A national scheme for tracking and recovering wounded deer is better than a good idea, its a necessity that I hope in time will become well established. This is especially the case with an increasing number of wild boar in the UK where there is a serious risk to public safety if a wounded animal is left un-recovered. If a person was ever attacked or killed by a wounded boar the entire shooting community would be up for some seriously bad times and I fear for those who are not for qualification and training, if nothing else there is likely to be an increased requirement for that. Undoubtedly this will start small with some dedicated people who are prepared to train their dogs to the required standard and learn how to track wounded animals correctly so the stand the best chance of finding the lost animal. Not only that, they will likely do it for free unless you want to give them something. As for professionals who charge for the wounded beast, i'm sure they will get the service for free as well if they do not have a dog of their own. The majority will be gentlemanly enough to cover the attending handlers expenses voluntarily and the remainder might just realise it is to their long term benefit to do so. They may even write into their contract that any wounding will result in a tracker being called at the client's expense perhaps? If neither of those apply they are unfit to take clients. I am quite sure that this will take off if given a chance and hopefully with a slow movement away from the general response to a wounding "I must have missed". I expect that as many people who, in their unfortunate circumstances at the time, see a well trained dog work might well be inspired to train their own dog to the required standard for their own purposes but also to join a group to assist other that may not be able to have their own dog for whatever reason. When it comes to a standard to be recorded on the tracking register I have to say a track of least 24 hours old is absolutely necessary. That would cover the majority of situations. In its fledgling times, it is so important that a dog, when called upon (and that might quite reasonably be 12 - 18 hours after the event taking account of all the circumstances that it has a good chance of finding the animal otherwise the scheme will be unsatisfactory and unused. Ironically, the best way of growing the scheme would be to have a higher standard at the start and when the scheme grow to the point where coverage means dogs are available more quickly, it could be reduced without necessarily causing harm to the scheme, although I think that would be a backwards step on the whole. It is surely down to the tracker to decide if the wounding he has been called out to is within his capability or not, and if not call in someone else on the register who may be much further away but even so, will be able to arrive and when they do, have a dog that has the best chance of finding the animal. That also goes for the stalker that has his own dog that "finds 99% of the deer i have asked him to". It must be down to them to say that a particular problem requires assistance and that, in reality, it would be better to wait 48 hours for a dog with proven ability in finding a deer with a particular wound and may have a 90% chance of finding the animal rather than rushing in and trying themselves with a dog that only has a 10% chance when in the process they have spoiled the scent and reduced the other dog's chances. Improving the odds of recovery must be the primary consideration no matter how unpalatable it may be to have to wait. How about this for an idea for the future: Every person granted an FAC and conditioned for deer or boar must make a compulsory payment of £100 per year and join their local tracking group that will provide follow up services in that area free of charge at the point of requirement. Obviously if you are a tracker within that group you will obtain your authority free of charge. This would be administered by the police (who may call on the service free of charge for RTA's etc in return for the administration) and paid by direct debit to the regional tracking group from which each tracker may recover their expenses. If you don't pay, your authority to shoot deer and boar would be revoked by default.