License for Blood trailing dogs ?

Does anyone know if the $5 license is required also for blood trailing dogs on a leash ?

Tis not.

not at all

Just a hunting license.

WMA stamp if needed.

i always buy one because i use it to run dogs & just to be safe, but i have never been asked for it when tracking. No law requires it in Ga.

Thanks , just in case.

Lowjack said:

Does anyone know if the $5 license is required also for blood trailing dogs on a leash ?

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A license is required if you are hunting or assisting with a hunt. Blood trailing on or off leash is assisting with a hunt. Buy the license and a WMA stamp if you intend to work on a WMA.

No WMA for me I hunt my own Leased property, never seen a Game Warden yet , but you never know , for $5 Is not worth the Hassle , so I got it LOL

Lowjack said:

No WMA for me I hunt my own Leased property, never seen a Game Warden yet , but you never know , for $5 Is not worth the Hassle , so I got it LOL

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And you know that all of your customers will be on private property?

Costie, same question but at the next level.

Are then all of the dog hunting regulations applicable blood tracking dogs for deer?
If so wouldn't the properties on which wounded deer could be tracked by dog be limited by the deer dogging rules and most would have to be permitted 30 days in advance of the deer being shot and lost?
Wouldn't the hunter assisting the dog handler and the dog in the attempt to recover the deer need a deer dogging license also?

Well lets see here. There is no deer dogging in the northern zone so none of that would apply there.

Finding a wounded deer with a dog is not "hunting" with a dog. It is taking an extended effort to find a presumably downed or mortally wounded animal.

No dog hunting license required.

When I have to buy a license to assist someone with my mutt, to feed there family or just recover a shot animal, I'll gladly tell Leo to kiss my rear.

Probably wrong way to handle it, but that's crap in my book. Simple as other revenue collection !

Nothing against u Jim, it's just my $.02

I don't think the deer dogging laws should apply to blood trailing dogs used to find wounded deer. I don't think the restrictions places on deer dog hunting were intended to restrict the use of dogs in this manner. My question was prompted by Coastie's answer above.

wildlands said:

not at all

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listen to this gentleman...he knows that of which he speaks

Wonderful, perhaps he can tell us where in the Georgia law blood tracking dogs are distinguished from regular deer hunting dogs. If they are not there could be one of those unintended consequences sort of problems.

I think I misunderstood this entire question, you are referring to the deer dogging license, and I am referring to a hunting license. I do not know anything about the deer dogging license but it would seem redundant to require that license as well as a hunting license for blood trailing not associated with deer dogging. Blood trailing, in my mind, is not deer dogging.

there is no law for or against it in Ga. L. E. always tells me it is up to the wardens discretion & every warden i've talked to is o.k. with it. i have been called by wardens to track on w.m.a.s & and tracked for a couple of retired wardens & their families. Sometimes track at night with light & gun, (i know there is a law against shining deer), no problems. Again...wardens discretion, they sometimes ask me to call them before i go out.

As Randy said no law against it. I to have been called by game wardens to track their deer on a wma. The dog permits are for those activley running deer in pursuit for the purpose of shooting a deer. The process of tracking is done after the shot thus the action is retrieving the animal. You do not have to even have a hunting liscense if you are not carring a weapon. Now on a wma I would probably say that is not true but not sure. I would ask the GW before I did somthing like that. There are many states that still do not allow tracking dogs and they use many of the same excusses, people will take bad shots just because they now have access to a dog, people will run healthy deer with dogs. Some of those that allow it but have restriction will not allow you to track at night or can not posess a weapon. Some say you have to have a liscense and can not charge for the service. Texas and N.C. have some specific rules but other than that I do not know of any other southern state at this time that has any specific restriction put on tracking dogs. Because of the tradition of running deer with dogs, the use of dogs to track is a very accepted practice. I keep my dog on leash in this part of the state but I know many who let thier dog run and bay the wounded animal with great success. This is still considered part of the retrievel not hunting. Out of curtsey I do call game managment if I am going to be on a wma tracking at night. This is not required but so that the area manager can be informed so that I do not have to worry about someone looking for me at night in the woods thinking I was poaching. I think the only place that the use of tracking dogs might be an issue and I hate to even mention it, but when multiple dogs are used off lead. I do know there has been some talk that this might be pushing the envelope.

I think the only way that there will ever be any thing in writting is if trackers start ignoring property lines. It happens by mistake I know I have ended up on wrong property that I did not have permission to be on but it was an honest mistake. What I am talking about is blatently ignoring property lines to recover a deer. If this starts happening then the public/ hunters will start complaining and then we will have another rule or law that was not needed.


Have fun tracking which ever method you use.

Retrieving a downed game animal is definitely part of the hunt.
I think Post no. 17 has the answer. GW discretion. A plain reading of the law would make blood trailing illegal in most instances and I still do not think that was the intent of the law.

Spoke to A Lt. Warden in My Area , he says a blood trailing dog can be consider as a dog participating in a hunt , but most wardens don't enforce it , as the regulations is ambiguous at best , anyways I paid the $5 , it is not going to break my pocket.