BigGameHoundsmen.com

Houndsman are under the microscope above all others when it comes to the hunting sports. The truth of the matter is that hunting with hounds is the only hunting where the "catch and release" method can apply. The animal dosent have to die in order to be succesful in the hunt. The animal dosent have to be injured or harmed in any way. Im curious to know what percentage our take is. By the way there was only 10 options available so I skiped the 8 out of 10 option.

About 1 for every 20 for my dogs. I forget to put a gun in the truck most days. I am one of the people that doesn't think it has to fall out of a tree to make a tree dog.

most of the time in hog gunting we will kill the hogs 50-75%. In the times ive hunted bears I ive killed 2 in 15 treed. Last time I went and the times in the future I plan to go bear hunting I have no more desire to harvest another. Just take pictures. Pictures last longer and pictures are worth a thousand words.

One bear in two years... So I'm gonna go with about 1 in 70. Coons, whatever they catch on the ground, about 1 in 5, and maybe one coon per hunt out of a tree, unless they only tree one, or they caught one on the ground that night. So I'd say about 2 in 10 total.

It is funny how different hunters look at this topic different ways. I don't have much of a desire to shoot anything. My buddies that I hunt with want to shoot everything. They are good guys that just have a different outlook I guess. A few years back we harvested quite a few bobs, skinned them out to sell them. It wasn't really worth the time and effort in my opinion. Not judging or trying to start anything in the slightest, if other hunters want to harvest, I just keep trying to find places that aren't hit quite as hard. I run mainly bobcat and they seem to come back pretty quickly. Others have taken game over my dogs since, but the last time I pulled the trigger was in 2007. I have treed approx 100 since then. So my percentage is pretty low I guess.

Out of all the bears we have caught where I had a tag in my pocket, none.

Dad and I walked in to kill on 2 years ago, heard gun shots, and some SOB walkin around saw and heard the dogs, saw they had a bear, and blasted it from a ways away, almost killing our dogs.

The only things I want to kill one of is a coon and a bobcat, and that is so I can rug them out and hang them in our apartment. I have no room for a bear or lion and to be honest I have the best bear and lion rugs there could ever be. They were the only ones my dad ever shot and had rugged and we have had them forever. I remember watching the Pink Panther layin on the bear rug lol.

I agree that dogs don't need to see stuff fall from the tree to make dogs.

All them dogs of Bill Kenross's that are damn good and that throw good pups, they were trained with a broom-handle, a canvas water dummy, and a giant stuff easter bunny with a 10 pound weight around his neck.

And yes, dad cut the bow off him out of embarrassment

Pretty much whatever they catch on the ground....................which isn't a whole lot. Maybe 1 in 30. I will pop a coon out once in a while to young dogs, but I seldom tree a coon (1-2 a year).

last year we treed 95 bear shot 2

Been a while since I myself shot anything that I treed. I killed a nice tom in 05 and I guess if I ever catch a bigger one than him I might pull the trigger again. however I guid hunts and if I have a paying client with a trophy animal in a tree it's probably goin down. If others shoot your trees and bays, it still counts as you killed it in my book. and not for the braggin rights I mean for conservation of that species. you can't kill em all and expect to have anything to run next year. If I could ever get that through a few guys heads down where I hunt I wouldn't spend so much gas money finding stuff to chase. most houndsmen that have good dogs are usually pretty responsible about that though. just a few not heads that shoot everything they tree.

we usually kill half of what we tree. we eat the bear and our bear population is out of control state wide and we are urged to use our tags and may be getting another tag next year and also have been opening up our sanctuaries to drawn tags. each person has a tag now maybe two next year. some groups kill 14 or 15 and some kill up into the 60's and don't even notice a dent. we killed 14 last year and let more walk. we have a training season to just run.

I have kind of mixed emotions on this. I LOVE the sport of chasing critters with hounds so I love to leave animals in the tree. BUT I dont believe that anyone should feel ashamed for killing a quality animal that they treed. Most guys starting out on there own will be so excited when they finally catch a lion they will smoke it.This seems normal to me and I do not blame them. But after seeing a few I hope that most houndsmen will be more selective. I do not believe that dogs need to Chew on fur all the time to be good dogs. I voted 1 in 10.
Besides all the hard work starts after its dead so no dead stuff= more beer drinking time!

I haven't got one of them deer or elk shut down yet.......as soon as i find the right kinda dogs i'm pullin the trigger for sure!!! I think i'm somewhere in the area of 0 for 387 but who keeps track honestly.......?

I have not yet treed that many bears, and have only shot one for the dogs last year. I agree that the shooting is the least of the enjoyment in this game. The poll in my opinion could have a way of skewing the %. If you answer 1 in 10 thats 10% but if you actually only shot 1 but treed 100 thats only 1 % so it could make it seem like a much higher % seem like its the case. As hunters we all know the facts but we also know that there are certainly people viewing this site that dont agree with our sport who could misinterpret the #'s and still accuse us of slaughtering them JMO.

LoudmouthSpike wrote:I have not yet treed that many bears, and have only shot one for the dogs last year. I agree that the shooting is the least of the enjoyment in this game. The poll in my opinion could have a way of skewing the %. If you answer 1 in 10 thats 10% but if you actually only shot 1 but treed 100 thats only 1 % so it could make it seem like a much higher % seem like its the case. As hunters we all know the facts but we also know that there are certainly people viewing this site that dont agree with our sport who could misinterpret the #'s and still accuse us of slaughtering them JMO.

I hear what your saying about not having a selection that would represent what your take would be. I guess if its less than one out of ten then your answer would be 0 out of ten. Its not a scientific poll by any means.

I know as a hog hunter we probabally kill more than anybody else. The species is non native and evasive. Half of the time our permission to hunt is under the condition that we kill every hog we catch because the hogs are costing the rancher money due to the agriculture losses ect. This will skew the harvest rate compared to native animals we hunt.

But if you think about comparing a rifle hunter to a houndsman the percentage is tremendous. A rifle hunter must kill in order to be succesful. That would make them close to 100% in terms of success rate. A rifle hunter almost never passes on an oppertunity at a clean shot on a harvestable animal. We as houndsman according to the poll so far pass up on more than 75%. If we could get a nation wide certified poll on our actual animal harvest I think the attitudes from the non hunting community could be slightly turned in a favorable direction. I truly mean SLIGHTLY. At this point anything can help. I see the anti hunting/ani hound propaganda put out by the HSUS and other groups that are rallying against us. I think if we put some real statistics together about our harvest rate it could only help. Even if its just slightly.......

I agree that the percentage is skewed a little. And the apparent percentage should be much lower than reflected. I know the only animals we took was the ones that the dogs caught on the ground. The real enjoyment for me is listening to the dogs and watching them figure out the tracks.

AND BESIDES IF YOU KILL IT YOU CAN NOT RUN IT AGAIN.....