I also like the pointer a lot. You just need to learn on how to use it efficiently.
Don't stay too close to the pointer when he's about to approach its target (he'll warn you), so you won't spook it. Also you can leave a certain distance between you and the pointer, and after he has found its target try to see it from different angles than the most obvious one, from behind the dog. Just use the pointer as a general direction indicator and try to make visual contact from another angle. When you're hunting something specific, because the pointer has multiple options on a single branch from the radial menu, wait until you hear a call or find some fresh tracks from that specific animal you're after.
Elmer Fudd is the ultimate hunter. He never catches the wabbit, but he never gives up
Rabbit hunting with one is a lot of fun and it can even make ptarmigan hunting enjoyable. Foxes don't stand a chance, and tracking pumas up in the mountains is an extraordinary experience.
It's also much easier to level them up than it is with the hound.
Pointer is great. Boot that bloody scent hound. Pun intended is horrible. Shot a water buffalo with bow. Decent shot. He tracked a few steps but then I encountered another water buffalo and shot that one. Dunno if that confused the dog. Then found the first blood track again. Order the dog to follow it where he sprints like a jehu toward the place where I shot it from. I knew that couldn´t possible be right? So just followed the track and 100 metre in the opposite direction the dog was running there she was lol
He just never ever helps in any way they should remove the scent hound from the game!
I've noticed with mine( level 15) it has got worse at detecting and baying since level 13. I'm going to try it with treats and see if that works( it does with my proper sheepdog !).
I have found the hound to be only moderately useful. It loses tracks often but will sometimes find tracks I would not otherwise have found. My biggest issue has actually been the hound getting stuck on various trees/rocks in Piccabeen Bay where I primarily hunt.
I'm really astonished reading all of this... Maybe some folks were expecting a perfect experience from the day you got your dog and didn't expect a learning curve? Or any training of the animal? I honestly wouldn't hunt without my scent hound.
Yes, like all games, there are mechanics you have to learn. Don't send your dog after an animal that only has a "body" wound because it takes a few minutes to die, and the hound can spook it. Just wait five real-world minutes and you'll be fine. Go ahead and send the dog for things wounded "lungs/heart" or "intestine" because those will be dead. If it's very large game like water buffalo, maybe wait a few minutes on the intestine shot too.
But...that's exactly the same type of tracking caution to use if you were just following it yourself and not using the dog. You can come up on a wounded animal and spook it yourself if you don't wait for it to die. The dog has nothing to do with that. It's just normal caution when tracking.
If the wound is not fatal, the dog will eventually give up, sometimes immediately. If it's fatal and there's enough blood to follow, the dog will eventually find it. It's never been perfect in the sense that...my dog will still run past a carcass, not bark, and then run back and give up. But the point is she led me to the kill and that's what matters. Not that she barks over the body every time.
Keep track of where your dog is so she doesn't sneak up and spook something you're luring in to call or something. That's my only complaint honestly, is that sometimes she can be coming up and be over 100m away, in her crouched position, and an approaching axis or something will still flee. It depends on the game animal though... With some things, she can be coming up behind me and be within 25m and nothing spooks. So it's variable. But that's any dog, not just the scent hound. But keeping track of your dog is just normal hunting practice, so it's not really fair to complain about.
But, none of these game mechanics are anything worth complaining about? I learned all of this pretty quickly after getting my dog. She's almost level 48 now and is so invaluable in a hunt that the only time I don't bring her is if I'm exclusively waterfowling and need my retriever.