It has come to my attention that.....

[funstuff]

Some are saying you cant do this regular with one dog. This was from a recent conversation I was involved in.

I completely disagree with this. This is my 7th season with a well bred dog from a reputable breeder. He is a stud. I trained him. I did not have another dog to help us along. I walked a butt load of miles on tracks. I have been to over 80 lion trees and over 100 cat trees with this dog, almost all by himself. One of a kind, NO.

I have had several other dogs that just have not "cut the mustard" so to speak and were culled.

If an individual takes the time to teach a well bred dog what to do it WILL do. Your are going to walk a ton of miles. Be home after dark. Feel like you will die of exhaustion several times over. But the satisfaction when it comes together more and more is well worth the effort.

I am a walk hunter. I free cast, in the Mountains! And my dogs(2) mind. I will not lead dogs around the woods on a lead. They have manners!

If you feel you have a great dog, take em out by themselves a few times and HONE there skills. IT WILL MAKE A BETTER DOG AND A BETTER HUNTER OUT OF YOU. This requires skill of hunter as well as dog.

Thats my statement for the day, my opinion counts for nothing. I am only a man.

[bowtech36]

There's been quite a few discussions about lions and one dog on here. Some , maybe even most say yeah.no problem a good lion dog well run and tree a lion, however, if they can they would rather have another dog with it. Not for the tracks sake but for the dogs if a mean.tom.decides to stop or come out of the tree and not run

[Old dog]

I would agree with this post. one dog from scratch, walking out tracks, no distractions from another pup is far easier to make a dog than to try to do it with tow or three pups. and by walk hunting and seeing first hand what the single pup is doing, you will have a broker dog in the end. jmo and I wish I was still young enough to train some of these dogs I have that way.... good hunting funstuff and good work on youre part

[twist]

I can say on funstuffs behalf there is not many on this site that walk hunt country like he does. Most guys look at it pass it up and maybe even cry a little lol. Andy

[bowtech36]

I enjoy going on a walk hunt, then hate it coming out.

[Pagosa]

Good information to hear. I'm just starting out again after a long dry spell of not having hounds, only bird dogs. And now have a first hound in 20 years. I've always been told that if a person didn't have a trained dog to train the younger hounds it was rather pointless to attempt to train a young hound. I think a lot is lost by not teaching dogs basic commands, free-casting hounds on foot/muleback, and not taking a pack of hounds to tree something. Back in Oklahoma we would never think of not free-casting hounds and without the aid training collars. Throwing a dog in a kennel 10 months of out the year, never teaching them anything, and expecting him to hunt is rather lame. I appreciate your attitude of training hounds. I think I'd rather walk anytime as pound hundreds of miles in hopes to find a hot track.

[funstuff]

I love this type of hunting. I do get moving a bit faster when it is a big tom track, but I run more cat than lion. I hope to do it as long as physically possible, and then I'll get the grandkids to run for me.

Even if you cant walk a butt load of miles, just that walk with them in the stuff pays off. A trained dog helps, but watch their bad habits dont rub off. Pagosa you have ways to go, but it is very satisfying. Just show the dog what you want it to do, it will pick it up. And since you have had bird dogs, your curve is way shorter. A remote control for my dogs rocks!

And most crying is tears of joy when someone finally sees the truck, unless its still a couple miles uphill.

[dhostetler]

Different people have different styles of hunting. If you run only one dog, you are one bad deal away from being out of business. I once cold trailed and treed a lion 17.5 miles, that would've been a lot of walking. All my hunting occurs in wolf country, so for me I like to stay as close to the dogs as possible, in most of the country I hunt you can't get more than 2 miles away from a drivable or sled able road, so I don't get throwed out of race near as quick if I stay around motorized equipment than I do walking. 2 to 3 dogs that hunt together all the time are able to move a bad track faster.