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Deer dogs in the roar
Do they have a purpose ? or are they more trouble than they are worth ?. . I'm probably not taking my dog , mainly because he is not experienced enough yet ,and I'm thinking it just may not work . Too much going on , and too much to think about . I'm interested how may of you and your dogs ,do or don't hunt the roar ?
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I hunted with mine a few times but as he got older and wiser he also got more vocal. I dont think he costed me any chances on animals but like you said there was too much going on and he could read my body language and distracted me when they got close, and I showed interest.
I was almost more worried about him than the animal.
He once embarressed me when hunting with a mate. I shot an animal at 10m and it just crumpled. My awesome dog, bolted on the shot, jumped thru the stags antlers and proceeded on, up the ridge. He came back a minute later and stood on the hind quarters of the animal with his abnormally long tongue hanging out, as though he did a wonderful job finding it for me.
Unless he seen something I didnt I will never know but I didnt take him in the roar much after that. He was going deaf as well and I think it was a struggle for him.
I miss hunting with him at all other times of the year. He was the best hunting mate you could ever want.
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Depends how much control you have over it.
No different to hunting deer out of the roar with a dog.
Handy for those sneaky stags that try to come in unseen though!
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Yeah, I spose me or my dog must have been shit then.
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Hey mate, I took mine out last year aged 1. Kept him on a rope most of the time. I thought it was quite good exposure for him with all the activity, he was hyper alert and indicating non stop which was cool to see. The only issue I had was when stalking in on a stag. Had gotten a few good roars back from him and was approx 125m away in the bush when a satellite stag came over for a look. Luckily we were in good cover with the wind in our favour and he buggered off before he busted us. Kept stalking but when we crossed his scent path the dog shat the bed and let out a pretty loud growl /bark. If I didn't have him on rope don't think I would have been able to control him easily. Luckily the big fella didn't hear and we stalked in no issues, however after the shot he wasn't too keen on the carcass either, whereas he is usually straight in there. The only thing I can think of is the different scent put the shits up him as he had been on easily over 10 deer at that point including stags in antler. Going to take him again this year to give him some more exposure, as r93 says they are the best hunting companion you could want. Have had that stags head at home all year, feeding him treats etc off it so hopefully he's over his little phobia:wtfsmilie:
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1 Attachment(s)
I wouldn't have found this one after an iffy shot without the dog handy. That said, the last two roars since that pic I haven't had a dog with me, for the reasons outlined. Too much going on. Excuse the pic of the scrubby head, I only took a photo as it was her first stag
Attachment 8136
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Great photo
Sent from my MT27i using Tapatalk 2
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If I had a hound ready for deer it would be coming. If you've got it under control why not? And yes I've taken them out through the roar, hell that's what you get them for.
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I,m on my fourth lab thats been my hunting companion, roar or not the dogs came with me because in the end I got more deer with them than without
cheers