johnny there are basically 3 different types of deer hunting dogs, the one that a lot of people have an issue with are the hounds, hounds can easily outrun their handlers even though they could not catch a deer if they tried. The second is beagles which push the deer, but are much slower and a lot easier for the handlers to stay within range of them, and last, but not least, beleive it or not, a bird dog that hunts deer! The guy whos owns one of the properties I hunt used to use them to hunt deer, he says they work deer like they work a bird, as you are walking with them they circle out wide in front of you and then work thier way back to you and repeat that pattern until they jump a deer. Once they have jumped a deer they do not take off running them, but instead they track them and jump them again, he says they don't even bark unless they actually see the deer. He says the best thing about using them is that the deer never really run, but instead keep trying to double back on the dog, which basically means they will be coming right at you. I have never hunted deer using a bird dog, mostly I hunted in front of beagles, I quit hunting with dogs years ago, but enjoyed it when I did.

The Tazman