When dogging for deer, can hunter use crossbow or spear?

ACRAthens

ACRAthens

Senior Member
Hi All,

I'm new to the idea of modern dogging for deer. I'm just curious to know if you've ever heard of hunters using more primitive weapons such as crossbow or spear to kill the deer?

I hunted boar last weekend with spear and am wondering also if the dogs just bay the deer or do they also catch the deer and hold it so the hunter can come up and dispatch it with a spear or knife (as with hogs)?
 
Jeff Phillips

Jeff Phillips

Senior Member
Spear chunking is not legal for deer in Georgia. It is legal in Alabama.
 
fredw

fredw

Retired Moderator
ACRAthens said:
Hi All,

I'm new to the idea of modern dogging for deer. I'm just curious to know if you've ever heard of hunters using more primitive weapons such as crossbow or spear to kill the deer?

I hunted boar last weekend with spear and am wondering also if the dogs just bay the deer or do they also catch the deer and hold it so the hunter can come up and dispatch it with a spear or knife (as with hogs)?
Click to expand...

The dogs don't bay the deer. While some deer are shot as they mosey along, many are shot at full speed in front of the dogs. My deer club, along with many others, limit the hunter to shotguns loaded with buckshot. There are some clubs that allow rifles.
 
simpleman30

simpleman30

Senior Member
nevermind
 
fuzzy swamp donkey

fuzzy swamp donkey

Member
what about a bow , or cross bow ? i have hunted rabbits with dogs and killed them using a recurve bow, been thinkin about using one to hunt some with dogs and deer but not sure if it is legal
 
secondseason

secondseason

Retired Administrator
Also, you might find atlatl hunting interesting. I know that it isn't in keeping with the era or style of hunting that you are trying to duplicate but it is as primitive as it gets.
 
secondseason

secondseason

Retired Administrator
fuzzy swamp donkey said:
what about a bow , or cross bow ? i have hunted rabbits with dogs and killed them using a recurve bow, been thinkin about using one to hunt some with dogs and deer but not sure if it is legal
Click to expand...

Yes it is, it's legal but again hitting a moving target while not impossible it can be done...you have to be able to have time to draw and acquire the target.
 
specialk

specialk

Senior Member
any weapon you can use while swinging from a tree deer hunting can be used for dogging also......have at it!!
 
Echo

Echo

Gone But Not Forgotten
ACRAthens said:
Hi Jeff, I meant not spear throwing, but thrusting with a spear.
Click to expand...


That is going to be one genuinely surprised deer when you start thrusting a spear at him! I think it might be legal as long you're wearing the outfit you have on in your avatar...... be sure to put an orange vest on over it though. :cheers:
 
simpleman30

simpleman30

Senior Member
ACRAthens said:
Hi Simpleman30. What do you mean by "nevermind"?

Thanks,

AC
Click to expand...

forgive me, but initially, i thought your post was a joke. i edited my original post which was filled with sarcasm, as i failed to realize that not everyone has grown up practicing or being around the various types of hunting with dogs. those who have hunted deer with dogs know what it takes to kill a deer in this manner, and probably also found your original question rather silly.

the circumstances of hunting deer with dogs is much different than other types of hunting. a deer being pursued by dogs is most often running at a high rate of speed. sometimes the deer is loafing along, not trying very hard to lose the dogs on its trail. or the deer may be 100+ yards in front of the dogs, as the dogs are running the scent trail the deer leaves behind. in nearly every case, the dogs never see the deer they are running, unless they happen across it in the woods. this doesn't happen often as the deer hears the dogs coming and has a good headstart.

the window of opportunity to kill a deer ahead of dogs is very small, as the deer may be crossing a lane, road, or firebreak that is less than 25 feet wide. the reaction time required to shoot a deer moving that fast with such a small opening, or moving that fast in and out of thick brush, is small and the skill required is high. shots taken on deer being run by dogs range from as close as 10 yards to as far away as 100 yards. for safety's sake, shotguns loaded with buckshot are used in lieu of rifles. buckshot pellets will travel a couple of hundred yards, at best. rifle rounds could travel for miles. though i'm sure it has been attempted, i would not recommend shooting at a running deer with an arrow, nor would i attempt to stab one with spear. most folks aren't fast enough with their eyes or reflexes to kill a running deer at significant distance with a shotgun, much less with a bow/arrow or a spear.
 
ACRAthens

ACRAthens

Senior Member
Thanks, simpleman30, for the brief introduction! I learned a lot of very needed info. I can see now why my question must have seemed silly!

This sounds like a very challenging - and rewarding - way to hunt. According to some of the 14th Century treatises that my group uses to inform our hunts, it seems the stag was taken with a thrusting spear after it had been completely worn out by chasing from dogs and huntsmen on horseback. Most hunts took place in large, somewhat confined deer parks with dozens of huntsmen.

I imagine we should not even attempt to shoot at a deer running those speeds. We might just hurt the dog, or miss by a mile.

I appreciate your thoughtful response!
 
grouper throat

grouper throat

Senior Member
I think you're thinking of running sambar deer like they do in Australia and other countries. Those deer are wore out quickly and are easily bayed up by beagles and treeing stock dogs, much less fast walker dogs.

Most whitetail deer we run can run many hours and never be bayed by dogs like a hog. I've had some fast walkers and hunted around a lot of fast tracking running dogs that had the ability to run deer down, and we run down very few unless they're shot.

Unlike most here, I think buckshot is inefficient and doesnt have much range and most of us just carry shotguns for tight spots and as a backup gun. I can't imagine trying to kill a buck flying through the woods with a spear or bow but we do it with scoped rifles.. So maybe it's possible?
 
Last edited:
skeeter1

skeeter1

Senior Member
i promise you i could kill one with a bow runninum with dogs . i done killed many a rabbit with one running from dogs, you don't get very many shots and you got to be slick and catchum slippin or runn up there and stop lookin back listenin for the dogs , or like when you done drove the deer dogs deep in the block tryin to kick one up and they holdin tight and the dogs kick one up and it runs a big circle and you move off from the spot and take a stand deep in the block and one comes bounce in there and you done caught from way back and they run straight at you cause they don't see you and when they get within 20 yards you holler clap at it and scare itand it dang near falls down, to try and turn it toward the youngins out on the main road crossin cuase if you don't it will just run right over you , i could have done killed a pile by knockin them in the head with a hammer when they come by and a pile of them you could not have killed them with a scud missile cause they came by so fast
i had a doe one time run down a fire break and run in to my back and knock me down , while i was walkin hurrydly but not runnin back to the truck to cut off the dogs out the fire break , man she knocked the breath out of me,
one time about 25years ago when i was like 14 or 15 a pardener of mine talked me in to climbin in a tree and jump out of it on to a deer's back and stabin it with our survival knife;s we got for christmas, the rambo ones withblack blade and the camo grip and the matches in the end of the handle and compass and a saw. lol!!
cause thats how we use to catch pigs with a rope and pull them up in the tree with ya and mark um,
so we did , we climb up this big super old oak, with the limbs comein out and touchin the ground , the whole oak ridge runnin down the side the 40 acre cow pen behind my house , look like somethin from the ewoks village on star wars the way all the old oaks limbs reached down and out at each other all the way around the ridge to the river in almost a line,twistin and tanglein you could run from tree to tree down the limbs and never touch the ground,

well sure enough here comes this big doe and my pardener in crime said you ain't gonna do it and and i said watch this and jump out the tree headed for this deer and hit a limb did a flip and landed on the deers back across her;s with my back, man she tore out of there kickin hollerin blowin buckin, flip me back up in the air and kicked my side the head and i fell on cat claw briars , like to stab my self to death with that big ole rambo knife , not sure if that was legal but you can bet i ain't never doin that agian. lol

but i would like to kill one with my recurve , in fact been tellin my paredner for the past two years i was gonna start huntin like that cause i done killed my fair share runnin dogs with buck shot and i don't care to kill one any way i might have to skin it . lol! i rather the youngins kill them now , and then i will have to skinn it for them, but i really just enjoy hearin my dogs run and my youngins kill one in front of our dogs really,
but i would like to kill one with my bow i think it's a great challenge added to an already great challenge like a super challenge,
shoot it's just a challenge to catch and stop the doggs any more with the way it's become than it is to try and kill the deer ,

for a dog man we only got fair to rare shot ;s as it is, like if you get to get a shot off at the ones you step on in front of the dogs the ones that are 2 yards a way when they jump up and they jump up sound like a horse tear in out and scare ya , and if you ain't been scared by a deer jumpin up like that then you ain't beat enough bushes and drove dogs long as i have or when you chasin your pack and cut them off out of the drive

it can be done and the good thing about the dogs gonna bay it up, mine will any way and you better get to them cause some of mine will eat the whole ham of if not more if i don't get to them on a kill and laod up , i have had to drag deer and 3 dogs pullin the deer the other way , from way out the woods kickin and hollerin all the way out fightin the dogs and the vines and thick brush one hand holdin a 12 ga shot gun , and bout pass out when you get to the truck,


may be thats why i don't care to kill them any more !! lol!!
 
deadend

deadend

Senior Member
skeeter1 said:
i promise you i could kill one with a bow runninum with dogs . i done killed many a rabbit with one running from dogs, you don't get very many shots and you got to be slick and catchum slippin or runn up there and stop lookin back listenin for the dogs , or like when you done drove the deer dogs deep in the block tryin to kick one up and they holdin tight and the dogs kick one up and it runs a big circle and you move off from the spot and take a stand deep in the block and one comes bounce in there and you done caught from way back and they run straight at you cause they don't see you and when they get within 20 yards you holler clap at it and scare itand it dang near falls down, to try and turn it toward the youngins out on the main road crossin cuase if you don't it will just run right over you , i could have done killed a pile by knockin them in the head with a hammer when they come by and a pile of them you could not have killed them with a scud missile cause they came by so fast
i had a doe one time run down a fire break and run in to my back and knock me down , while i was walkin hurrydly but not runnin back to the truck to cut off the dogs out the fire break , man she knocked the breath out of me,
one time about 25years ago when i was like 14 or 15 a pardener of mine talked me in to climbin in a tree and jump out of it on to a deer's back and stabin it with our survival knife;s we got for christmas, the rambo ones withblack blade and the camo grip and the matches in the end of the handle and compass and a saw. lol!!
cause thats how we use to catch pigs with a rope and pull them up in the tree with ya and mark um,
so we did , we climb up this big super old oak, with the limbs comein out and touchin the ground , the whole oak ridge runnin down the side the 40 acre cow pen behind my house , look like somethin from the ewoks village on star wars the way all the old oaks limbs reached down and out at each other all the way around the ridge to the river in almost a line,twistin and tanglein you could run from tree to tree down the limbs and never touch the ground,

well sure enough here comes this big doe and my pardener in crime said you ain't gonna do it and and i said watch this and jump out the tree headed for this deer and hit a limb did a flip and landed on the deers back across her;s with my back, man she tore out of there kickin hollerin blowin buckin, flip me back up in the air and kicked my side the head and i fell on cat claw briars , like to stab my self to death with that big ole rambo knife , not sure if that was legal but you can bet i ain't never doin that agian. lol

but i would like to kill one with my recurve , in fact been tellin my paredner for the past two years i was gonna start huntin like that cause i done killed my fair share runnin dogs with buck shot and i don't care to kill one any way i might have to skin it . lol! i rather the youngins kill them now , and then i will have to skinn it for them, but i really just enjoy hearin my dogs run and my youngins kill one in front of our dogs really,
but i would like to kill one with my bow i think it's a great challenge added to an already great challenge like a super challenge,
shoot it's just a challenge to catch and stop the doggs any more with the way it's become than it is to try and kill the deer ,

for a dog man we only got fair to rare shot ;s as it is, like if you get to get a shot off at the ones you step on in front of the dogs the ones that are 2 yards a way when they jump up and they jump up sound like a horse tear in out and scare ya , and if you ain't been scared by a deer jumpin up like that then you ain't beat enough bushes and drove dogs long as i have or when you chasin your pack and cut them off out of the drive

it can be done and the good thing about the dogs gonna bay it up, mine will any way and you better get to them cause some of mine will eat the whole ham of if not more if i don't get to them on a kill and laod up , i have had to drag deer and 3 dogs pullin the deer the other way , from way out the woods kickin and hollerin all the way out fightin the dogs and the vines and thick brush one hand holdin a 12 ga shot gun , and bout pass out when you get to the truck,


may be thats why i don't care to kill them any more !! lol!!
Click to expand...

Yeah. Ok.
 
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