BigGameHoundsmen.com

I was just wondering how many try them on hog bays first and what good does it do

It teaches young dogs to respect bigger animals without getting them killed.

nobody else does it teach respect or when to grab and when to not grab just my thought but cant two dogs that work right together do more harrasing to an animal then ten that dont

Not that it hurts but I've seen quite a few dogs bay the sh&t out of a boar but wouldn't look at a bear on the ground. granted, most of the dogs were pretty young. Fun to do in the off season though!!

We start all of our dogs on hogs and try to wean them off if they turn out to be BEAR dogs.

I live in the mountains in the big country. Around here the hogs are plain out mean and in shape. They will trash a dog much easier than a bear will. The dogs that do well on the hogs here always do well on bear. Most of the houndsmen around here don't let their dogs run these hogs cause they hurt too many dogs. Bears and hogs are very similar. The races we have here are very similar also. We have hogs that will run for miles. It teaches the dogs not to be idiots when they ground catch other game. It keeps the dogs hunting year round and keeps their skills keen. All our dogs know the words hog,bear and lion and also seem to know what to hunt by what time of year it is. We don't have a lot of problems with them chasing hogs when they are supposed to be on bear. They were always taught voice commands and to come back to to the tone button or the horn on the truck so if we need to pull them off a race we can. The only reason I would say no is if you are gonna have too much trouble teaching them to transition into bears during season. Our dogs run hog by summer,bear by fall and lion by winter. They seem to understand the transitions of hunting season just like we do.

Would you mind telling us what dogs you run dirtydan? - Because what you write sounds very impressive to me.

Hans

sounds like dans dogs went to a ivy league school, while my pack opted for a party school!!

So i bragged up the dogs a little too much. It really is all lead by a cameron bluetick/walker cross. The rest are a bunch of trashy followers. The pigs really do teach them a lot. And the pigs here really are crazy ass mountain pigs. They are fast and fit. If you ever make it out this way come give it a try. It's fun and always in season. And also like I said it's challenging. We have lots of long ass races so the dogs and us are in shape for bear and lion season. I vote yes for training bear dogs on hogs.

My hounds must have been at party school also.I am haveing a hard time getting them to just run coyotes and leave the deer alone.sounds like a blast to be able to run the same hounds on 3 different animals

It's actually not uncommon at all to see one hound run multiple game animals. There are plenty of people that let dogs run coon by night and cats or lions by day. And lots and lots of people that run bear,lion,bobcat and coon with the same dogs. I seem to hear of plenty of bear/hog dogs also. They learn there is a time and a place for everything. The dogs also seem to know what we are hunting not only by season, but by where we hunt. They know what is in the areas we hunt. Now each dog also has its preferred game to hunt. I happened to get in with a good houndsmen with good hounds and he is doing a good job of bringing along a trashy houndsmen with trashy hounds. His dogs run Lion,bobcat,bear and hog. I don't think he could tell them to chase a bobcat and not chase a lion if they cut the track but if he says bear they will leave the pigs alone. He just keeps saying what he wants to hunt over and over when he is loading them up and collaring up and such "lets get the lion, lets get the lion". Then at the tree he will say over and over while tapping the tree "get the lion get the lion" Good dog" Etc. I've heard dogs are capable of registering hundreds of words into their brain. You can teach them to remember terms like load up,sit,stay and all that so why not just add a few more words into their mind. Dogs learn a lot when they aren't just tied to a chain.

Think you hit the nail on the head with that last sentece dirtydan. I do believe its easier to run dogs on different game if you can train/hunt year round.

Thanks for the answer. Pigs in the mountains sounds real hard and by that also interesting!

Hans

I run my hounds on bear and coon in the summer and fall, Just like it was said already, the dogs seem to no what it is you are hunting for. When i load up i also repeat what we will be hunting for, to the dogs, they are not dumb, (most of the time lol). They no what you are saying. I will run the fishers in the winter. I`m not saying that they won`t on occation run the wrong game, that they were trained for, but at least i don`t need a kennel full of fat dogs for the certain game i want to run. It also keeps them in shape all year round.