rigging and striking

[lifreediver]

have you guys noticed that a hound can usually start a track they stike from the the truck because it is a hot airborne scent they are catching but as they get older they strike on the faintest scent and some times the track is so far from the truck they cant get it started because they dont go into the woods far enough to find it.the hound can smell it easyer from the truck but that track may be 100 or 200 yards off on a ridge and when they get down some times they now dont have the scent anymore to start the track because they are out of the air foils that are higher up im always amazed with good rigg dogs runnin off a bait is ok it just dont do a lot for me lifreediver

[cat and bear]

Placement of dogs is one factor for rigging, and the terrain you hunt is another. I use to keep my dogs up top, I would hit riggs I couldnt start, kind of got lazy, up and down tieing dogs, and put my best rig dogs behind the box, on the tailgate. I discovered, that when i got a rig, my chances of getting it going became much better, as you said, the higher the dogs, the more wind currents. Also knowing rigging and your dogs, you can pretty much tell if its a wind rig, or the bear crossed the road. In this brush, swamp country, rigging and style is completly different then out west. There they need to be high, and cast off in the canyons etc, to get it going. I got a buddy which comes back here, and he riggs, his dogs cast, and we spend the next two hours picking them up. The style is different, the sucess is no better then me putting down a couple of dogs, and having them back at the truck in five or ten minutes. Probably the water and brush which makes it difficult once you put them on the ground.Two different games, for dogs and styles needed for the area you hunt. LOL