Question for guys that use dogs

[david]

The Kemmers I had could actually cold trail very well, but they demanded that I be involved in the process, and some days, I just wanted a dog to do all the work. It is why I did not stay with that breed. In a trapping situation you would be involved, and that is all mine would have needed to do a great job cold trailing.

[hillbilly boy]

Ok they may very well be a good fit the last question for me would be with what you have seen when they find what they are looking for do they mostly bay one or are they likely to want to catch what ever it is that was the way mine was

[BAR BAR 2]

If you want the game in a tree, get a hound.
If you want the game in pieces, Get a Jagd Terrier.



Tex

[david]

[david]

And another thing, it seems like you are thinking about making sure your fur does not have dog bites. I have sold hundreds of hides that were dogged right beside hides that were trapped. The price given was the same. I don't let my dogs sit there and chew on a dead animal, but most of the furs were held briefly by dogs. I don't think it is that big a deal. If your buyer makes a big deal about it, take them to someone who doesn't.

If you are worried about the Kemmer getting hurt, the Kemmer will take care of itself.

[hillbilly boy]

Cool thanks man going to do more studying about them but they sound like a good fit for what I am looking for

[Katmandoo]

If your looking for a trap line buddy i would get a German wire haired pointer. Probably the smartest breed ive ever seen and crazy gritty. The ones we had were anyway. They would flop coons literally in the blink of an eye. They killed all kinds of stuff and were incredible bird dogs too. Kinda a win win

[hillbilly boy]

Say what a bird dog that a little out there but I guess it could be done don't do bird hunting besides turkey which dogs are ok for the fall hunt how do they do tracking drags and can they hold their own with something like a bobcat or coyote

[Katmandoo]

There noses are incredible, and they are so smart i think you could train them to do anything. Ours use to drag all kinds of critters in. One night right before dark i watched her flop 4 coon before one could even make it up the tree when i was horseback riding. Always went right for the throat and was over quick. I just know it would take a special dog to kill a big cat in a trap maybe, but if it can get around its gonna be a serious fight. Save the dog the agony and yourself some money on vet bills and get 2 of whatever you go with. I know theres some guys that hunt July hounds i was talking with one and he lived in Minnesta and they killed coyotes on the ground he sent me a video of them running down a coyote killing it. That might be exactly what your looking for. I read a really old news paper article on how everyone laughed the guy out of the fox hunting competition, but when it was his turn and the dog jumped a fox and proceeded to run it down and kill it no one was laughing no more and wanted to know where they could get one.

[hillbilly boy]

Well I found out that one of my cousin's breed German short hair points and they will go out of their way to run down and kill a cat or chicken so guess maybe they would go after something besides birds

[Andyva]

I have done a fair amount of trapping, and some of it with drags. We get a squishy soup here some winters, and it seems like a coyote can pull out a fence post on the first lunge. If that soup freezes you are OK, but as soon as it thaws out you are in bad shape. I had the best luck with my BM curs when I used them on the trapline, but I have tracked up drags without a dog. My observation is that a coyote won't go far. Had one once on frozen ground with a dusting of snow that made it over three hundred yards. He busted a field and that drag just flew through the snow, hung on a log across his path and when he hit the end of the chain he slipped right out. Went from a sure thing to an empty trap just like that. If you trap where there are a bunch of loose farm dogs, don't use drags. Dog will follow path of least resistance and walk right down the blacktop to home. But with coyotes, the scores that I have caught with drags besides that one went straight for the nearest brush and tangled up. Few made it past a hundred yards, even in open country. Using the dogs starting out with drags, I pretty much learned where they were going and can read it without dogs. They like low, a ditch or a hollow or even just a cow path, they want to slink out of there without anything seeing them.

As far as dogs getting hurt, you have no worries. Any dog stupid enough to stick his head near a trapped bobcat gets exactly what he had coming to him, but most of them after a time or two figure it out one way or the other. There are things to be said for dogs that decide to just bark until you get there, but they can't all be smart. Once a dog clamps on a bobcat, it is over. Your dog will have more trouble with a coon on the ground than a bobcat in a trap. From what I have seen of coyotes, when in a trap and faced with a dog, a few of them will stand up and bark, but most of them lay down and grin like a possum, and you could walk up and pet them. Not much chance of a dog getting torn up, unless he really wants to get torn up.

That covers drags, but sometimes you have a chain break. It is my experience that a coyote with a trap but no drag is usually laying in the closest thick place, usually within a thousand yards, often within 500. If you jump him without a dog, you will never see him again, but if a dog can get up on him, he will bay. He will lay pretty tight. This means that most any kind of close ranging dog that is willing to bark at something will work, if you just start making a spiral out from your trap. If the dog has done this sort of thing before, it will trail, and if you follow and encourage it, even a hot nosed dog like my curs were can follow a quite old track close enough to wind the thing laying in a thicket.

Hope this helps you some, I think you would find that there are a lot of mutts that would make a useful trapline dog, but if you want them to do other things, you need to concentrate on a dog that is good at those things.

[hillbilly boy]

Thanks man I am still learning as I go so I take any help and advice I can get

[Andyva]

Keep in mind, when I say that a coyote has a trap and no drag and he is within a thousand yards, I'm talking he got loose that night, most likely as it was getting light, that is when they fight a trap hardest, then and right when they get caught. Of course when you walk up, too. If you work metal and let it cool and then work it again, a lot of times it will break. Those double stake swivels are bad about it. He gets caught at night, he fights it, then the metal cools and it starts getting light and he fights it again, it snaps right at the swivel. Assuming you are checking early in the morning, he is not far. Gets out, finds a thick place and lays down. You get deer hunters stirring around, or farmers feeding cows and he gets up and moves. All bets are off then and would likely take a good cold trailing hound and many miles to ever see him again.

[hillbilly boy]

Cool to know if what I have read that a lot of guys use cur dogs because they run a lot quieter than a hound so they can get close and bay faster than a hound