Hunting partners

[jason]

I have a question, just out of curiousity how many people with dogs do you normally hunt with? I normally run with my own dogs, just cause I like to see them work and I personally think running with a bunch of new dogs can create some chaos. But I'm not opposed to running with some buddies either now and again.

[Benny G]

I generally hunt by myself with only my dogs. I have hunted with others at times, but then I like to see their dogs work. The times that I have hunted with other people and mixed our dogs, I try to spend more than one hunt together so that the dogs get to know each other. In my view, both parties need to trust each other. I used to hunt with a young man in Az every winter and spring. He always wanted to hunt with my dogs to help his dogs along. That's understandable, and I think we should help others out when we can. The problem for me was he refused to get a handle on his dogs. Every time his dogs ran something, it was a lion. One time the dogs jumped a javelina at a spring and I saw it, but he didn't. His dogs and my young dogs took off in hot pursuit. I started yelling and shocking, but he wouldn't shock his dogs. That ended up being one heck of a wreck! He got mad when I made him go alone to retrieve all of his dogs, and my pups that didn't have shock collars. When he got back he tried to convince me that it had to be a bobcat because the dogs were in some rocks. Well DUH, javelinas like to hide in rock piles too! After the butt chewing I gave him for not trusting what I saw, I never hunted whith him again. Today, several years later, he still has unruly, mediocre at best, turd machines.

[Mike Leonard]

Like Benny I generally hunt by myself or at least with my dogs alone. I do not mix packs unless I know the dogs, the hunter and have worked into it with the dogs mingling slowly. Four decades of hounding have shown me more wrecks than I care to remember caused by mixing packs of hounds.


Also many people hunt their hounds different than I do so it might not be a good mix anayway. Now say Benny G and I hunt together. I know how Benny hunts and he knows how I hunt so we probably wouldn't have any great problems after the dogs got use to each other and figured their place in the hunting society we were trying to establish. But my guess would be Benny knowing his dogs as he does and me knowing mine we would set done and perley about it and discuss and then mix and match and go at it slow. Getting in a big hurry never helps you much in this game.

[M Evertsen]

I hunt with someone about 3-4 times a year. I have hunted with 3 different people 1 time each this year. Luckily we have not had any wrecks. On one, my dogs caught the lion and we brought his into the tree, which was just how it happened, not because I didn't want his dogs to hunt with mine. When we got to the tree, one of his dogs tried to take the tree from my dog. He was able to get a handle on that dog, but not sure if I would want that dog to run again? The other two times ended up with nothing caught, but thats how it goes.

Later,

Marcial

[Big Mike]

I ussually hunt by myself. I use to regularly hunt with three or four friends. We would pair up 2 ride one way and 2 the other. Never had any issues because we would all have the same philosophy's and hunting style. None of us would tolerate growly dogs at the tree or anywhere else. We had times we had 20 freakn hounds at a tree without any issue. Tree fights is what always worries me when you mix packs.

But I do believe mixed packs wont hunt as good together as just hunting my pack, or theres. Lots of times my dogs wont honor strange dogs. Notice it more in lion hunting than bear.

Benny Ive hunted with a couple of guys that struck a lion in every canyon, rigde top, waterhole we would ride too. Dont hunt with them anymore either LOL

[sourdough]

You guys are just too thick to believe there are that many lions out there and your hounds just don’t have cold enough noses to start them. Really I can’t disagree with Mike, Big Mike, or Benny G… I hunt alone. I to have hunted with others and the problem that arise have caused some lost friendships. I have had young dogs start trash and my “broke” dogs follow suit but am sensible enough to recognize the problem and fix it! There are very few hounds I trust, most folks don’t hunt their hounds enough to know what’s going on and to hard headed to believe they might have a trash problem.

sourdough

[Big Horn Posse]

I usually hunt alone or with my son, but that is not because I prefer to. If someone wants to go with me that is great, but they better be prepared for a good ribbing from me. I like to have a good laugh even if it is at the expense of who I am hunting with. Those with a thin skin and no sense of humor can stay home. That being said I can also laugh at myself as well. Ask anyone that has ever hunted with me.

[Ike]

You guys are just too thick to believe there are that many lions out there and your hounds just don’t have cold enough noses to start them. Really I can’t disagree with Mike, Big Mike, or Benny G… I hunt alone. I to have hunted with others and the problem that arise have caused some lost friendships. I have had young dogs start trash and my “broke” dogs follow suit but am sensible enough to recognize the problem and fix it! There are very few hounds I trust, most folks don’t hunt their hounds enough to know what’s going on and to hard headed to believe they might have a trash problem.

sourdough

Lots of wisdom in that post of yours sourdough, and more hunters should read or listen and give them a little thought. Another reason I hunt alone is I have enough dogs to fill my box, and I'm done leaving one home so a friend can jump in and ride along. Only advantage I see in having a hunting partner is if a guy has a client as is in to some serious bear chasing, then rotating dogs and keeping a fresh pack is a good idea.

ike

[rzhounds]

I agree 100% with sourdough. The thing is is we all have a little bit of a trash problem, rather it dear,elk,coyote or whatever else might be out there. As soon as someone thinks there dogs aren't the instigator they need to look in the miror. I'v hunted with a bunch of guys and I've yet to see that 100% trash broke pack of dogs or dog. JMO though...

RZ

[pegleg]

the reason i hunt alone is much simpler I'm a @$$! not all the time just most my kids thought i should add that last bit.

[Big Horn Posse]

I have to interject here guys. Even hunting alone your old dogs whom you think are rock solid trash broke can jump a calf elk and chase it into the winter range where you cannot go after them, Then they end up in front of the game warden's house and you get a call from the game warden saying that your big red dog has a calf elk bayed up!! Never in a million years did I ever think it would be the dog that actually did that. Now, if I had someone else there to laugh at me that would have been a story they would have reminded me of for years. I guess that is just me though. I have come to appreciate good friends more over the years cause it sure can get lonely when the dogs are gone and you have no one to share the memories with. Just today I was chatting with a very good friend about the times we hunted together and the laughs we shared. To me that is what it is all about.

[Benny G]

Tessa,
You are right about having someone to share the miles, embarassments, as well as the triumphs with. For me, it's just having that person that lives close enough or can go sometimes without much advance notice. I also like to shake things up and travel long distances at times. There are times that things can get out of hand also. It's those times that it's best to be alone, so that there never is a story, and no one else is put in a questionable or uncomfortable position. Perhaps I'm the only one that ever has situations occure that shouldn't, nevertheless, I don't have to worry about the trust issue, and no one else has to worry about me putting them in an uncomfortable position. But what the heck, some of my most productive days are spent in the coffee shop!

[Ike]

the reason i hunt alone is much simpler I'm a @$$! not all the time just most my kids thought i should add that last bit.

ditto x2......

[Melanie Hampton]

There are maybe 3 people in this world I will hunt with.. One of them has too many young dogs now, so I don't hunt with him much anymore.. the other one we are not on the best of terms anymore as everything but hounds gets in the way and my favorite hunting partner lives 300 miles away So I'm hunting with nobody right now..

I have my style of hunting and don't have a lot of patience for other people or their dogs and habits.. not saying my way is the right way by any means, but it seems to work for me and my dogs, so I try not to mess it up to much.... I let people who do not have hounds go.. but don't hunt with other houndsmen..

Maybe I should be on the @sshole list too

[Spokerider]

I hunt alone about as often as I hunt with a bud. I like to hunt on foot, cast the dogs and put the miles on that way as it feels *just right*. My bud prefers to road his dogs, and that`s his prefered method.
We each got into this god forsaken hobby at roughly the same time, so we are at about the same point of the learning curve as are our mutts. We, and our dogs hunt well together.

Trash broke dogs? Nope! We still get the deer runs, lol. We both enjoy the BS-ing after the hunt, swapping thoughts and ideas and plans for the next outing.

I wouldn`t go off hunting with just anybody however.............I ain`t that sleazy.
The person has to share the same basic hunting values as I among other personable qualities.