Dogs for hunting

Europe

Handloader
Jun 18, 2014
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The bird hunting thread had some great responses and references to dogs. It helped me remember "fondly" all the dogs we had while the kids were growing up. All the different breeds we had. When it came to dogs my husband always used the excuse that the children needed a dog, or several. I remember that we had a Lab, Springer Spaniel, Golden Retriever, English setter, and the two strangest dog experiments were the Bluetick Coondog and Dogo Argentino. We got the Bluetick to hunt mountain lions and the Dogo, for wild hogs.

Anyway, my favorite was the Golden Retriever --loved that dog! He hunted, everything, upland, waterfowl, Javelina, and was an excellent family dog. However, my sons favorite dog was not a hunting dog at all, but a German Shepard --that boy and dog were inseparable. My daughter loved that stupid Bluetick coondog. Thank God we lived on a farm and way out of town as it was sometimes a bit noisy

What is or was your favorite breed of dog---even if they dont/didnt hunt.
 
Europe I grew up in a dog hunting family. Which was Deer and rabbit dogs all my life just about. I love hearing a good pack of hounds work! We have used beagles for Deer &rabbit, running walkers, and half beagle half walker for Deer. I have not been in the dog club I grew up hunting in, due to them letting people in that were dangerous. They would shoot by houses, churches, and straight down public roads. And I just did not want to be apart of that especially since a lot of the old men I learned from was passing away, and being replace with hot rodding younger folks. Don’t get me wrong I still miss it dearly, but I just don’t want to be apart of that.


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Alaska Husky, Racing
Canadian Eskimo. Hauling/Hunting
Wolf. family pet/protection
Boykin. A true workhorse. An excellent bird dog, as well as tracking dog, quiet dog rides in the canoe, plane, sled and snowmobile well and senses.smells, and/or hears danger before we do.

Dr Mike, what in the name of all that is holy is a "Dogo Argentino" ? You have got to be kidding me !!!
 
FOTIS":2q2fcvgd said:
A good lab is always a plus!

I agree with Fotis

Dr Mike, thank you, interesting. I had never heard of them but I guess wild hogs destroy a lot of land in the south. A group of fellows from the LEL forum got together and went on a hog hunt and had a lot of fun and harvested a lot of hogs
 
Yeah, but killing the hog with a knife? I'm getting a bit old for that. I had a friend here in Dawson Creek who was attacked from behind by a black bear as he sat on a log smoking a cigarette. He killed the bear with his knife. However, he lost a fair chunk out of his backside. Killing an animal with a knife is something done out of desperation. Killing with a knife as sport? I dunno'.
 
DrMike":2mtd7tx8 said:

The Dogo’s are beautiful dogs! I read a story once about one killing a puma as it was chasing the ranchers daughters. The dog broke its neck but suffered severely. Most of one side of its face was torn off. They are supposedly extremely loyal to there masters.


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From what I could see in the first video they look and are built a lot like a pit bull.
I have had 2 labs and though I could get neither to hunt the one loved to catch and kill skunks and ground hogs. that dog could kill a skunk and it would never have a chance to spray.
 
I am with Dr Mike. I am not a knife fighter! BTW the LEL hunt was with rifles and to my knowledge no dogs

We have had two or three different breeds, I like the Lab,

however I do not harvest 60 plus pheasants in one morning like salmon chaser, and we dont have a lot of sled dog races or wolfs here in New York, so my knowledge of dogs is lacking a bit compared to others here on the forum.

I am curious as to what our other northern members have, like Gil, Gerry, Hodgeman, Bear-78, Dan and Dr Mike, as well as our southern members who live with wild hogs
 
I love dogs, but I use young men to work my game. My grandson and a few other younger men do the heavy lifting any more. My wife and I don't have dogs. Those we have had in the past were "mutts," acquired accidentally in various ways. My favourite was a mixed breed terrier/coyote. He was truly a one-man dog, never allowing anyone else other than me to be close with him. He didn't really work for me, but he was loyal and highly protective.
 
I had two American Pointers for a while, Beau and Duke (yeah I'm a John Wayne fan). They learn quick and don't give up. I think the perfect combo for upland is a German Short for pointing and a Lab for retrieving. I've hunted behind this combo that belong to a friend and they are terrific. I myself have not had a hunting dog in over 30 years. Guy's pictures make me want a German Short.
 
I had a couple of Black Labs. Great dogs.

JD338
 
Best "hunting dog" I ever had was a Collie/ Sheppard mix, truly. He would usually retrieve to my hand but he had a "HARD" mouth. Always made sure everything was dead. :oops: But he was a rarity. Perfect dog for a boy who couldn't get around all that well. Pushed rabbits and squirrel like a beagle. Ran down the occasional Jack and went toe to toe with several badgers, and won. Grandpa always said, "don't worry about him (me)- he's got the Dog". My father on the other hand raised German short hairs so I have a big soft spot for them. Wonderful dogs- I still love to watch them work for Pheasants.

 
I certainly enjoy German Shorthairs for upland hunting. I know guys who use them duck hunting but for the life of me I can't figure out how they get them to sit still in a blind.
One of the fellas I guided the last two days had a 6 mounts old silver lab. That dog is going to be fantastic, got me thinking about that as an addition.IMG_1539.JPG


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That's what I'm talking about! Beautiful! Thanks for the photo! Dads Shorthairs (at least one as I recall) loved the water but they never retrieved worth a darn. CL
 
I've had to many good dogs to name them all... My best hunting dog was a Black and Tan coonhound, great coonhound, great pet, and a great friend.

Our current dog is a Black Mouth Cur, he's just a pup yet, but at just 10 months old he solved our nuisance bear problem singlehandedly... I wasn't home when it happened, but my wife said when she heard the fight and went running out to see what was going on... Roscoe was all over that bear, even up on his back at one point... The bear hasn't been seen since.

He knows no fear and does not tolerate strangers well at all (60 pounds of pure grit)... But he is nothing but a pure and sweet goofball with the family.... Funniest damn dog I've ever seen with his antics.... He cracks me up.

Roscoe is not as big as this pic makes him look, Daniel is on his knees

I'm working on making him a blood trailing dog, to find lost game... He's coming along nicely, found 3 this season, got mixed up on 2 that were in a herd when they scattered... Sadly, one of those was that big buck I showed y'all on here a while back... That was his first live track, and he done great for his first time with very little training (lack of time on my part), but we didn't find the deer.... I think someone found him though, trail stopped too sudden, and near a road.

 
Well dogs are a pretty deep subject with me, our family has been using them to hunt here in Maine since
My Grandad started our lodge in 1926........ there are many good dogs ,there are old pics of him with Springers; we have tryed Brits, Shorthairs, Labs, and
My Dad tryed Irish Setters for a while and a few English Pointers and I even had Munsterlanders in New Zealand.
So my love affair with dogs goes way back to my earliest memory's, dogs were involved in all my early fishing
adventures. We have bred them for years and train them. We have them placed all the way to the West coast and Canada. IMG_1250.JPG
I can back you up on a charging Grizzly, and I am rock solid, not a problem. But when I take a 3 month old puppy to the airport to ship them to their new home, and they are scared to death and begging you With their eyes to just take them back home. And you have to turn and walk away listening to them crying in their crate, that is certainly; MUCH harder for me, than any Bear that ever came for me.IMG_1254.JPG
Of course like the guy that likes a Chevy Pickup, we all have our favorite dogs,
My love affair has always been with Setters, they go with me in the truck, on the ATV,
In the airplane, and the boat, on the snowmobile. I honestly can't imagine not having
them in my life. They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder.....IMG_1255.JPGIMG_1256.JPG
Read this 50 years ago, and wrote it down so I would never forget it......
Dogs: "we give them what room we can spare, what time we can spare, and food we can spare. And in return they will always give us, their all in every way." It is in short, the finest deal for man, we have ever made.
 
I have also had too many good dogs to name them all. I grew up with a big German Shepard, he was my best friend. Growing up my family always had dogs and my wife and I have always had several dogs at a time since we were married years ago. Labs, Shepards, Terriers and 15 1/2 years ago we bought our then 12 year old daughter a Border Collie/McNab cross puppy. She trained her dog herself in a 4H dog obedience class for several years, winning many awards. We had to put her dog down last month at almost 16 years old and let me tell you, it's like losing a family member. We have two other dogs of the same breed, they have the intelligence of a Border Collie and the toughness of a McNab cow dog.
 
I forgot to mention my dad’s mutt lap dog “pee-wee” lol. He is a half weenie dog half Yorkie lol. Believe it or not he is the best blood trailing dog we have ever had. He has found a little over two dozen deer. Funny thing is when he finds one with a good bit of life left in it he is all over it. A buck one time was trying to paw him and hook Home with his horns laying down. Dog would run up and jus jump in him trying to shake him and bite his neck. Little feller has got a lot of guts and ain’t scared of nothing.


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