Den finding dog

Jonheson

New member
So in a few hunting books I have read about dogs being used to find the den's of beaver mink and skunks and they never said it in the book but I would think it should work with muskrats to the way it sounded was like the way cop's use dogs to find drugs what would you all think sound like it could be done
 
Was it something she pick up on her own or did you use drags to get her to know what to look for also were you said she likes to fight with beaver has she ever got one on her own or when you had one in a trap
 
Originally Posted By: JonhesonWas it something she pick up on her own or did you use drags to get her to know what to look for also were you said she likes to fight with beaver has she ever got one on her own or when you had one in a trap At the time, I got her in hopes of making a decoy dog out of her. Well, I ended up spending 95% of my time focused on Beavers instead, so she just kind of picked it up because that's about all we did. She has caught her fair share on her own. Mainly ones that ran out of bank dens after I busted the dam and drained the slew. Basically, it was too shallow for the Beavers to swim under water and she would follow along side them heading down stream and go in and pick them up and drag them ashore.
In my opinion, a dog will quickly learn any type of situation you need them to, as long as you will do your part and give them plenty of opportunities. If you always leave your dog at home, stuck in the kennel...thats about all he's going to know. And that's not his fault. You can pretty much take most any dog and or breed and they will catch on to what you want done.
 
Last edited:
Cool beaver was one of the main ones we go after for furs and meat both most of the ones here just have den's with the rivers being to small for dams which the few there are around I think there is some kind of law against doing anything to it so I was thinking about a dog trained to go along the river edge to find the den and set like the cops do with a drug dog
 
That might kind of be tricky, but not impossible. It is going to be tough for the dog if the Beaver doesn't have some type of vent hole. The dog may have a hard time trying to distinguish between a den and just an area that the Beaver has been lately. I do know that in the past that if all the bank hole entrances were completely under water that my dog would show a great deal of interest in an area where a Beaver may have sat on the bank and fed.
 
Last edited:
Oh yeah almost all of them have a air hole above the water did you have find one that the opening was above water I don't think I have ever heard of one like that here but this is only my second year doing it so any thing is possible which one doing like you were talking about maybe could help find the slides they use to get in and out of the water also I was wondering could you see any reason one kind not pick up on muskrat like that two
 
Yeah, I have found some holes completely out of water and some only partially. Most of those are/were/was/is being used when the water level changes.
 
Back
Top