Leaving dogs overnight???

[chancemarquette]

I wanted to get some other houndsmens opinions on this. What do you do before and after leaving your hounds overnight in the mountains. how do you relocate them best?

[Ike]

Where I live, the proclamation says it's not legal to pursue big game at night. However, as any lion or bear hunter knows that is a silly law because at times there isn't anything a guy can do about it. And I'm somewhat confused as well: does that mean the hunter has to stop pursuing or does it mean the hounds have to stop their pursuit? It's easy for me to stop but as you know the handler doesn't always have a say in what those potlickers do.........

For the most part, I try to get close to my hounds if they are cold trailing a lion or bear so I can call them off before dark. However, there are times when they blow out on bear or cold trail a lion into country where a handler just can't get to them safely. I use to always try, and if they're treed a guy can bout always do that. However, it's often a foolish mistake to try to over take trailing hounds that aren't caught unless you can get angle on them and cut them off.

I always carry landowner topo maps of the area that I'm hunting, and for the most part have hunted it for years. But usually I stay late to make sure they don't quit and pop out on the road, then I throw down a shirt or jacket on their backtrail hoping that will hold them until morning--and it usually does. Then I'm back before daylight with my receiver getting a direction on them...........if they'r ein a dangerous area like near a highway then I sleep in the truck.

There are places where I hunt that a man could never walk into his hounds and back between daylight and dark, and those are usually the places I'm pretty picky about when (time of year), on what (something worth killing), and where (a sutiable direction that might provide a little access) I dump.

just my thoughts,
ike

[Morgan Richard]

put ablanket or jacket where you turned loose last always worked for us .

[Big Horn Posse]

Chance,
I have left my dogs out many a nights. I live less than 2 miles away from the base of the mountain and there has been times where they get way up in the canyon and it turns dark. I just head home leaving one of my coats where I had the truck parked. My ol Red dog would usually trail out sometime during the night and be laying on my coat. He was not much for hunting in the dark. Lola, Ozzy and Scarlett would stay treed if they had something treed and I would have to go in and get them. One time Ozzy and Lola stayed out 3 nights on a bear before I finally got into them. You never know what a dog will do, some will trail out and some will stay on the tree. Always best to have good tracking collars on them with a lot of battery life before you turn them out just incase.

[ChazK]

We left 2 hounds out just the other night. One was found at a camp site and we were contacted. Another was found by some of my friends family.

[Mike Leonard]

Over the years I have had to leave hounds out as most others have, but now I have a remedy for it.

My wife says I don't mind you going hunting just don't come home without ALL of the dogs!

So if I really want to go home I have my lights and walking boots ready because I hate sleeping in my truck these days. LOL!

[Catman]

LOL Mike....excellent response

[redneckbearhunter]

i have had a couple of buddys that have had dogs out for more then 20 days. i they came out or found them on the mountains. my buddy had one gone for 21 days and 7 days in good weather. last year a buddy of mine had dogs out for 20 days down in a canyon stuck at rocks and had 3 storms that brot snow and extre cold. they where barly moving then they where found. but they all lived. lost almost half there wait. we could have gotten they soner if it hadnt snowed. we how normal stay there the night if we r just up for the night. if we are camping we will check on them in the night.

[houndcrazyfool]

i lost my deer dog 15 miles away and i left a coat and checked it three days in a row. He showed up 11 days later when i was getting up for work and he ran around the living room barking at all the mounts for about 20 minutes. I think he was trying to tell us something Now everytime we hunt i am super paranoid even though i know he will probably find his way home. Sure does suck to lose your best friend thinking he's dead not to mention a dog that is worth a pile of money

[chancemarquette]

ya that would be a little scary

[M Evertsen]

Saturday Jan 3rd, at 9:20 AM, I dumped my 3 dogs on a fresh lion track. I finally got to the tree two ridges over at about 4:30, right at sunset. I was already getting very cold and was able to get a cell phone call out to someone to picke me up at the bottom of that canyon and get me back to my truck. I shot the tom and started down. When I got into the creek bottom it was very dark, and even with a headlamp, I could not see very well, and I had hypothermia setting in. I ditched the cat under a patch of willows and finished the walk out. I got to the truck at about 6:15. I only had two dogs. On the way down, I noticed the last one was getting really slow. My friend took me to my truck, got me warmed up, and then we headed out, and about 7:30, we checked the canyon. The dog had still not come out. I left a coat at the bottom and got a signal on her. The next morning at 7:00 AM, my dad and I started the 3/4 mile hike to the cat. I was also able to get a very strong signal in the bottom of that canyon. When I got the the cat, Daisy was bedded under a pine tree about 10 feet from him! She camped on that cat all night long waiting for me to return. She was very sore footed. My dad was pretty sick, and wasn't able to help me with the cat much, but he did lead Daisy out to the truck and got her in the cab and warming up. The temp that morning was at a low of about -10 only 10 miles away, and besides being sore, tired, and hungry, she did fine. I took in a couple biscuts to help cheer her up, and we made a fire to help warm her up before we started out.

I have also had to leave a dog out in May one time. 2 days later she showed up at a man camp about 1/2 mile from where I was camped.

Thats my limited experience,

Later,

Marcial

[Lonewolf]

Over the years I've learned when a dog must spend the night. It's important that the handler knows the tendencies of the dogs out. Some dogs trail back out to the place they turned loose other's lay up and come out on their time or until somebody hikes in to retreive them. Then you have the one's will hunt till they can't go any more and give it up after days of giving their all. The last type gives us the most headaches but they also will catch alot of game. I had a walker that would stay with a bear till you got their or he starved out. There was alot of times that I would hike in and find him treed with a bear, he would bed at the base of the tree. If I had waited for him to come out on his own I would have lost a few days of hunting. I think the most important thing is to learn each dog. Then make our decision of what we need to do from what their habaits and tendencies are.

[bigdog061]

Build a fire where he last saw you!!!

Paul

[Sambar Houndsman]

I have straw in the bottom of my crate so i just put a couple of handful's where i tipped them onto the mark or walked them in and where i and or any of the guys walked out.
They will usually always follow scent out.

[larry]

the Garmin GPS system will eliminate 99% of the odds your dog will spend the night, or allow you to decide if you wanna leave em where they are at. Battery life is limited, but I know for a fact that I would have spent 2-3 days gathering dogs at least once already this year with just telemetry, instead I had all the dogs gathered by 8pm cause I could see right where they were and go get each one. It is not a bad thing to leave em overnight, especially younger dogs, if the weather is mild and no wolves are around. The more time they spend out the more they are learning.