BigGameHoundsmen.com

I have a question for those that want to answer. I have a pup that is eleven months old. Do you guys think that is is wise to put my pup on a good lion track on his own? I have little experience with this stuff.
Thanks

If he will take it let him roll

whats yur country like? Here in the northwest I would not hesitate with the heavily dense forest but down south were you can get ledged in the rocks with few trees I might think twice

there is a little of both rock and tress.

I live in Wyoming.

I only had one hound when I started cougar hunting but I hunted with another fella that also had one huond.
Its not the ideal situation to hunt it alone but in the same respect when you do not have a lead hound hunting him alone you as the houndsmen become the lead hound and are more apt to try and stick close to your hound while working the track which comes in handy when he over runs or makes a lose.

When I first started with my own hounds, I had a female red dog that was tight mouthed and just wouldn't open on track until she jumped the game. Man I hated that, cause she'd slip off and tree a lion and you'd never know until her tree switch starting going off. I always figured one of those lions would kill her but they never did, as I finally got some yearlings up and going with her.

A good buddy and I watched her trail a tom one day into his bed below a rock ledge. I went down the track with her and he followed along in the truck. That lion killed a two point buck, fed and covered it, scratched and marked around the kill site and laid up about a hundred yards above the kill.

I was near the kill and heard her trail into the cat without saying a word, then she roared and all hell broke loose. That tom never knew she was there until she rounded the rock and face barked him.....man oh man!

I'd never hold back on running a lion with a single hound, as that is what they were bred for. If those hounds are young dogs, don't ever think they'll all make it to the tree anyway.

ike

hunt14 wrote:If he will take it let him roll

Amen to that!

I've taken young dogs and hunted them alone. Your hound, he or she will make a better hound for you in the long if he or she will track and tree by themselves.

razorrb,

I have a year old walker that I hunt on bobs and lion all the time. He is still a work in progress since he needs to learn to hold at the tree longer.

Before I got into this sport I talk about this with some of the folks in the forum that I had a choice when picking out my hound since I had pick of the liter. I knew I was going to hunt him alone on bobs and cougar. At the time I narrowed it down to two dogs and took them both home.

After about 5 months I had a feeling about there personalities. One was a little better athlete and the other was very independent, much smarter seemed to analyze before jumping into anything. It was a close call but I wanted only one dog so I had to chose one.

As it worked out I picked the independent dog. I needed a dog that would think on his own, analyze a situation before jumping in. This in very important when you chose to hunt one hound alone. He has to be smart enough to know he could be hurt and not just jump into a bad situation. I also learned that because he was so independent he would have no problem doing things in his own. "You don't want a me to dog if you have a choice when hunting the hound by itself".

If you are going to be hunting cougar you'll be fine. With one hound you can really bond with the dog. By doing this and working with the hound you have the chance to get it to really handle well to start.

With one hound you also have the chance to really figure out what makes it tick and what buttons to push to get him to perform at a high level as you train him and get him in the woods. This is harder to do when you have too many dogs for yourself to handle and can't work with each one on a day in and day out one on one basis. When that happens you really don't get the most out of the animal. Its not how many dogs you have but what your getting out of the hound or "hounds" you have.

All this being said, again, yes you can hunt one hound on cougar, bobs, coon and do real well while still keeping it reasonably safe for your dog. As far as bear I feel this is a pack sport. I don't even like hunting my hound on bear even with a group of hounds since I fear if he picked up the scent of a bear while I hunted him alone and he would run it. I'm sure there will be folks that have said they have hunted bear with one hound and done well but I don't recommend this. I have cut a bear trail and actually broke my boy off it. A bear is another can of worms for one hound and is left better for pack hunting.

Hope this helps some and you'll learn as you go along any question feel feel to shout.

Robb

I agree with the other post to hunt the hound on it's own. I start young hounds by themselves by walking them on leash on a track, the hotter the better until they will go and then reless them. sometimes this takes a few tries .

Hey thanks guys helps a lot and gives me a little more confidence in doing it.

dump him what can it hurt?