most definitely be enhanced with the full cooperation from
everyone involved in the recovery effort.
