New TPWD Policy on Trailing/Game Retrieval

[Cull]

New policy protects retrieval of wounded deer

Thursday, June 17, 2004

Hunters and landowners now have an official written policy to follow when trailing and retrieving wounded deer in Texas.

The policy, developed during a series of meetings between Texas Parks and Wildlife game wardens and trailing dog owners and landowners, states that finding and dispatching a wounded deer as quickly as possible are the first objectives in any such situation.

And basic to that policy is the statement that "hunt" and "retrieve" are distinct acts and that the legal prohibitions against hunting at night, hunting with a light and hunting for hire will not apply in situations involving wounded deer. Hunters, or anyone who helps them trail a wounded deer, can go about the business of finding lost deer without having to worry about violating state law.

"It is a (written) law enforcement policy that will be adhered to by all game wardens," said David Sinclair, chief of wildlife enforcement for Texas Parks and Wildlife.

The policy does what it needs to do, what it should do, to facilitate trailing wounded deer, whether with dogs or by simply following a blood trail. Still, it was a long road, with many a winding turn, that folks followed to get back to where hunters and trailers were before last deer season.

People have been trailing wounded deer since hunting began. Sometimes the guy who shoots the deer first isn't the person who actually puts it down. However, the standard has always been that he is the guy who tags it. That was traditional to hunting camps in every state and in every hunting situation, from sitting in blinds to running deer with hunting dogs.

Some of the problems that arose last deer season involved dog handlers who admitted to game wardens that they were the ones who finally dispatched a wounded deer. Some wardens believed the dog handlers should be ticketed for a tagging violation, as well as the hunters who eventually put the tags on deer they didn't actually kill. The policy addresses that situation and makes clear that dispatching a wounded deer isn't considered hunting in Texas.

"The policy makes a distinction between hunting and retrieval," Sinclair said. Retrieval starts at the end of legal hunting hours, and the policy allows hunters to dispatch the animal by any humane method. "That could include .22 rimfire. It's all built around retrieving the animal and it's designed for use with or without dogs," he said.

Game wardens are asking that the hunter who wounds a deer be the one who dispatches it whenever possible, but that isn't a requirement. The policy allows a trailing dog owner concerned about the safety of people and their dogs to be the one to kill a wounded deer, and it still allows the hunter to tag the deer legally after it is recovered.

And finally, the policy asks that hunters notify wardens whenever possible that they will be searching for a wounded deer and on which property.