How many have run one dog?

[Hunter12]

How many of you guys have run one dog on a lion and have you ever had any problems with it?
I think it would be fun to see exactly what each dog could do buy its self and would definantly show any weaknesses fairly quickly but not looking to get any dogs killed ether. Any thoughts?

[sheimer]

Every dog that I've ever owned and do own has been run by it's self. Just how I do it, not that it makes it right or wrong, just is. Like you say, it shows you what your really do have. I've never heard of just one dog having any more problems than a pack, at least in the area that I hunt.

Scott

[horshur]

I've run one dog lots thought it was fine.....lost a good dog to a bad Tom....I won't run one dog again.

[jcutler]

I have only been cat hunting for a couple years, just kind of a weekend warrior so don't take my opinion too seriously. But I have used only one dog to tree a few cats. Two different dogs but both were awesome, experienced, finished hounds.

[outlaw13]

Me and a buddy were hunting a new pack of dogs he bought for some big money 10 or so years ago on bobcat. Had the #1 and #4 dog out on a started track and it was starting to heat up so he kicked the #2 dog in. The #2 dog started towards the others then all of a sudden B-lined in the opposite direction barking like crazy. Now he had only had the dogs about 3 days and he gets pissed and says that Dog #2 must of bumped a deer on her way in and took off after it. So we go and get around to finding dogs #1, and 4 and they caught the bobcat in a hole in a rock ledge. It had only been around 2 hours since we left dog #2 and we are getting a good beep on the old telemetry box and figure she is only 250 yards or so right over a little hill. No barking no nothing. He starts calling for her and beeping the horn and she wouldn't come out. He figures she is a new dog and she knows she is in trouble for chasing a deer and is just being an ass about coming out so we go in and get her. As soon as we crest the hill the we knew she was over we seen a much different story. Of i forgot to mention that there was around 3inches of snow. We see a single juniper tree with a lot of dog tracks circleing it a dead partly eaten dog and a big tom lion track leaving the dog.

Now im not saying it shouldn't be done but with my very limited experience i would pair dogs off when trying to run the least amount of dogs while trying to catch a lion.

[mike martell]

Foolish is what comes to mind! One dog can catch anything you want to tree including bear on a regular basis. I owned a little walker female prior to the Oregon ban and know I treed well over one hundred cougar with her alone. You can go for many years with no problems and when you hit that one cougar that ain't scared of a hound you are finished.

Here is another topic and question. Why do certain cougar bay on the ground and not kill the hounds? I have watched a cougar get frazzled over a hound barking and just bay up and take the barking dogs when they could kill every dog in seconds if they wanted to.

I always hunted open mouth hounds and figured a guy was better off having several dogs sounding off to prepare the cougar for what is coming vs. a silent dog that startles the cat.

I have never been a fan of owning over five dogs at any time. Just to much work involved in care etc. Not to mention you take away from a completed hound by distractions of owning too many hounds, always thought it was better to own one complete hound than three one third style dogs if you follow that analogy.

Four dogs that can run and catch together (this is key to hound survival) is what I think should be the minimum to prevent your dogs from being desimated. Having four dogs and one that catches ten minutes ahead of the rest does no good. The same applies in wolf country. The more dogs you have the better the odds and then hounds are no match when a cougar or wolf goes to killing.

I have always been amazed with hounds of my past that thought they could whip a cougar and would hit the road when a bear whoofed! Oregon has/had a good population and it was very common to tree thirty to fifty per year prior to 1994.

[horshur]

the real diference is with one dog and a bad tom you won't have vet bills....

[LarryBeggs]

Mike is right. It is fine untill it is not fine.One dog can catch plenty of game. But if you have watched the dogs work very many cat or bear they work as a pack and protect each other. Unlike a bear that is biting to do damage and protect itself a cats instink is to bite to kill.Most of the time no problem most cats wont fight but when you find one that will look out one dog is overmatched.

[Hunter12]

Thanks guys for the reply its good to hear from men much more experienced than I. You take a risk every time you drop them out of the box and I believe it is are job to calculate those risks, the best we can before we open that box. We owe it to the dogs that we do are best to make that decision. I felt the same way as most of you do but recently had read in a couple of posts about running one dog witch got me to thinking (witch too much thinking in turn sometimes gets me in trouble). It happens quite regularly in split tree situations as we all no and usually comes out fine except in the situation of one of the prior posts. jcutler Im in the same boat with you, I wouldnt even call my self a houndsmen just a guy that loves dogs and loves being in the great outdoors and tries to get out as much as he can thanks for being honest and telling me your experiences with running one dog. Mike you bring up a good question I think probably alot of us have seen the same thing. I have seen a tom that was somewhere around a 180lbs just sit there almost eerily calm with his back against a rimrock wall while a 50 pound dog barked in its face just out of arms reach. That cat could of had a free meal in less than a second. Why didnt it? Dog meat not taste good?

[RezDogRendezvous]

the real diference is with one dog and a bad tom you won't have vet bills....

True that! I rely on super chicken***t and speed with my dogs to keep my vet bill down!

[Glen]

I ran the biggest lion that I ever ran with my smallest dog. Not intentionally though. I released 2 dogs but 1 not having any experiance and being a tough blown in track, the pup quickly fell out of the race. All turned out well though. She caught it in a rock pile and didnt have enough sense to circle around and find a track out. That gave me time to make it to the first rock pile and she never got more than 200 yards to the next rock pile after that. Chased it from pile to pile for sometime, until I got tired and leashed her and went home. I hate to think of what could have happened if she was smart enough to circle around the piles and keep hard pressure on that cat without me being there to take care of whatever necessary. But I do run only 1 dog until the trail is hot enough for my older dog to start to open up good , then I let the pups join in.

[mike martell]

Here is what I know for sure about hunting hounds. When you are done learning you are done! I always reference what happens by looking at a situation and say, 99 times out of 100 this is how this plays out, that is how I write my play book. Observations are simply observations and sometimes you can begin to see a pattern develop.

The secret to understanding your quarry is spending the time and years to become proficient. To understand any game mammal, it helps to live close to bear, lion, bobcat country or your game of choice and dedicate the necessary time to totally understand animal behavior and if you are like me after four decades, you will more than likely walk away scratching your head saying, what was that all about?

One thing I did forget to mention was the use of more than one dog on a recovery or wounded cougar shot from a tree. I found it best to use one hound for this job.The rest tied back out of harms way. several hounds under the circumstances will get a dog killed real quick. Dad being present with a gun to bail me out and all my kennel buddys will cause hounds to frenzy and work closer than normal. I liked a level headed dog that would not lose control of the situation to close the deal.

Besides it is a whole lot easier to keep track of one hound while ending it than trying to follow four or five.I have seen hunters shoot and kill dogs on a bayed up bear years ago. Their are enough occupational hazards out there that will get a dog killed soon enough, we as handlers have an obligation to use good judgement to minimize the risk.I sure do miss running those long tails here in Oregon. Only time is on stock damage complaints or certain select situations do we get the chance to run them. Enjoy your hunting rights in your perspective States.

[BIGBLUES]

I never run one on lions. I have first hand experience with a lion eating my hound after she treed it. Not a good thing to find. I always run between 2 and 4. Running one hound is ignorant. Good luck.

[dandavidson]

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[J.T.]

i run two hounds most of the time but one of them is too gritty, i have a big walker male that will pull a lion out of the tree and he is a tough sob but after seeing him charge a 130lb cat on the ground he was no match for the cats lightning speed, got pulled in so fast he didnt know what to do, got his face all tore up and claw scratches from one end to the other. My redtick is smart enough to stay back out of reach so he never gets injured. After seeing that happen i will start running 3-4 hounds and toss my border collie in every now and again i wouldnt run a dog solo unless you want him dead