Triggermortis
Well-Known Member
Interesting video documentary about a pack of foxhounds and the huntsman, would a foxhound make a good deer tracking dog?
Foxhounds for tracking deer?
- Thread starter Triggermortis
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A foxhound is basically the same as a staghound. No trouble at all in tracking deer, certainly intelligent but....... what it would be like to live with outside of a pack environment, I don't know. They are also designed as endurance machines - not sure the odd 500m track would satisfy one's physical needs.
John Gryphon
Well-Known Member
Foxhounds are not really suitable as one person trackers, their endurance is legendary and a 30 mile track isnt out of the ordinary.
Rhodesianjess
Well-Known Member
I started a new underkeeper who had a spaniel cross foxhound. Good nose but the bloody noise! Full cry not helpful on a pheasant day.
Maybe that particular dog but something to bear in mind.
Maybe that particular dog but something to bear in mind.
A true hound is not a dog in the accepted way . Hounds are hounds when they are in a pack . they are not dogs any more even when they are
I know that sounds daft but its the best way of describing a very real difference, gosh its easier to understand and explain if you get the opportunity to go out with a true pack on a hunt take it up !
I know that sounds daft but its the best way of describing a very real difference, gosh its easier to understand and explain if you get the opportunity to go out with a true pack on a hunt take it up !
John Gryphon
Well-Known Member
Alas many will never know. I loved my time with the hounds. (English Foxhounds)
shakey jake
Well-Known Member
i dont really understand why you would geta doggor a specific role that the dog wasnt breed todo.
i can understand having a dog for one pupose and trying to get it to do another as well but if you want a deer tracking dog why not start with one thats got it in the dna?
i can understand having a dog for one pupose and trying to get it to do another as well but if you want a deer tracking dog why not start with one thats got it in the dna?
I was involved with a foot pack for roughly 10 mibi 12 years many moons ago, we covered a lot of ground in Scotlandshire and the Huntsman would pick and choose the pack for the day's hunt depending on the size of the ground/ estate.
Now there were a few young dogs one year and I had one, a young bitch to bring up and socialize with my dogs, now she was a strange one, very timid away from the pack that she was born into.
Roll on a year and she was away back to the kennels and the pack again, a couple of weeks later we were out hunting and the hound I had and brought up for a year would not come anywhere near me just walked away when calling her.
I would say they are pack animals more than individuals, as John said they will eat up miles when running a scent, and not uncommon for them to disappear for a couple of days.
Now there were a few young dogs one year and I had one, a young bitch to bring up and socialize with my dogs, now she was a strange one, very timid away from the pack that she was born into.
Roll on a year and she was away back to the kennels and the pack again, a couple of weeks later we were out hunting and the hound I had and brought up for a year would not come anywhere near me just walked away when calling her.
I would say they are pack animals more than individuals, as John said they will eat up miles when running a scent, and not uncommon for them to disappear for a couple of days.
hounds will hunt anything if they are allowed to i had my own gunpack for 12 seasons up here in scotland and i wouldnt tolerate them on anything other than foxes,if the op was going to use a foxhound to track deer it would have to be on a tether if you let it loose and it caught any deer they would only be fit for dog food,a harrier you would never keep up with,if it was me i would use a little terrier like a jack russell as you would see it easier and it would most likely give tongue when it caught up with a wounded beast,hope this helps
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John Gryphon
Well-Known Member
I remember cobber Mick saying "the old mans hounds would be turned out in Crough`s range and be still going two days later" "you could hear them still going at night"
They would stop have a rest and get back onto another scent (fox) and start up again.
Foxhounds are not for pets or companion dogs. A quarter FH in a lurcher can be too much as they are headstrong, an 1/8 gives the blood a great nose and endurance. But I will say old Reckless was a rippin cross bred hound,greyhound,lurcher type for a bloke that wanted a rough all rounder. He did have quite a bit of FH blood.
I was reading an interesting piece on bovine TB in deer on exmoor and was surprised that they still hunt deer with dogs on exmoor under some kind of research exemption. worth nothing the piece mentions the hound is shot at the end.
I think it's the deer gets shot!
John Gryphon
Well-Known Member
The University of New England (?) or one of the Unis in NSW had a houndsman and a pack of Beagles that were were used to hound wallabies so as to capture the paralysis ticks for research at end of day. Ticks were harvested from the Beagles. The hound blood was impervious to the tick bite saliva.
For all you Cocker owners read this... Studies (AUS) have shown that the brown dog tick, Rhipicephalus sanguineus sensu lato, when fed on the beagle breed of dog, Canis lupus familiaris, development negatively affected in comparison with tick development after feeding on the English cocker spaniel breed. Thus leading to the suggestion that beagle dogs are be tick-resistant dogs. Behavioural studies have demonstrated that more ticks are attracted by extracts from cocker spaniels than from beagles and that the odour of beagles is a repellent.
That's the nicotine John, from all the cigarette testing.
John Gryphon
Well-Known Member
Siggy
Well-Known Member
Thanks for sharing the video- very enlightening. As an aside I am horrified about the complex living history that is being thrown away by the ban. Fox hunting is not my thing but who am I to say what someone else should or shouldn’t do, and I don’t think government should interfere by legislating against hunting
Also I have a better understanding of ex huntsman Guy Wallace’s training methods having seen the huntsman Sage inaction.
Fox hounds as a tracking dog? I think they might be to powerful on the leash and might be more hot scent orientated. Also I suspect they might be loud. Only guessed
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