Houndsmen south west bc

[untilthelastbeat]

So I'm looking to get into the hound game. I was lucky enough to spend about a weeks worth of time out cat hunting with a buddy this winter and have become completely obsessed.
I'm planning on spending the next 6 months to a year doing all my homework and research on the lifestyle of a hound owner before buying a started dog.
What I would really like to gain is some more real life experience with the dogs. I was going to run bears this spring with my buddy but he had to take off for work for the season so I figured I'd put the feelers out and see if there's anybody within a few hours of the lower mainland that would be willing to take a guy out for some bear action. I'm not concerned with shooting a bear in the slightest just want to get out and learn more about the dogs and the sport. And another strong back never hurts for hauling a bear out!
Even if your just taking the dogs out for training I'd love to come along and help/watch. Anything I can do to get more experience.
Cheers
Joel

[LBM]

So I'm looking to get into the hound game. I was lucky enough to spend about a weeks worth of time out cat hunting with a buddy this winter and have become completely obsessed.
I'm planning on spending the next 6 months to a year doing all my homework and research on the lifestyle of a hound owner before buying a started dog.
What I would really like to gain is some more real life experience with the dogs. I was going to run bears this spring with my buddy but he had to take off for work for the season so I figured I'd put the feelers out and see if there's anybody within a few hours of the lower mainland that would be willing to take a guy out for some bear action. I'm not concerned with shooting a bear in the slightest just want to get out and learn more about the dogs and the sport. And another strong back never hurts for hauling a bear out!
Even if your just taking the dogs out for training I'd love to come along and help/watch. Anything I can do to get more experience.
Cheers
Joel

Good on you for spending the time researching things first, depending why your getting into it my suggestion would be to get a pup over a started dog, that way you learn together and
can train it the way you want. Getting a started dog is kind of like on the Alpine hunting thread were people are saying others just want info on were to shoot a big buck with out doing any work them selves.

[Huevos]

don't buy a dog unless you have hunted under it. Nice to see you are doing some footwork before going full out. I would say the best thing I ever did was buy a finished dog. I actually bought 2 finished dogs, 2 started dogs and a pup. at the same time. Those finished dogs, taught the young ones, but more importantly, taught me how to hound hunt. Might not be in the budget, bug a lot of times you can pick up an older dog guys like to call a pup trainer for a good price. Good luck.

[horshur]

get a hound and hunt it...hound if it is worth its grub will run a hot track from about 8-12 months without any "training". You hunt a hound not train it. It is all in the genes. Build on that. Training for handling and call back are useful but not necessarily vital..the dogs are bred this way. Any training is primarily for your sake in dealing with the dogs rather then how they hunt and run a track....