Dry ground lion hunting -- jumping chollas cactus ???

[Buzzards circle n]

Just got 6 dogs had them about 3 weeks or so have been out allot locally, today went to new area and right off the bat all the the dogs got scent and ran over the mountain when we got over the top and down to the dogs they had a javelina down ... Very frustrating we bought lion and bear dogs . I did my best to show the dis approval .. We loAded up went down the canyon let, them out again right off the bat they got a trail again they went over another hill and the they split . We are tracking with a GPS garmin tt , I followed the bigger group and they all started trickling back all but 2 were loaded with cholla cactus.

Ohh my gosh this was a project I pulled so many spines out of the dogs it was crazy, these and the cuts the javelina did to one of my dogs I ended up pulling cactus , shaving and stapling till dark.

I could use some advise , tips etc.

Danny

[Grzyadms4x4]

Can't say anything about your dogs, but are they from around here? They'll start to recognize what to stay away from cholla and the like and dead and downed cactus like prickly pear, but the best advise is to get used to it. I carry forceps in my backpack just for this reason. Even in the high country you can run into a cactus. Reminds me of when we were chasing a cat by 4 peaks. The dogs went into this canyon and once I got there I knew they wouldn't last long, it was a sea of cholla. They had it rolled up in their long ol ears had it in every paw and in their mouth from trying to bite it out of themselves. Cactus sucks, but snow sucks worse. Have fun.

[bency]

Better start dragging roads and setting your dogs up till you can trust them and you know they can actually finish a track. Bear dogs and Javis are rough mix.

[krk hunting]

I have never meet a bear dog that will not chase a Javalina and they will rig it just they rig a bear. Like Mike said make sure what you are putting them on until you can trust them. I wouyld get real hard on them and light them up when they chase off game. Where are you located?

[papa]

Had a Black and Tan older dog and a young pup run a javelina into an old mine shaft in southern Az...the shaft ended and the javelina started slicing and dicing dogs...took 140 stitches to put the young dog back together...after that the old dog would have nothing to do with javelina...the pup still wanted to mess with em...gets pretty expensive if they live thru it.

[buzzardscirclen]

I'm down here in casa grande. Az

[pegleg]

Javelina will come to baying hounds. If i hadn't seen this several times id be skeptical at the distance some heards will cover when they hear hounds. Not saying this is what happened bit could be something to watch for. It is still no excuse to fight them in my book its too costly. But they will always be part of hound or even bird hunting with dogs. Cowdogs seem to come out of it better. It does sound like you need some serious trash breaking it might be a good idea to hunt only one or two hounds at a time for awhile .

[desertdog]

Had em after my dogs an hour ago. Kinda funny seeing the dogs charging into the brush after the Javelina's and coming right back out with the pigs nipping at their butts.

[justahunter]

I agree with peg leg. Hunt fewer dogs like one or two till they are doing good catching the right game. Keep on them hard about the trash.

[Benny G]

I know that I'm reading things into this, so if I'm wrong, forgive me. If you have never had a pack of big game hounds, you might have bitten off more than you should have. To start from nothing, and then to jump completely in with both feet, well, it can be tough! Let's just say that you bought a quality pack of dogs, and they really do know what the right game is, it's not unusual for a new dog, much less an entire mob to test you. Hunting TWO dogs until you get a handle on them, and then adding one dog at a time as you get them ALL under control would be the best approach. As for cholla, those dirty lions learn real fast that they can usually gain distance on a bunch of hounds by making a quick pass through a cholla patch. Good luck.