Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Deer Hounds

I know to 80% of the country this is a taboo topic. But it's a triditional way to hunt deer in the southeastern part of the US.

Florida, Georgia and South Carolina are just a few states that allow this type of hunting.

It is alot like a man drive, where several walkers move through a block and drive the deer to the standers. Only in this case a jump dog and a few pack hounds trail the deer to the standers.

You begin by having the standers cover the normal crossing that deer use. Then a walker will zig zag through the woods with his hounds and jump a deer from its bed. The dogs will trail in most cases and chase in some cases the deer to the standers. If its a shooter buck, they try to make the shot. If not he catches the dogs. Everyone stays in communication with small radios and has to shift locations if the deer gets by.

I use a small pack of beagles. They dont drive the deer hard and fast and allows for easier catching of dogs.

Anyone else do this type of hunting?

It used to be the most common way here in Arkansas and parts of the state still allow it. I hunted that way for years but I have found out that I kill a lot more deer without dogs or men scareing them. Another plus is that the meat is better without the adreneline flowing throught the deer. miles

Thats another reason I use Beagles. The deer in most cases can walk ahead of beagle here in Florida, because of all the water. Any deer that we run hard, we always hang in a cooler for 4 to 5 days to reduce that adreneline/wild game taste.

Yep, dog huntin' deer was pretty much a necessity in East Tx up until about 30-40 years ago. If you couldn't find one with dogs, you could not find them at all. They were to scarce. Things have changed. The sport would probably still be legal in Tx if it had not been abused. People have a right not to have dogs trespassing on their land, and there is very little public land here.

Hoot, I've done it in the past and it is fun but leasing, QDM, etc. have about negated it in my part of the world and, sadly, there are clubs and folks in this general area that will shoot a deer dog on sight if found chasing on their property. Poor dog doesn't know any better, it's what they are born to do. The main problems started with unethical hunters dropping off their dogs and driving them across isolated pockets of private property, road hunting, etc., the hunting world just ain't big enough to do that anymore in the southeast.

The way you are doing it with Beagles is the way to go. Beagles can be controlled to an area (unlike Walkers) and as you say, they don't push the deer too hard. It is fun to listen to those little guys stir up the woods!

A friend had a pack of 4 yellow creeks and those dogs could find & jump a deer in a bus station. He could call them off of a chase and never had to go out looking for them all night. Now, that was a pack to talk about.

OT

Just came up Virginia Rt17 from Williamsburg and must have seen 25 trucks with dog boxes in the back alongside the road or in transit and few hunter in the fields. Must still be very popular there or they're a lot of bird or bunny hunters.

I do it, but on the same note wish it was outlawed here. I hunt two clubs that are 8500 acres each and composed of thick brush and clear-cuts. That is plenty of property to run walkers and keep them contained. Many deer are wounded and lost just like deer drives in the Mid-West. I'd say 95% of deer shot at in front of walkers or beagles are shot at running, which we all know is a recipe for disaster. I've owned beagles and agree they are better for some reasons, but a buck gets way too far in front of them when jumped.

The only reason I still dog hunt some is the "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em" type of thinking.

The crappy part of dog hunting is it starts during the rut right when still season gets good. I hope it is outlawed in the near future, but I doubt it will be soon enough. Deer hunting will drastically improve when dog hunting is outlawed.

Have a Good One,

Reloader7RM

I've never hunted deer with dogs, and don't necesarily know that I'd want to, but I've seen some of the cover you guys have to deal with, and it would be awful tough to hunt without the help of those hounds. Beagles are great little dogs, and great at this down and dirty kind of work. To each his own, and don't mess with such a long standing tradition. Just my opinion.

Once we learned how, our kill rate went up when dogs were outlawed. You don't do much slipping around and a lot of sitting. When you sit quietly in a good spot, you will see plenty of deer acting normal. This leads to good shots on unsuspecting deer. We learned from the bow hunters and it flat works. miles

ONLY TIME WE USE THEM IS TO TRACK A WOUNDED ANIMAL.THEY'RE GREAT FOR THAT.

Sounds like fun. In their infinite wisdom, our Minnesota legislators have outlawed dog hunting or even using dogs for tracking wounded deer. Until a recent law suit (someone shot the university president's 'pet'), anyone could shoot a dog in the act of chasing deer. Now only game wardens can.

I am a big fan of using dogs to track wounded deer. I try to keep one all of the time. The past several dogs I have used have been Great Pyrenees and they do a great job. I use them on a leash because they do not bark on the trail and I don't know if they would stay with the animal and bark when its located. I have used pointer bird dogs and labs in the past and they worked well also. miles

Whew!....I was a little worried about this topic. Thought I was opening my self up to be blasted. Alot of people don't understand this type of hunting and assume its a bunch of drunk hunters shooting everything that moves from moving vehicles.

Quite often you have to shoot at moving deer, which we all know isn't the best situation and a few deer get wounded. I recently assembled a brush gun just for this type hunting. Purchased a Ruger 44 Mag. carbine and mounted a holographic site for getting on target faster. I haven't taken anything with it yet, but I have had a few does in my sites and it's going to be the perfect tool for this type hunting. Tracking collars on your hounds help you locate your dog to within 12 miles and sometimes the downed deer, if the dogs stay with it. A good blood trail dog will locate that downed deer also.

Our lease is broken up into 3 sections with a total of 55,300 acres and we still have problems at time keeping the dogs on our lease. And I fully understand how dog effect stand hunters on private lands. We are looking into welded wire fences at major crossings that allow the deer to jump, but keeps the hounds in.

But my favorite part is the deer you see on a days hunt. We have a crew of about 10 hunters and we'll take 25 deer in a season between us all.

Dogs are legal in Arkansas in the county that boarders me in Oklahoma. Lots of Okies hunt over there for that reason. I don't hunt in Arkansas but occasionally I hunt near enough to the line to hear dogs running or even have one come by. Those that do are usually way out in front of the dogs and are in sort of a trot/walk and looking back in the direction of the dogs. Rarely are the deer running or the dogs in sight of the deer.
Dogs keep deer moving, even those that they aren't running.
I don't choose to hunt with dogs but I've got no problem with them.

In East Texas....when deer hunting with dogs was legal....we came to the same conclutions you did. Big dogs (Walkers, Bluetick, Redbone) just push the deer too hard and tend to run all over the country. Recovered dogs as far as 10 miles away at times.

Beagles tend to move slowly and thus the deer are not crossing by the standers "like a buckskin string....stretched" but rather are just easing along ahead of the dogs relaxed. Beagles also don't "overrun" the trail when a deer makes a sudden change of direction like big dogs do, but just keeps bawling while they stay on track. The deer tend to do a lot of circling instead of lining out across the county (and out of your club) too.

Deer dogs aren't nearly as disruptive of other types of hunting as many think. deer not being directly chased pay little attention to the beagles. Been in a stand when dogs would go by 100 yards or so chasing another animal and they either paid no attention at all, or simply slipped into the brush and return minutes later after the "race" had passed. Many times when there was no deer movement.....I'd actually wish a pack of dogs WOULD come by to stir up the bedded deer nearby.

We do kill moree and better deer since they were outlawed, but I also miss the days of group hunting, companionship and fun we had with those beagles.

Hoot....by the way, the Ruger 44 was my "dog gun" for years. It is nearly the perfect choice for such hunting. Light, fast and hits harder at close range than any gun I've ever used. Paper ballistics say it's weak (less than a .30-30) but don't believe it. That big slow bullet hits hard and kills all out of perportion to it's ballistics. You will seldom "wonder" if you make a hit....the deer will most often let you know by staggering or falling.

Much better choice than any shotgun with buckshot. that was the weapon of choice for most here.....but learned early on that too many deer were blooded, but not recovered with buckshot and the 44 does give you a realistic chance at a deer standing 125 yards away in a right of way. The shotgun would be as useful at that range if you threw the gun at the deer instead of wasting ammo.

I agree Rick,

Our lease was shotgun only for the first 40 years. We wounded thousands of deer, only to find them 2 days later under circling birds.

Back then and even a few still use 000 Buck shot. The heavier shot had better energy down range than 00. We did a redneck ballistics test once on a refridgerator. # 1 buck shot dented the outside of the fridge at 50 yards. 00 buck when in one side, but didn't exit the box. 000's past through and busted a old cooler on the other side. Sounds like a redneck version of CSI.

"CSI Hootersville" hmmmmm, maybe a hit show.

anyways, Everyone went to 3" OOO Buckshot and it made a big difference.

A buddy of mine has 2 of these 44 carbines, he uses as loaner to a youngster or maybe one of the guys wives that want to hunt. Its low recoil, shorter range bullet is a plus for a non seasoned hunter. Plus it lays the lumber on the deer.

I know I love mine with the new site.

We used to hunt with hounds in the everglades when I was young. we kept walkers, bluetics, black & tans, redbones and beagles for dry land.

it is quite a thrill to listen to the dogs.

my good friend in tallahassee keep 45 harriers (kinda like a small walker) and he hunts the national forest west of town.

the big problem is that dogs dont know property lines and many owners have never seen a no trespassing sign. it can get pretty ugly some times.

for me, I spend countless hours and money to have th opportunity to hunt on my land in peace. I really dont want my hunt spoiled so someone else can have a good time.

you really need a lot of land to run dogs or stick with beagles.

The 000 shot solution is exactly opposite of what I found when hunting with buckshot. Back in the day, I was shooting an LC Smith that was choked "full & fuller". With 00 Buck it would keep all 9 pellets in a 30" circle at a measured 40 yards.

However, with #4 Buck.....it would keep all the pellets in a 20" circle at the same distance.....and there were 40 some pellets in a #4 load.

Penetration never seemed to be a problem at "proper" shotgun distances (definitely under 50 yards, better if under 30) with either load. The problem was that with a "fringe" hit (very likely with a moving target and no sights on a shotgun) the 00's would sometimes hit with just 1 or 2 pellets. Not much shock and not much blood. well hit animals were mostly recovered due to trailing dogs, but not always. With the #4's, I would typically get 8-10 "hits", even on a fringe shot. Deer seemed to react more, bleed better and die quicker with the smaller pellets.

Some older club members used to argue that the lighter #4's didn't have enough punch at longer range, but by the age of 10 or 12 I already knew that ANY buckshot load was ineffective at more than 40 yards so this didn't bother me. Sure, there were the occational "kills" at 60+ yards (one legendary kill was made at a measured 84 yards) but those were "accidents", usually where a single pellet just happened to hit the deer in the head. For me, the "swarm" of #4's did the trick.

I hunted with walkers and redbones in Eastern NC for many years. I have since found more pleasure in still (stand) hunting. While dogs are an invaluable tool in certain locations I believe knowledge of the land and the activity of deer will result in more responsible (?) kills.