A person having a valid hunting license and a valid deer hunting license who has wounded a deer while hunting may use a dog to track and retrieve the wounded deer. A dog being used for tracking a wounded deer and a person using a dog for tracking a wounded deer shall both be trained in deer blood tracking. Any person using a dog for tracking wounded deer must maintain physical control of the dog at all times during the search by means of a maximum fifty-foot lead attached to the dog’s collar or harness. The person may dispatch the deer using a legal method of take authorized by the person’s deer hunting license. A person shall not use that method of take to hunt, wound, or kill any animal other than the deer that the hunter is tracking, except in self-defense. Using a dog to track a wounded deer on private property is permissible at any hour with consent of the property owner. A person using a dog to track a wounded deer outside of legal deer hunting hours shall not be in possession of a firearm or archery device. The commission shall adopt rules pursuant to chapter 17A to implement this section.

For applicable scheduled fine, see §805.8B, subsection 3, paragraph r NEW section

2020 Acts, ch 1096, §1

Referred to in §805.8B(3)(r)