#1777732 - 02/09/10 07:46 PM
Re: Something new to talk about...........
[Re: DWM]
|
rukiddin?
8 Point
Registered: 02/04/09
Posts: 1213
Loc: E. Tenn
|
Offline
|
|
I think it would be great if all the people on the properties around me were using dogs. That should cause a lot of deer to use my property as a safe haven from the dogs. How would you make the dogs stop at your property line? Its a little easier now a days since most deer hunters put tracking collars on their dogs. Most of the time they try to cut the dogs off before they cross the property lines. But this is Tn. If legal here they will try to use the excuse that they couldn't stop their dog and had to go get it, with their gun of coarse.  Only the people with expensive dogs and ones who really cares about their neighbors will use collars IMO.
There lies the problem with all dog running states, this is what will be the end for doggin deer. Tresspassing is a serious issue.
Oh and dont think that they only put tracking collars on expensive dogs. I've seen "wannabes" go out and buy a complete set of collars and put'em on their hounds, and most of the time there dogs would'nt run a biscuit back to the truck:)
_________________________
Just because you do not agree with my opinion, it does'nt make me wrong!
"I'm gone to carolina in my mind"
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#1777759 - 02/09/10 07:53 PM
Re: Something new to talk about...........
[Re: Football Hunter]
|
rukiddin?
8 Point
Registered: 02/04/09
Posts: 1213
Loc: E. Tenn
|
|
Offline
|
|
[quote=Football HunterDeer dogs are rarely expensive,usually cast off coon hounds,fox hounds,etc,or raised by the dog man from his dogs [/quote]
There is a huge following in NC and SC and your right about some dogs being cast offs that could'nt cut it, but they have deer hound trials and there is HUGE money involved in it. A lot of American Foxhounds are no longer bred for the fox drive, but instead its all about the deer. IMO some of the best hounds I've seen were a pack of lemon and white registered foxhounds whose kennels were nicer than some peoples houses (they were a tax write off) and the other was a pack of 10 beagles that had been bred for running deer. They were awesome. and a lot of people have gone to using beagles cause they don't push the deer out of the country, instead he just slips around in the cutovers saying a couple hundred yds in front of the dogs.
_________________________
Just because you do not agree with my opinion, it does'nt make me wrong!
"I'm gone to carolina in my mind"
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#1777825 - 02/09/10 08:11 PM
Re: Something new to talk about...........
[Re: rukiddin?]
|
Football Hunter
18 Point
Registered: 10/22/07
Posts: 24565
Loc: Wilson Co/Perry Co
|
|
Offline
|
|
[quote=Football HunterDeer dogs are rarely expensive,usually cast off coon hounds,fox hounds,etc,or raised by the dog man from his dogs
There is a huge following in NC and SC and your right about some dogs being cast offs that could'nt cut it, but they have deer hound trials and there is HUGE money involved in it. A lot of American Foxhounds are no longer bred for the fox drive, but instead its all about the deer. IMO some of the best hounds I've seen were a pack of lemon and white registered foxhounds whose kennels were nicer than some peoples houses (they were a tax write off) and the other was a pack of 10 beagles that had been bred for running deer. They were awesome. and a lot of people have gone to using beagles cause they don't push the deer out of the country, instead he just slips around in the cutovers saying a couple hundred yds in front of the dogs. [/quote]
You may be right,I dont know since Ive lived here 10 years ,but I had dogs for about 15 years in SC.Nevr paid more than $100 for one,would have put my packs up against anyones.They could do it,my friends called them the Terminators.Best dog I ever had was given to me by an old lady,she showed up at my house one day,just after i got home.She had Blue tick,like smokey,in her back seat.Obvious cast off coon hound,asked me if it was mine.Said no,then she asked me if I wanted it.I took him,and he was awesome.Best jump dog I ever had.You just never know on deer dogs.Big Boy was a great dog.
Edited by Football Hunter (02/09/10 08:13 PM)
_________________________
The best day to plant a tree,IS TODAY!
You wont know,if you dont go!
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#1777900 - 02/09/10 08:33 PM
Re: Something new to talk about...........
[Re: rukiddin?]
|
DWM
8 Point
Registered: 12/08/06
Posts: 1766
Loc: TN
|
|
Offline
|
|
, but I honestly have never seen deer hounds worry about livestock, I sure it has happened, but I've never seen it. I've seen 25 deer hounds running thru a pasture full of cows, but it cause they were trailing a deer, never even paid the cows no attention.
_________________________
Team Witness
Witness in the Woods
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#1777905 - 02/09/10 08:34 PM
Re: Something new to talk about...........
[Re: rukiddin?]
|
gator-n-buck
16 Point
Registered: 10/22/08
Posts: 14908
Loc: Knox, TN / Palatka, FL
|
|
Offline
|
|
I have killed several deer in front of hounds while hunting in Eeastern NC. Sure still hunting is fun, but it is a totally different adrenaline rush, when you got hounds roaring and coming straight at you knowing that at any time its gonna happen. Unfortunately it is a dying tradition. As with the case with all types of hunters, a few bad apples give the whole bunch a bad name. Land is a issue, and unless I had 2500+ acres, I would'nt attempt to turn'em out. The clubs I've hunted with had 4400+ continous acres and the other club was 8800+ continous acres. I understand everyones concerns, but I honestly have never seen deer hounds worry about livestock, I sure it has happened, but I've never seen it. I've seen 25 deer hounds running thru a pasture full of cows, but it cause they were trailing a deer, never even paid the cows no attention.
The land we hunted was thicker than anything I've ever seen in TN. Lots and lots of cutovers, and land so flat you can see for 5 miles and stand on can of tuna and see for another 15. Swamps and sure enough hell holes down there. If you watch swamp loggers on the discovery channel, then you can get a feel for some dog running country. Its big time it that area.
Without a doubt, some of the most phenominal shots I've ever seen , were while dog hunting. Old timers will say with buckshot, to put on his nose and pull the trigger, and I will say that has worked for me on different occasions with 3" #1B. But Ive seen guys not even balk at shooting at running deer at 250+ yds with a rifle, and will consistantly make the shot. Some will not believe me, other dog hunters will back me up. These guys grew up shooting running deer, and its second nature to them. Browing BARS are very popular down there. I really miss it and I can honestly say that some of you TN guys would be ruined if you ever did it once, and some are just not cut out for it. I know a guy from here that went down to SE NC and ran dogs with family, and afterwards he went out and bought his lifetime NC license!
You are correct about the guys that can make a running shot on a deer while sitting on their dog with a high power rifle.
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#1777928 - 02/09/10 08:42 PM
Re: Something new to talk about...........
[Re: DWM]
|
gator-n-buck
16 Point
Registered: 10/22/08
Posts: 14908
Loc: Knox, TN / Palatka, FL
|
|
Offline
|
|
, but I honestly have never seen deer hounds worry about livestock, I sure it has happened, but I've never seen it. I've seen 25 deer hounds running thru a pasture full of cows, but it cause they were trailing a deer, never even paid the cows no attention.
The dogs paying attention to the cows is not the problem. Its the cows will pay attention to the dogs. The dogs can spook the cows on a neighbors property who's livestock is not use to dogs running through their pasture. I have seen cattle go wild when a strange animal, to them, runs close by them.
FL is one of the biggest cattle states in the U.S. and they have run dogs down there forever. Never heard of it being a problem.
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#1778325 - 02/10/10 04:05 AM
Re: Something new to talk about...........
[Re: Football Hunter]
|
bowriter
Non-Typical
Registered: 08/31/02
Posts: 40305
Loc: Lebanon,TN USA
|
|
Offline
|
|
Didn't read all the posts. First six or eight deer I killed, I killed in front of dogs. I wrote this story in 1959. It is a true story. Maybe you will like it. It has beeen published 17 times and won every award it was eligible for.
John L. Sloan copyrigh
THE BLUE BUCK.
As the eerie timbre of a dog horn floats across the swamp, so the memory of the blue buck floats across the years.
The sudden stillness was the first thing the boy noticed. The night birds hushed their twittering. The owls finished their pre-dawn questioning of “who-cooks-for-you”, and the sound of his uncle’s outboard motor had long since faded into the distance.
He was too far from civilization for the sound of normal human activity to reach him. The nearest real road was highway to Ferriday and it wasn’t much. The great expanse of the Cocodrie Swamp stretched around him in expectant silence.
Sometimes he could hear a barge on the Mississippi River. The sound would float across the swamp to be muffled in the cypress and tupelo gum trees. The boy sat hidden beneath the skeletal arms of one of these trees, waiting for dawn.
The coming of dawn is in itself a memorable occasion. This morning, it would be special. This morning, the boy was to kill his first deer. This morning had a place in his memory.
It was before the big timber and agriculture boom that would help civilization push its’ unwanted nose into the quiet backwaters of Cocodrie Swamp. This was before the land was cleared for bean fields and surrounding land leased to big hunting clubs. On this morning, the land and the wildlife it supported belonged to those who could invade it and be as one with it. This morning, the swamp lay dreaming in its’ own solitude and peace. To the north was Ferriday, to the east Vidalia, to the south, a long way the town of Marksville and far west was Jena. Somewhere between these points, the boy nestled among the cypress knees and waited for the first signs of dawn. Around him lay thousands of acres of uninhabited swamp. But this morning is a morning of memory and a fear of being alone has no place in a memory.
At first there was nothing but the distant “Kyuuk, Kyuuk, Kyuuk” of the giant woodpeckers they called a Log God. The trees had begun to make their grotesque silhouettes against the fain dawn when the boy heard the first distant belling of Old Skillet, his uncles strike dog. At first, the boy was not even sure he heard anything. The swamp sometimes played tricks on an eager boy of 12. He strained to hear the far off sound. It was plainer now. It just had to be Old Skillet.
“Sounds like they are coming down Muddy Drain,” he thought. “I hope they don’t cross the bayou.”
He could know these places because he had practically been raised in this swamp. He could visualize the buck with its’ trophy antlers-all daydream bucks have trophy antlers-bounding and gliding ahead of the dogs. Old Skillet, Buster, Squeally and Madame Old Folks were in full cry now. The boy shivered with excitement. The buck he dreamed of would be almost blue, very large and sporting rocking chair antlers.
The boy’s daydream was shattered by the high call of his uncle’s dog horn, floating on the air like the call of the Wendigo, urging the dogs on. Then came the sound he had been expecting. The dogs were turning to come down the bayou toward his location on the edge of a small, water-filled break. The buck would cross the slight hump of the white oak flat in front of him, before taking to the water to lose the dogs.
They were not so distant now. “Surely,” he thought, “they can hear me breathing. Maybe I should move a little to the left, closer to that log?” How many times have such thoughts crossed the minds of hunters much older than the boy?
The boy’s knees began to shake like palmetto leaves in the wind. The chill he had felt earlier had gone with the first sounds of the dogs, only to be replaced by shaking from the increased flow of adrenalin. To help stop the trembling in his legs, the boy rose to one knee as he had seen his uncle do.
Then came a new sound. “Chk...Chk...Chk.” It could only be the buck crossing the slough between the head of the small, nameless lake and the flat where the boy sat. The boy did not move. “I can’t sit still much longer,” he thought.
Suddenly the morning was shattered with silence. The dogs were hushed, trying to unravel the trail in the water-filled break. No birds called. The Log God stopped his pounding on the hollow cypress. No squirrels moved in the white oaks.
Magically it was there. Just at the edge of the glade stood the buck. He wasn’t as big as the boy had dreamed but just then, he looked as big as an elk to the boy. He had the blue tinged coloring of the deep swamp deer and the sunlight filtered through the lace of leaves and Spanish moss to spotlight his eight-point antlers.
The buck took one tentative step into the open and in an instant was in full flight, his white tail accentuating each bound. The boy rose and fired both barrels, never thinking to aim. The deer was gone in a tangle of vines and buttonwoods.
With a heart as heavy as his hip boots, the boy ran to where the deer had vanished. He studied the ground, looking for blood. There was none. “I missed!” he thought, “He was so close. I had to hit him! What if missed!” A few yards into the thicket, he saw a spot of crimson. The L.C. Smith, double 12, had been on target.
The boy was running now, stumbling in his one-size-too-big hip boots. Then he saw him. His first deer. His buck. Each point perfect against the green of the palmetto leaves he brought down as he fell. He was as beautiful in death as he had been in life. The boy was at once elated and yet, somehow a little sad.
His uncle was beside him now, the Winchester Model 12 in the crook of one arm, ever present pipe in the corner of his mouth, out of breath from running the last 200 yards to reach the boy and share the moment-good or bad.
Still without saying a word, his uncle reached into the pocket of his faded hunting pants. When he removed his hand, he handed the boy his old, stag handled Case knife. The meaning was clear. The boy had taken one more step toward manhood.
The man leaned against the door of his pickup truck. He squinted across the bean fields. Barely visible in the distance was a line of trees. “It was over 50 years ago,” he thought, “I doubt I could find that white oak flat, even if it was still there.”
Much of the swamp was gone, replaced by beans. What was left divided by private leases and wisely some in a wildlife management area. Much of the swamp was scarred. The ugly tracks of ATV’s and miles of surveyor ribbon, badges of those who couldn’t find their way, bright markings, replaced faint blazes on tree trunks.
“The days of the dog hunter are almost gone.” The man thought. “Dogs can’t read posted signs and as the habitat shrinks, there is no room for the dogs or the old-time swamp hunter. Maybe it’s for the best. Maybe there are no more blue bucks to hunt.”
The man opened the truck door and bent to reach behind the seat. At last he straightened. In his hand was an old goat horn, worn smooth by years of handling and scarred by years of hard use. The man turned and looked again at the distant tree line. He raised the horn and blew one long, wavering note across the fields.
“Once more for the blue buck.” he said.
I wrote this when I was 15. It was my start. That buck is on my wall today. Oh first published in LA wildlife, then Field and Scream. I believe it happened when I was 10 or 11.
###
_________________________
Constipation has ruined many a good day. Not as many as stupidity, though.
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
Moderator: RUGER, Tennessee Todd, Unicam, Cuttin Caller, CBU93, stretch, Bobby G, Outdoor Lady, TurkeyBurd
|
12113 Members
38 Forums
115947 Topics
1412186 Posts
Max Online: 756 @ 11/20/12 09:10 AM
|
|
|
The TnDeer.Com Deer Talk Forum is for Tennessee Deer Hunters by Tennessee Deer Hunters. If you enjoy using our Talk Forum and would like to contribute to help in it's up-keep. Just submit your contribution by clicking on the DONATE button below and paying with PayPal or a major credit card. Any amount is much appreciated. Thanks for your support!
|
|
|
