Hunting (dog) question.....

[Richard]

The quick question is "can they go silent on demand??"

I'm sitting downstairs, watching the ballgame.... I hear a faint "bang, bang, bang" Go outside and I hear several dogs (more than one is all I can really guess) going ballistic. They sound like they're across the field from me (which is our land) but it's clear they're in the woods, which is ALSO our land until you get onto the far side of the hill.

I'm guessing it's Coon season but, I don't know. Could be poachers for all I know. We get those out here.

None the less......dogs go ballistic, and NOW, I hear about ten shots in rapid succession..... Then, to make it interesting, I see some "lights" (flashlights) illuminating the tops of a couple trees.

I have one of those Milwaukee search lights with a major spotlight in it. While the treetop was lit, I flashed my light from my porch which essentially illuminated the entire TREE so now someone knows that someone knows they're there.

I've been out here more than 20 years.... if I can see those treetops from my home, someone is trespassing (or poaching if it's not season?) They are NOT on the far side of the hill, they're right at our tree line (farm goes halfway up the hill and TVA land is on other side)

Not too interested in confronting someone who's trespassing with a gun that they're firing in rapid succession. I deduce they've parked down by our dock which by happenstance, has a "no parking" sign posted there. Drive down there, preparing to call the Sheriff and....nothing. Well, I now "know" they're up the hill by the mail box.... nope. Nothing there.... I drive up the hill to the cemetery road where we've had some issues......nope, nobody there either. Finally, I drove to the end of the road and there is NOBODY parked anywhere with a truck for carrying dogs. Let me rephrase that.....there is nobody parked anywhere.

Which suggests to me they have come from the other side of the farm.... I'm not interested in driving 5-6 miles to check far side of farm so I come home. I get out of my car where 3-4 minutes prior I could hear the dogs going crazy..... and frankly, it's dead silent. Not a single dog barking, nothing rustling through the woods.... it's as though I was hearing things (I wasn't).

Which got me wondering.... are (what I presume to be) coon dogs trained enough that they will be quiet, totally quiet?

I was going to get the Sheriff out here but they're not going to want to traipse into the woods and since I didn't go to far side of farm, I don't "know" they're parked over there (they had to come from somewhere to get here)....I suppose they could have come by boat....we've had that during deer season.

No, I decided it's quiet outside, my dogs have calmed down.....I want to think my spotlighting their tree light showed them that I know they're out there and frankly, I hope they just left.


I'm still 100% amazed at how quiet it now is and how noisy it was before I turned the light their direction.....

Which brings me to my question. Can those dogs be quiet on demand??

 

[whistlepig]

I have trained and worked beagle dogs. I can get then to go "down" with a simple voice command. Not that easy to do. As far as training a dog to be silent I think the reason most of us that have dogs use them as an alarm for hunting or home and don't want them to be silent. We have bred that into them.

 

[Jstpssng]

If the hunter/poacher killed what they were after, the dogs would have no reason to continue barking.

 

[whistlepig]

I would rather the dog just bark than for it go through the reasoning process. I'll sort out the difference.

 

[drssg]

If the hunter/poacher killed what they were after, the dogs would have no reason to continue barking.

That's what I would suspect happened. By the time the OP got out to the area, the trespassers had their dogs on leashes and were leaving the area. They probably entered from a neighboring property and left the same way. Every dog I've owned would stop barking while on a leash, if I told it to.

 

[Richard]

That's what I would suspect happened. By the time the OP got out to the area, the trespassers had their dogs on leashes and were leaving the area. They probably entered from a neighboring property and left the same way. Every dog I've owned would stop barking while on a leash, if I told it to.

"Getting out to the area" was simply walking out my door to the patio. Couple hundred feet difference and they would have been in my front yard.

Otherwise, that makes sense... (other than the neighboring property). Nobody really knows this part...but the farm is on a peninsula and we're covered by a TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority) lake on three sides. So technically, yes.....there is a neighboring property but it's a very narrow band of land and to get here from the far side of farm WHILE staying on TVA property is quite a walk because you're walking around the perimeter of the lake. (which is why I "knew" they were parked down by the dock, that's the most logical place to park to get to this tract of land)

Still amazes me that the dogs were totally mute. Not a bark, not a yap no nothing! If they went quiet while leashed, it really was quite impressive given the racket they were making.

Wish my dogs were that obedient!!!

 

[PILOON]

LOL, maybe the shooting was aimed at the dogs!
That'll for sure quiet them.

Hey, I once threatened to shoot a noisy dog, (no, he lived on).

 

[Ford850]

Coon hunters. The dogs will stop barking immediately once the coon is shot down or dogs are put on a leash. They live for the hunt, tracking and treeing. Once that's over they stop barking. I hunted for many years, and sometimes I was farther into another property than I realized. Porch lights coming on sometimes were a gentle warning to get out, and I obliged. I never intentionally trespassed but sometimes dogs jump a block and end up miles away on a tree. But, although I minded property lines the best I could, and wouldn't shoot on property I didn't have permission, there were plenty of others hunting the same areas who knew no boundaries and couldn't care less if they were trespassing and shooting out a coon close to a house.

 

[tallyho8]

I, also, coon hunted for many years. As mentioned, the dogs will stop barking as soon as the coon is dead or after being leashed and lead away from the tree. Barking is the way the dog tells you where the coon trail is and then a more rapid, frantic bark tells you when they have reached the tree he is in. Very rarely you get a silent tree dog, which is worth nothing and quickly gotten rid of.(if you can find him)

There are many section of public land that you can hunt on with neighboring private land surrounding them. There is usually no way to tell where the public land ends and the private property starts and even if there are signs, the dogs will pay no attention to the signs and keep tracking the coon. When the dogs tree, and I am able to tell I am on private property, I will leash my dogs as quickly as possible and lead them off the property. I will never intentionally fire a gun on private property. There are some sections of private property where the coon devour the landowner's crops and they give us permission to hunt them on their property.

There are still many people who love to hear the hounds tracking in the woods and others who despise a dog tracking on their property. If you hunt an area regularly you soon hear from these people who will threaten to shoot your dogs and be extra cautious to prevent the dogs from doing so.

There are good and bad hunters just as there are in any group but even most of the bad hunters will never intentionally hunt on private property for fear of having their prized dogs shot and so they hunt on public lands but unfortunately the coon will sometimes lead the dogs onto private property. If they are able to see a home they usually retrieve their dogs as quickly as possible and leave. Putting up some no trespassing signs is a good way to let hunters know that they are on private property and most of them will respect your property lines as well as possible.

 

[Molalla1]

"Getting out to the area" was simply walking out my door to the patio. Couple hundred feet difference and they would have been in my front yard.

Otherwise, that makes sense... (other than the neighboring property). Nobody really knows this part...but the farm is on a peninsula and we're covered by a TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority) lake on three sides. So technically, yes.....there is a neighboring property but it's a very narrow band of land and to get here from the far side of farm WHILE staying on TVA property is quite a walk because you're walking around the perimeter of the lake. (which is why I "knew" they were parked down by the dock, that's the most logical place to park to get to this tract of land)

Still amazes me that the dogs were totally mute. Not a bark, not a yap no nothing! If they went quiet while leashed, it really was quite impressive given the racket they were making.

Wish my dogs were that obedient!!!

Richard, I have a 13 year old Aussie that is a master of his own world . . . sometimes he will not listen.