How Many dogs do you have and how many to you hunt at a time

[doghunter]

I have been reading different opinions about how many dogs people keep year round and how many they use in a race. Bobcat, Bear, Lion, ECT.

I now keep 25 grown hounds. (Up until my father’s health failed we keep between 40 and 50. and he liked to run 6-12 per a pack). He was able to hunt from November thru February and could use that many.

Now if I am running Deer I like 3 per a pack(3-6 is ok but the more you have our the more split races you have where I hunt). If running hogs I like 1-3 depending on what type of dogs they are. Too many gets the dogs hurt. (If they bay it can get to rough with a good Boar).

We use to bear hunt in Florida when it was legal, the season was in October and we never had a set amount of dogs dad always started a track with the same dogs we ran deer with and just added dogs until about half of what was in his box was out (at least .

I can remember the last legal bear hunt in Florida we were in North Florida and they had a plane in the air spotting all the hunting groups and would send a Game Warden to hunt the whole day with each party. That day we had over 20 dogs on a bear and he went into a closed area you can guess how that went. Back then we did not have training or tracking collars the dogs would work their way back to where you put them out when finished. It sometimes took days but they would be right where you turned them out if no one messed with them.

I have heard a few dogs is better up north and more are needed to catch/tree a cat in the south. I am just interested how other hunters do it and what it takes.

Please include what part of the country you hunt, what game you hunt, how many dogs you feed and how many dogs on the ground give you the best chances.

Thanks

[Big Mike]

Ussually have between 6-10 hounds at a time. I like to hunt with 6-8 dogs at a time, horseback for lions and bear in dirt and snow

[inchtowntracking]

We kept only four hounds, and since they moved away i keep two pups right now. I think i would of gone broke feeding any more then that especially 50 hounds

[Benny G]

The number of dogs that I keep varies. However, I hunt only lions, (or at least everything else that gets run is not MY goal!) and I prefer to hunt between 6 and 8 at a time.

[Mike Leonard]

In recent years I only keep about 6 mature hounds and several pups coming up. On horseback I usually take everybody including the bird dog that is getting too fat. LOL! It can be a bit of a challenge getting that many dogs off a tree and leaving but we usually make out allright but it is better to have a little help. I have hunted as many as a dozen at a time without any problems once you get the edge off them and I love to see a good big pack working together on a cold lion trail. When they really get locked in and moving it is like a living unit watching the pack swell in and swell out and they move the track and when it really gets tight like one oldtimer said you can dang near throw a saddleblanket over the whole bunch. Now that is a thrill! In more forested or brush choked areas too many dogs on a lion can be a bit problem keeping head count and track of everybody so I settle on about 5-6 dogs. When I am hunting the really bad bluffy and rocky areas it soemtimes helps to have a few more dogs to keep a lion bayed up on a rock or bluff he is not as likely to slip out if you have a few more. It is a two edged sword however and too many dogs pressing other dogs fighting and baying a lion in the ledges can cause some dogs to get hemmed up and hurt or stampeded off a bluff and hurt or killed.

[Melanie Hampton]

I used to always have about 5-6... but I realize I really don't need that many.. I'm going with 2 adult dogs and a pup, maybe 2 pups.. My oldest dog is 7 so I want to use him to help train some up an comers.. I have no problem dumping out everything I own on a coon race, but prefer no more then 3 on bobcats.. Of course if they are in the box, they will more then likely get dumped out..

I am concentrating on full time college and working part time, so honestly they aren't getting hunted as much as I would like.. (of course now our season is over so I don't feel so guilty ) Being cut back on hounds hopefully will help me keep them all hunted...

[kcbearcat]

I try to keep about four or five finished dogs and a couple pups around. Right now I have 5 adults and no pups but will probably be getting a couple this spring to replace the old timers. Up here in montana when we have snow it seems like if you throw more than 3 or 4 dogs in on a old cat track in deep snow they can walk out the scent. But I usually turn out, if there is good scent conditions, 4 or five. But hunting the dirt and mud like this winter has been for us I'll hunt 6 or so. In those types of scent conditions a few extra seems to work well. They are able to all cast and honor and keep bad scent moving faster. For me it all depends on how good the scent is. Bobcats I like two or three focused dogs.

[Redwood Coonhounds]

I own four. On coon it seems as though at times I run more than I would on big game, as it's just more of a means of excersise, and getting them all out. If I am out really training I hunt 2. On bear I hunt typically 2 or 3. More than that is a clusterfck, and young dogs aren't learning anything but to run another dog.

I have an almost 6 year old, a 3 year old, a 2 year old and a 9 month old. Will be adding at least 2-3 more pups this year out of my dogs. When training pups, one on one, and one pup/pup trainer at a time is the way to go.

If it was a perfect world I would have 4 dogs max with 3 years between each of my dogs. That way they don't get old and die at the same time, or have a yard full of pups.

[doghunter]

Thanks for all the great info. I will probably be cutting down on the number of dogs I keep.

I like a trail dog that can trail any track from the night before. I have a few that will not take a track unless it was made after midnight but they drive and bark great. I will probably be culling them soon just to cut down. In a lot of packs I hunt around they would be the best trail dog they would have. But a lot of people where I hunt don’t want to wait on a cold nosed dog they want to turn out and have an instant race.

When deer or hog hunting I track the road and find what I think is a buck or big boar. When I put on that animal I want the dog to stick with it not just jump something. This is hard to do with a lot of game in the woods if you us more than about 3 dogs at a time.

I probably need to start a thread on what type of hunters cat, lion, bear, deer, hog ect have the best trail/track dogs. or why different type of dogs work best on different game( Cast dog verses Trail dog)

Every time I start a cold track and put a lot of dogs with him to help they always end up running different animals but I am running a lot of finished dogs and only a few puppies.