When I mean leaving a dog home, I start from the idea of a stalker living within reasonable distance from his stalking ground ( a few miles ). When further from home, leave the dog in the car and walk back after the shot to the car to fetch the dog for a control search.
I spoke with a few very dedicated handlers of tracking dogs ( Belgian and German) in the past. All agree to leave the animal at least a few hours after the shot. With an evening shot in cold weather even overnight. A badly,non lethal, wounded animal can run for miles when tracked to early and make it almost inpossible to find.
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I can see your point but to leave a dog in the motor un-attended for several hours is not really exceptable to me or even my stalking
last thing I want is to come back after 2-3 hours if not longer and find my dog suffering from heat exhuation or worse while chasing Roe & Fallow Bucks, as that is the time I need a dog most when the crops & cover are still high and so is the temp & sun
leaving the window open leaves me open to my motor being broken into , dog stolen or possibly some one sticking their fingers in tosay hello and then there is risk of being bit , thats some thing I can't afford
A properly trained dog in the field will always be an asset regardless we all agree on that
As for starting to track wounded game to early
it's up to you how long you wait before you start to look , not the dog
using a 3 hour return trip as the excuse for not being patient is a little unfair , but practical if you are in that situ
some stalkers may not hav time to wait and need the wounded beast or beasts gathered ASAP
either due to boundary issuses or possibly curfews on the ground as to when they can actually be on there
others Like Malc may hav clients that are leaving that day and new clients arriving, so lost time following up the next day certainly ain't practical or cost effective,
others don't want or need to be searching all night
Personally I like to stalk with my dog at my side and then track on a leash if I get lucky
depending on how I feel the shot has gone determines how soon I start to follow up