BigGameHoundsmen.com

I went through the "Best breed for bear" thread the other day and saw that some of the guys there spoke of Collies as hunting dogs.... I was kind of wondering about this. Could it be, or is it just a prank, someone trying to lure some newbie out on thin ice?

Then I tried a link at the bottom of someones profile to a Lion hunting link on youtube. Some other clips came up on the side menu and I continued to watch lionhuntingclips. This clip came up and I though my oh my "Isnt there a freakin Collie there(on the second bay up)?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNE1CCo1gzo

Went thinking about this for some days and finally collocted the dots in my head. Went to my DVD shelf and pulled out some DVD's from the Lancasters. There is a Collie appearing on those films as well. - First times I saw this I allways thought it was lap dog that they just brought along to the three so it could strech its leggs(still could be though).

So what I'm asking is: Are there peolpe in the US hunting Collies or is this just a strange line of thoughts made up in my not to bright head?


Hans

Yes, there are some folks out there that got a little touch of the collie in their hounds and they are quite good too. We aint talkin lassie type collie though. Workin border type collie is what most are referring to when they say collie. You would be surprised what maybe a touch of collie here or there may add to a pack of hounds.

There used to be an old government lion hunter that used two border collies and a large sight hound that looked like a short haired wolf hound. He cleaned up with them.

I have a border collie mixed with lab, she is 13 years old now so don't do much cat hunting anymore but in her day she treed alot of bobcats (about a dozon a year) and several lions alone. Last year she was still working the bears real well too. She and my pointer mix who is 16years treed several bears last year just the two of them. I don't know that I would go looking for border collies as a hunting dog but they can get it done. Mine was a free pup to good home and she had it here. She is definatly not cold nosed though... but she will take a 3 hour old bear track. She hunts with sight and sound as well and body scent, seen her pick up a bear from over 1/2 mile away and just run strait to it. She also don't bark until right on top of the critter and was realy fast but has slowed down alot this past year... getting old is hell.

there are some pups for sale right now that are like a third airdale third plott and a third collie that they use for coyotes on ksl

People don't know this but the world record cougar was take with a lab/collie cross. that same dog was the only dog under the tree for at least 40 harvested cats Collies ussually are not cold nosed but will burn a hot track like no hound can. They use all their senses all the time. My best hunting dog on a hot track is 1/2 collie 1/4 lab and 1/4 shepard . I bred her with my black and tan of with I kept 2 pups. Both pups are doing great at 8 months old and you never have to leash them up. Easy to train, quick on their feet and seem to have a good hunting drive. So far they seem to have worked out great for the type of hunting I do. I don't think they would make a great dirt dog but you never know.

I ran a border collie/ blue heeler cross for alot of years in my pack and he did great. Had th extra speed on hot tracks and held a tree as well as any hound I haave ever owned.

In the videos that are made by the "Life's a Boar" fellas, you will see several lab, border collies crosses. You will also see several lab, collie, airedale type crosses also.

A good freind of mine, Brent Barber of Bluffdale, Utah had a border collie that he use to run lion with, he ran it with his hounds but that dog was the real deal, he would out run the hounds. In fact they kicked him out of the feild trails they use to hold at Cedar Fort , they said he wasn't a hound and he couldn't enter him, truth be know he was kicking a$$ on every hound there That dog would tree just like a hound and would beat anyone at a tree contest.
I think guys get too wrapped up on a dogs nose and not enough on what runs the nose (BRAINS) If a dog has the greatest nose in the world and not enough brains to know how to run a track it does him no good at all

Got a call from a friend that I gave a pup to, out of the litter I talked about in my last post. The pup is 8 months old and took his first lynx start to finsh on his own, treed hard and located in a nasty spruce swamp. The nice thing about this type of dog is they never need to be leashed up.

Hm, I'm very surpriced by this.
You see, my neighbour is a sheep farmer and hes got a coupple of working Boarder Collies. Wouldt say that they are working perfect, there is some insane swearing when he takes hes sheep by my place, but they seem to get the job done more or less. These dogs got some traits that I would love to have in a Spitzdog, when it comes to baying. I've thought about cross breeding some Collie with my gyp, but the problem is the nerves of Norwegian Collies. These Collies couldt bay or tree a mouse if their life depended on it! They are scared of everything. If approached by a lady in a nice summer dress with a sweet tone in her voice without their owner closer that 30 yards, they will run head over tails and hide underneath the nearest car until their owner comes with a hot dog and lures them out of there. Not the nature of a hard running hunting dog if you ask me.....

Hey Chilcotin Hillbilly. What do you mean by "leashed up"?

Hans

Hans , leashed up is keeping the dog on a leash while walking a track or leaving a tree after a catch. It is amazing the brains that the hound crosses get if bred with a good cattle bred border collie. the pups I kept are trained without a leash and have only used a shock collar once in 8 months where my black and tan feels the love a few times a week and he is 2 1/2.

Thanks!
- It was kind of what I thought, but its great to learn some lingo, so I had to ask.

Hans

the problem is the nerves of Norwegian Collies. These Collies couldt bay or tree a mouse if their life depended on it! They are scared of everything. If approached by a lady in a nice summer dress with a sweet tone in her voice without their owner closer that 30 yards, they will run head over tails and hide underneath the nearest car until their owner comes with a hot dog and lures them out of there. Not the nature of a hard running hunting dog if you ask me.....

that would describe a lot of border collies here too -even some good ones tend to be shy / nervous -

,but not all of them .
i had one once that was about the opposite -i was working on a farm , just milk cows they hadnt been worked with dogs - some of them were pretty stubborn -
seen him move a protective milk cow from her calf as a pup - move the whole herd around as needed -

- he had no fear of anything - he got hit by a car on a road with almost no traffic- knowing him , he probably tried to stare it down-


nyways
hillbilly said "working cattle dog ", thats where id look too . takes more nerve to work cattle than sheep , maybe theres some near you used on cattle -

just the other day a cowboy friend of mine treed a big female lion with his two cowdogs. they are a cross between border collie, aussie shepherd and mcnabb. they never opened up until they jumped the cat so he had to follow tracks in the snow for awhile but they took the track and ran it for quite aways. on the ranch i grew up on we ran mainly catahoula and blue or red heelers but had a few border collies, very good dogs with exceptional minds and temperment but they were one owner dogs and shy around other people but i think more aggresive on animals because of the cow work instead of sheep. catahoulas and blue heelers are alot different with more lively personality toward others but tend to be very excitable and aggresive. but they are very good dogs and if i had a good female i would cross one with my walkers or plotts.