Do you hunt with dogs?

[pigman]

Just checking to see if anyone else out there uses their dogs to hunt.
I do and my dogs are happiest when they are out in the bush looking for pigs or foxes and rabbits.
From reading some posts here I guess most dogo people just keep their dogs as companions. That's cool as well, my old dog has retired from hunting and is 100 per cent house pet now.
I still use my other dog for hunting and he's also a great companion when we are not out in the bush.
Has anyone else been hunting with their dogs and if so what did you think?
I hasten to add I'm in australia and I only hunt feral animals over here. I leave the native animals alone. I also use what the dogs hunt as dog and human food, I don't kill for the sake of it.

[mouseatthebusstop]

no all mine want to look for is cats under cars at night

[pomeranians]

Nope, I don't own any huntin' dogs. All mine are purely pets. :)

[Malamum]

Not me. I dont' think I could bear to hunt - I get upset when one of our office goldfish die. :oops:

I'm also a very over protective Mum when it comes to my puppies. I would be way to worried about them getting hurt. I know that's what some dogs are bred to do but I don't think that I could help but worry.

[Lucky Chaos]

My dogs are champion squirrel hunters. Of course they never catch one. :lol: I don't hunt but I have friends whodo and trained their lab/redbone coonhound mix to hunt with them and retrieve. Personally I think hunting is a lot less crueller then slaughterhouses, at least the wild animal got to live a free life instead of in a tiny pen. When people hunt for sport or just to hang up the skin or antlers, then I'm 100% against it.

[xavierandrea]

I don't use my gang to hunt but my older brother uses his. He has 2 Beagles and a Lab. He loves to hunt. He trained his dogs on his own. He takes my oldest son with him hunting. He doesn't hunt for fun. He hunts for food. He's also a "Gamesman" :roll: and competes in competitions. He shows me all his trophies and ribbons every time I go over to visit. Every thing reminds him of " the time I went hunting or the time I was competing. " Oh his wife also hunts too and is a "Gameswoman" :wink:
( Our uncle got him into hunting and sportmanship tournaments.) I think its cool.

[imported_Debbie]

I wouldn't hunt, but I would love to get my JRT's into the GTG. :wink:

[xavierandrea]

Debbie what's GTG?? :oops:

Michele- LOL!! :lol:

[imported_Debbie]

GTG is Go To Ground !! Have you heard of it ?? It's really cool to watch !! :wink:

[xavierandrea]

Is that when they go through tunnels and search for rabbits and little rodents? I've seen this in some of my brother's sporting events.

[imported_Debbie]

Yes !!! On Animal Planet they used to have this really cool Plexi-glass tunnels so you could actually see the dogs moving !!!
In the real outside GTG you can't see them until they come out.....
But I think mine would be awesome at that !!! :wink:

[DogPaddle]

I don't hunt with my dogs. I don't hunt or own a purely hunting breed though. If I moved north of "cottage country" I would consider hunting for food only and would certainly consider a retrieving breed.

[pigman]

Thanks all, I've always thought there is a hunter hidden inside every dog person.
I agree tho, hunting, although fun, isn't for everybody and I can relate to those of you who wouldn't do it. I also respect that those of you who say they wouldn't do it also say they can see the attraction.
I've seen those 'go to ground' competitions and they look great fun. The thing that gets the terriers going most in those go to ground comps is the fact there is a live rodent at the end of the tunnel. The rodent is protected of course but it gives the dog a chance to think it's hunting for real.

Stargaze, I can't blame you for having part of you that wants to hunt with your catahoulas, those dogs are tailor made hunters and do a great job apparently. I'd love to get a catahoula for my team but there aren't many in Oz.
I went hunting once and my friends laussie shepherd came along for the ride.
His dog, although it had never hunted before, took to it like a fish to water. It was great at finding pigs and bailing them up. It kept well out of the way as well and never got caught. It wasn't stupid, he would just find the pig, stop him in his tracks and wait for the muscle to get there.
It was a wonderful sight.

[Pumpkin the musher]

Hey pigman- there is one hunter here! I've deer hunted for almost 30 years now, and while I understand the feelings of people who don't want to hunt, I have a hard time being told I'm some sort of monster for doing so. I hunt primarily because I like venison, and secondly because the resource is very abundant where I live. We utilize as much of our kill as possible, and never take more than we can use. The scraps and fat get cooked for the sled dogs, the bones are ground for garden fertilizer, and the hide is tanned for rawhide and leather. I enjoy being out in the woods, and we live in a remote enough area that I can sit on the edge of our yard to hunt. I personally don't like bowhunting because I don't think it's humane. I much prefer my .308. Faster, cleaner than sharp sticks. Never shoot at anything you aren't sure you can down with one shot is my motto.
Here is my 2002 "record book " buck; The little dog in the photo was my first Pomeranian- not a froo froo dog that one!

[xavierandrea]

Pumpkin- My brother would love to see that picture you posted but if I show him I'll end up hearing a " That reminds me of the time I was hunting,,, see that head mounted right there that was the best meat I have ever tasted, blah blah blah" !

[Pumpkin the musher]

Hunters are like that, but fisherman are worse.... :D

[xavierandrea]

Don't get him talking about the BIG Catch of last summer..... and the scratch on his boat that " Your kid did. I just know it. Andrea!" :lol: :lol: I could go on about my bro Joey. Hey but I love him. He gives me plenty of food and takes the kid off my hands for a few hours... :D

[pigman]

Hey Pumpkin the Musher, what sort of dogs do you use when you hunt deer? Or do you hunt alone with guns?

Have you ever tried hunting hogs? That's one heck of an adrenaline rush and dogs LOVE it. Like you I hunt for food, what I don't eat I feed to my dogs. Pigs are bad for the aussie environment so it's a community service.

There are feral deer in australia, sambar, red and fallow deer from memory. Their numbers are quite high as well since they escaped many years ago. Deer are harder to find than hogs so I haven't had a chance to hunt any yet. I'd need to get new dogs to be able to hunt them I think. A pit cross pack just isn't fast enough or doesn't have a good enough nose to track them for too long.
I believe in some Australian states that they have banned the use of some dog breeds when hunting deer. I have a feeling that the chasing dogs, deerhound, greyhounds, roodogs etc and some of the scent hounds, foxhounds, bloodhounds and the like, are not allowed to be used. Why I don't know. I do know that the authorities don't mind people using beagles for the sambar tho.
I guess they don't mind smaller dogs who track deer but object to a dog who can catch a deer itself.
Anyway, happy hunting. I couldn't see the pics you posted, dunno why??

Yes Xavierandrea, we hunters are bad. It's always 'you shoulda seen the way my dogs did this' or I wish you hadda been there to see the pig that backed into the hollow log and kept the dogs at bay for an hour before I got there' or 'you would've loved the chops I got opff that young sucker we caught near the blackberry thicket' etc etc etc.
We are like a broken record :lol:

[Pumpkin the musher]

It's weird about the pictures, sometimes if I right click on the red X and choose "show picture" it works, sometimes not. :niewiem: Anyway, it's illegal to hunt deer with dogs in Wisconsin, but it isn't necessary, there are allot of deer! Our neighbor hunts bear and coyote with dogs, he runs Plott and Bluetick hounds and some combinations of those breeds. Racoon hunting with dogs is also legal in Wisconsin, and of course retreiver/pointer type dogs for duck/pheasant/grouse hunting. We are just starting to get the European wild boar moving into our area- and they are very destructive here too. Deer hunting here is with both bow and gun,(seperate seasons), but I just gun hunt. Walk a couple hundred yards out the back door, sit in my lawn chair and wait. If there is snow, I build a fire, take bird seed with me to feed the birds, maybe read a book. Here is a link to the pic, maybe that'll work.
http://groups.msn.com/Dog-O-Maniaphotohosting/apostleislandssleddograce.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=1498

[Seijun]

Pumpkin, that picture is hilarious, it makes it look at though you used the Pom to kill the deer... :lol:

~Seij

[kittygirl109]

I think hunting is cruel. We already have our meat, and hunting for sport is a horrible practice. That's just my opinion.

I would never use my dog for anything except a companion.

[Lucky Chaos]

kittygirl109 napisał(a):

I think hunting is cruel. We already have our meat, and hunting for sport is a horrible practice. That's just my opinion.

I would never use my dog for anything except a companion.

Hunting for sport IS cruel. But people here have said that they use as much as the animal as they can. That's not sport hunting. Where your meat comes from is a million times more cruel then a quick death for an animal who's lived freely its whole life.

[ObedienceGrrl]

I look at it this way....

Deer: They are WAAAAAY over populated. I'd much rather someone hunted or the state hire sharp shooters then have them hit by cars/semis or starving to death like they are now.

And for the wild pigs.....they are NOT native to the land that they are on! They destroy all of the vegitation for native animals. So we have pigs out there reproducing like mad (because their litters are HUGE) and we are starving all of the other animals out there.

Or maybe I'm wrong.....but that is how I've always felt.

[kittygirl109]

Lucky Chaos napisał(a):

kittygirl109 napisał(a):

I think hunting is cruel. We already have our meat, and hunting for sport is a horrible practice. That's just my opinion.

I would never use my dog for anything except a companion.

Hunting for sport IS cruel. But people here have said that they use as much as the animal as they can. That's not sport hunting. Where your meat comes from is a million times more cruel then a quick death for an animal who's lived freely its whole life.

I didn't read everything, sorry. That is an intresting way to look at it, but I still think its cruel.

[Pumpkin the musher]

I agree to an extent. That's why I won't bow hunt- Hurling a sharp stick at an animal, even with allot of velocity and force still does not result in instant death. Whether we like it or not, humans are part of the ecosystem- our digestive system supports an omnivorous diet. As I said before, we use everything we can, and the parts we don't, i.e. the offal that remains in the woods, feeds mink, fox,ravens, small birds, coons, and even the lowly skunk, who has just as much right to be in the woods as any other animal, including me. My deer stand consists on an old tree that I sit next to, and for the last 3 years, the roots have been inhabited by a weasel (like a small mink). I have spent whole days watching him go about his business while I've been hunting, and I've probably missed seeing deer because of this preoccupation. These are the kind of details that escape people who focus simply on the killing aspect of hunting. There is so much more to this activity(It's not a "sport" in my book) than people who oppose hunting are led to believe. I hunt for food. There are still people who do this, believe it or not. The fewer items I have to buy in the grocery store, the less impact I have on environment. When is the last time you ate at a fast food place Kittygirl? Yesterday? Last week perhaps? I don't begrudge you the right to believe hunting is cruel. However, the majority of people base these beliefs on sketchy information, bias and the rantings of PETA type extremists. I also noted that you said you would never "use" (your word) your dog for anything but a companian,so I guess I'm doubly cruel for being a musher, but you know what? My dogs are my companions; I don't "use" them for anything. I have the most trustworthy and amazing companions you could ever want-we have the kind of relationship that people with mere "pets" only dream about.. I'll think about you and the dog you "use" for companionship the next time I'm sitting next to a campfire at 1AM with my "companions", watching the northern lights, in absolute silence and solitude, waiting to hear the wolves.
Dream on, city folk. Dream on.....