Dozens of volunteer dog trackers will take to the woods over the next few months to help hunters recover wounded game from Vermont’s forests.
Even the most experienced hunters can miss their mark. And when they wound an animal, but can’t follow the blood trail, an all-volunteer group of certified leashed dog trackers are available to help recover deer, bear or moose.
Col. Justin Stedman, with the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department, said the animals, and their owners, play a critical role in Vermont’s hunting ecosystem.
“It is amazing how well animals can navigate and follow a blood trail that humans can’t even see,” Stedman told Vermont Public. “What would take hunters hours or days, or may never prove fruitful, they’re able to accomplish relatively quickly.”
Tim Nichols, who’s been a part of Vermont’s dog tracking program since it began in 1996, said volunteers are on call at all hours of the day and night during Vermont’s deer, bear and moose hunting seasons.
He said trackers hate to see meat from an animal go to waste. And he said they also want the animals’ deaths to be as humane as possible.
“At least you’re going to find the animal the quickest way and the most humane way and finish it off instead of letting it suffer out there and die a slow death or die of being eaten by a bear or a coyote or something like that,” Nichols said.
The program receives no state funding and relies entirely on donations from hunters who solicit the trackers’ services. Nichols said he’s often accepted gifts of venison or bear meat from lower-income hunters who can’t afford to donate. And he said inflation and other economic forces have begun to make recovering wounded game a matter of food security for some people.
"It is starting to get back to the way of, they might not have too much meat this winter if they don’t get this deer or this bear."Tim Nichols, certified leashed dog tracker
“And so they can’t afford a lot of meat. And it is starting to get back to the way of, they might not have too much meat this winter if they don’t get this deer or this bear,” he said.
Last year, Vermont’s 42 certified leashed dog trackers responded to 352 calls and recovered 116 deer, eight bear and three moose. Nichols said trackers invest enormous energy and time to train their dogs, and endure long treks over rugged terrain to find their quarry.
“It isn’t for everybody — you’ll get hurt. I’ve broken an arm. We had a tracker break his leg,” he said. “It’s fun. If you like working with dogs, you’ll love it. But you go through a lot.”
Nichols, who currently has three tracking dogs, said there’s something in it for the canines, too. After a successful bear recovery earlier this week, for instance, Nichols said his dog was still excited when they got back home.
“He found the bear that we went after. And he came home and he went to my wife and he jumped on the bed, and he’s jumping around, and he’s like, ‘Grandma! Grandma! You can’t believe what I found!’” Nichols said. “So yeah, they’re just like kids.”
Hunters can find the names and contact information of dog trackers in their area by visiting the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department website.
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