We tracked a buck years ago shot in the back leg that tried to cross a small creek branch out ahead of us and simply couldn’t get out of it….You could see where it made several attempts to go up the other bank but just kept sliding back down…..It finally gave up and tried going up the creek but eventually ran into a fallen tree where it was just stuck when we found it……

The big eight point we finished off a couple weeks ago came out of the bed running like hell on three legs at first but after only a few hundred yards he was piled up on his chest with his butt in the air after running off a creek bank and blowing out the other front leg…..Its not like we’re talking about having a pack of wolf hounds on him either……Otis is about like an overgrown weenie dog….Heck, just three days ago a hunter called me on a broken leg shot around Troy that I referred to another tracker down that way. I talked to him later and he said they found it dead at 800 yards completely eaten by the coyotes….That happened in one night before the tracker even got there. That happens over and over and over and the best defense anyone can put up against it is a picture of this ONE deer we saw this one time years ago.

Again, deer have to get extremely lucky to survive leg shots. It just isnt that hard for coyotes to take them out and they are damn sure being actively targeted. ……Also again, the reality of what folks are whining about is the fact that there might be ONE anomaly amongst thousands of leg shots that might make it…….Psssh……That’s just Karen looking for something to be Karen about. It doesn’t mean there’s actually a problem

That’s kinda the same thing I was admitting about my own opinion with drones…..Is it really something significant to be concerned about or is it just blowing something out of proportion that’s not really a problem?? I want to believe it’s the first but when you start seeing things for yourself that are already occurring then it makes you wonder where its about to go from here.

Something else the Karen’s arent taking into account when forming negative opinions about situations like the video……The only info I had when I turned out on that big eight the other day was that they had good blood for 150 yards then it stopped. The first time I knew the buck was alive was when it jumped and went running by me……and it was only AFTER finding it a few hundred yards away on its chest that we were able to finish it off and see that the original wound was massive…….

The tracker in the video Marsh was talking about is no different……Its not like he can go in and do an autopsy in the field on every live deer while the dog has it bayed before he shoots it to just double check that it has guts hanging out or that its leg is good and broke…..We only have the gauge of…..if the deer bays up and lets us walk in and finish it off, then its badly hurt and any 1% margin of error that might exist is a non-factor to be concerned with…..except amongst the Karens……From having done in now for 10 years as well as watching dozens of other trackers and listening to their stories, that gauge holds pretty dang true……Any deer that bays up is fatally wounded and any that may not be arent enough for it to be a blip on the map…..moving along.

The problem though is that Karens can take that 1% and blow it WAY out of proportion. One of the reasons I post this is because I was just reading a guy I know from Michigan’s book of faces page the other day and some Karen up there was crying about the same thing…..This is first year they have been able to track off lead in Michigan.

Since we are throwing out anecdotal evidence, I’m inclined to agree with CNC. Based on my experience, a leg shot deer has a very slim chance of making it. On the original topic, I can see where drones can flirt with the line but I think the cost will be a prohibitive factor in them becoming a problem large enough to warrant a law against them. I’m not sure there are enough outlaws out there with deep enough pockets.

I’ve always been curious about tracking and now drones related to crossing property lines. If you are using dogs and they pick up a trail, do you know when they’ve crossed a property line? If so, how is that handled?

With a drone, would you only fly over the property of the hunter, or would you fly over neighboring properties to see if you could find the deer? I could imagine land owners/lease holders not wanting a drone flying over their property looking for deer, even in recovery mode.

I’m sure they’ll become more and more popular. I have watched plenty of videos about them and have even seen drones that can carry the deer up and back to a location. I’m not going to lie, if a drone can carry one then that sounds a lot better than some of the times I’ve had to drag deer through thick stuff or swamps.

Please link this. I agree that should be illegal. Using them to recovery wounded deer should be legal though.

The problem is that the technology will tempt well-to-do 'non-outlaws' to become outlaws.

Plenty of hunters have 15-20K side by sides.......I kinda thought cost might be a factor too but in one year's time there's suddenly folks all over the state with them......Five years from now I think they'll be fairly common, especially if cost comes down

Just ran across this article this morning........

https://www.lancasterfarming.com/co...1yt7-DNXgR7REXqusvUCD-1KMyHnnNFR7tqm_e08

Dang CNC you used the M word. Misinformation is the term used by those who’s pushing an opinion for which they have no more factual support than the person they disagree with. You obviously have a little Democrat in ya. Before ya know it we will be hearing about how we can save the world by buying an electric car and Ivermectin is dangerous and totally ineffective against Covid.

I guess we need to do a ten year study to show that coyotes are targeting leg shot deer then……I wonder where would be a good place to pull data from?

I maybe wrong, but I think thermal drones good enough for deer recovery are in the $6k-$8k range.

Don’t need a study to show coyotes prey on wounded animals unless you are an idot. They have been doing that for a few 1,000 years. They have just adjusted to being handed free meals by the lead slingers. Why would they work for their dinner when Billy the Blaster rings the dinner bell for them. Given the rapid increase in folks getting into dog tracking I wonder how many deer have been shot at because”why not , I can always call the dog man”. Maybe you could make a graph.

Stop it!!

Countless thousands I’m sure……..cause you know before there were tracking dogs everyone refrained from just slinging lead at deer

I had a guy that I let hunt with us for a few yrs until he kept calling a tracking dog everytime he shot. Would literally call before even climbing down.

I have hunted one place where if you left a deer laying for 30 minutes any time of day the yotes would be on it by the time you came back. Also hunted one place where we had two different three legged deer that were there for years, yotes never got them.

Anybody with a smart phone can watch a dog bay a deer and form an opinion on the subject. There’s plenty of trackers on YouTube.

I think they provide a good service but are definitely working in the grey area some of the time. I’m sure a leg shot deer is fairly easy to bay up 8 hours after the shot. Is that same deer able to be bayed 7 days after the shot? Can a leg shot buck hole up and avoid predators long enough to get somewhat healthy? I don’t know.

If hunters want to have the ability to call out a dog to recover their deer when they need it then you have to accept that we have no idea for sure on any track what we’re going to find at the end of it until we run it and there’s only so many ways it can be handled when we do……Do you want to say that we have to leave ALL live deer alone even though half of them have their guts hanging out when they run off or are so crippled they cant even run?.....When that deer jumps, how do you want a tracker to go about deciding which one can get away from the coyotes and which cant or which will live and which wont??....Do you want to say that if they run over a mile then they’re good??....I just chased one 1.48 miles hit in the guts that will 100% die……

I’ve got a pretty good idea for a simple field test. What about if we just see if they can get away from the dog when they jump and let that be that??....That seems like a simple enough method to me. Is it perfect? Probably not, but its pretty dang close and plenty good enough

Again, this isnt something that’s a real problem…..its just something for folks to bitch about….We killed an additional 30,000+ bucks the year after baiting was legalized and some folks are whining about 15 of them recovered by trackers that might have actually lived with three legs. I mean that's about the extent of it

When is the hunt over? Is it after you shoot? After the deer is recovered? On YouTube, a northern state Warden took a fellas drone, but not charged him with anything. Just gave him the, you can give it to me or I can arrest you and take it then. So back to those questions... Do we stop tracking 30 mins after sunset? Hunting ends then... Are we considered hunting with aide of light tracking deer after dark? I don't see anyone in their right mind not allowing drones to recover deer, however I can see how it will be abused. Maybe a rule no hunting 48 hours after a drone has been on said place. Maybe a fee for the use of deer recovery drones.
Those other questions are a big concern and can be different from each Warden.

Michigan just passed a law this year that allows their trackers to legally track and dispatch deer at night without there being any gray area……The only catch to it is that they have to call in at the start and finish of every track…..That seems like a bit much for both sides unless you had some automated service that would let you ping in to give the wardens a heads up on night tracks. I could see that being a reasonable middle ground….There’s no need in every tracker having to call in and out on every track though….I don’t think anyone want to keep up with that.