General hound hunting question

[Bticked]

Ok, how long do you all let your dogs run a track before you pull them off? Say they start it and move it about a half mile and then dont seem to move it much further. How long should you try to let them figure it out?

Ryan

[BlacktailStalker]

I'd get in there and help them until its obviously too late in the day to continue.

[LCK]

It all just depends to me. Sometimes, it is painfully obvious that things just are not gonna warm up and get interesting, so I pull em and try to find something a little more catchable. Then there are those times I want to kick back and just see what happens. I think after some time, you get a feel for what dogs you have down and can tell pretty quick how things are gonna go. Most of us have had those seemingly going nowhere tracks, that all the sudden blow up and leave the country and then theres the ones that start out like the world is on fire and end up like watching paint dry. Just depends on the day and my mood I guess. Thats just me though.

[Bticked]

Thanks guys. I guess I just havent had enough experience or been under enough trees to have it figured out yet. I should say it happened a lot last winter on cat tracks where they were old but like you said some they came out the box screaming and ended up just hangin around one area not goin much further and I pulled them off after about an hour. Time will tell I guess. Still no luck bear hunting Damn!

[Buddyw]

I'd agree with Blacktailstalker.. In the senario you describe, I would have tried and turn the dogs around and try and start the other side....

But to answer you question, As long as the dogs are trying to figure it out, I'll let them try if I know it's a Good game.

Buddy

[plottpappaw]

I myself detest even the thought of cold trailing but we have tons of bears here in nc and not a big cat one! And cold trailing is something we rarely do cause of the population! But i'm not a cat hunter either so i don't bout the hunting situations in your area for cat and bear! But i agree on learning your dogs and in time it will come! Good luck to ya!

[Bill Ziegler]

To me, it has mostly to do with why I turned loose in the first place. Did I turn loose to tree a cat or did I turn loose to teach some dogs? I usually turn loose to teach some dogs.

Hounds have to learn how to pick up looses. Anytime you go in and line it out for them, you've deprived them of the opportunity to figure it out on their own and learn from that. However, some dogs never do learn how to cast out and find a loose (those dogs aren't born with the kind of drive or impatience I want in a hound). I give up on those dogs fairly quickly.

I know several hunters who are never more than 100 to 200 yards behind their dogs and are constantly lining the track out for their dogs. Usually, those guys are all about filling tags and bragging about how many lion they treed last winter. I'd rather be figuring out if the dog I turned loose has the genetic predisposition to get things done and to be a top hound.......and if its something I can move a bloodline forward with.

Hope that doesn't sound arrogant, but there is a huge difference to me.

[Brianshounds]

i try to not let my dogs have a failure, quite, or give up till the game is cought... this is how i make my dogs learn at a young age to never quite till its cought. if it meens walking with them till they can take it them selves that is what i do... in the long run your dogs will learn not to quite. because everything is catchable with enough effort.

[Bill Ziegler]

Sorry, I just realized you were asking about beardogs......something I have little knowledge of. I was talking about cat dogs. Not sure if that makes a big difference or not, but I don't know what bearhunters want.

[Mike Leonard]

Bill, I like your style. Thanks!

Remember now this was a general hound question: not about bear dogs, coon dogs or cat dogs. So in general?


So let's think about it. I am going to post another question right here on this forum link, and not on the bear hunting line. Drift over when you get a chance and give me your opinions.

Thanks!

[rockman]

In my opinion,
If your dogs start like a bat out of hell then going too cold trailing, 9 times out of ten your dogs are running the track backwards so yeah pull them off and start the track the right way. . . just my two cents

Sonny

[LCK]

To me, it has mostly to do with why I turned loose in the first place. Did I turn loose to tree a cat or did I turn loose to teach some dogs? I usually turn loose to teach some dogs.

Hounds have to learn how to pick up looses. Anytime you go in and line it out for them, you've deprived them of the opportunity to figure it out on their own and learn from that. However, some dogs never do learn how to cast out and find a loose (those dogs aren't born with the kind of drive or impatience I want in a hound). I give up on those dogs fairly quickly.

I know several hunters who are never more than 100 to 200 yards behind their dogs and are constantly lining the track out for their dogs. Usually, those guys are all about filling tags and bragging about how many lion they treed last winter. I'd rather be figuring out if the dog I turned loose has the genetic predisposition to get things done and to be a top hound.......and if its something I can move a bloodline forward with.

Hope that doesn't sound arrogant, but there is a huge difference to me.

I like the way you think. Good answer.

[Ike]

I like that answer as well.... If I'm rigging tracks and looking for a boar or tom only to run and kill I'll often put a dog or two down to show me the track if I can't find it. Unfortunately, if that track doesn't measure up the dog gets called off and has to go rig for something better. Eample: I was out looking for a nice boar awhile back and my dogs went off nearly a dozen times. We found seven of those tracks to look at and several must have been on the wind in a side canyon. The only tracks I let them go on were the killer tracks and so everything has a time and purpose.......

If I'm out hunting alone and just playing I'll usually let the time of day dictate if or when the dogs get pulled, or the situation. Where I live, a hound running bear or lion can quickly be on private or Tribal and will often times get pulled because of the legal aspect; other times they get to run until they finish or get used up by time, conditions and the energy they have left.......

ike

[Spokerider]

It all depends on what you're running, what you're wanting your dogs to achieve, your hunting method, terrain, conditions etc.......

When you're just starting out, it takes awhile to get into the groove of things. The more you hunt your dogs, the more all of you will learn from experiences, both good and bad. You will develop a better feel for "reading your dogs" as to what they are thinking and acting upon at any given time.

We freecast our dogs often, and not being truly trash broken, the buggers still grub up some small furry critters to run now and again. The pine martins they scent can run like stink, and can lead the dogs on a 2km full-on race that soon peters out into dogs split and wandering around in circles. We don't waste any time in collecting them up.

Now, if you're following tracks of your quarry in the snow.....that's a different story.

[Bticked]

Thank you to everyone that replied. Everything you said was really helpful and I keep all this in mind everytime I go out now. I got another question but Ill start a new thread for it hopefully you guys will chime in again.

Ryan