Need coonhound advice
 

I'm new to this forum and am looking for some advice regarding our coonhound. We have a redbone coonhound just under 2 yrs old. We want to use hime for bear hunting but have a lot of deer around our cabin. Is there a way to deter him from wanting to scent out the deer & not follow their scent?

RE: Need coonhound advice
 

Train him with bear scent instead of deer scent.

I know this sounds overly simplistic, but it is true. Many coonhounds will not run a deer. They just don't care. Some friends and I turned loose in a field one night, shined our lights and saw about 15 pairs of eyes bedded down. This coonhounds ran right through the herd and never even slowed down. If you make bear hunting fun and exciting for the dog, then deer won't matter as much.

That being said, sometimes a dog will CHASE a deer(big difference...running=tracking, chasing=wow, that thing is running and this is fun)

If you do realize that your dog is running deer, get out Mr. Tritronics and crank it up. Take the dog to a field where you know deer travel it and wait. When the deer come through, give it a few minutes and then turn your dog loose. At the first sign of the dog starting to track the deer, give him the juice. Repeat as necessary.

Normally I wouldn't recommend that you start on a high level, but running deer can be a BIG problem. First, they can get really far away, really quick. Deer travel fast and can travel long distances. Second, that deer may cross a lot of roads in an effort to outrun the dog. That means danger for old red. Finally, if old red does catch up to that deer, the deer can slash the heck out of him with it's hoofs. I've only seen one person's pictures that this has happened too, and it wasn't pretty.

RE: Need coonhound advice
 

go to uksdogs.com and go to their forum. they have a biggame dog training sections and will defently help you out and most in your area will even help you in person. very nice folks!!!

RE: Need coonhound advice
 

Most, if not every hound that I have owned has had to be broken off of deer. I primarily bear hunt and run a few bobcat and coyotes in the winter. The method I use, which has worked well, is a sound scolding and thrashing or shock collars. Same as giving a child a spanking. And there is the same line as with children where it goes from punishment to abuse,(I am sure there are those that will disagree with this method but it is affective).

Here me out before you think brutallity on this next part.I use a plastic bat for the whoopin. The reason for this is that they sting a bunch but don't bruise, and they makesomenoise. The dog will fear the bat and not you.Do your traingin early onin the dogs life, that is when it's the easiet to for good habits.

Find a deer, dead or alive and put the dog on the scent. If he so much as wags his tail at it let him know it is wrong, verbally and physically, you have to make sure he smells it though. And vice versa find a fresh bear track and walk him on it and love him up while you are doing it. Pet him until your arm is tired. Just keep at it, don't get frustrated with it. It all takes time, and some dogs take longer to figure it all out when some pick it up the first time you hunt them.