Question for all you ol timers

[beaglewalkerhunter4]

Back in the good ol days how did one manage to keep track of their hounds without tracking collars? Was it a whole different kind of hunting back then? my guess would be alot more time on foot then in the truck. Just something to think about...

[cobalt]

They knew the country better. They knew the dogs better. They knew the game better. They had dogs with ingrained homing instincts. Most lived in the country they hunted. Fewer dogs, etc., etc..

[cat and bear]

Well i hate to be classified as old timer, experienced perhaps In this country, we bred for very big mouths, probably averaged ten trucks, cb's, and someone could hear the race, as everyone were hunters and most knew hounds well. I do remember being a kid, and riding with dad or my grandfather half the night, waiting for one to come out, only to hunt the next morning and go back looking for what was still out, from the day before. During the winter months, we always circled the block, and tracked each game trail, to see if the dog had come out, or crossed into the next area. Also summer or winter, we always left a jacket out, where we turned loose, and most of the time old spot or blue, would be there laying on grandpa's jacket in the morning. We did loose on once in a while for good. Yes, the good old days. If i had to do that again, i would quit hunting

[PIGLET]

oh those words bring back memories cat and bear! we had a 30 mile loop and i bet we drove it 5 times a day, and then run home at dark and hoped a wood cutter or huckleberry picker had picked em up and called! i think my dad bought a 181 frequency tracking box in 84 or 85 best thing ever invented!lol

[pegleg]

I don't qualify as a ol' timer but have spent a good deal of time hunting with hounds that don't wear tracking collars. it's rather simple train them to recall when needed. run hounds that hunt for you and will return to the last place they were dropped. or back trail themselves to you and trail you. If you follow/ keep track of your hounds in the field it's not real difficult to find them treed or bayed up.
The real difference is how the hounds are used to being hunted/handled. If you start out by dropping them out and picking them up somewhere else all the time they learn that finding a ride home requires you showing up where ever they happen to be and that is usually far ahead in the direction they started out.
I run tracking collars on my hounds now but haven't used them much. the reason hounds are open on track and tree is the fear it instills in the prey and to help locate and stay in touch with them. I'd prefer to have a hound that will find it's way back to me then have to search for days for a hound. hounds are smart enough to see the difference between staying at the tree and when it's time to return. if you hunt in smaller areas with a good road system it is possible to run hounds that keep running ahead until they find game or are picked up. but in real big rough country with out roads these hounds only get lost and ruin the hunt.

[captd]

Years ago pups ran loose around the farm and learned to find home from an early age, surely helped to find there way back when hunt was over.

[houndnem]

one of the old timers that got me started used an ear peice and a deal that you pointed toward the dogs to magnify the sound. seems pretty ineffective by todays standards, but I bet it was the garmin of that time.

[radar]

Not no old timer either but hunted around them,with them and still do. In These parts they used keep burlap bags as bedding in there dog boxes if dog or two stayed out over night they would leave one on the ground were they turned lose at come back next morning there would be the hound curled up on the sack.

And you always had to stay within barking distance and they didn't keep ones that didn't bark.Knowing the land and were all the listing spots are.

F - A Garmin I use my ears, oh yeah and the sound that beep

[Mike Leonard]

Well I don't qualify as an old timer like Ike, Benny or Tessa....LOL! but I was so damn broke back in the day when I was running hounds in the late 70's and 80's I could hardly affor to pay attention. What I did was just cock and ear and keep on walking or riding.

I am sorry I messed up my hearing with too much light and heavy arms fire, because I think I understood a lot more what was going on in the race back then. Of course today I have my dogs wear collars because about half or more of the little hunters out there will pick your dog up and run off with him. What's up with that? Don't know but if they got one of mine and see me coming they better get out and offer alms because I may be a little ancient but trust me, I ain't done!

[LarryBeggs]

Its a good thing gas was cheaper back then.If you lost track of them you would hopfully find them treed.If not you spent a lot or time checking roads for tracks. Most of the country we hunted had good road systems if not we didnt always turn them out when they struck. Leaving a jacket out with a little bit of food worked good also.I dont think people traveled as far from home to hunt as they do now. Knowing the area you hunted made a big diiference. If given the choice of the technology we have now ,plus the locked gates ,high gas prices lack of public support,etc.etc.etc..I would take hunting back then in a heart beat.

[radar]

10-4 on that!!!

[Unreal_tk]

I'm new to the game. But the family ain't. We use to use cow horns for recall I'm using the newer methods tho. And they kept closer to the dogs so my grandpa told me as a kid.

[sheimer]

I'm far from an "ol timer" but like Mike said: when I started I couldn't even pay attention. When I dumped my dogs the boots got laced up and I started walking. and walking. and walking. The areas I hunt don't have much for a road system and horses aren't really feasable. I think that we got a better understanding for what the dogs actually did when we had to follow in their footsteps.

Scott

[dwalton]

I stared in the 60' no track collars,no shock collars just lots of gas, shoe leather and lost dogs. A lot of dogs killed on roads. People picked up your dogs and called you and some showed up on races the next weekend. Some you never saw again. You young guys don't know how good you got it. Hunting hounds then was what you did most of the time. Know you can spend your time hunting. Dewey

[Justaguy]

I guess I am old enough to be an old timer, wish I wasn't but you know how that goes. Like others have said, the dogs would back track themselves to where you turned them out if you lost them. You knew the country you hunted and if the dogs were about to go out of hearing you would jump in your truck and take a road to get around to where they were going. If there were no roads then you walked in after them or waited for them to come out.
If you were in country you did not know and they went out of hearing you did a whole lot of driving looking for them. This was before tracking collars(late 60's) and there were plenty of times you would drive out of the mountains to a local store to a pay phone and call home to see if anyone had picked up your dogs and called your house.

For instance we would go to central California bear hunting and the dogs would go out of hearing and I would loose my dogs. You'd drive around looking as long as you could but eventually I would drive 150 to 200 miles home work all week and go back the next weekend to find or pickup my dogs. There were times when you felt you hunted the dogs more than the dogs hunted game....