BigGameHoundsmen.com

Anybody deer dog hunting in the South. Our season closes in 4 days. Killing some nice bucks and having some good races.

Not from the south but our dogs did pretty good this year.
We run mostly beagles but I've got what is supposed to be a pure bread Jack Russell that we rescued. I don't think he's full jack cause he's on the small side 10-11#'s but what ever else he is doesn't seem to water down the jack at all. He kicked up a real nice buck that I shot about midway through Ca B-zone season. A 200# 3X4 nice big deer. I didn't get to run em as much this season as I wanted to but they haven't forgotten what to do.

I have a question of interest, why do deer doggers hunt with a large number of shooter where all the big game houndsmen seem to hunt alone or with a friend. Wouldn't it be harder to keep a bobcat or bear at bay compared to a doe or buck?

When deer dog huntinting the only time I've seen a deer bay is when he's been wounded. The deer run for hours if the dogs can stay after him and they cover a lot of ground crossing several rds in doing so. A good size group is 15 - 20 people here and sometimes that's not enough to surround and cover the areas he may run. It's nothing to trail jump and run a buck for several miles when they are in rut. Bear , lion and other animals tend to tree or bay and then you walk to them. Bucks don't stop they keep running until they have lost the pack or been killed. So therefore you need a crew of people to keep ahead of him.

He's pretty much correct. Ca deer dogging is a little different than the south but, same idea if you don't put em in the ground before the dogs push em out then that deer and those dogs are gone for a while. I suppose if you had taller hearding type dogs you could train them to turn the deer or get enough that they could surround and bay a buck but I'm guessing ca doesn't allow dogs take deer on the ground only flush them so we may harvest them.

Didn't know you could use dogs for deer in ca. Thought that the south was the last states left doing it.

I don't like hunting with a group of more than 4 or 5 people, we flank the race in the trucks using cb,s to communicate. We rarely kill anything but we are running dogs. I usually kill the deer I need during bow and muzzleloading season befor dog season starts

Yeah amazingly it's one of the few things that's legal in ca. And I feel you Scrub on large groups, we don't usually have too many guys when we're running them and if there are is usually more family than friends.

Yeah we have land leased so it takes 25 of us to pay for it. But your right I like a crew of about 7 or 8. We got some big tracts of woods where we are. Usually just a dog running thing but we kill a few bucks. Some days when we have a big crew and the clubs next to us are hunting it's nothing to have a 50 or more dogs out with several races going. All running walkers with the exception of a cross bred or 2. We had some fine hunting last week the last 5 days. Bucks were stinking and the dogs could really run them. Killed quiet a few nice ones. About to start running those yotes and fox now before turkey season shuts us down for spring.

I'm from wisconsin where running deer is illegal but I think it would be a blast to be able to chase some deer with dogs

Hollister it is a blast at times, when you get after a seasoned wise older buck he will give you a run for your money......the fewer the trucks the harder you've got to get after him....steadily having to fresh pac him to try on stay tight on him, all the while trying to catch up behind dogs and get ahead of him....because he will be leaving the country on you !!!! You can really tear up some trucks and it can turn into mayhem on the radio..... Good stuff !!!

I wish this was legal in Illinois. I would love to run deer out to shooters. I don't think I'd ever kill one cuz I'm way too damn lazy to dress one out and process it but I could sure handle running them out to shooters and then drinkin beer while they make jerky out of em.

Dan it's a sport that most people will never do unless they take a trip south. Just imagine a dozen or more running walkers that know how to run a deer packed up on a buck and pushing him. Just like henpeck describes it gets extremely exciting and fast pace. There's also friendly competition and some prestige involved with owning a good pack of deer dogs just like the cat hunters and everything else. I've seen people poke fun about dogs running deer on here but where I come from if he can't run one or won't he's not much use to people here. There are countless packs of deer dogs in the south. I don't mean half terrier and lab / hound mixes I mean hunters with running hounds that have bred them and have generations of breeding for just whitetail deer. It's under attack here and has been for a while not by anti hunters but by anti dog hunters. I will always clean my passenger seat out for some one wanting to experience it for the first time. We may not kill one but I can promise we will have some races and some fun.

""I promise we have some races and some fun"", sums it up for me as well
We are lucky at the moment over here in Oz , Hound hunting is thriving at the moment.
Pm your address Jkohnke and i'll send a memory stick over with some footage of life where I live and some of the hounds

I'm right with henpeck and Jkohnke there is nothing more exciting then running a big buck somebody has already seen or shot at. That's when the mayhem starts FAST, and he gets away. An ol buck will come right to a known crossing, get the wind on ya, turn and head out of the country the other direction. You pretty much know right where he's going but go as hard as you can but can't beat him there. As much as I love it I am ready to jump a gray fox build a fire and listen to every bark of a fox race by the time deer season is over. You don't really get to stop and listen to a deer race very much if you want to get a shot him. Kids Love It!!!!!