decoy dog

well i took my puppy out today and she did really good with a coyote!!! not a single scratch! in fact both of them were looking at eachother as if they wanted to play! i would say check around you might be confused a little.
 
CD1 has been dealt with.

Now back to the original question.
This months Predator Xtreme magazine has an article called Training A Coyote Decoy Dog - The Early days
written by Cal Taylor , that might be worth looking into.
 
Many cur dogs will decoy yotes with a little training.some lines just take to it a lot better I use the Striker line from Derril Fry in Elko Nev.These dogs just go to a yote on their own most of the time if hunted.Derril's job is killing yotes for the USDA and he is very good at it with his dogs.I start a pup at 3 to 4 months old,but I have always had an older dog to work with.Mant will not need an older dog to teach them they just go to a howl or scent in the wind.I have never had a dog shot on a stand and would not worry about a orange vest.the more you can get your pup to bark the better it is for the yotes .
 
For me the number one thing is obiedience. The dog has to listen and react instantly.

I hunt with a 4 yo. Mtn. Cur/Blue Lacy male and use German Wirehairs for back up. Don't get too hung up on the breed. There are good ones and bad ones of most breeds. It is training that makes a good dog great.

Hunting with dogs is not a cure-all and dogs seldom will bring coyotes where there are not any to call. They have with out a doubt saved me coyotes I would have lost, allowed me to kill coyotes I never would have seen, and yes even in their best form, they have cost me a coyote a time or two.

I also use the dogs for denning coyotes, denning coon, and running cats. They all spend lots of time on the trapline and experienced trapped and draged coyotes since they were pups.

I also use a tritronics collar and wouldn't hunt without it. I want my dogs to be in constant communication with me. When I hit the tone, I want them to turn on a dime no matter what. I also have taught them to get behind the shooters when they hear a lip squeak and to stay there until released. This keeps them out of the line of fire and puts you between the incoming coyotes and the dog clearing the area for a safe shot. I will say that I don't often hunt my dogs with other shooters unless I have an understanding about when it is okay to shoot and when to pass. I have had numbskulled idiots shoot over my dogs and shoot at coyotes with the dogs between the coyote and gun. Things happen fast and can be confusing and complex for callers not use to having dogs around. Sometimes the right shot is to not shoot. This all falls back on disciple and obiedience. I can't control the other shooters actions but I can control my dogs.

Lately there has been a lot of info available reguarding using dogs to decoy. Cal Taylors articles are excellent and the main reason I renewed with PX. There are also several great videos and DVD out there. I won't make any recommendations because I have learned something from everyone I have seen worth the price of the video and there are many out there. The forumn here is also a great place to get info but you might have to wait till the seasons start and people start dropping back in. I agre with someone above that said to look for Mike Grangers stories of Bubba. They are excellent with great pics.

You can look for posts with DTOM in them and find a few pics but I don't post too often and usually only in the Great White North forumn. Feel free to Pm me with any specific questions but it may take me a few days to get back to you since the fall is upon us and it is a busy time of year.


Tim
 
I got a couple emails about actual training techiques and while I'm no expert I will try to explain how I went about getting the dogs to decoy coyotes. The dog breeds I have are very instinctive and other than shapping their responses I can take very little credit for how they hunt.

I have noticed a few things:

I like a dog who likes to retrieve or just pick things up and bring them to me. This encourages the dog to come to you and shows your dog sees you as a partner in the hunt and not just a incedental. I want my dog hunting for me and not for himself.

For the most part you want an even tempered dog that will "think". Not a high strung never stop and think dog, this comes with age, maturity and obiedience training.

I want a dog that is not too aggressive. This will get a dog into trouble before anything else. Aggressive dogs will not only constantly chase coyote into the next county they also can get themselve into trouble by being out of the shooters field of fire. Most dogs can take a coyote or two but the coyotes can and will group up and woop a dogs tail. Make sure you can always cover your dog. I don't want a sissy dog either. The dog must be self assured enough to chase a coyote but know when to turn and lead them back to the gun. The tone function on the remote collars helps with this immensely.

Being a trapper I have the ability to have my dogs exp. dozens of coyotes that are restrained. This helps a dog learn about his adversary on a playing field slanted in your direction. You have to be careful to not let your dog get too aggresive with trapped coyotes. You don't want him to think he is Under Dog with trapped coyotes only to have him find out he's really Eurkle with free running coyotes. A funny thing I have noticed is that with beta coyotes the dogs will be right on them harrassing and growling to beat all, but when I have an old alpha in a trap they approches it differently with way more respect.

I want my dog to come to me if he needs help. I want him to think I can solve any problems he may have and feel safe around me. This allows the dog to think you are a safe zone. That you control all that happens in your domain and if he gets in over his head he knows where to go for help. I'm not sure how you can teach this but you can instill it in your dog through your every interaction with him being postive.

Make sure you break him to gunshots.

When the time finally comes to hunt him and if you are lucky enough to get a coyote or coyotes that plays the yo-yo game well with your dog---don't shoot, let the coyote train your dog. It is the best training they can get. I have let a dog and coyote interact for 30 minutes before I decided to shoot the coyote. If a coyote that comes in acts to aggressive I will shoot him right off. Once your dog gets older and more exp. you can let him "fight" the coyotes more but not as a new pup in training.

Theres much more to it but this is a start. I love hunting with dogs and the dog work makes the hunt for me.

I'll add more as I think of it.

Hope this helps

Tim
 
DTOM,
Thanks for the excellent posts. I get these questions a lot too, I think you summed it up very well. A good coyote dog isn't difficult to train, it's mostly instinct. As you said, the key is getting them in coyotes and providing plenty of learning opportunities. I was talking with Dave James today (the guy I bought Bubba from), his standard answer to guys buying his dogs is "all you have to do is take them to the coyotes, they'll catch on real quick". These cur dogs are smart and quick learners. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
mike i would agree my pup seems to catch on by herself! I am taking her out again in the morning, i hope to do as good as last weekend. maybe ill be able to get a photo of her this time. later!!!
 
Vargy,I wish we had met when I lived in MN,we could have had a grand time.You have an open invite to come out here and hunt over my dogs.I am running decoy dogs on coyotes and a pack of trailing hounds on bobcats.I see we have the same ideas on many points.There is also a stand up dog man in FT Dodge Ia,If you want contact info let me know.Thank you for your no BS insight. Duane
 
I had my year old pup Hunter out on Sunday morning, he has only been in on 5 live coyotes, on our second stand I saw two coyotes pop there heads out of the tall grass about 300 yards upwind of us in response to my howl. They never howled back but started to come in and just as they did a largge muley doe ran one off out of my sight while the other started to come in. Hunter was about 30 yards in front of me in some tall grass and didnt see them, all of a sudden I saw movement in the tall grass about 50 yards out, at that time both coyotes and Hunter saw each other and both coyotes went crazy barking, as soon as they did Hunter gave chase, he chased them both out of sight over a small rise, I howled to bring him back and he came with both coyotes in tow, they continued to go back and forth for about 10 minutes with Hunter getting to the coyotes rear end and the coyotes to his, after the 10 minutes the coyotes hung up about 200 yards out, then like he had done it a thousand times before Hunter went off to the side halfway between myself and the coyotes and barked and growled to hold their attention, to make a long story shorter I missed and the coyotes ran off despite Hunters best efforts to bring them back. I know that he has a long way to go, but I was impressed with what he did with those coyotes with so little experience
 


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