Help me choose a trail dog....Revised!

[Glenn]

Well after loosing a buck 2 weeks ago and then having a real hard time finding my 8pt last Saturday I am really going to try and get me a Trailing Dog.

The only thing is that I will be moving within the next 6 months and also returning to full time college student. Being that said I still would like to get a puppy and train him/her up right.

My Uncle in Waycross Georgia as about 25 Curr dog puppies as we speak and he will give me anyone of them I want. These dog's come from a long blood line of deer hounds and they are suppose to be worht alot of $$$.

But these dog's may grow up to be huge hounds and I don't know if I want a big dog like that.

My choices are either a Beagle, Dashund, or.....

My uncle also has some Redbones too but I don't know if they would trail a deer?

Help!

[Jkidd]

Beagle is a good choice, but dont leave out Basset Hound. Bassets have a good nose on them also but finding you a beagle pup out of good blood for a fair price will be easy. I know where you can get a Male pup out of real GOOD blood for 150.00 which is cheaper than what Id sell my pups for.


Jason

[jeclif]

I have heard that bird dogs make good trail dogs

[Ga-Spur]

Go with the beagle.

[UGA hunter]

My little Jack Russell ain't too bad! ::huh:

[Jeff Phillips]

The best I've ever seen work was a Redbone. She was fat as a pig, but once she got on a trail the deer was as good as found.

2nd best was a Basset, he was a real good, slow trailer.

I have heard great things about Dashunds but have never seen 1 work.

Good luck and keep us informed.

[CAL]

Do a little research and find out which has the coldest nose.I would take the Redbone over any and all!

[williamN]

A Jagdterrier. As I Have posted elsewhere, my Jagd could find a deer that had nicked himself shaving. For the fun of it I did a drag with a starling I had shot off my bird feeder. I went all the way from my house to the back of my extremely overgrown 6 acre field, he ran the trail and went to the starling like he knew where it was ( which he didn't as he was inside the house and in his crate at the time). Mine is on the large size @ 30lbs. He is a pure hunting/killing machine. We keep him in the house as a pet and he is a HAND FULL!!!! We had a 120lb rotty, and the few scaps these two dogs got into ( always over food) we were afraid the little jagd was going to seriously hurt the rotty. His teeth are as big as the rotty which makes him look like a pirahna(sp?) with fur He has no middle ground, he is either mellow or deadly serious.

BTW, We purchased him as a pup from Doubletree Horse farms in CO.

[GA DAWG]

I believe I would get a rat terrior,but I would try a curr since your uncle has the for free.

[short stop]

got a buddy whos jack russell is awsome --only you have too stay on it with him or he will turn your trophy into a furball :D he sorta loses it !good but a violent little critter.

[Goose]

Get a bigger gun
:p :bounce:

[Glenn]

Goose it ain't the gun shot deer that I have trouble with, they usualy fall where shot. I am bow hunting more and more and after tracking one buck for 3 miles before finding him and loosing another one because of terrain (swamp, water) I would like to have a dog to back up my tracking.

Here in Florida we do not have a program like GON's Call a trail dog so unless you know someone that has one you are out of luck.

[Goose]

Well, I've got high admiration for you, my friend:

1st of all, hunting deer with a bow - sporty. 2ndly, doing it in Florida and fighting gnats, sceeters, chiggers, and all those others Godforsaken bloodsuckers - hardcore. 3rdly, going after an injured beast and not letting him donate his fine venison to the buzzards and scavengers of Florida. They probably got enough possum to live off of anyway. Best of luck deer hunting this year and good luck in your search for a good dog.


Goose
:) :bounce: ;)

[Slasher]

in no particular order...

As for bird dogs... I'd go for the retrievers first... maybe the german working dogs... GSP/drahthahr/ and such...

the earth dogs... JRT, on down to he dachshund... a rat terrier imho is 10x better than most dachshunds...

any hound, blood, redbone, blueticks, and so forth would be the choice if trailing is the most important thing...

however, the 2-4 x a yr the dog trails you must weigh the other traits...

I have labs... they blow coat 2x a yr... summer-winter and winter -summer.... great personality, but love to be with you and 2 yrs of puppyhood...

beagles like to bark and temperments vary as with most dogs in any breed...

JRT can you spell? HIGH ENERGY!!!!

unfortunately papers mean one of 2 things in any dawg... problems or performance... A dog from working lines/home tend to actually perform as you expect.... may not be perfect as the AKC breed standard dictates... a dog from show stock usually means, problems... the og was bred on size/coloration traits and working aspects are totally ignored.... most curs will work if properly trained, but you can't train beyond potential...

As one judge at a derby explained, its much easier to let a lil air outta tire than to put in a lil more than is in it.... When getting a dawg... if it has the potential, it can be trained... however, training a dawg to do something like trail, usually is hard unless you give the dawg as many opportunities as possible... next yr, my dawg is going to hunting camp during bow season and i will ask any and everyone to let us trail it regardless of where the deer fell...... as deer bound and switch directions differently than other game it will not be a slam dunk to train a good trailing dawg!!!! However, most drug dawgs are trained with rags that are stored in a container with dope to pick up the smell of the target narcotic... I will start by saving some hooves/hocks/whatever from a deer in a plastic container and having a dawg trail trough high grass... and working our way up...

But its much easier said than done... just my plan... remember, some dogs sight hunt, some scent hunt(hunt for the source in general vincinity), and others actually trail..... scent left on the ground... for example, greyhounds and afghan hounds sight hunt(not good trailing dogs...)
::gone:

[Timberman]

I know a guy who has a redbone that is retired from police cadaver service. She is fat and slow but has a very cold nose and will find a deer.

That said I was also impressed by the dog that I got to look for a deer this year. He was a 9 year old jack russell.

I'd say it depends on whether you want a pet or what kind of dog is your style. A redbone is no pet and stays in a kennel. The JR I saw is a pet and had slowed down some with age but like others have said as a breed they are maniacs. :)

Myself I'd lean toward that cur you're talking about or a beagle. Curs bred right are good for most anything. Make good pets too. :)