Several of my friends are reporting that the yearling Catahoula pups they got as pets/blood dogs are working out real well and are even helping to alert them to the approach of deer. What amazed me was they are bringing the dog into the box stand with them during deer hunting season and the dog hears the deer approaching before the hunter sees it!
So I asked if the dog was spooking the deer by making noise and they told me at first in the pre-season scouts the dog would get excited and start to whine, but soon learned to be quiet and control movement and sound, so later when the hunting season kicked in, allowing the shot to be made without spooking the deer. The key to this interesting scenario was starting the dog as a pup months before the season so the dog knew what to do and not do.
Also important to note that bringing the pup in the off season allowed the pup to prove herself to any resistance amoungst club members who might object to a dog being in the woods during deer season. So allowing the dog to be acclomated before season and thus it was routine, comfortable on the trail, in the stand, and at the lodge before hunting season. Any adjustments that needed to be made could come at a time when mistakes would not cost the hunter a shot.
By the end of the first season the dog was actually hearing the deer approach before the hunter ever saw it and that made me wonder how many times deer may have come and gone without me knowing it.
I have never brought my dog on stand with me because I have mostly hunted out of a climbing tree stand, thats how I like to hunt. But I did about 25 years ago, bring my cur dog deer hunting with me, because where I was hunting in the marsh we had cougar and wolf, and frankly, I was concerned about walking in and out of my stand in the dark without my cur dog for security.
Now is the time to get your pups and started dogs so they are ready to work for you come hunting season.
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