BigGameHoundsmen.com

what s the right age that i can start hunting my hound with other dogs???
also i am new to cat hunting any tips????
thanks

As far as cat hunting tips, if you could sit and read this whole bobcat section for a few days you will save yourself a lot of time and heartache. It would be worth your time.

As far as age of a pup hunting with other dogs you will get a lot of different opinions. I used to hunt them as soon as they would go along. Now I would hold them back and be more protective of them making sure they never were in a situation of discouragement or fear or injury while they were so young. I dont want them out there running other dogs and feeling frantic and lost if they cant keep up. I want to wait until they have the mental and physical competance to do their own hunting without breaking down. I want them to be able to finish the whole hunt and finish strong.

Some individuals and some breeds as a whole, the pups can take this stuff and bounce back pretty good. But even with them, I now wonder how much better they may have turned out if I had let them be puppys while they were puppys. Some dogs it has become obvious to me that I took things out of them too young that they never fully recovered from. When they are under a year old, I try to keep them in situations that I have a lot of control over. I want to be able to put them up while they are still wanting more. And I want to protect them from fear or injury by dangerous game.

Again, you will find plenty of guys that want their dogs running and treeing by seven months old, and there are alot of strains that can do it. That is how I was 25 years ago, and I had some really good dogs back then. I was blessed with a very early starting strain. I did not really even know what I had there. I know now. I used to just laugh inside when I heard someone refer to a 10 month old dog as a "pup". I just could not understand it. But the question haunts me: how much better might those dogs have been if I had let them grow up before asking them to do an adults job? I will never have an answer to that question that could be proven . But I have my theories on it.