THE ULTIMATE QUESTION(for me)


MossySNPR

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OK guys and gals, I've been pondering this all day long, and I can go either way on it, I'm going to tally up what you guys think.

I live in Ontario Canada where it is legal to run dogs. We have about 4 or 5 dogs we run every single year. All the guys and dogs go up second week of November for a week or 8 days, depending on whats happenin'.

A typical day on the week of the hunt is this:

-Wake up

-Run the dogs once

-Meet up

-Run them one more time

-Lunch at the cottage

-Off to stands for the rest of the night

Now, we shoot about 20-40% of our deer in front of the dogs, and all the rest at night in our stands. I know TONS of people are against it and it is illegal where you are, but its very exciting to hear the hounds off in the distance, and knowing they are pushing a deer out to someone, even you, at any given time.

On the other hand, mid-November is the peak of the rut where I am, and we all know that both bucks and does are steadily on the move, leaving annual patterns behind and roaming wherever they can.

THE BIG QUESTION is, do I tell the guys I'm not going to participate in the dog running this year, and just sit on my stand all day? What do you think, and what would you do. ( A deer could be on one of our runs at anytime and the dogs could run it to us, OR away from us. BUT, sitting on a hot location stand all day WITH apples, scent bombs and salt licks could be deadly for connecting with a roaming buck.)

WHATS THE VERDICT? PLZ EVERYONE PUT YOUR 2 CENTS IN!(Thankyou)

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Re: THE ULTIMATE QUESTION(for me)

Have never hunted with dogs before. But have always sat in a blind or stand all day during the rut and it has payed off greaty each year. Last year i took a nice 8 pt sitting all day in the stand during the rut. And the year before i took a nice 10

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Guest trakker

Re: THE ULTIMATE QUESTION(for me)

no dogs for me, while sitting on stand, I have seen just the sound of dogs run deer and turkey off, probably to the next county, it is illegal here.

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Re: THE ULTIMATE QUESTION(for me)

My uncle live in Ontario and has a cottage about three hours north of Ontario. He also hunts with dogs because he says that the deer are not plenty and that the woods, he calls it the bush, are real thick so they use dogs to chase them around so they can be seen. Got some real brutes that way.

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Re: THE ULTIMATE QUESTION(for me)

Mossy, I'm taking the other side of the fence on this one.

Hunting with dogs is legal where you guys have been hunting.

It's a group thing.

The friendship and camaraderie your group has established is a very valuable commodity.

If you want to hunt alone, just hunt alone, however if you are wishing to remain a part of a tight knit group, you should join in the fun.

It would be a lot different if what the group was doing was illegal, but it is not.

If you bow out on doing your part in the dog hunt part of the trip, I think you will be hunting alone next year.

If you stay in a stand and do not help run the dogs the other guys will feel that you are not doing your part.

I'd hunt with the group and the dogs.

Hunting alone is not that much fun, even if sometimes it produces a big buck.

It don't sound like your group is a bunch of crazy drunken rednecks, but a great bunch of guys to be around.

Just my thoughts....

....popgun

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Re: THE ULTIMATE QUESTION(for me)

20% to 40% with dogs, and the rest on stand would tell me to sit on stand.

Especially during the rut where you dont need dogs to get em up and moving since they are already doing that in search of you know what.

But I also agree with Popgun on the friendship factor.

Unless they are not that close I'd opt of the stand...

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