Hunting Pit's and Crosses

[Moonshiner]

I was wondering if anyone else uses Pitbulls (Stafordshire Terrier) to hunt big game?
My buddy has a Bloodhound/Pit male and a Purebred Pit Female that just tear apart coyotes, they find em in no time and just kill em, kinda scary but my friend hasnt lost a sheep since letting the dogs roam his flock.
I know they are used for hog hunting is Hawaii, but not sure bout the other states.

[pete richardson]

i had one i used on bear - 1/4 pit- raised 2 but one didnt play well with other dogs lol

i think you give up nose, speed ,endurance . i had to run mine pretty lean for him to keep up with my hounds -he couldnt /wouldnt cold trail much altho he would tag along no problem

he was tough , plenty of grit - almost too tough to train -- when he was excited there just was no controlling him - i got mad at him one day and sold him very cheap to first hunter i met on the road --he was worth many times more than i got --and i would have took a lot less- lol

-had to like him sometimes -- one day i got to tree and he wasnt there -- he came staggering in-barely able to stand
--
he appeared to have been knocked out-- ill never know if bear did it or maybe he ran into a tree lol but anyways soon as he came to his senses , he went to treeing like a wild thing - - he didnt lack heart -

i wont have another one unless i take up hog hunting -

[Dan Edwards]

A good friend of mine has a bullstag gyp that is pretty much a wonder dog. She makes pretty much every bear race. She has tree lion and coon. She has killed hare and snuffed coyote. I would own her in a heart beat. I would love to have a dog like her.

[Travis Stirek]

I won't bore you with how I've come to these conclusions but my feelings these days are that if you run the right strain of whatever hound breed tickles you,you won't need the pit blood or the airedales either and you won't have the risks.Anybody that hunts that blood more power to them but I'm with pete unless I take up hog hunting no more of that stuff for me.

[Moonshiner]

I doubt id ever touch an airedale, just not my style, but im excited to see how the littler my buddies females having in october will turn out. They'll be bluetick/pit cross, hopefully they will be good coyote dogs, cause the female is super fast, as is the stud. If not, they should make some good jack-rabbit dogs.

[Mike Leonard]

Travis to my notion you are right on the money Amigo. Don't try to re-invent the wheel just put the right tires and tread to work.

Listen, I have been out with plenty of them, oh occasionaly you will find one that will be helpful but my chocolate lab is as well and he is not a problem.

You want a butt load of headaches and heartaches get a bunch of square heads or fuzzy faces and then be real honest with us and come back in two years and ask why do they call this site BigGame HOUNDSMEN

if you want to catch lions, bears, bobcats , onchas, or onza's and maybe even a leopard get the right hound. If you want to den critters get a fuzzy face if you want to fight out in back of the Dew Drop Inn get the meanest pit sguare head that ever dropped a log in the back yard!

[Moonshiner]

Lol, good post Mike. well im not a fuzzy faced guy so i think ill stick to the hounds, but i do like them pits, ive been around some really friendly ones. But my buddy wants to use my stud to breed to his female, so i'll see how it works out, the ones he has now are pretty good coyotes, and i'll see how one of the pups works with my "pack", lol, its more of a way to work some muscle into my "pack". Guess we'll have to see how them square-headed floppy earred fellers work out.

[sdred]

I don't know where your hunt coyotes with this type of hound and I'm not saying I know whats the best type of hound to use. Has to do with the lay of the land I'll bet, but out here the coyote hounds are running dogs greyhound stag wolfhound and such. seen many a coyote takin by this type of hound they do put some nose in hounds to brush pop and then let the runners go but a good pack of coyote hounds will dispatch a coyote before the nose hound will get there. In a good pack of coyote hounds you have a catch or trip dog and or streach and a throat dog but this throat dog has to get there right around the trip. I like to hunt bobs and coons would like to hunt a lion some time and thats why I don't let my hounds hunt coyotes. Because we will always cross a hot yote track when we are hunting bobs and I can hunt yote with a different type dog. And I'm with Mike if you want to get a coyote here you need to catch it before the nearest hole or den, unless you like to dig, or come back later and get it out of the trap. But I would be Interested to here how and why you use this type of hound on coyotes because I'm sure the coyote has different habits in different areas of the country.

[Cowboyvon]

I'm with sdred.. I would like to know how they catch them with that kind of dog. I've been running coyotes with stag hounds for several years now



It sure takes alot of speed to catch one out here.. and a little nose helps too so they can pop em out of the brush..

[three rivers catahoulas]

there all right on the money, you can't trust a pit or a pit cross woth any other dogs. they might be the best dog in the world for a long time but it only takes once and its always your best dog they get. I use American Bulldogs for my catch dogs, but I run nothin but hogs with'em, Its hard to beat a good walker,plott or any hound for that mater, just the way they are. no need to cross them. I have a few plotts here and a couple catahoulas that are just as rough if not rougher then some of my bulldogs. they are built and programed to catch what ever you want them to.

[Pops]

in my limited experience A LOT of houndsmen run ill hounds and think their other dogs are chewed up by the game. then when someone runs a bull cross and it defends itself (perhaps a little too well) they blame the bulldog blooded dog.
i've been around so many ill walkers, i'll never own one. OTH i'll gladly take a chance on any bull/grey cross (including pit/grey). and i've been pretty content w/ cur/bull crosses (never had one that would start a fight but plenty that would finish it). i've had about 98% good experiences w/ bull cross dogs (not just mine but other folks as well).
in simple terms, i won't own a fight picking dog but won't hold it against a dog for defending itself.

[Dan Edwards]

Every breed of huntin dog out there has ill dogs in it. You just run the risk of death when you start dealing with the rougher breeds like bulldogs, terrier, and even stags. They aint no more ill, they just a whole hell of alot better at killin than the other breeds.

[Travis Stirek]

in my limited experience A LOT of houndsmen run ill hounds and think their other dogs are chewed up by the game. then when someone runs a bull cross and it defends itself (perhaps a little too well) they blame the bulldog blooded dog.
i've been around so many ill walkers, i'll never own one. OTH i'll gladly take a chance on any bull/grey cross (including pit/grey). and i've been pretty content w/ cur/bull crosses (never had one that would start a fight but plenty that would finish it). i've had about 98% good experiences w/ bull cross dogs (not just mine but other folks as well).
in simple terms, i won't own a fight picking dog but won't hold it against a dog for defending itself.

Whats the 2% bad and how can you prove who's starting it.Like I said before WHY risk it and why reinvent the wheel pits are for fighting and catching, hounds are for HUNTING!

[Dan Edwards]

I aint tryin to be a smart ass but I could make some saying up like, "Cur dogs are for catching game, hounds are for sport." Probably not a single ounce of truth in it but I could lay claim to it. Afterall, there is a balance that must be met depending on the type of hunting you do. I have a friend that consistently catches cats and fox in quick fashion in the same areas run cats and fox for hours round and round in circles. Its all in a mans style of the way he hunts. It didnt take me long when I started coyote hunting to realize that most people had no desire to own a dog that ran, caught, and killed coyotes by themselves. They had dogs that would run coyotes, and then run coyotes, and then run them. The catching and killing part didnt even interest them or maybe it did but they were too damned breed blind to realize that what they were hunting was never ever gonna do that last two parts of the three. Its all in what a fella likes.

[Pops]

actually Dan there is more truth than you know in that statement.
the cur dog was the commoners dog every animal they helped catch was vital to the wellbeing of the family either as food or "funds."
the scenthound & sighthound both were the domain of the nobility and if they had an exciting hunt but came up empty it was no big deal (but great sport) they were still going to eat & very well.

Travis
what i meant was that 98% of the bullies (including pits) i ve dealt with were good predictable dogs w/o being ill. even the game dogs (i can just remember when matching wasn't illegal in about half the country) i've dealt with were predictable. aggressive but predictable, so you could prevent a problem.
probably 60% of the treeing walkers i've been around were unpredictable and/or aggressive, that is they were good most of the time but every so often w/o any good reason they pick a fight. some could be counted on to pick fights w/ certain dogs of the same sex or new dogs or strange dogs, some in the woods, some in the truck, at least with those you could plan for it and try to stop it.
if every bear, boar, or cat you drop on is a bad one that cuts up some dogs, you probably have an ill dog. start checking the cuts & bite more closely, check shape & bite radius and you'll see the difference between a 200# bear & a 60# dog.
as for figuring it out, you usually have an idea it just takes experimenting to prove it. try to figure out something in common each time there is bad fighting. then experiment. when you narrow down the ill dog put it down. no matter how good they are it isn't worth it to keep them.
you're right pits are for fighting & bullies for catching, but they can add a hell of a lot in crosses.