Decoy dog breed

pitman6302

pitman6302

Active member
I'm thinking of get a decoy dog. What breed do you guys have? What breed would you recommened to start out with. We had to put down are other dog and the boys want another one. So I was think of hitting two problems with one stone. Thanks
 
Originally Posted By: pitman6302Are those dogs hard to train? I have a lab I use for duckhunting but he is stubburn.
Easy as pie.
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My MTN cur is smart as all get up. He is probly the easiest dog that I have ever trained, and loves the family too.
 
If you want a decoy dog, buy a pup from a proven line. Either off the tit, or started. Just a matter of how much you wanna do, or how much you wanna pay.
 
I've got Blackmouth Cur/Catahoula cross, Jagd/Mt Cur cross, Mt Cur, and Rhodesian Ridgeback/Mt Cur cross. I have a litter of Blackmouth Cur/Catahoula/Pitbull pups due at the end of April.

As far as prices on started dogs, it is individually priced, depending on the dog. I would assume the average started dog would go for three to four times a puppy price...and rightfully so.

Tony
 
WAG....
(Wild Arse Guess)
Weened >250 started ,>1000
Weened + shots + dog house + food + collar + worm meds + accessories on and on > 1,200
Not a cheap venture nor a short term commitment, but very rewarding and fulfilling.

I would do another cur in a heartbeat, they are so well rounded even if you do not hunt them everyday.

I would compare my cur to my neighbors Lab like this,
My dog is smart, the lab is equally smart but like a child with ADD and hyperactivity issues.

Disclaimer
Each and every dog is an individual regardless of breed, Cur, Lab or otherwise, so don't jump on me for my Cur vs Lab analogy!



 
I will go out on a limb here and tell you just to buy a started or finished dog.
This board has been flooded with pups, and alot of guys have bought pups with no idea what to do with them.
You see alot of pictures of pups in the house, playing with a toy, even playing with a coyote tail or hide. Some even standing over a dead coyote that they have shot and brought their dogs into. Not that any of this is bad or wrong, but making a decoy dog is not the easiest thing to do.
No one that I know of has a proven breed of dog that is proving themselfs as decoy dogs. The closest that I would say is Darryl Fry in Nevada, and I still don't think he has the market on it.
Decoy dogs as a breed is very new, most of the guys that have been doing it for many years just made the dog they had and if that dog wouldn't do it they culled it and got another. The dogs they made they spent more hours with them in their first year of life than most weekend hunters will spend with theirs in a life time.
Most guys today don't have the heart to cull a dog and don't have the time to spend with them to know if they need to be culled.
Curs have been the mosts successful breed. But alot of guys breed hound into them. I feel this puts too much trail and chase into the dog.
Merv Griswald used a shorthair in his first video, and I believe a Airedale/Beagle cross.
I have seen alot of good hearding dogs.
Bird dogs.
Terriers.
Cross bred dogs or just plain mutts.
At this point of the decoy dog breeding program, I think it is just a shot in the dark.
My oppinion is, you need a dog that understands it is a game. A dog that will hunt for you not itself. A incredible prey drive. A nose it can use but not all the time (like a hound) And above all and Handle.
JMO
 
Very well said Devin.

Today I was out scouting for coyote dens with a couple of young dogs tagging along. It got me to thinking about everything that goes into "starting" a decoy dog.

There are a ton of hours in the field to get the basics that most guys buying a dog, don't even think about. Things like loading in and out of a vehicle, riding in a vehicle without getting car sick, negotiating fences, how to hunt for game, knowing what "sic" or "get em up" means, knowing what "enough" means, knowing what the beeper on a collar means, hunting for the master...instead of themselves, knowing to ignore cows, horses, deer, antelope, goats, sheep, chickens, etc...yet focus on the prey at hand. All of this and more, and we're not even talking about how to pursue and handle coyotes, yet. That takes alot of fur and few scars.

With daily training, this can all be covered with a young "started" dog in a few months. Without daily training, it'd take years...if ever.

Here is something that baffles me. On the hog dog websites, guys have a bunch of started dogs for sale. The typical reads like this...

"Cur/Cato cross male, 1 yr and 7 mos old, started dog, will help bay a hog, been in the woods 8 to 10 times."

Eight to ten times?? Heck, a dog would be dumb as a box of rocks if living on the end of a chain for the past 19 months and only in the woods that few times. What a waste of a good dog. Totally baffles me!

Again, well said.

Tony
 
Thanks Devin69 and Tony You guys have some great input in this topic. I think Ill have alot of Questions for you guys in the near future if you dont mind. Im very interested in one of these dogs. There is nothing like watching the dog you brought up and trained work hard for you. Like you guys said to work for you and not for them. Thanks Again.
 
No. Not what I've seen. They are staking ground and digging dens, but not using them yet.

I'm still baffled this season. Last week, four of the females we shot were still bleeding in heat. One was last year's pup and the rest were adults. Never seen it before in the past.

Tony
 
Devin offers strong advice. I decided about a year ago I wanted a decoy dog. I talked to different people and watched all of the videos that were out. I bought a cur pup and told myself this shouldnt be too hard. I have trained bird dogs to hunt birds. Training a bird dog is 10 times easier than training a decoy dog. At nine months into my new pup I didnt know what to do. I had recieved alot of help from people on here and was still at a loss. I got to thinking about buying a started dog. I talked to Duane and he put into contact with some different people with started dogs. They didnt work out. I ended up buying a started dog from Duane. In my opinion this was the best thing I have done as far as a decoy dog goes. The pup I started with is a little over a year old and I think is going to turn out pretty good. Could I have turned a puppy into a decoy dog without the started dog? Possibly but I really have my doubts. If I could call a coyote in that is willing to let the dogs work it every time I went hunting sure no problem. I still struggle and get frustrated and go to people on this forum looking for advice.
 
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