Do dogs mess up deer hunting? Simple and Effective Tips

How Hunting Deer With Dogs Works

Although a solo hunter can tramp through the woods with a dog and shoot whitetails on the jump, most dog hunting (a term that doesn’t at all infer shooting dogs, but rather refers to the practice of using hounds to jump and chase whitetail deer) happens in groups.

Whitetails are excellent sprinters. Shot opportunities on dog-run deer are brief and take serious skill.

A group of hunters (or “standers”) surrounds a piece of property before the dog handlers (usually called “dog drivers”) release hounds onto the parcel. The drivers and their dogs work toward the standers until they either jump a deer or pick up a fresh scent.

A good jump dog will squall when he’s on a track, and the rest of the pack will chime in like a chorus. There are few things more adrenaline-thumping than the braying of hot hounds echoing through thick woods, especially when that sound is hastily heading your way.

Experience usually influences the exact positions of the standers. Many hunt clubs use the same blocks of land, sometimes for generations, for so long that hunters know the deer’s preferred escape routes. Those spots will be either numbered or named, and hunters draw for a stand or grab them on a first-come-first-serve basis to cut off the deer as they try to evade the dogs.

Will deer come back after being chased by a dog?

In every chase the deer escaped the hounds, and all deer remained in good physical condition throughout the study. … The deer could readily be chased out of their home ranges, but usually they returned in 1 day or sooner.

How strong is a deer nose?

Deer have a highly developed sense of smell that is 100 times more powerful than a human’s. In fact, a deer’s nose is so sensitive that it can differentiate a particular scent from thousands of others at the same time.

Deer Hunting w/ Dogs – Piling Up Deer By The Truck Loads!!