I wanted to get your guys opinion on this......

What do you think is a fair price for someone to charge to bring their tracking dog out and track a deer for you?

It's like most things we do - you've got to love it to do it. No way you ever make any real money at it, it's just something you do because you love dogs and deer hunting. I'd say $100. May sound high to some but I think it's cheap

I guess it would really depend on how far out of the way it was for you and how long it takes. If it is the biggest deer my son or I have ever shot 100$ seems like a deal, if it is found and I had no hope of finding it otherwise.

Way too many variables to give a short answer. My biggest considerations would be distance traveled and what time they call me. I'm going to charge more for that 10pm phone call than I would the 5:30pm phone call. The 10pm phone call probably means I won't be getting home til midnight or later. My pricing would definitely incorporate these provisions. I might have a $100min for all jobs less than 30 miles away and before 8pm, then go from there.

$150 is fair.

$100 sounds completely reasonable to me. In fact, you could probably get more. You have to figure that if someone goes to the trouble of finding and hiring a tracker, the deer they want to find probably has significant meaning to them (very large, or kids first deer, etc). I agree with post above, maybe $100 if it's close by, during normal daytime hours, but more for late night, and maybe $1 per mile for travel.

Devils advocate for a minute. What if the tracking dog doesn't find the deer? For any reason. Do you still pay the tracking dog owner? I say this because the one time I witnessed a tracking dog at work, he wasn't really into it and didn't find the deer. He sure hiked us around the woods but didn't find anything past what we had already found.

The guy we use I think does $150 base and an extra $50 if the deer is found. If the dog finds a big ol deer I have no problem paying that.

$100 if found sounds reasonable. The not found issue is a tough one. I remember Idaho Mike last year found 101 deer in a single season with Lucy. 40 of them were still alive! That is a phenomenal number to me to know that 40% of the time, the deer was not wounded bad enough to kill them quickly. So a hunter shoots a deer in the leg with good blood for a mile and a half and keeps on trucking, $100 for not making a good shot sounds good too!

$150 to $200 seems very fair, depends on if the dog is a good tracker and how much time and mileage is invested.

One of the more common ways I’ve seen folks charging is to have one fee for coming out and then an additional fee if the deer is found. What I would suggest is if someone is going to charge a decent amount just to show up then make sure you know that this person has a good dog. If it’s a quality tracking dog then the fault will very likely fall onto the hunter if the deer is not recovered.

I really doubt I have a charge for coming out this year just for the reason you described. My dog is still young and this will only be his second year. I have a lot of confidence in him going into this season but he’s still got a lot of learning to do. I wouldn’t charge someone to show up unless I knew my dog was going to handle it no matter what is thrown at us. I took him to a tracking seminar over in GA earlier this summer and there were some real deal trackers there putting the event on. If anyone remembers Idahomike from last season….his son was there as one of the presenters….some of the other were Randy Vick…..JJ Scarbrough…..and Jerry Russell. Those guys track deer day and night during hunting season likes it’s a religion. They take it seriously and have well trained dogs. If someone like that comes out to track one for you then I don’t think you would have to worry about the charge to show up being worth it.

One of the presenters at the event I was just talking about likes to keep up with all of his data and told us that something like, 60% I believe it was, of all the calls that he goes on.....the deer is found still alive. They were telling us to just go ahead and assume it's alive from the get go.

My take would be you pay whether the deer is found or not. Not the dogs fault if a killing shot or disabling shot wasn't made by the hunter. $100 is cheap also in my opinion.

I've got a German Sheppard that is as good as any tracking dog anywhere. We don't really do it commercially but track for neighbors and friends. Like Yelp said, there is a huge difference between a 530 and a 1030 call. My dog is 100% when called at a reasonable hour, before 600. I won't go out after that. I'll just go out the next morning. Most deer are within 100 yards of where shot. Hunters have walked right past them several times. I personally would charge same $ if deer is recovered or not. Most likely a bad shot and not the dogs fault. Good luck. Hope you have as much fun with it as I have.

Quick story. I use a bell on my dog as he does not bark when he finds a deer. He just sits on top of deer and licks blood. I tell the hunters that when the bell stops ringing the dog will be on the deer. He seldom runs very far to find the deer. The look on hunters faces when bell stops ringing is priceless

Economics also teaches us that if you're getting more calls than you want, your price is too low. I'm not trying to be mean, but I wouldn't want an 11pm phone call to track a 60lb yearling that a some kid gut shot. If I'm going to take that job, I'm getting paid for my time. I would want my price to be high enough that the hunter asks himself if it's really worth it before he calls me. Set your price too low and you'll be getting lots of calls that you may not want at all hours of the night.

I've got a Garmin Astro GPS collar on Otis. Pretty cool little device. I'm going to track with him on lead for now though until he gets more experience. I ran him some off lead last year because I kept getting tangled up with the tracking rope I was trying to use. When I went to that tracking seminar some of those guys and gals were using a lead called a "permatrack" lead. I got one of those and it changed the whole ballgame for me. They snake right through the woods with ease. I'll still likely cut him loose if we jump a wounded deer and go to the GPS collar. His breed is suppose to be a really good baying dog.

Thanks for the input fellas. Exactly what I was looking for...Keep it coming.

I would hesitate to put a single dog, especially a pup, on a wounded deer without a lead. I've seen two dogs killed by wounded spikes years ago, they were in the edge of a beaver pond.

I bought one of the Astro GPS tracking collars also. Can't operate it any better than I can photo bucket. I'd be dangerous if I could figure out all this new tangled technology.

Dang....that would suck. They told me not to turn Otis loose on any his first year for sure because if one charged him and got hold of him then it may scar him for life. I'd like to turn him out on a little doe for his first bay if I could just to see how he reacts. His breed is actually originally a hog baying dog.

Lol!.. I hear you Riverwood. I've got to sit down and play around with mine more before the season gets here.