BigGameHoundsmen.com

I have to confess my ignorance when it comes to hounds that are used in the US and what breeds are used/suited to hunting what game type of game. I hunt Sambar deer in Australia with beagles and bloodhounds(only 2 breeds permitted by government).

I am very interested to hear from some experienced houndsmen about the different qualities of all the different breeds that are used in the US and the pros n cons of them. I know different animals are hunted eg deer, bear, lion, hogs, etc. And that is some of the reason why there are so many breeds. Can someone give me a heads up on which are the better breeds to hunt the different types of game and why.

I know the info is probably all on this site but I am lazy and would appreciate a summary or some direction to some good posts that have been previously put up.

In 2004 the state government in Victoria Australia banned the use of all breeds bar the beagle and bloodhound to hunt sambar deer. This is the only game animal that can be legally with hounds in Victoria. There are plenty of blokes who use terriers and running dogs on foxes, rabbits, and hares and another group of keen hunters who run their dogs and the hogs. But most if not all of this hunting takes place on private land. The majority of deerhunting with hounds is on public land and hence the constant problems with government. Many years of training and selectively breeding went out the window when the government banned foxhounds and their crosses. I know there were a few blokes running black and tans and a few blueticks were getting around the hills as well.

Recently the NSW state government (via the NSW game council) has decided to run a trial period for hound hunting in NSW. If things go well it will be a massive leap forward for hound hunting(HH) in Aus. There may be the chance to have some more hound breeds being allowed. IF that ever happens I would be very interested to import some bloodlines from the US.

To give an idea of the type of hunting we do so you could give some suggestions as to which US breeds would be suitable to hunting Sambar I will try and give some info on how we hunt . I put this pot up in the bluetick sectin and one of the members said they way we hunt sambar is similar to the way you guys hunt whitetail. For most crews(teams) the main goal is to shoot a trophy stag(30 inch is the magic number) over their hounds. But just as there are different blokes there are diferent methods used. You can only legally run 5 hounds at a time. The way we(the team I hunt with) run our hounds is to get up in the morning and start tracking till we find a stag we want to hunt. The hounds are then walked in on leads till they are on the marks and away they go. At the moment we have one hound that can be trusted to be fired in and he will find the deer and crank it up. We have a couple of younger hounds that will probably be in the same boat by the end of this season. A hunt usually covers about 9 km2 ( 4-5 square miles) but sometimes the hounds can end up 10-20 miles away. The sambar weigh about 600lbs and use the water well to try and throw the hounds of the scent. They also double back over their marks and run dry ridges(not much scent). A stag will also run through his does to try and lose the hounds. We hunt in mountain terrain with snow on the tops of the mountains for part of the season. Usually there is access with a vehicle but there are some places that it is all legwork.

I would be interested to hear about your hounds if you have the time

sounds like a whitetail race to me, except usually its the dogs that cant be trusted that run the deer lol!.

how do you hunt whitetail. Are the dogs released on a specific deer or is it a flush hunt?

well usually just kick out some dogs into a spot where some deer usually are, and then put guys at good crossing spots and wait for the dog to chase one to ya, kinda like a big bunny hunt.

I used to hunt deer in California with dogs and there are still a few groups that do, what we did was place hunters on stands around a piece of ground, the size depending on the amount poeple we had, then from one end a couple of drivers with the dogs would walk though the area on a drive and try and jump a deer and have them run them by a hunter on stand to get a shot at them, the dogs were usaully sheppered/walker crosses or bird dog crosses.

Thanks for the reply fellas.

Are there other game species in the area that you hunt? ie when you tip the hounds in do they end up hunting only whitetail?

We train our hounds to be sambar(deer) specific. It takes time and persistence but it makes for good hunting once they are trained up. Ideally we try and find a stag to hunt, but it is not always possible. Sometimes it is hard to find a start at all( especially if it is flogging with rain) This is when it is a joy to have hounds that will only hunt sambar. You can let them go in a gully that you know has a deer in it and they will find them for you and get them running.

Most of the deer are shot while running but when you have built up a good pack of hounds that are keen and hungry they pressure the deer to bail. Usually in the river or some really thick sh1t . Gets the blood pumping when you hear them go from a trailing bark to a hard bail roar!!!