Setups for extreme weather hunting with hounds?

[2ndhound]

Looking for new ideas on camping with hounds, I only have 4, I have the basics down like stake them out and if it snows or its 100 in the shade too bad ect, But I dont care much for doing that, staking is fine depending on the conditions, but when it gets kinda extreme I would prefer to do a better job at caring for them, I was wondering what others have come up with to camp with hounds, Alot of the country I hunt shade is at a premium, and winter the wind can freeze your McNuggets pretty dang quick, let alone a dog sleeping on the ground in the open, When it gets real bad I realize that alot of times a fella is better off just day hunting but that can get pricey depending on how far you are going, just looking for a new way of doing things when the camping bug bites and I dont want to just day hunt thanks Ken

[powderhorn]

I guess for me it would all depend on the circumstances.. Camping near the truck is pretty easy, just put them in the dog box.. I've also put the dog box on the ground, bungeed the doors open and tied the dogs out close enough to get into the box. For back-country, I've just let the dogs in the tent when its real cold. Frankly, when its cold enough, I benefit more from their high body temp then they do! Some might turn their nose up and letting the dog in with them.. but that's been a simple solution for me when it comes to sleeping arrangements in the past. If you're hunting 4 or more dogs, or just want to avoid that crowded situation.. When that's been the case, I try to keep the hounds close together so they can keep eachother warm.

I also knew an old fella who used to pack an old junker 2-man tent just for the dogs if the wind & weather got bad enough, he'd just throw them in there together and zip it up.. It was fairly light weight and I laughed at first.. but can't argue with what works.

[2ndhound]

Thanks for the repy powderhorn, couple good nuggets in there, pretty much what I do now. I dont object to sleeping with the dogs, I just have trouble keeping them in camp when I want to call it a day or night, they seem to have a different idea of when its time to relax a bit, The reason I posted this at all was because I always see pics of camps and read the stories of the hunt, yet dont see many pics of the hounds in camp, so I got to wondering what do others do? I always wonder about the people who take lotsa dogs along to switch them out and how they pull it off, the idea of a beater tent sounds pretty good unless some critter that smells good walks by within nose range! then all bets are off. would make a funny video though, I can see it in my minds eye, wonder how fast that ol tent could go down the hill with 4 excited hounds inside in hot pursuit Take care and thanks Ken

[M Evertsen]

If your hunting hard, they will do fine in the dog box. They should be sleeping anyway, so just use the tie outs for feeding and watering and letting them out for a couple hours.

I have 3 foot long tie outs on center stakes, and I have straw with me. If it gets too cold they just go in the dog box.

Later,

Marcial

[powderhorn]

Haha... I know what you mean about the tent.. That's what I always thought too. It would be quite a show, and I own a young dog that I'm pretty sure would make short work of a tent if he had his mind set on getting out. Although it really seemed to be more of a back-up plan if real bad weather hit rather than a consistant set-up and only in the back-country. I'm interested to see how some other guys respond.
-Brenton

[SoCalJamie]

Alot of guys around here have a nice little camper set-up for the dogs and the hunter.
See the truck in the back of the picture.

[2ndhound]

Well there Brenton, I was also curious to know what others do ,I got to eyeballing a junker tent I have, I was thinking maybe a fella should cut the floor out to a point, leave a border about a foot or so on the inside in case of night poops? Dont relish the thought of doing the zipper and finding out that someone didnt hold it all night Then I would have to crawl in there to clean it WooWEE, if there was an stray poop I could always just move the tent, or use a shovel in the dirt ( just thinking) I was thinking on a square configuration on a cable for the tie outs, maybe 3 or 4 foot leads in each corner? meet in the middle type thing? Hard to explain but I think you get the drift, By the way that is a nice looking hound. Take care Ken

[pegleg]

your style of hunting dictates your options far more then anything else. if you walk hunt then you have a weight issue. but for the most part if its cold your worried about or a sudden storm a couple of short multi dog couplers and and a tent will keep everyone inside and warm. very few hounds need a whole lot of encouragement to stay in camp and warm during a cold night after a hard days hunt. they learn the drill pretty quickly. i'm sure there are as many ways of doing it as there are weather conditions and hunters.

[powderhorn]

Well there Brenton, I was also curious to know what others do ,I got to eyeballing a junker tent I have, I was thinking maybe a fella should cut the floor out to a point, leave a border about a foot or so on the inside in case of night poops? Dont relish the thought of doing the zipper and finding out that someone didnt hold it all night Then I would have to crawl in there to clean it WooWEE, if there was an stray poop I could always just move the tent, or use a shovel in the dirt ( just thinking) I was thinking on a square configuration on a cable for the tie outs, maybe 3 or 4 foot leads in each corner? meet in the middle type thing? Hard to explain but I think you get the drift, By the way that is a nice looking hound. Take care Ken

Haha.. yeah I guess a guy woudn't want to leave them in too long or risk playing clean up.. ha.. cutting out the floor isn't a half bad idea though. Sounds like your square tie-out is worth a try too! & thanks, I'm partial towards those gangly blue dogs..