And here’s yet another reason why we call them “man’s best friend.”

“The trail was 20 hours old when we found the buck,” said Andy Bensing, Leesport. “This was last November, in Maryland – and the buck was a 13-pointer with a rack that scored 173.”

Note, Bensing and his blood-tracking dog, Jack, just 10 months old then, were called to take a trail in Maryland – at that time using dogs for blood-tracking deer couldn’t be done in Pennsylvania. But just last month, the Pennsylvania Game Commission approved legislation making it lawful for blood-tracking dogs to be used to recover shot deer, elk and bear.

“It was a 16-year project (to get the legislation approved in Pennsylvania),” Bensing said. “Several times it seemed imminent, but it didn’t happen.”

The first legislation was introduced in 2002, and three more bills were introduced in the next 6 years. Strongly supported by the Pennsylvania Federation of Sportsmans Clubs, the bills needed support from the PGC Board of Commissioners, the House of Representatives and the Senate. Before 2018, the bills failed to get approval from all 3 entities. The approved legislation was introduced by Mario Sciovellio; Bensing pointed out that his local representative Barry Jozwiak had twice introduced bills and worked hard with them, laying much of the groundwork for the 2018 approval.

Bensing became interested after seeing an article in Field & Stream magazine about a tracker, John Jeanneney, using dogs in New York. Bensing contacted him and went tracking with him. Trackers organized into a national group about 12 years ago, www.unitedbloodtrackers.org. On that website, someone needing a tracker can click on a state map using the “Find a tracker” tab. Bensing said that although trackers sometimes practice together, there is no certification process.

“The dogs can’t find them all since many of the deer we track turn out not to be mortally wounded,” Bensing said. “Most trackers interview the hunter on the phone first to determine that the deer sounds like it is mortally wounded and therefore likely recoverable using the dog.”

“But once we get into the field with the dog and start tracking, more sign is often discovered along the trail and many times it turns out the deer is NOT mortally wounded, and the trail is called off,” he added. “On average a tracker with a good dog recovers 35 percent of the deer that he attempts to track; 50 percent of the deer you track turn out to not be recoverable because they are not dead and will survive.”

The tracking dogs that Bensing has had include a wire-haired dachshund and a Labrador retriever. Small dogs are easier to use for tracking because the tracking dog must be kept leashed while it is working a trail. Since his beginnings working with blood-tracking dogs, Bensing has worked trails in Maryland, New Jersey and Delaware; he and other trackers are eager to take their first trails in Pennsylvania.

“Trackers are a group of people who like to get a call where someone says, hey, I can’t find my deer can you help me,” Bensing said. “For us, our tracking is like hunter’s hunting.”