I need a predator tracking dog, but know nothing about dogs-PLEASE HELP

Kizmo

New member
OK, I shot the biggest bobcat I have ever seen in my life Saturday night. Waaaay bigger than the one in my avatar. We trailed blood for 100 yards or so before busting the cat out of where it had laid and then ran out of blood. The next day, we got a deer tracking dog (a mountain cur) out there and found bones and blood out at 450 yards. I'm sure the coyotes got to the cat that night.

I hunt at night a lot, and if I'd had a tracking dog then and there I would have found that cat. We don't have enough coyotes for a decoy dog to stay in practice, and hunting at night doesn't produce decoying situations. However, I think a tracking dog would help a lot.

Please give me your insights into breeds, training, etc. The one thing that's always concerned me is having a dog bark, etc. while on stand. The only dog I've ever hunted with is Gunner, who sits still and quiet, but I'm no dog trainer like Tony is. Is this something I can do myself? Are there any books, etc. on how to train a tracking dog?

Thanks in advance for your help.
 
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i like cur breeds. most are silent on the trail and dont have a cold nose that trails everthing that walked through for the day. my dog will only bark if he gets to a coyote and it is still alive.he has tracked coyote, fox, and bobcats. he isstill green but has found everyone we have looked for.

if you are looking at small dogs so you dont break the bank with feed, you my try a jack russel. I have a good friend that uses one for deer tracking on a wildlife refuge he works at for people when they cant find one. that little dog has found more deer than i will ever shoot in my lifetime.
 
Thank you John. I don't know all the various types of cur, but this one looked like a small version of Gunner and made no sound at all. The guy who owned her also told me that jack russel's were good too. I asked him about dachshunds (which a buddy of mine uses), and he told me that the difference between a dachshund and a JRT is that the JRT stands a chance of surviving if the bobcat or coyote is still alive-a dachshund doesn't.

Can a tracking dog be a pet too, or should it be an "all business" relationship?
 
Folks say to get John Jeanneney's book "Tracking Dogs For Finding Wounded Deer.

I think a dashound would do just what you want and they are easy to handle.

http://texastrackers.com/Breeds/Wirehaired%20Dachshund.htm

If you want a fireball get a JRT or a Jagd.

Here is a pic of my JRT's on a cat that I had gut shot.
They trailed up about an hour and a half after I made the bad shot.

IMG_0956.jpg


Stay after them
Kelly
 
Originally Posted By: btech29I love to see pics of your little dogs Kelly. Whats the dog in the bottom right hand corner?

That was Pepper when she was a pup.


Also wanted to say that JRT that has the cat by the throat was a pet. He stayed in the house with me and went just about everywhere and did everything with me.
I sure miss that Bean dog.
kj
 
Kizmo,
I think you will read that most of the good tracking dogs make good family dogs and pets as well, and the reason maybe the dog is only ½ the team and a close bond with the handler is necessary to be effective as they both read each other and work as a team. That is a great book and will help lots in training a pup or older dog. Check out Texas blood trackers .com some good info on there about tracking breeds and training. From my experience as little as it is, I found very rewarding and pretty simple it just takes time and its said it is best if started early like 10 wks. My pup gunners daughter lacy/bmk/Catahoula is working very well at 5.5 months and I will take her for her UBT test next month, at 4 months she tracked a wounded hog 6/10 of a mile. The other night she tracked a 3 legged coyote 250 yards at night that we would have never found without her and we had thermal.

At night she hangs close and at the shot is ready to track, I like to send her out even if they are DRT she will work the wind and recover, good practice for her, and it showed while we put the stalk on some hogs, she was ranging out a little in front of us 25 yards or so and stopped and alerted when she winded the hogs 100 yards ahead of us she was looking back at me like, ok what next, I called her back and she finished the stalk next to me, shot one hog and she went right to it. I’m hoping she will continue this and start to alert to coyotes before I can see them, I think she will

I train her with pig blood but it doesn’t matter to her if I point to blood on the ground and tell her to hunt, she is on it and even if the blood stops, is still on track, while on that track she has identified other smells and associates them to the targeted animal, she has never wandered off a track yet but most of her live tracks at night have been relatively short 300 yards.
Good luck
 
Kelly how is Pepper doing now days? Did she ever make a dog? Her momma and daddy are both gone now so that cross will never be made again anyway.
 
Jagds make good blood trailers. They work well with no blood as well. The have the grit at the end of the tail to finish the job. They have a nose that is unstoppable.
Only thing is, you will want to use a jagd for more than just trailing. They are high strung and love to hunt anything you put them on.

They do have a voice on them and are one tuff breed to train. They can be a hand full. But once they learn their job, you could not ask for better.

You wont want to get a hound for that job.

Tim
 
Kizmo, i have an australian sheppard, my gunner pup, and a yorkie(lol) that live at my house. each of them can track game. the aussi and the yorkie have tracked alot of deer. the aussi has found alot of coyotes before i got my gunner pup. my gunner pup tracked 2 last saturday each over a mile on coyotes that were hit but not dead. he did not kill them just bayed them til i got there and finished them.

they are all 3 family pets that do not stay in kennels. and of course, the yorkie stays inside most of the time..... unless they all 3 bay a skun in the yard like they did last week!!! haha
 
I used to have JRTs for deer trailing and they worked well. They will typically stay close to you and will really work a trail with enthusiasm. I have not had luck with JRT's barking and baying, as most of mine will immediately go in and grab. I would prefer a dog to bay and bark so I know where the game is, rather than grab without noise. I lost a JRT to getting horned by a buck because he was too agressive.

For predators like cats and coyotes, I would want a dog that will at least weigh as much as the largest coyote you will kill. I don't want to put time and money into a dog and send him into a fight that he can't win easily. I would not worry about nose too much, as typically with wounded animals you have a real fresh track with lots of scent. I would concentrate on intelligence, endurance and toughness. Curs, cowdogs and maybe a 25 pound plus terrier would do just what you want.
 
I will probably get rolled on this one, but i personally dont think a hunting dog should be a couch dog also. Nothig wrong with playing with them, taking them for rides or walks, even bringing them in the house for a bit here or there.

You will need to do alot of thinking before you make a choice, most terriers will be pretty gritty, and you will probably want to do quite a bit of training to ensure that your dog bays and doesnt engage a wounded animal.
 
nothing wrong with having a dog and have the kids play around with them too. my dogs love all 5 of my kids. im pretty sure they will all die for them. it isnt because of them hunting with them all the time. its mostly from playing in the yards and rolling in the leaves with them.

my kids actually broke my aussie from being gun shy. he was really bad. then the kids started letting the dogs go with them while out shooting birds with their .410's. about 2 trips and 10 boxes of shells later he was fine with shooting.
 
Originally Posted By: Jesse lackeyI will probably get rolled on this one, but i personally dont think a hunting dog should be a couch dog also.


I disagree....
 
What do you mean by couch dog Jesse ?
A dog that lives in the house?

Also why do you think that?
 
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Originally Posted By: Devin69Kelly how is Pepper doing now days? Did she ever make a dog? Her momma and daddy are both gone now so that cross will never be made again anyway.

Devin - Pepper is doing fine. Right now she is out of shape and its my fault. Between my real day job and raising my 16 year old daughter, my time is pretty tight. Still killing a few coyotes, but have only used the dogs for recovery work in the last couple of months.

How tall and what weight are your dale/jag females getting to?

Just wondering for now as I have three dogs here at the house I dont get hunted like they should.

Kelly
 
Yeah, i mean a dog that lives in the house.

personal opinion i guess. Dogs pick up lots of bad habits laying on the couch. They get fat and lazy. Im not saying it shouldnt be a family dog, i just dont like a hunting dog living in the house. But maybe i just consider a hunting dog to be something different than some.
 
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