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Tracking dogs for wounded/dead deer?

Does CT allow tracking dogs for “retrieval” of wounded or dead deer?

Nope. Unfortunately they don't. It's a shame and it's just flat stupid that legally you can't even take your leashed dog out to look for a deer.

I brought up the possibility of a Bill allowing Trained Blood Tracking Dogs this year and was told that it was already too late in the year (this is a short session). I will try again next year. I am also trying to explore if this is something that DEEP can do this as a simple Rule/Regulation change rather than have to try to get it through the legislature.

The DEEP Wildlife Chief has no objections and the 2 EnConn officers I have spoken to about it also said they think they would support it. This is another opportunity for Hunters to get involved. Our State Senators and State Reps work for us, tell your representatives what you want.

In NY they allow for a licensed handler to use a leashed tracking dog. We must notify the DEC before we go on a track. We give them the trackers license number and the hunting license number of the hunter who shot the animal. We also give the location of where we are tracking. Reporting to the DEC for every track keeps folks honest about what they are doing.

It seems to me if you are not carrying a bow with you you can legally take your dog on a walk on a leash. If Fido happens to come across a deer that's just good luck, no?

If Fido hasn't been trained on blood trails, specifically for game recovery, he is unlikely to be of much help. Many people have tried the "walking my dog" routine, their recovery rate is nowhere as high as that of Deer Search or someone whose dog has been on a bunch of tracks.

Yeah but I've used untrained/little trained dogs over the years here in NY and if it's a hunting dog and you get them into some gut blood, they do way more than a person would. My buddy took an untrained dog and made over 10 recoveries this season with the few it didn't find were grazes and a shoulder hit. I always have blood in my freezer for training, which speeds up the learning curve a lot. Any dog has the nose, they need the drive to make a good tracking dog.

The NY license lets the tracker carry a weapon to dispatch the wounded animal, even at night and even use a firearm during archery season. This is why being in close communication with the DEC is so important.

Per link provided... great resource for trackers. We have a few of them in SE Kansas.

MA does not allow dogs either. Do all the lib states get together and come up with the same nonsense?

Allowing trained dogs to track wounded deer seems like such a no brainer. To us it makes perfect sense, since we would never want an animal to go to waste. The only argument I can see is that people could be accused of running dogs to chase/hunt deer and then the poacher use the excuse that they were "tracking" instead. No matter what, I am sure opponents of the idea would spin it that way and encourage the uneducated public and their representatives to oppose the "hunting deer with dogs" bill. They did the same thing with the bear hunting bill by calling it a "trophy hunt" and running ads showing pictures of bear cubs as the alleged trophies.

N8tureBoy- I'd be worried they'd spin it as "hunters wound so many deer that they need dogs to recover them.... we should outlaw Bowhunting! " As far as guys abusing it, NY addressed that by having to report all info to the state before starting a track. Most guys breaking the law don't want to do that and you automatically get busted for breaking the law if you get caught not reporting your track.

Skipmaster - I agree. Don't forget that the most vocal opponents to hunting often benefit from creating outrage, which in turn, results in financial donations to their organizations. As they say, "never let a good crisis go to waste". We need to focus on what's best for us and the animals we respect and not worry about their bogus arguments.

It would appear that this can be accomplished with a "Regulation" change. I am pursuing that avenue, and hope to have something to report in a month or two. When the DEEP requests a package of regulation changes they usually/often/sometimes/hopefully go through, but it does take a while as we have a part-time legislature, and they have so many important things on their plate.

I just read that they finally got PA to approve the use of dogs for tracking!

Here is the current map

Years ago I hit a turkey and it took off and landed in thick cover. I called the DEP and asked if I could take my Springer out on a leash to find it. I was told it was illegal to allow my dog to take a turkey. I tried to reason with them that the bird was laying dead somewhere and if I go out with a weapon and you could see the bird had been shot what was the problem? They just said no.

Nobody left but us liberal states. The damn maps look the same for every law out there.

Those lib’s in CT & Mass will come around eventually...always gotta make something that’s easy so dang hard don’t they! I’ll be heading up that way at the end of April to kill a bunch of those smart Eastern’s...can’t wait!

Getting that passed should be a piece o’ cake… just tell the Governor that it’s something that can be licensed, regulated and taxed and he’ll be all over it.

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