Dog's Finds From the Weekend

[Huntemup]

LAST EDITED ON Feb-06-07 AT 11:48AM (MST)[p]Most bucks are still packin', but the dogs & I still managed to sneak around last weekend and find 6 more. We didn't even spook a single deer! The dogs found 4 out of the 6! Two of the bones they found were buried in the snow. Buck matched up the big set...the one he found was more than a mile away from the first side I found the weekend before! Ruby found a cool, bladed, hard-white antler with a cheater.

On another note:

Hey, how about some positiveness and fun instead of all this negative I keep readin'. I know there's a lot of frustrating things going on out there...I agree...and some it really gets my blood to boilin', but this forum really bites as of late because so many are just dwelling on the negative. Go have some freakin' fun for cryin' out loud!
Just my 2-cents!

Huntemup!

 

[mahew04]

Thats kicks a$$. Two dogs hunting bone...really impressive...How long did it take to train them????Nice finds

 

[30buck]

that is so cool you have to tell me how to train them to do that

 

[Huntemup]

I hate to say it, but not a lot of training went into them. We just do it so much, and the dogs have such a desire to please, that they just know when we're huntin' for sheds and they hunt too! The black one, Buck, almost hunts harder for bones than birds...he's got a knack for smellin' those things! It sure spoils me!

 

[mahew04]

If you ever have puppies I want 7 of them......

 

[bragabit]

LAST EDITED ON Feb-16-07 AT 05:56PM (MST)[p]Huntemup,
I have always wanted a shed dog. Do you think you would have to start one hunting from a puppy, or would a 4 year old dog pick it up?
Thank you

 

[Huntemup]

LAST EDITED ON Feb-19-07 AT 10:37PM (MST)[p]LAST EDITED ON Feb-19-07 AT 10:32 PM (MST)

Based on my experience, I think you'll have better luck if you start 'em when they're puppies. Have you had any luck getting your 4-year old interested in antlers...at all? If so, there could be some hope.

This is the 3rd dog in our family that hunts sheds...and all of them but the oldest one started when they were pups. The first one didn't start finding sheds till he was around 3. He just kinda took us by surprise when he dragged a 6-point elk shed through the sagebrush to our lunch spot! After that we capitalized on his "gift"! All of our dogs were/are labradors.

Those dogs cover so much more ground and thick brush than we do, and they can smell antlers under snow so they might as well be pickin' 'em up. The dog I have now finds sheds by both sight and smell...it's an incredible thing to witness! He works as hard or harder for antlers than he does for birds. The only drawback is that it's tough to get more "as they lay" pictures...I sometimes have to lay them back where I "think" they were, or where you can still see the antler print in the snow, to get some pictures. Not a real big issue with me though!

I just wish they lived to be 100 years old!

I posted a couple more picts just for fun!

Good luck to ya, Bragabit!

 

[JakeH]

I think the pics of your dogs bringing them in is as cool as ATL pic...continue the good work.



Jake H. MM Member since 1999.

 

[bragabit]

Huntemup,
In your opinion are your dogs finding these horns by sight or by smell?

 

[Huntemup]

The yellow one seems to find more by sight, while the black one definitely finds more by smell...although I have seen him pick several up by sight too. He loves to carry fresh pine cones around (I think because they smell like an antler), but I've watched him drop them in a heartbeat to pick up a shed.

 

[elkantlers]

My choco lab is coming along nicely. He is about 14 months right now. Since he was a pup I would play fetch with him with antlers. Now if I let him in the front yard he heads to my old antler pile and brings me a shed to play fetch with. I also let him keep a few sheds in the back yard and he will chew on them until only the base is left. I can't wait until the elk start to drop to see what he will do on those.

 

[ClorideRUS]

That is so stinking cool. I've dreamed of training a dog to hunt sheds. I've got a Beagle, I don't think she's big enough to drag an antler. Do your dogs bark when they find one?

RUS

 

[Huntemup]

My dogs won't bark. The black one, Buck, just retrieves them. When he finds big elk sheds however, he just sits on 'em & won't leave them. So needless to say, I've learned to keep my eye on him! He gets real "birdy" or "horny", so to speak, when he smells one and starts closing in on it so that's when I really start to watch him. If he finds raghorns or medium-sized elk antlers he'll bring those to me. So far he's picked up 16 deer sheds this spring. Man, I wish he would stay the same age forever!

Happy hunting!

 

[Dawgs]

Wow. We're all so jealous. My two cover plenty of ground, but unless it's a squirrel or a rabbit, I'm not hearing about it. Your dogs are great. Do they get a treat after every find?

 

[Huntemup]

LAST EDITED ON Feb-25-07 AT 10:12PM (MST)[p]Looks and sounds like you got a "horn dog" there, elkantlers! Way to go!

 

[Huntemup]

I usually don't give my dog treats until we get back to the truck at the end of the day. He gets more excited when I throw the antlers he finds out for him to fetch a couple times...he lives for that, and likes that over treats any day! As soon as I tie it on my pack though, the hunt's back on. However, Buck's best day was when I ordered him some bacon at the restaurant we ate breakfast at before we went out. He found 9 out of 11 browns and 2 hard-whites that morning, all in 2.5-3 hours! He matched up a stomper set that day with double main beams and extras...I was ecstatic! My brother wasn't...L.O.L.! I attached a picture of Buck with his big set. No as they lay picts because I really don't know where he found them!

I hope I don't sound pompous to you guys...I just get excited that the dogs get into shed-hunting as much as I do, and I like to share (ok...brag about) what they do. I may never have a dog that does this again, so I have to take advantage while I can!

Happy hunting fellas, and keep the pictures coming!

 

[MichaelJ]

Sweet stuff man! I've taken my 15 month of American pitbull terrier out a couple times this year as I noticed last spring whenever I'd bring home an antler she'd go nuts for it! Right now she does more running around than actually searching for antlers, but I did put her on one I'd glass up the last time out. I called her to within 15 yards of it and just waited, she walked around and stepped over it, stopped and picked it up and brought it to me. Not bad but hopefully she'll learn sometime to actually look and sniff 'em out instead of just running around the hills all day! Any tips? She likes the horns, but just won't actively search 'em out...

Michael
"What I could do, I was doing, and that was simply putting my butt on the line for my country, the country that I loved, so that all the protestors and the academics and the liberal intelligentsia back home could enjoy the right to protest against people like me, the hated middleclass." --Gary R. Smith, US Special Forces