Hands free lead

[Mungo]

I have been using a waist lead for my dog when stalking. It’s one of the ones designed for running with a dog: a waist belt, with a slightly elasticated bungee lead d clipped to it.

It works extremely well: keeps both hands free, keeps the lead below the level of the rifle and sling so no tangling, allows the dog to move around me without tangling, and allows me to crawl very easily without making additional adjustments.

However - it does have flaws. Most importantly, it’s quite noisy, with quite a few ‘jingly’ bits.

Does anyone know of a similar design aimed specifically at stalking?

 

[Keith Edmunds]

Niggeloh do a number of shoulder leads - might be suitable?

Umhängeleine STRETCH

Umhängeleine Stretch, dehnt sich und zieht sich automatisch zusammen

www.niggeloh-shop.de

 

[CarlW]

I don't like the idea of shooting while tied to a dog. However, perhaps your dogs are steadier than mine are...

 

[McKenzie]

I use an old set of horse reins with a rope collar for mine & it's completely silent & as mentioned above I wouldn't take a shot without separating myself from the dog.
Something like a bicycle inner-tube over the noisy bits would probably work if you want to keep the same set-up.

 

[reloader54]

I don't like the idea of shooting while tied to a dog. However, perhaps your dogs are steadier than mine are...

My Mastiff / Bordeaux cross weighs in at around a cwt, he's a good tracker for finding deer, obviously not major league like a Bavarian, or gwp, but he does me fine, he is totally deaf from puppyhood, and we have a pretty good sign language thing going on, we have hand signals amongst others for walking, eating, someones arrived home,and you can put the postman down now, and lets look for a dead deer, the procedure for looking for a dead deer is simple, rule 1, remove bolt from rifle and holster, shoulder rifle firmly to backpack sling, get dog from vehicle and attach harness, never let go of your end, ever, as this is the umbilical cord all communication transfers along, watch dog and it will be evident when scent has been identified, as surrounding vegetation will go by you much quicker, you will feel the joy of the dog coming through the lead as you are repeatedly plunged through a selection of ditches, bramble patches and coppiced hazel stumps, as the dog homes in on the deer,[you will know 'cos the vegetation is now really flashing by you,] in addition you will for the last few yards often be in a superman like position and gliding on your stomach or back, and as you come to a sudden halt, after extracting various bits of debris from your person you should see the dead deer, praise the dog with huge amounts of fuss and visible exuberance. smaller deer he will carry home for you , larger deer he will need a little help with.
I wouldn't trade him for anything right now.

 

[geoshot]

I use a long slip lead which I can wear like one of those single strap back pack contraptions, over one shoulder & diagonally down my body, or simply wear it around my waist.
But, like the others I won't have the dog attached to me as I take the shot, I just slip the lead off her neck just before I get the rifle up on the sticks.
If I'm just out for a bit a a walk during which I might take a shot if opportunity presents, I'll just have her walk at heel and tell her to "stay" when I want her stationary
Luckily for me, she's dead steady and very rarely shows any reaction at all to a shot, so I can rely on her staying put - so far anyway, but better not to take a risk

When she's tracking a deer she's nowhere near as heavy as Riddick's pup, less than half the weight, but it can still feel like she's trying to pull me off my feet - I'm way heavier than her but I reckon she could flatten me if she caught me off balance
If she was to pull like that as I took a shot it could be disastrous, unlikely to happen, but not worth the risk

 

[Mungo]

I don't like the idea of shooting while tied to a dog. However, perhaps your dogs are steadier than mine are...

So while she has a great many vices (which we are slowly working on), on thing she is actually astonishingly good at is sitting quietly and not pulling when I am lining up and shooting. I have no worries at all about shooting with her attached to me.

 

[Heym SR20]

I have a niggoloh over the shoulder lead that I have used for the last few years with Nandi. But as she has got older she has got a lot steadier, so now I use a 10m length of flat 1" wide webbing - the type you use for strapping things down etc. You can by it from an online chandler by the metre and trypically costs £1 to £2 per metre. Stitch or tie a loop on one end and loop this through the collar / harness. It's completely silent and I let her walk beside me, just in front, and just put my foot on it to steady her as needed. When taking a shot - my foot is on the tape.

 

[Mungo]

Niggeloh do a number of shoulder leads - might be suitable?

Umhängeleine STRETCH

Umhängeleine Stretch, dehnt sich und zieht sich automatisch zusammen

www.niggeloh-shop.de

Thanks for that.

I tried a shoulder lead, but really didn't like it. It got tangled with rifle sling and bino strap; it was too easy for her to end up in the wrong place and wrap it around some part of me; and transitioning back and forth from crawling was a mess.

The running lead keeps everything below the other stuff you have on your shoulders, allows her to move around me without tangling anything, and makes moving between different stances/positions really easy. Her (and my) training has improved in leaps and bounds since I started using it.

 

[Mungo]

I use an old set of horse reins with a rope collar for mine & it's completely silent & as mentioned above I wouldn't take a shot without separating myself from the dog.
Something like a bicycle inner-tube over the noisy bits would probably work if you want to keep the same set-up.

Ah! I should have thought of bike inner tube. Magic - thanks John! Problem solved, I think.

 

[Orion]

Try an internet search under ‘hundepirschleine’ and it should throw up a number of options such as these from Amazon.de

I have the standard Niggeloh stalking lead and it’s good as both a shoulder lead and a short tracking lead when unclipped.

 

[deerstalker.308]

@GeoffWood has just the thing and top quality craftsmanship too

 

[deerstalker.308]

There’s one in the classified from him don’t know if it’s still available

 

[Waz77]

If the inner tube isn't tight enough you can get shrink wrap tube which is like an inner tube but when heated up it shrinks to a tight fit

 

[Mungo]

If the inner tube isn't tight enough you can get shrink wrap tube which is like an inner tube but when heated up it shrinks to a tight fit

Aha! Even better.

I wonder how easy that will be to get hold of during the current unpleasantness.

 

[Waz77]

You can get on ebay so can prob get delivered no problem

 

[nun_hunter]

I made a running lead for my dog from the cheap ebay expandable garden hoses. They're cheap as chips, silent, strong and as they expand and retract they don't trail behind you and get caught up. Karabina on each end just tied to the hose, job done. It's not too pretty but works perfectly.

 

[Brittany boy]

Was on a pheasant shoot a number of years ago when one guy had his golden lab tied to his waist as she wasn't steady to the shot. We were shooting snipe and were lined out the wet ground which was iced over in parts, yes you know what's coming. The shots rang out the dog ran in pulled the guy off his feet on the ice as he fell he fired the shotgun into the air landed badly on his shoulder and broke his collar bone. It could have been a lot worse for the gun next to him. Different when stalking your usually on your own and have time to prepare for the shot and release the dog, the OP doesn't really say why they need the dog attached to them, is it just a young dog that's in training.?

 

[Mungo]

Was on a pheasant shoot a number of years ago when one guy had his golden lab tied to his waist as she wasn't steady to the shot. We were shooting snipe and were lined out the wet ground which was iced over in parts, yes you know what's coming. The shots rang out the dog ran in pulled the guy off his feet on the ice as he fell he fired the shotgun into the air landed badly on his shoulder and broke his collar bone. It could have been a lot worse for the gun next to him. Different when stalking your usually on your own and have time to prepare for the shot and release the dog, the OP doesn't really say why they need the dog attached to them, is it just a young dog that's in training.?

Yes - young dog in training.

I am aware of the risks, and am confident that being pulled when lining up/taking a shot is not one of them.

 

[jb1]

I assume you are training your dog to eventually be off the lead whilst stalking ? I quite often go for a walk without a rifle through woodland, with my Lab on a very loose lead and have in the past removed his usual lead only to replace it with thin para cord without him knowing. He soon got the idea when he gets a little resistance from something he didn't know was there.