Help on Dogs.

Discuss everything and anything related to dogs in theHunter.
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Leventthyen
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Help on Dogs.

Post by Leventthyen »

I'm not a bird hunter but considering getting a dog for larger game tracking purposes only. I'm able to track and harvest nearly all animals but sometimes it does take time and backtracking etc.

Will a dog help find the harvest quicker? Will a dog spook away animals? I did read about it at the time they were introduced that they did spook animals. Just wondering if it still applies.

In the end, I would rather not have spooked animals as oppossed to difficult tracking.

Thanks for the help.
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Granti
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Re: Help on Dogs.

Post by Granti »

there is a whole forum section towards your question: http://forum.thehunter.com/viewforum.php?f=227

summary: you will not get one truth.
on a subjective level: i have both dogs and im with this people that find dogs rather senseless (as they are right now).
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Seifer
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Re: Help on Dogs.

Post by Seifer »

I love my scent hound. She is more of a help than a hindrance. Once you learn how to manipulate the dog, spooking animals is not much of a problem. I've had some tracking difficulties in the new reserve but it works fine everywhere else. You will of course have to skill up your dog which can take quite a while to make it a better tracker. EW needs to come out with some more dog equipment so I have camo for my dog that matches my own but as I said, camo aside I don't really have any issues spooking animals. I spook more than my dog does. The GPS for the dog is a big help too. A tip, sometimes but not often if it seems you're dog is not tracking right, call it to you and make it start tracking again. Also try to hit those vital organs so the animal will keep bleeding. Your dog can't track if the animal doesn't bleed.
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Don't mind me, I'm just thinking out loud ;) Mike (Seifer210) ♉
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TheSheWolf
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Re: Help on Dogs.

Post by TheSheWolf »

Here's my take on it. If the dog worked as designed I think it'd be great, but there's some bugs that need addressing. I take the scent hound with me on every hunt, though--except the ones where I'm duck-hunting and need my retriever--so take the "cons" with a grain of salt.

Pros:

- Companionship, if you like the feel of a dog trotting alongside you and sniffing about. They look realistic, and move and act in a realistic manner.
- Those few and far between trails that you REALLY have trouble finding, the dog can save your butt
- Timbergold Trails. The grass is often too long to easily see domes, and the dog is a lifesaver here for me
- Speeds up tracking... when it works

Cons:

- DOES spook animals, if you leave the dog on Stay and creep out of range, and the dog stands up to follow. I believe there's a bug where when the dog stands up to move toward you, even when the dog is crouching, the sound comes from -your- location and spooks animals near -you.- So be careful to keep your dog close until you're really ready to stalk quite near your quarry. If you're stand-hunting, there's no reason not to bring a dog; a dog on "stay" position can have animals literally stand on it without seeing it. When in "stay," it is 100% invisible and odorless/soundless. When you crouch-walk and the dog is crouch-walking with you, the dog won't really spook anything more than you would spook.
- Very unrealistically bad at tracking and seems to definitely get worse as it levels. I've seen this complaint a lot and I'm experiencing it a lot more now that my scent hound is around level 30. I genuinely think she was better at keeping to tracks at level 1. Sometimes she will only track 3-4 tracks, then stop and just bug out and stand there and ignore commands. Other times she'll pop me a "?" after only a few tracks, too. It's very frustrating.
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WolfLQ
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Re: Help on Dogs.

Post by WolfLQ »

I bought a retriever while they were on sale for if I ever take up hunting birds, but IMO after seeing scent hounds in use they're not that helpful. They only seem to track animals that'll eventually die... so it's a matter of time before you catch them anyway, even if it takes you some spinning around in circles for awhile first. If they tracked all trails of injured animals, I'd buy one in a heartbeat but only tracking when an animal is doomed is a dealbreaker for me. Losing a mortally wounded animal is rare enough to not justify using dogs that are going to be a nuisance in 99 other scenarios... JMO
(Not a newbie! Back after a few years hiatus.)
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xOEDragonx
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Re: Help on Dogs.

Post by xOEDragonx »

Another con to add, you can't really turkey hunt with a dog. For whatever reason, even if your dog is laying 50m+ away from you while turkeys are approaching you, they will almost always spook from pretty far out. I don't know why this is, but it is specific to turkeys and occurs even if you are using a treestand or tower. I unfortunately never take my dog on WHI because of it.
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Granti
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Re: Help on Dogs.

Post by Granti »

WolfLQ wrote:They only seem to track animals that'll eventually die...
till today i thought so too. but my scenthound failed completly on a vital hit (intestines, stomach) bighornsheep. twice
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Seifer
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Re: Help on Dogs.

Post by Seifer »

xOEDragonx wrote:Another con to add, you can't really turkey hunt with a dog. For whatever reason, even if your dog is laying 50m+ away from you while turkeys are approaching you, they will almost always spook from pretty far out. I don't know why this is, but it is specific to turkeys and occurs even if you are using a treestand or tower. I unfortunately never take my dog on WHI because of it.
I haven't had this problem. I'll be in a tree stand with my dog laying under me at the base of the tree and the turkeys I'm calling will get within 15-20m before spooking.
WolfLQ wrote:They only seem to track animals that'll eventually die...
How often does it happen that you take a shot that doesn't mortally wound an animal that your hound can't track? It makes sense that your dog will only track a dying animal. Imagine if your dog stopped at every track that crossed paths with the animal you were tracking. How frustrating would that be? I love my hound because it makes tracking less tedious. Anytime you drop an animal in its tracks it negates the need for a hound but on those occasions when you do have to track an animal its much easier to just follow on my HM rather than having to look for these tracks yourself especially when the animal changes direction often like when running through a dense forest.
Granti wrote:till today i thought so too. but my scenthound failed completly on a vital hit (intestines, stomach) bighornsheep. twice
My hound is a level 38 and has only failed to track an animal with a vital hit only once.
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Don't mind me, I'm just thinking out loud ;) Mike (Seifer210) ♉
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TheSheWolf
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Re: Help on Dogs.

Post by TheSheWolf »

Mine is failing on vitals all the time atm, and she's level 30 or 31. I mostly hunt with a heavy recurve so EVERY hit is eventually fatal, regardless of placement, via bleeding, on anything that I hunt.

It's honestly unrealistic to dogs. A good dog won't run off on a cross-track and a good dog WON'T just "lose" a scent, blood or no blood. A good, trained trailing dog is damn near impossible to shake off. They take waaaaaaaaaaay too long to level, too. I like my scenthound, definitely don't regret the purchase and it can be a lifesaver, but recently I've given up going back to put her on a blood track and I just plow ahead on my own unless I -completely- lose it. It's too annoying.
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WolfLQ
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Re: Help on Dogs.

Post by WolfLQ »

Seifer wrote:
xOEDragonx wrote:
WolfLQ wrote:They only seem to track animals that'll eventually die...
How often does it happen that you take a shot that doesn't mortally wound an animal that your hound can't track? It makes sense that your dog will only track a dying animal. Imagine if your dog stopped at every track that crossed paths with the animal you were tracking. How frustrating would that be? I love my hound because it makes tracking less tedious. Anytime you drop an animal in its tracks it negates the need for a hound but on those occasions when you do have to track an animal its much easier to just follow on my HM rather than having to look for these tracks yourself especially when the animal changes direction often like when running through a dense forest.
I don't have one, I've just gone on hunts with friends who do and have gotten to see them in action. They should follow all blood, not just blood from a vital hit. It makes no sense otherwise. We went hunting for sambar and water buffalo and there were multiple times even at close range and broadside that the bullets didn't penetrate the hearts or lungs, and the dogs were useless. I have never lost track of an animal that was mortally wounded (I know it looks like I'm new, I'm not, I used to play years back). If I'm having trouble because it took off on, say, a gut shot... and I think I'm never going to find it... I just run in a gradually expanding circle. I'll find it eventually; once it's dead it'll stop fleeing. :lol:
(Not a newbie! Back after a few years hiatus.)
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