Staghound Question

NoName1

New member
Hello...new to the forum, but I've been reading as much as I can. I've been researching and learning as much as I can about decoy dogs and was planning on starting one later this year. I hunt in the LowCountry of South Carolina, mostly thick hedgerows, fields, planted pines and some real thick clear cuts that have grown up so thick that there are just tunnels for game trails.

Here is my question...I just picked up a 5 yr old female Staghound. From what I could figure out, she used to be a coyote dog in TX but started trashing on hogs. Somehow she ended up here in SC as a running catch dog (RCD) for hogs and he said she has caught and killed coyotes while they running hogs. One of my hog hunting partners traded a cur/plott pup for her, but I wanted to see what she'll do with coyotes with me before he gets her cut and gutted in the hog swamps. I set my e-call up about 100 yards at the edge of the field behind my house. I played a rabbit distress first and she perked right up. Then I hit coyote pup distress and she took off like a rocket, grabbed my FX5 and shook the [beeep] out of it before I got it from her. She is very well behaved, gets along with my 2 Labs and my 2 yr old son hugs her while she licks his face.

I knew nothing about Staghounds until this one and wanted to talk to somebody with experience running them on coyotes. I have a high yote population in the places I hunt, but it's tough because they stay in the thick cover so much. I know she is a sighthound, but she does put her nose to the ground and go to work when I let her.

1. Is one Stag enough to run and catch a coyote or would I be better off with a multi-dog pack?
2. At 5 yrs old, is she likely to still be trainable enough for what I want her to do?
3. How well will she still run them in thick woods and ground cover where she can't keep constant sight locked on them?
4. I hunt mostly at night, how well will she do in the dark?

I want her go to them on sight obviously, but also go to one that is barking and howling. Should I even put the time and effort into her or go back to my plan of a smaller dog to decoy with?
 
Hi,

I have my doubts she will work as a decoy dog. She has already been programmed to run and kill. It would be interesting however to get her to lie next to you on the stand and call the coyotes in close enough to lurch them with the dog. Good luck.
 
That's what I was thinking...would be hard to change what the dog is bred to do...chase and catch.

And I thought about training her to sit with me and then turn her loose when they show up close...but it's just not that realistic in the terrain I hunt.

After a long talk on the phone with roode301 yesterday (thank you!!) I'll be going a different route and doing it the right way with a legit decoy dog.
 
It was good talking to you and glad I could help. Lucky for me I had some guys help me out a lot in my quest for a dog that would work for me.I am still just a student and the teachers are still teaching me. I have learned to listen when some guys speak.
 
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