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I've got one hound and am having a bit of an issue while taking her out for coons, and bobcats last winter. I seem to run across a lot of lion tracks, I'd love to just turn the dog loose on them as lion tracks really seem to drive her nuts. I like the dog too much to just let her loose by herself on a lion. I have a couple of buddies who have a differing opinion. One guy says I'm worrying too much and to let her chase one up a tree. Another guy says "bring a shovel, you'll be burying your dog if you let her go on her own". I'm at a bit of a loss of who to listen too here as both guys catch game. If anyone could chime in with opinions or actual experiences running lions with one dog I'm all ears.

Pat, Prior to Oregon's ban. I treed several hundred lion with one dog. Lions are easy to catch and Obe Cory was right, with a well trained coon dog you can tree lions....Exceptions are always a consideration pertaining to what I call real lion dogs, most guys will never hunt behind a real lion hound. Lions are Great for stimulating a young dog, highly visible and many tree real low and are good for motivating young hounds.

You never know about a lion, how much they have been ran by hounds, jumped out or what to expect. You can run a thousand and next one will stop and kill your dog. I have owned many whipped out bear dogs that when stopped on a bear would not bark and the same dog thought it could kill a lion on the ground. Depending on the dog & lion, it can be fatal.

I have seen a lion kill a couple dogs and tree when ran on the next race by different dogs. I would caution you to not run a still or silent mouth style hound alone on a lion, think about the dog jumping a lion sunning itself and all of a sudden the dog is present and startles the cat. I bet you could hunt the dog into retirement with out a problem....But you never know.

If it was me, I would turn out every chance you get and look back later. life is to short to keep a dog off of something for fear of losing the dog, you are more apt to get the dog run over, stolen, heat stroke etc. then killed by a lion. Why do you own and hunt hounds? Good Luck!

Mike

Lol I guess I could have waited until today. There's a show on TV about running lions with one dog.

I have caught a number of lions with one dog. Like Mike said silent dogs can be a problem. Most dogs that I know of that got killed by lions were silent dogs.

I would say it kinda depends on how long do you think it is going to take you to get to your 1 dog after it has treed a lion. The only dog i seen get killed by a lion was left treed for a few hours alone. Lion came out of tree and killed dog. treed that same lion 2 days later with you guessed it one dog again but made it to the tree in about 45 min dog was fine.

Years ago a friend from Washington state came to me wanting to buy a dog .I asked what happened to his old dogs.He said they bayed a lion on the ground,after they bayed him for a few minutes all 3 went silent.He walked in to find all 3 dogs killed by the lion. Another friend had 2 of his dogs bay 1 on the ground,same story lion killed them both.Anytime you go hunting you never know if you'll bring your dog or dogs home.

first off ,don't know if I would keep a finished dog around that cant tree game alone. second, every time you turn one dog or a pack of dogs out may be the last time you see them. one dog has a better chance of keeping clear of a rank animal than does a pack of dogs simply because too many dogs cause confusion for each other. also one dog may block the escape of another. I say the true test of a big game dog is how it performs solo. am sure ill catch some flak for my opinion, but ive been runnin dogs as long as I can remember and can only think of a couple that got killed by a lion and one wasn't mine

I run two dogs right now but i feel three is perfectly safe I like my dogs too much to try to catch a lion with one. I have caught a lion with one then turned another in for back up but no way would i want them to be treed for along time before i get there. I have seen a rank bear rip through five dogs like they are bugs so i would never intentionally run a bear with fewer than three good bear dogs, Also a good bear dog has to be more aggressive then a lion dog.

Next time I cut a lion track I think ill let her rip and try to be at the tree asap.... if there is a tree. Luckily the area I've been going has a lot of tall trees so the odds of getting one on the ground seems like it ought to be
low. I did actually luck into running into anothanother guy today who has another dog and is almost as green as I am. I think we will be getting together and seeing what we can get up a tree.

Running one dog will end up with a dead dog sooner or later. I had a tom eat one of mine.

Well here is something different to think about. The only time i have seen dogs get ripped up by a bear is when there is a lot of dogs in on the chase and bay. I bear hunt a whole lot more than lion hunt. I have treed numerous bears with only one dog and never had a problem with a dog getting hurt. I believe with a lot of dogs in the mix they become more brave and kinda try and "outdo" each other. I have also had where packs of dogs will take a bear under 250 and not let the animal climb, the dogs would keep pulling the bear off the tree. The same would probably apply with lion hunting with the dogs challenging each other until one gets too close and sucked in and hurt. Then again i could be completely wrong about all of this. Bottom line is if a Bear or lion really wants to kill a dog, It is going to and nothing will be able to stop it aside from a bullet.

Clint
You are right on....When we could run lions prior to 1994, I would only use one dog if a hunter made a poor shot and had to catch the cat to finish it off on the ground. The reason being is dogs will frenzy more so than normal under these conditions. Bear as well.... I have seen bear try to climb and the dogs suck them out of the tree, same for those long tails that take a half a second longer than the cat to tree....I was lucky enough to have spent considerable time hunting lions and don't share the same views with everyone....Bear dogs (real ones) can make life tough on lions...There is a very fine line between getting a dog hurt, killed or injuring the lion.....

Any of you older guys ever have the chance to look at a Plott hound annual from 1981? Back then I was a straight Plott man. There is a picture of Government Hunter Frank Staab backing a lion into an garbage can, keep in mind it looks like a juvenile, Frank said he could only use one dog because the rest would lose control of the situation and get to rough on the lion.
Just hunt the dog and enjoy them....Life is too short to worry about what if?

Mike

Just owning a dog will cause you to loose a dog. They all die of something eventually. There is no way of making it any better or any easier to loose a dog. You could loose one or a pack all at the same time just as easy. If you are scared of a dog dying while hunting, don't turn a dog loose. I'd rather my dog/dogs die doing what I/they love and were bred to do. If you want to catch a lion... Turn 'er loose!

I dont know about lions but I have a bluetick that has treed MANY bear on his own. Something that I find interesting is, the first year I hunted bear with hounds was also one of my most sucsessful years and I did it with just one experienced hound and one pup following him.

Shorty

Good advice coming from a kamikaze PBR Bull Fighter.....Your occupation is like hunting bear and lions with a switch! Ask Shorty what makes him climb in the arena with a 1500# stick of dynamite? Passion for the sport and life itself.... Dogs are like all of us, they live to do what they do and that is hunt....Don't hold back!

Take Care

Mike