Blueticks and training to wind

[chestonmcdowell]

I’ve read on here about training pups to wind by driving or walking passed a staked out hog and I’ve also heard about throwing weenies out off of a trail and walking the pups down it to try to tone there noses some. I was wanting to get some other advice because here in Arkansas it’s illegal to transport wild hogs and even if I did my four acres isn’t enough to practice that method. My next off day I’m going to start them on top of the box and feeding them on it so maybe they’ll be more comfortable up there. On the other hand I guess the way to get an older dog to wind from the box is just getting them able to find there own hog first and putting them on top of the winding box?
On a foot note here is there anything as a fast bluetick lol? And are people having luck with them. I got one this week and I’m going to get him in the woods as soon as goat season is over. He’s another coon dog cull that wouldn’t tree. the last one I had didn’t want to run a hog track much but would run a deer about as fast as I could slowly walk and talked the whole way through it haha.

[Reuben]

I break them off of deer before I put a gamy dog in the woods...
I have a deer mount I use...I roll up a white paper towel and tack it on its back side and put some deer scent on it...I walk up to the kennel and I make sure the wind is blowing his way...I want to make sure he can smell deer...I then make light contact dog with deer mount and cattle prod...do this three times in succession and repeat in a week...in about 3 days after second session show up again and don’t shock or touch the dog...he will be trying to climb out of the kennel...

Teaching to wind...I used to stage a pig about 100 yards in the woods and mark exactly where the wind was crossing where I was passing with the pups...as I slowly came into the hog scent I watched the pups...if they didn’t fire up I would stop and fire the pups up and turn them in...and helped them if they needed help...they will usually bark when leashed up trying to get to the hog...

Before winding I already have them familiar with staged pigs...

You probably can substitute a fresh pig hide and do the same thing...you just probably need to really pet them up and give a little extra encouragement...

Also keep a few dogs on the buggy when hunting...and when you see hogs or the dogs are winding hog just fire them up and see if you can get them to bark...they will usually bark if you have them tied to buggy because they want to be turned loose...that’s  about how I do it now...it just happens...

[Cajun]

Back 30-40 years ago Bluetics really had a reputation for being slower then the other breeds but they have come a long ways since then. I have seen several bluetics that were really nice hog dogs. One of the most impressive things I have seen is one day we caught a really nice bosr and while we were tying him Owen's bluetic laid down right next to the hog but still baying every breath. We get the hog tied and ck him out and he was bleeding out from a cut jugular vein. We got it clamped off and Owen got the dog to a vet who saved him.
  Most of the hound breeds rig pretty easy and I have seen some really nice curs that also rig. One of my curs would never bark but you could tell by his demeanor when he smelled a hog.

[The Old Man]

I believe it to be an instinct that is stronger in some than in others and all that have the instinct will polish it with opportunity. If you ever have one that rigs consistently, then pups will be rigging by 3rd time hunted with a rig dog. I don't want one of any kind that doesn't wind but trails on the ground only.

The winding and rigging truly amazes me, this year my two longest rig strikes were 8 hundred and something yards and 9 hundred and something yards, both times it was a cold track they had to really work at to make go. For them to be able to smell it in the air that far and it be that tough of a track is hard to understand. I have saw dogs wind game and cattle "not a track but the animals" quite a bit farther than that. I'm sure both examples are heavily influenced by conditions.

[NLAhunter]

I never hog hunted a blue tic I have seen few that would have probably made some real good ones and I have seen a bunch that probably wasn't worth feeding when I was a kid I had male blue tic that I was given as a puppy showed him a coon in cage at probably 6 months old let him bay it turned coon loose he treed it I started taking him hunting he was natural born coon dog that was really fast on track run with his head up and could sure enough put a coon up a tree I was just a kid I figured all blue tics was like that I had no ideal what I had until he was dead and gone and I was teenager and hunting with some different people the next no telling how many I seen was slow as I ever seen I got buddy with male that is real nice coon dog right now that can sure enough move a track they kill a pile of coins over him every year as far as teaching a dog to wind I never have tried to reach one to but about everything I ever had would wind one from buggy I have had some full curs that wouldn't bark but would wine and you pay attention to em when they wine get excited turn em loose they go bay one I don't hunt like that a bunch but I catch good many hogs like that coming and going from where I wanted to go hunt  last litter of puppies I raised are quarter plott when they was 8 months old I showed em hog in pen 2 times first trip to woods I took and older gyp and one them male puppies 8 months old I was riding in that puppy went crazy barking trying to tear rack off four-wheeler then old gyp went to yipping I stopped dumped em they went about 400 yards jumped hog 1 1/2 miles later bayed him I think you haul em put em on hogs they start winding on there own has been my experience with it

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[Reuben]

Last year I saw a bluetick win a bay dog competition and there was no doubt about it he was going to win...

I have had two kemmer Mt curs wind hogs at about a mile distance...conditions were right and not much cover...both dogs were related to a certain sire and others of the same bloodline...they didn’t open but put their noses to the wind and I turned into the wind and kept going until they took off...

Many times these dogs wind 1/4 mile more and less...if it’s hot they will blow up trying to get loose...

For me it is all about the dogs...everything I do is to get the best out of them which is making them better...

If the dogs are winding and get in the thick brush and come back out and the try again...usually what’s going on is this...the scent is weak and is slowly skimming over the brush...when the dogs go in the thick brush they lose the scent because it is not there...I will get off the wheeler and go in until the dogs can pickup on the scent and go...

Sometimes the wind is channeling and this can confuse the dogs if it is whipping around...as the captain of the ship so to speak I analyze what’s happening and then change direction as needed...

The thing to do is watch the dogs as often as possible when hunting and make decisions based on the dogs actions when needed...

Once the dogs are rigging good...if they smell  hog strong enough in the wind currents they will bark...if the scent is weak some will act interested other might not...and the dogs probably won’t bark...to the hunter that doesn’t pay attention to their dogs will miss hogs...to those that do watch the dogs will get on more hogs...

[Goose87]

Set you a pan of food out on the ground somewhere, turn the dog loose and sit back and observe, if you have to walk in the general area of the food and not say a thing or coax him at all let his nose become his eyes, make him have to use his god given ability, the more he uses it the more he is going to hone that skill, far as pups go use the same method all throughout puppy hood in various locations and times, if you can catch a breeze coming from a certain direction slowly ease pups into it and again let their instincts take over, ride them in the box as much as possible starting as soon as possible to get them comfortable with it, most hounds will naturally wind and rig, it’s usually a handler mishap from not knowing what they’re doing, make a scent drag and have a pile of good food waiting at the end, it doesn’t have to be hog scent or game scent of any kind, so as long as they’re using those genes and gaining more confidence in their own abilities the more they use them...

[chestonmcdowell]

All good advice and reads guys. I haven’t gotten the chance full with them any but I will say You never know how much trash you have on your property until a few young pups get out so they got chain broke today. Not the least happy about it haha. I think I’m about to start rigging everything on top of my box especially these Coonhounds. It’s gonna look like a bear hunt. I’ve tried it with my dog ranger and he just won’t stick on it. And when he does ever smell something he bails off tied off or not with no warning. Supposedly this bluetick is out of good stock from up north and has the corner of his ear clipped. He keeps his chain spot clean though hopefully he’s got that same energy in the woods. One thing I got to do is start leaving ranger at the house a time or two and see if some of these guys are going to step up. Nlahunter I I’m still kicking myself for selling this young cur walker a few months back. He had only been on a few hogs hunting  and other than not being real confident in the woods he would just piss piss piss and find something else to piss on and by that  time some of my dogs would already be gone out. But I got to see him wind once and I could see the hogs 150 yards away I knew he couldn’t of seen them, I let him out and watched him figure it out and shoot off after them.  was pretty cool and I started to notice if we ever got to a spot or crossed a track he would bark in the box and I could drop a few dogs and we’d find a hog. I just couldn’t get over the marking his territory on everything each time I dropped them out. Probably a once in a lifetime deal and I regret it just the way my mind then was if they didn’t leave your feet to go hunt after a certain age or try to cast out they were worthless now I’m wishing I had another tool in the tool belt.

[t-dog]

Cheston I think you did the right thing unless rigging is all you plan on doing. If he was mature enough that everything in the woods needed his signature then he was mature enough to hustle. He may sure enough make a rig dog by the sounds of it but in my pack I don’t have room for one dimensional dogs. Everybody is a full time employee or unemployed around here. He may have helped teach some dogs something but it may have been as much of what you didn’t want them to learn as it was good learnings. They aren’t coon hounds anymore either, they are hog hounds now lol. I agree with everyone else, if they have want to and you afford them opportunities, they will figure it out. You just have to make sure to pay attention to them.


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