By Glen Wunderlich
Last week’s column covered the rationale for recovering Michigan big game through the use of blood tracking dogs. What follows is an outline detailing one means to retrieve animals and provides an option to access the assistance of trained tracking dogs alluded to in the hunting regulations.
Any hunter can appreciate a clean, ethical killing shot with no measureable tracking involved on a whitetail deer. However, conditions afield, equipment failures and human error may contribute to a less-than-perfect result. Of course, those opposed to hunting in any of its forms will jump at any chance to exploit unfortunate circumstances to further their anti-hunting agenda.
Funny how the same “logic” is never applied to automobile or plane crashes. If it were, we’d all be riding horseback or safer yet, walking. Instead, we have mandatory seat-belt laws and rigorous airline safety oversight – all designed to minimize the chances of the unthinkable. Similarly, dedicated sportsmen do everything within their control to make the perfect kill shot, but being human and using equipment produced by humans means things can go awry.
It’s perplexing to comprehend the paradox in a dozen states or more such as Colorado. There, it is illegal for a hunter to “fail to make a reasonable attempt to track and kill animals you wound or may have wounded” but the use of blood tracking dogs is illegal, as well. How any of this can be perceived as “reasonable” is beyond me.
On the contrary, in Michigan, common sense has prevailed and such nonsense is no longer the case. But, what if you or a friend has no tracking dog to aid in the recovery of a big game animal? Answer: Michigan Deer Tracking Dogs.
For a negotiable fee, certified dog trackers, such as Rob Miller of Linden may come to your aid. Rob and his dachshund, Sypris, have recovered over 90 whitetail deer over the past few years to the delight of hunters within a one-hour radius of Linden. Others within the organization throughout Michigan have had similar results recovering all manner of big game, although for numerous reasons, successful recoveries cannot be guaranteed.
Each tracker sets their own rate, typically based on the distance they must travel and $100-$150 is a general starting point for local tracks (within a half hour drive), and it will go up from there. Success varies from 25 to 50 percent based on myriad variables.
Typically deer are recovered within two hours but if there is significant positive sign (i.e. good blood, or a visual on the deer and it appears severely wounded) the tracker will proceed. They will keep tracking until the deer is recovered or it is determined that signs indicate a deer is not mortally wounded.
Without a certified tracker, Michigan hunters can still track game animals with a dog, but no firearms or bows can accompany them on a retrieval mission (day or night), thus preventing what may appear to others as illegal hunting activity. Under Michigan regulations relative to certified trackers, law enforcement must be notified when a recovery effort begins and ends, regardless of the outcome. But, only with a certified tracker, can an animal be dispatched on the spot, if necessary.
Fortunately, contradictory terms in Colorado need not apply to Michigan sportsmen and women seeking to finish the admirable job of game recovery.
For more information on tracking dogs, the website is www.michigandeertracknhounds.com.
