Starting your hounds on Rigs

[wyokid]

I had a question on what is the best way to get you dogs to strike off the box? What are the methods for your dogs to become good rig dogs? Just wondering what your guys input was on this. I have a pup I'm trying to train and would like to mainly focus on lions.

[merlo_105]

Start the dog like you would any other dog. Once the dog knows what game its to be after just put it up on the box and drive till it strikes. You could always use a trainer or Lion scent, rig the dog threw slow down sick the dog on it encourage barking. Once barking let down. Also don't worry about the dog if its striking trash don't correct it. Just let it be till your rigging good tracks.

[dhostetler]

I don't want to burst your bubble but rigging for lions is not a very successful way for hunting. They have a large range and even with a good population it doesn't happen very often that you will cut a track that is strikeable. I have struck lions out of the box and treed them but not a lot of them. I have caught more roading my dogs through known crossings.

[Dan Edwards]

[mark]

One thing I have learned over the years is that if I am hunting in a area with a huntable population of a given species and I am not catching much by the way I have chosen to hunt then I have a dog problem.

[1bludawg]

I like it when my young dogs strike trash out of the box because i know they'll probably make rig dogs.Do not shock a youngster for striking trash while its in or on the box! The quickest way to start a rig dog is to catch a varmint and put it in a cage.Set the cage on a stump or something with the wind blowing towards the road.Put your dog on the box(hopefully your dog will ride the box)and cruise slowly down the road.You can encourage your dog to bark as you're driving by the critter.You can use the same varmint multiple times with this method until you see if your hound will rig or not .Remember though ,some dogs will not rig!

[dhostetler]

Most dogs I have owed did & do strike. My box is designed with fairly large openings where dogs have there heads out most of the time. Yes you can strike lions I do it every winter and occasionally even in the summer. I am fortunate to do a lot of my winter hunting in very good lion populations but if I would decide that is the only way I would hunt is rigging I would tree very few in a year. Roading or freecasting is a lot more successful on bare ground. Getting a dog to strike is by far the easiest part of making a strike hound. Breaking them off striking trash and starting the track the right way is a lot harder. If wyokid is planning to have a good strike hound on lions it will be very hard if you cross one strikable track per 20 days of hunting.

[merlo_105]

I don't know a dang thing about hunting that country but if your striking lions every winter, why wouldn't you get a better rig dog and strike that many more? I do know where I'm at I can strike a colder track from the rig then the dogs can pick up by roading. But there roading on gravel roads rather then plain dirt. Also from the box your getting tracks going that are no where near the road so in turn boxing out does roading. Again don't know your area maybe it's tougher to box...

[dhostetler]

Merlo, that is a big question. I never hunted with anybody that has better strike hounds than I do. So the big question is are there better ones out there? I would love to put a dog on top of the box with some of those Oregon strike hound gods to compare. Dogs out of Twists line have also struck lions in my area, for what it is worth.

[merlo_105]

Alright, That makes since.

[mark]

Im not saying your dogs are no good or that these dogs out here are better. What im saying is that there is a big difference in the quality of rig dogs. When you hunt one or around one you will know it immediately. I have dogs that rig cats with other dogs and on occasion can and have hit out in front of the other dogs but when i leave the real rig dogs at home it gets pretty quiet and a long ways between strikes up there. They still strike but it sure cuts down on the amount of chances to trail a cat up or get one going that hasnt just crossed the road.

[dhostetler]

Most of my striking is done bear hunting so yes Merle i agree boxing versus roading has benefits in striking off the road tracks. When I cat hunt on bare ground I usually road 2 dogs and the rest are boxed and I have started tracks from striking that I would not have started from roading. I have seen lions and bears cross the road in front of me and not struck them, so when I hunt cats on bare ground I do both to make sure I cover all bases. If I get one race a day going on bare ground I feel very fortunate.

Yes Mark I know there is a big difference in strike dogs. One of my first strike dogs was a very cold nosed walker that was older and was what I was using to get younger dogs started when I first started hound hunting. He was killed by a bear he struck off the box.

[wyokid]

Thanks for the comments and help these helped out a lot I would love to try this and eventually run bears in the future.

[jcathunter]

[twist]

Jhunter if you don't mind me asking what part of idaho you from and who are guys that are rigging with success? Andy