Dog Use?

Without the radio tracker we would not be able to get to the dogs. It allows us to locate them when they are well beyond the hearing ability. These baydogs know we should be on the way and the longer they bay the madder the hog gets and if he tries to run the dogs bite to stop it and to stop means the hog turns to fight. It is best to be there fast, drop snap on the catch dog from as close as possible so he spends less time near the sharp teeth getting cut.
The "cut collar and vest" are similar in form and function as bullet proof gear. With out them the injuries are more often and more severe. Not only risking the dogs but try to explain to some tree hugging vet tech that these are hunting dogs not dog fighters...:rolleyes: Small surgery is handled with surgical staple guns, sutures, duct tape etc. But the big stuff needs a vets care $$$...
I am hoping to own the Garmin Astro tracker gps system to further improve my speed to the bay.
As for treatment they are not pets. But I do try to keep them up. I do much of my own preventive care. What you refer to as thin we call "field trim" I do not mind being able to barely see a rib but not the hips. It can be hard to stay right on the edge if you get to hunting every day you MUST nearly double the feed rations. But an over weight dog is risking heat exhaustion and injury do to being slowed. They are dancing a pretty dance when bayed.
Brent
 
One last comment I have is although they are looked at as hunting dogs and not pets, that should not mean that they should not have the best care they can get.
They are still animals and if people want to keep them and use them--ask them to do something for them--hunt--then they deserve all the care they can get.
In some countries, dogs like we are talking about are inspected and the owners are made to provide all medical care for them---I know that here in the states and in other countries, this is not done on a regular basis--to bad.
It might weed out some of the worst owners.
With most things people in the US have learned " if you want to play, you got to pay" ---should be that way with our dogs too.
Again, I have nothing against working a dog--but if he/she gets hurt, I think proper care should be provided ---I have payed a few vet bills over the years.
Want to play?? Be prepared to pay if need be.

Dipper
 
Scorch, I still think it's more of a trespass issue than any moral thing. Look: Dogs used in hunting birds generally work fairly close to the hunter, and are in more direct control. Plus, commonly, there is rarely more than one dog for any given bird hunter. It's uncommon for them to be a problem for adjacent property owners.

It's different with dogs used for deer or cougars. They're often in groups, and are wide-ranging. Just as a chased deer crosses property lines, so do the dogs.
 
Makes sense Art

And that is probably one reason we can use "a dog" for deer, or multiple dogs for lions, bears, etc. It is hard to find a property line on 9,000 sq. miles of national forest land.........
 
There is no place in the world where hunting deer with dogs is as "touchy" as here in the deep South. When I was growing up it was like eating grits for breakfast. Just something you did and never questioned. Now that I am a ripe 40 years old I do not do it anymore, nor do any of my hunting buddies. Hogs, coons, fox yes but not deer. the reason I stopped was 1) I like to hunt alone 2) I do not like what a long chase does to the meat. It makes it tough and real strong.I am not knocking anyone who does just not my thing.
 
Runnin' deer, in the deep south at least, is also hard on trucks and terrible bad on the wallet as you can really ter up some gasoline heading off the deer and dogs... I never tried it as I wasn't about to take on either expense.
Savage is right.... I wouldn't advise you stand on the side of the road with a picket sign saying no deer doggin during season:eek::D;)
Brent
 
Hunters have enough advantage over game....they have a rifle. No need to have a dog do all the work for them. If you cant get them on your own, you are doing something wrong or perhaps you are just too lazy.
 
We do not permit running dogs on our property except for bird dogs. There is a valid reason for that. Often these hunts start miles from us. Nobody calls and says, we are going to be running hounds up/down the creek. We have livestock up and down the creek for 2 miles.

Well, you guessed it, the dogs get on a coon, or a coyote, or a cat and here they come. Hot on the trail the dogs follow the target animal right up through our feeding lots, and cattle scatter like hell, right through expensive fences, over feedbunks, and then we have to spend the next day trying to find them and get them back and then repair the damage. The hound men are nowhere to be found, and the damage is all on us. If we were asked and plans made so that the hunts would be after we remove the livestock from those areas, then it wouldnt be a problem, but when I have cattle on the creek, then any loose dog gets shot.
 
A few thoughts about dogs and hunting.

I wouldn't go bird hunting without mine. I can't count the number of times that I've either:

A) Found a downed bird, in thick Tules, that I never would have without my dog.

B) The number of crippled birds from other people's guns that my dog has found. There is something truly special about looking down and seeing your dog heeling next to you with a Sprig or Green Head in it's mouth while you're walking the levee.

I've brought my dog pig hunting, but just as a companion. I really enjoy her company. And she's well behaved, just sitting next to me. I know I might get busted due to our combined scent, but I just like to have her with me.

Finally, I think (being a dog owner/hunter) that using dogs to hunt has a lot more to do with the dogs than the hunt. In other words, if someone asks me to go bird hunting, but they say, "you need to leave your dog at home", I probably won't join them. For me, it's the relationship/teamwork/companionship with my dog that brings me The Most joy.

DG
 
Hunters have enough advantage over game....they have a rifle. No need to have a dog do all the work for them. If you cant get them on your own, you are doing something wrong or perhaps you are just too lazy.
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A few years back, I would have echoed this opinion. That is until I went deer hunting in Alabama and my perspective changed as the landscape favors the deer and not the hunter. Don't get me wrong, I don't have to hunt with dogs to get a deer but see noting wrong with it as long as it is within the law and in some areas, the DNR has obviously given their blessing. Saw dogs literally run their butts off chasing deer past my stand. With my license, I could take one deer a day with no tagging, check-ins or any kind of follow-up. So, on big game, hunting with dogs is acceptable if it follows the law.

On upland bird hunting, hunting with dogs is sheer perfection as it all comes together. Again, just my opinion.

Be Safe !!!
 
Some very ignorant answers here for sure.

I believe what we hunters think is ethical is directly derived from where we are raise and the laws of our area. Example: In many states it's LEGAL to use lights for raccoons at night regardless of whether or not you have a dog. Here in Iowa it's called spotlighting, its ILLEGAL and considered unsportsmanlike by almost all Iowa hunters, me included. BUT, I'd be DAMN STUPID to bash a hunter using lights in states where it is legal to do so!!! If it's legal, go at it!!

I used to have a bird dog and pheasant hunting without one is dang boring. Without a good gundog you are simply walking thru the brush hoping to kick something up.

Anyone ever try coon hunting with hounds? There is not a harder hunt than chasing dogs thru rough counrty, period!!! I had hounds for years.

Anyone who even thinks about opening his trap (or his online equivilant) and puts down "legal" methods of taking game is a moron and IMHO, should be banned from a hunting site.

Where do we draw the line? Dogs? Semi-Auto Guns? Guns in general? Crossbows? Handguns? Compound Bow's? Where? I'll tell you where: When someone is doing something illegal!!! And don't ever support laws against currently legal methods, you never know when they'll come after yours!!!

LK
 
Chicken or egg?

Dog or gun?
I could sit here and say that using modern arms is unethical since you could go out with a home made hickory bow or atlatl and hunt the "right" way? Or "HOW DARE YOU GO OUT THERE WITH THAT HIGH POWER RIFLE WHEN A MUSKET IS ENUFF?"
Using a dog as a tool is way older than any round any of us on here has ever chambered!
Come on down and go on a hog hunt with nothing but the dogs... No gun... I will let you toss it to it's side and tie it up with some modern made "mule tape" nylon strap... That is a fair chase hunt is it not? No hiding in a tree and waiting for a hog to stumble by... Just tyou, the dogs and the hogs... Fair chase and fair fight.
Brent
 
I think it is a sad affair when its against the law to use a dog to trail a wounded animal. There would be much less loss. If its on a leash it should be OK.
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Perhaps not aimed at answering the OPs question but certainly one of the most accurate responses posted in this thread. I think this is one page we could/should take out of the European hunting SOPs.

Best

S-
 
I suggest folks should examine their own cultural biases before getting strongly emotional about a style of hunting.

For instance, some cultures have it that it is an insult to the cook, to the host, if you don't belch loudly after having eaten. There are many other such examples, but I hope folks here are smart enough to not need to be bludgeoned with a long list.
 
In Louisiana it is legal to run dogs for deer and we do. They dont run deer off your lease forever. We have jumped the same deer a day or two later on several occasions. We lease 7500 hundere acres. With the tracking systems they have now it is no problem to find a dog where ever it goes. Is it bad to tell of a deer you took running dogs. Or is it bad to brag about a buck you took, sitting in a comfortable box stand, while it had a mouthfull or food, standing still three hundred yards away and didnt have any idea you were even alive.
 
Hunters have enough advantage over game....they have a rifle.
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I hate to hear people deciding what is "enough advantage" for everyone else. There is always someone that that decides that no one should bait, or use dogs, or use a scope on a muzzelloader, or use a crossbow over a compound, it goes on and on.

If it is legal where you live, more power to you.

I have hunted birds, squirrels, rabbits, deer, coons, fox and hogs with dogs. However, I do not own any hunting dogs.

If we are talking about only long running dogs, then coon dogs, deer dogs, fox dogs and often hog hounds fall into this catagory. What most people seem to have problems with is the dog no knowing property line or running so far off that they can't be found. Well, I have been on hunts with beagles and pointers where the dog gets so far off that they weren't found that day.

I know a lot of hunters that own hunting dogs. They love their dogs like family. They love to hunt the dog, not the game. Most fox hunters that I know only run dogs. They don't even carry a gun.

Try hunting rabbits in the south without dogs. Try hunting quail without dogs.
 
Hunters have enough advantage over game....they have a rifle. No need to have a dog do all the work for them. If you cant get them on your own, you are doing something wrong or perhaps you are just too lazy.
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I've only hunted quail or dove with a dog. No rifle was involved. I have watched my FIL train his GSPs, and lazy is not part of the equation. I would guess that he spends two to three times his hunt time each season training EACH dog to just maintain their nose and point behavior. Developing those skills varies, but is much more involved when the dogs are in adolescence. For him it's the tradition that has been practiced for as many generations as he can trace back that he finds important to preserve.

While this only has fringe application to big game hunting, my FIL has trained his dogs to bloodtrail big game (which is legal). I don't see any advantage except to recovery of an animal, but I wouldn't have a problem if it did and was allowed by the law. I firmly believe it's more fair chase than my "high fence" hunts. I think it's also more fair chase than using bait.

Before you snap a judgment, try to understand what might be important and even culturally valuable to gun owners, hunters and the connection to our past.

If you have a problem with dogs; how about birds of prey?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAsXtDKdU0Q
 
The porsche fella, from what he said in his post, knows nothing of any form of hunting. Best to ignore opinions which are based on ignorance.

Besides, REAL Porsche drivers have 911S models; purists drive 356c types. Water-cooled Porsche? Yuck. A sporting afficianado, of course, has a Speedster, since no other car will allow you to put up the convertible top at 30mph when a sudden Florida PM shower startles you. :D:D:D
 
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