how many dogs to you run?

[Uncle Dave]

Just getting into the hound game and was wondering what people's thoughts were on number of dogs to run. I'm assuming it is going to vary based upon the region/conditions? Just looking to have discussion on pros/cons of differing pack sizes. Thanks.

[sheimer]

The number of dogs you run on lion depends entirely on what you want to gain from that particular chase. If you want younger dogs to learn something, you run only one or two young dogs and leave the veterans in the box. If you want to just catch the cat, run the veterans and leave the pups at home. If you want a wreck or a really exciting day, dump the box along with a buddy or two's pack as well(10-15 hounds). It only takes one dog but some days that isn't the goal.

Scott

[tman308]

3 in the snow. 2 older and 1 pup. 6 on dry ground. 3 older, 2 up and coming, and 1 pup.

[dhostetler]

Hours after this picture was taken, several weeks ago, the walker dog was killed by a lion. To date that has been my most devatasting loss in hound hunting. She was was not very mouthy on the track and got out in front of the other dogs and a appears to have just surprised it. A lot of lions are caught by one dog and some like silent dogs on a track, the risks are much higher than the potential benefits are of running a silent dog. To answer your question I run the max dogs on a track that I think a track can handle, 3 to 8.

[Mike Leonard]

A lot of lions are so easy that a person get's at times too confident that just one dog is all he needs to get it done.
I knew a pair of brothers close to me that had that one dog. This bluetick was rich in Arizona's old lion breeding going back to some of the good blues of Clell Lee. These two young men were fantastic atheletes and could just about run neck and neck with old Blue and boy did they go to sacking up the lions. They each took a big tom, and then they got their Dad one and then a few friends and they just thought this lion game was right in the palm of their hands. Well old Blue was in the last prime when they got him , but a couple more years and he slowed down and when he got a bit tired he pretty quiet.
One day after a very hot track was found old Blue came back to the road after about 15 minutes, and the boys could not get him to go again. They were frustrated to say the least but they said maybe he was having a bad day so they went home. A short time later they hit this same tom's track at nearly the same crossing. Old Blue jumped out ran over and smelled it, the hair on his back raised up and he dropped his head and ran around the other side of the truck. Well this $hit! was not going to fly! So they leased him up and took off down the track in the fresh snow. They walked it about 3 miles to a deep pocket of spruce and fur, and let Blue go and he just wandered around a little bit , wet a few trees and came back to them. Those boys knew that lion was right there, and they said they could almost feel him although he stayed out of sight. Finally they figured they better give up or maybe try to find somebody else with dogs to run it. They headed back down there track and had gone about 300 yards when they heard a dog screaming and then went silent. They had not leashed old Blue back up, and he had hung back a little. They ran back to find the tom dragging him by they head into the brush. The lion droppd the dog and ran off as they clawed at their belt guns trying to get a gun out to shoot. Blue was dead, bit right thru the head, and that was that.

I could sight several other similar stories very similar and some even a bit closer to home. Short story don't run that good dog alone especially if he is semi-silent. You may get by for a long time but remember lions are not fighters they are killers.

A lot of old timers ran a yappy cur dog with their good trail dog to ensure he had some help.

I like 3 dogs on foot, and up to 6 when I am horseback on the dry.

Bobcats are different animals and although they are nasty they seldom want to lay up ambush and kill a hound. One dog is good,two dogs is ok, 3 dogs is usually a cluster. I am talking western bobcat hunting not pack running cats like wolf or fox.

[mike martell]

Hours after this picture was taken, several weeks ago, the walker dog was killed by a lion. To date that has been my most devatasting loss in hound hunting. She was was not very mouthy on the track and got out in front of the other dogs and a appears to have just surprised it. A lot of lions are caught by one dog and some like silent dogs on a track, the risks are much higher than the potential benefits are of running a silent dog. To answer your question I run the max dogs on a track that I think a track can handle, 3 to 8.

Sorry for your loss!

More importantly than the number of dogs you run to me is the style of hounds you run on all tree game. I eliminate some very nice hounds because they can't keep up in a hard race with my lead dogs...Under any conditions, I want the dogs I feed to all catch together....Once in awhile a hound will get out from the rest, it happens..... Dogs have a short enough life span as it is, and if you don't strive to keep them running together on all tree game, the life of that valued hound can be cut way shorter.

Mike

[250plot]

first off dhostetler that is a bad deal. sorry to hear that. a buddy and i were on a lion 2 weekends ago. we walked around a draw and saw that the lion had the dog by the throat about 10 feet in the tree and the dog was not moving. buddy ran to the tree yelling and than the lion dropped the dog and jumped out of the tree and was gone. he was able to get the dog to breath. the only reason i can think of why she did not die was the tracking collar wouldn't let the lions mouth close all the way. my dog was still on it and was able to get it treed again. now as far as how many dogs i run is 3 to 4 at all times. i personally feel like i can really get personal with my hounds only running 3 or 4. i also feel the more dogs you have the more vet bills i have. on bay ups it seems like dogs that are up front close and personal get hurt because the dogs in the back are pushing forward and theres no where for the ones in front to go when its time to move. when by my self i always take all my dogs if i am with a friend lion hunting 2 dogs a piece and bear 3 dogs a piece. just seems to work better that way for me.

[dhostetler]

Me and 2 buddies turned on this lion on the last day of our bobcat season. I had a couple dogs that hadn't been run yet, and all the bobcat tracks had been run or tried in the area. I turned 4 dogs loose and they each put one in. The track wasn't as fresh as we thought and it went a long way all over the ridge. The 2 buddies dogs quit and my 4 dogs had a hang up 500 yards up the ridge off the road. 3 of the dogs side hilled out of the hang up making a 3 mile loop, while Britney came straight down hill, we thought she was coming out on the back track, as we were parked on the track, before I realized what was going on she had crossed 50 yards behind the truck, apparently the lion had crossed behind us while we were sitting there. We packed 2 dogs in to her but by the time we got that done she was 500 yards in front. The lion bit her once in the head and she also had one hook wound in her front shoulder. The packed in dogs continued on the track and it went right back up the ridge to the big hang up then across the road going downhill again. Britney was still alive but limp and flickered one eyelid when I spoke to her, me and a buddy carried her 700 yards to the truck and I rushed her to the vet 40 miles away. The puncture wounds went into her brain and were leaking brain matter and blood out of the brain, the vet told me it will be a miracle if she survives and with the brain matter oozing out she will definetily have brain damage, by that time her temperature was 92 degrees and she was in a complete coma, so I had him put her down. She was only 1 year & 1 month old but coming along very impressive and had the perfect bloodlines that I wanted, I had plans of raising pups out of her with seaman I have on storage etc. The devasating part of the loss was not my current hunting/catching ability but my plans for the next years of hunting.
Since I started hound hunting I have treed an estimate of 200 lions, on all those races I never had a bayup, except 2 culvert situations and a couple wounded ones as a result of bad shooting. Our country is timbered and bayed up lions are virtually unheard of around here. When Britney was going down hill off the road she was barking about every 100 yards, so I think it was a surprise situation.