Doc
To get back to your intent:
As a general question, what is the purpose of any regulation on tracking wounded deer with dogs and does it really need to be regulated??
What are the potential problems if tracking is totally unregulated??
If we can figure out the potential problems, then we can determine what regulations are needed to prevent those problems.
Like most laws, the intent is to keep folks honest. Also, like most laws they regulate guys who would generally be honest anyway, and do little to keep lawbreakers in line. Having some general framework for the legal HARVEST of game is obviously important to protect the resource. Those laws already exist. I don't think making new laws specifically directed at deer recovery is as necessary. For example, if you take a deer during bow only season, then it can't be dispatched with a rifle; trespassing remains illegal whether your are hunting or tracking; deer cannot be harvested with the use of a light; etc.
The most important reason to make specific blood tracking laws, in my opinion, is to appease those who are fearful of the use of dogs during deer season. Oddly, those same folks don't make much noise about running rabbits, coyotes, coons, or squirrels with dogs during the deer season, all off lead I might add. The other reason to make specific laws regarding blood tracking is to carve out some safety exceptions for the tracker, namely the legal carry of a firearm during the recovery of any deer wholly for the purpose of dispatching mortally wounded or severely disabled game, and for the immediate protection of the tracking party.
The number one fear of the opponents to blood tracking with dogs is the running of healthy deer with dogs, and the fear of poachers using tracking as an excuse for running game with dogs. Again, here are my arguments against that concern.
1. In many states like my own, people can allow there dogs to freely chase game year round without consequence already. As my local warden explained to me, even with video evidence there is no way to prove that the guy isn't just letting his dog run loose for the exercise. It only becomes a crime if you shoot a deer being pushed by one of those dogs. Dogs cannot be charged with trespassing in my state, nor can their owners be held accountable. There is no recourse in my state for this type of inconsiderate, neglectful behavior. In some states dogs can be dispatched for chasing game, but that is a tough recourse to take when it is the owner at fault, not the dog. In those states, I can't imagine someone turning their highly valuable tracking dog loose to suffer the consequence. In states like mine, why turn a dog out with a leash on when he an just run free without recourse anyway? There is absolutely no advantage to using tracking as the excuse for having a dog out running deer.
2. In that same light, people are already allowed to chase other game with their dogs. Again, why would you add a leash that may tangle to the mix as opposed to saying that you were chasing squirrels, or raccoons if it is at night?
3. If the law states that a tracking dog must be under the control of the handler at all times during a track, why would a poacher subject themselves to a ticket for having a leashed dog running around chasing deer when they can get away with an unleashed dog "going on a walk."
That argument just doesn't stand to reason for me.
