Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Running dogs effect on Still Hunting land

I grew up dog hunting with my family and we really had some good times that I will always remember. We did it the right way but eventually stopped because of land shrinkage and the constant fights with non-hunters and other dog hunters, similar to the ones mentioned in the stories above. (We were in the minority of doing it the gentlemanly way) It seemed to come to an end when I was in HS but that was when I was more interested in stand and still hunting so it was not really a lost cause, only a lost art.

Any way, it was a lot of fun but we ran small dogs in small parcels, hunted with close friends and family, shotguns only, tried to implement some deer management practices with the harvesting of set rack restrictions and the taking of does. I am satisfied with the hunter I am and type of hunting I do now, so it's not a complete loss but there were some great, good old days that we talk about from time to time.

What really ended the dog hunting in our area was when the state of FL made it a law that your dog is an extension of your arm. This meant that when your dog trespassed, it was just like you doing it, so it dramatically halted most of the stories you mention about setting them loose on a border or pushing them through others property. Outlaws are still outlaws but it stopped the majority of the issues we had with the rogues.

When I lived in Lower Alabama I bow hunted an area hunted hard with dogs. I still managed to see and kill deer.

I was also invited out to hunt deer over dogs. Being from up North and never having the experience I gave it a try. It was different and I am not knocking it. Just not for me.

I don't knock others hunting styles, that is what the anti-hunters want us to do. I am sure not all hunters act in the same manner or have the same ethics.

That sums up my opinion.

Dogs don't make the deer "leave an area" for any length of time.

They actually have little effect on the deer's behavior when they aren't actually running them.

Here they mostly run dogs on a Saturday, and still hunt during the week in the same areas.

Much of the anti-dog ranting seems to come from those who really know very little about it

Yep, dogs put these girls panties in a wad alot worse than they bother the deer. Any excuse other than "you suck" is a good one for not filling your tags I reckon.

Drives are big up here and thats not for me either. But I am not going to knock it. To me drives and dogs are very close to the same.

I kill a lot of deer in areas that get driven hard too.

Please, tell us how it's done big man. Methinks we touched a nerve, eh?

In areas of Central NC and Central SC I have experienced the same over the years. As a non-member but a hunter on adjoining private property, I have been invited to hunt along with the members of each of the neighboring clubs and have found the members to be good and honorable folk. Does and young bucks get run while the older wiser bucks clearly know how to avoid the chase. After 3PM or so when the dogs have been retrieved, things settle down to the usual natural rhythm. What bothers me is if the doggers can't round up their dogs before 3PM. They are then intrusive and trespassing is often involved, and dogs left in the field in the evening often disrupt the evening hunt.

I have always wanted to hunt deer with dogs and buckshot. In my opinion it would have to be a good time.


Dink

I would like to run dogs for deer. And hogs.

Hunting with good dogs is one of the finer things in life.


It seems insane that people can run dogs on land without permission.

I grew up running dogs in north Florida and still love the sound of a good race. We shot some big deer in the National Forest and didn't run the digs across peoples property and if they headed where they were not supposed to go we tried our darndest to cut them off. Regardless of what a lot of people think the deer are not running flat out. Most of the time you would see the deer stop and watch and listen for the dogs before crossing a road or trail. It was mainly about the chase and comraderie. I gave it up because of the cost and some crappy people moving in the area. I will say I have killed bigger deer on the still hunting lease I am on.

Hunting with dogs was a tradition in south Arkansas that developed when there were few deer. Now that deer are numerous, the tradition is slowly dying. The cost of raising, feeding, and training the dogs is also a factor.

Through the '80s we ran dogs. I have often seen the dogs chasing deer and seen other deer raise up from their beds and watch the race. If the dogs didn't come their way, they'd lay back down.

With the big increase in the number of deer in our area we stopped using the dogs but there were many days when the deer were nocturnal I sure wished we still had dogs.

Louisiana has a split season. Still hunting the first half, with dogs the second half. Usually the dog season begins just after the rut has finished.

I watched a pack of dogs run 3 does in a circle around a block of woods about 5 sq acres

The third time around, the deer made a 90 degree turn and ran about 50 yds to one side and just stood there as the stupid dogs started around the circle again.

You could almost hear them laughing as they WALKED away and left the dogs totally confused

Exactly.

This is a vid of a roe deer "chased" by my late terrier.

Its all in there - the sound making the dog a known thread and the deers calm almost professional reaction to it.



Dog and deer never were closer than about 100 yards to each other.

I grew up with hunting dogs, including hounds. I hunted deer with a dog club in the late sixties in NC. I started hunting in Southern VA about fifteen years ago. I've defended the dog clubs for a long time, but my feelings have changed, as have many of the dog clubs that I am familiar with. In the areas I hunt, the clubs have a flagrant disregard for private property, just as the previous posters have explained. We pay for leases to hunt the lands we hunt, but the clubs continually hunt these properties.
To respond to the original question, we put up trail cameras on the properties and keep them up from September until mid January, usually several weeks after the season closes. We get a lot of pictures until the beginning of dog season. After that, we get no daylight pictures of deer. We get many fewer photos even at night. With the number of photos, we can identify certain deer by their markings. Many of these deer are apparently taken during the season. There appears to be no selectivity as to age, sex or rack size in the kill. Our cameras are often vandalized, with cards stolen and erased, so the continuity of our info is often compromised. I doubt the deer completely leave the area, as there is no place to go where the dogs don't run. I do believe from what we have seen that they go completely nocturnal, and the numbers of deer are strongly reduced, even on the properties that we lease.
Because of the poor behavior and aggressive and arrogant nature of the members of the dog clubs in the areas that I hunt, I expect this great tradition to end. Sad commentary.
Bfly

Bfly, there can be no defence for bad behaviour.

Perhaps you can separate the wheat from the chaff and the dog clubs recogniize a need for self control, standards and restraint rather then have their and our tradition of hunting over hounds banned?

This ^^. Idaho has 'practice seasons' where hunters can train their bear/cat dogs. They could tree, but not kill animals. Not sure about now, but it used to coincide with archery deer/elk season. If they ran their dogs through a drainage you were hunting, you might as well pack up and fin a different location for the next 2-3 days/week.

I'm not knocking them, just stating it created conflicts.

In our part of the woods hunting deer with dogs is a tradition enjoyed by many. Unfortunately the rogue hunters that do this are much more visible. This gives hunters using other methods a bad name. Law enforcement and hunters need to work together to make it uncomfortable for the rogue hunters no matter which method they use.
As to hunting in an area run by dogs, it stirs up the deer and gets some moving that would otherwise be nocturnal. For a while my favorite method was to get in my tree early and watch for moving deer when the dog hunters were unloading and slamming doors, dogs barking, standers being put out, hollering going on. When that first door slams, sometimes you can even smell their coffee, you need to be ready.
The deer around here can put the dodge on a dog and sneak out of the area. You just have to be familiar enough with the area and deer movements to be in the right spot at the right time. We call it hunting. Dog hunting doesn't create problems, if you play it right, it creates opportunities.

I will admit that I have seen deer run through my stand by dogs that I would have never seen otherwise, and it can get them moving when they're otherwise sitting tight. However, dogs are just another form of pressure, and what the still hunter is left with when the "rogue" dogs are gone is heavily pressured, nocturnal deer.

I have hunted over dogs when I was younger, and I'll be the first to admit that it's a lot of FUN. Lots of action, fast moving, and the camaraderie is terrific. Unfortunately, I truly believe that dog hunters, by and large, have very little regard for deer and for still-hunters. I've arrived at this conclusion based on years worth of observed behavior in both South Carolina and Virginia, and I just cannot forgive the "easy come, easy go" mentality with which they run their dogs.

I finally got tired of hick dog hunters telling me with a wry smile, "hey man, I can't control my dogs!" I now control their dogs.

Problem seen and accessed, arriving at the worst possible "solution".