Man.. you boys and your Deer Dogs..

Like RH said.. We call them Trash runners.. we may put up with them for a while but if they keep running Deer and not Bear .. they won't get fed long.. Heck used to be we would coon hunt them to get them ready for Bear Season.. we don't even do that anymore.. they get scolded for bumping and treeing coons now

I've always maintained if you don't have at lest one Bluetick as your Strike dog and some Walkers to pour on the heat your not going to tree many Bear.. Walkers are the fastest runners in my opinion.. blueticks have the best nose.. I wouldn't give a Plug nickle for a Black and Tan.. everyone has their favorites I guess..

My Family took two out of the population last weekend.. I missed the hunt but got to hear all about it..

You catch my dad on the right day and he will give you half his pack for running Deer..

What age should the pups be for use next deer season? I have heard alot of people say about a year old. Alot of people around here use fox pens to break their puppies is this about the best way?

It's hard to say when to start a pup.. I think you should at least start hauling them around in the truck at 6 months or so, and get them used to the process.. throw them on a track with some older dogs and see what happens.. it's the only way to find out..

Some other hunters I know won't even take a pup with them until they are at least over a year old.. and one guy I know won't start them until they are two years old..

We have had pups start running as early as six months.. and others won't run at all until they are two years old.. if they don't run by the time they are two then I don't think they ever will..

Best dog we ever had Ran and treed a bear by himself at six months old.. I am of the belief if they have it then they will show it at a young age.. otherwise they may become a pack dog but that's about it..

wv boy is right about the age thing,it all depends on the dog,ive had pups broke at 6 months,others it takes a while if you buy one good broke dog and some pups let the pups spend alot of time with the broke dog,let them bond to him/her,this will help insure they will follow that dog and pick up its habits.i always start real early with a pup,as early as 2 months.put them in the box if your making a quick trip to the store,walk them on a leash early and start with basic obiedence skills,such as come,stay and sit.in my opinion fox pens are ok but dont use them too much,ive seen dogs pick up bad habits from fox pens.one is they tend to be road runners,they run the roads looking for a track that has crossed,they wont stay in the woods and "hunt",this has a two fold problem,when they loose a track and your near a paved road they run the risk of being hit by a car,i walk mine through the woods alot and always subject them to dead deer or a hide or a leg when i can.alot of guys run their dogs in the off season,there is alot of debate whether this legal or not.there is no clear ruling on this,there is a coon chase season and a bear chase season but no deer chase season,yet every gamewarden ive talked to says he would NOT ticket for it.check with your local gamewarden and ask him,he may not like it,do as he wishes.he can be your best friend when your dogs are on somebody eleses property and they wont let you in to get them,he will get you in.ive had this happen to me before.i keep my wardens cell number in my cell phone just in case.good luck with it and let use know what you decide on.also do a search for the southside houndsmen association,they may be able to help with some questions you may have.

when it comes to a breed of hound people are loyal just like a brand of car.walkers,blueticks,black n tans,plotts,redbones same as chevy,ford dodge,toyota,or nissan.i like walkers best ,but any hound that does what he is supposed to do,and does it well...can stay in my pens.ive seen some truley amazing hounds over the years,some that seem to have supernatural senses.ive seen two bluetick brothers that would only run bucks,go figure,ive seen a walker take a three day old cat track and push it hot,and tree it.bottom line is generally only one or two out of a litter really,truely have what it takes to make a GREAT hound.

When me and my daddy hunted Buckingham we always ran culled bear dogs.All we ever had that would do anything would jump but the club we hunted with had alot of pack dogs.I think like everyone else said it is good to turn a young dog loose with a old dog you know will jump but maybe not too much as this could make a pack dog.I think it does more good to work him by hisself some too.It is plenty of deer around and if the dog will take a track he will take it without another dog.Its not hard to find a hot deer track and dump a dog on it.We always ran our dogs in the offseason but you have to be careful in the summer because of the heat.What part of buckingham do you hunt Hody? We hunted Rock Mill and around that area.We also hunted with Billy Shumaker some too.I havent been to buckingham in 6-7 years but i hunted there from when i was 8 till i was around 16.I forgot how much i miss it. :}

RH Our land is around Spears Mtn, by the tower.

fat cobra, a treeing walker and a walker coonhound is the same dog, same breed. they used ti have a seperate breed but now are the same breed. i know nothing about hunting deer with dogs, but i am a coon hunter, i have hunted walkers, black and tan, redbones and my best dogs now are english redticks. there are six breeds of coonhounds: walker, redbone, bluetick, english, black and tan and plott. i would suggest talking to some local coon hunters and bear hunters. a dog to them that they cant break from running odd game, like deer, would be perfect to you. should be cheap, i wouldnt pay high dollar for a dog to run deer, you could get just about any junk runner to do that, and they are of no value to a coonhunter if you cant break them off deer. once you get a dog or two that will run deer, get some cross pups, they will make great hounds, and you can just run them with your older dogs. i would think it would be easy to make a deer dog, deer are plentyful and the dogs love to run. i have an english redtick coonhound, that i have trained to blood trail deer, he is a young dog, but has been doing great on wounded deer, last year he was 8 months old and found 7 out of 8 deer i tracked him on, this year he has found 6 out of 8, but i dont think the 2 he couldnt find was hit that good, i was just helping some friends and one was shot in the pouring rain. good luck.

md i think you may be cofused on the walker breed,treeing walkers and walker coonhound have always been the same breed...tennesse treeing walker to be exact,thats UKC,and AKC. now some years ago AKC also recognized a seperate breed of walkers as running walkers,but that didnt last long and got back to just the ten. treeing walker.my deer dogs are out of foxhound stock and are papered by some orginization ive never heard of before...international foxhunters guild,and are registered as just plain walker hound,but if you ask me theses hounds look more like an english fox hound than a walker,longer legs,less frontal mass in the chest,smaller heads,and a deaper chest{bigger lungs}.not the kind of walker i grew up hunting,or i had when i was coon hunting.
you ever want to talk coon huntin just drop me an e mail and ill talk coon huntin,or hounds with ya all day.

well you might be right, i know nothing about deer dogs, and the different organizations are kinda funny about all that stuff, that is what i understood that i had read and i believe it was the pkc. they may have other names for walkers in other orgs. i have a english coonhound, redtick, that has hard knocking stylish hayes blood in him (walker). he was single registered as an english, and my best coonhound is 3rd generation but english. most of that org stuff is b.s., i dont pay it much mind, i love to hear the dogs run, and could care less about the breed. i agree some must look nothing like a walker, the guy on here who had a pic of what he said his 2 walkers, looked more like english to me, nothing like a walker, all the walkers ive seen are tri-color, like a beagle. i killed a deer last night with bow and used my young english to help find him, lots of blood and snow, deer went about 125 yards and the dog went to him on a run.

md,im very familiar with the stylish hayes line of hound,strong line of coon hounds and a long line of grand night champions.im like you,i care less for papers or breed as long as the hound is a good solid dog.we could throw blood line names back and forth all night long,but it dont mean anything if the dog dont do right.i also agree with you on the pic of those two walkers,they are mine,and they do look more english but they are pure walker,ive seen so many diffrent coat colors over the years from all white walkers to all black plotts,theres no acounting for colors with so many blood lines being bred these days,i like the look of the classic tri-color but if the hound hunts i could care less if it was purple,with pink spots.ill have to get into it with you one day on how you broke that hound of yours on a blood trail,sounds interesting to me.id like to have a dog like that.
turn em loose every chance you get,and remember "when the tailgate drops, the bull.... stops"

Do you feel it is important to have the dog from a very young puppy? I have found a few that are 4 months old and i am thinking about them. Or is this to old to get them?

Slug Master.... I respect your views on dog hunting completely. However I respect the view of those who hunt with dogs completely aswell. That being said I will also not allow condemnation of a fellow hunter or group there of who choose to hunt in a perfectly legal and ethical manner. I live in the western part of the state where hunting with dogs is not allowed but I have and will again travel to eastern VA to hunt with friends who use dogs. It is fun and ethical, not to mention a deeply routed tradition. One must always remember be careful when pointing fingers at a legal aspect of our grand hunting heritage, its fuel for the anti hunters. They have enough already to work with already. I never try to come off to strong towards anyone hunting in a legal and safe way regardless of my personal feelings. This is a close-knit group on this board most of these folk I know personally. Treat them right and a better bunch of guys will not be found anywhere. Together we stand or divided we fall. Have a great season!