Speed and running on snow

[ACOMEAU]

Steve, "Pup" is directly ouf Mac and we have spoke before about him. He is not the the end all, but the closest ive gotten yet. If I had a female, I would breed to him. If you have a female and live in snow country I would take the free stud from Mac no questions.

[Joe West]

Thanks Steve C that helped a little but we need to find something we can really disagree on.

Scenting here today was terrible. Only the lead hound had enough scent to open on most of the time and I was reminded of this thread; except the lead changed now and again.

[Steve C.]

I spent another fruitless day in the woods yesterday. As far as meat in the pot, it was a bust, but very interesting from the standpoint of watching houndwork. It was 14 below at dawn but was about zero when we hit the woods. I took my two best hounds, Mac and Stella and three teenage boys. Usually I'll only take one boy along, but Matt had proven trustworthy and helpful handling hounds and was a pretty fair shot as well. Matt had asked to bring a couple of friends along with another dog and I agreed as I knew the hound and she had a pretty good nose. After a half hour ride down a logging road we stopped at a likely spot where I've had good running in the past. There was about 6 to 12 inches of dry snow with a crust the consistancy of cement. The dogs broke through in most places. We cast the hounds, Stella hit the woods running with Mary in tow. Mac found a few scent posts, then moseyed into the woods about 50 yards down from where the girls went in. Stella almost always strikes first but within 5 minutes Mac struck and hammered the hare along the base of a timbered hill for about 100 yards before the girls got there. Instant check. Mac recovered it and off they went again. Looked like the running was better than expected. Another longer check. Stella recovered it and Mac joined in but the hare was lining out along the swamp at the base of the hill. I struck out after them and set up on the next check thinking that the hare would circle back. 5 minutes went by. Silence. Then I hear Mary open about 1/4 mile away, making good progress but getting further and further away. Mac and Stella flew past me harking in to Mary. I set out after them only to have another breakdown before I got in the chase. I called Matt on the radio but no answer. I have no idea where the boys are and not exactly sure where the hounds are. We were now about 3/4 of a mile from the trucks and I'm not happy. Next thing I know Mary is back in front of me. Why is she here when the loss was about 100 yards to the southwest? I hear Stella open again where the dogs took the loss, so I downed Mary, hooked her up and went to where Stella and Mac were. Another check. Two hours had gone by. I leashed them all up and headed cross-country to the road that led back to the trucks. When I got to the road I heard a truck coming and two of the boys stopped and picked us up. We re-grouped and took stock of the situation. Mac's feet were a bit bloody in spots so I put him back in the box and decided that Mary was switching hare due to not staying on the checks, so we tried Stella solo. She had a hare going shortly and did a good job on the first half circle of about 100 yards. A long check. I moved in along with Matt not far away and again Stella ran steady til I thought one of us would get a shot. Another check. One of Stella's great points is that she stays on a check and almost always recovers it. Today though, once the line was two minutes old, she could not run it. She had to stay close. With the crust, there was no track to look for, only the nose to trust. So, we witnessed a hound who reached badly, bumping game and switching hare; another who was textbook, but neither could produce game. We moved a few miles down the road to a 3 acre piece of woods completely surrounded by woods road. We put Mary out alone and surrounded the thick piece of woods. Eventually she struck but lost the line after 100 feet or so. Matt had seen the hare so we worked her in the direction but she could not recover the line. I took Stella out of the box and put her in but she could not get scent here either. She moved out about 25 yards and struck and drove him hard but the hare jumped the road unseen and off they went into a large tract of thick woods. Mary got left behind and for some reason refused to hark to Stella who was having the run of the day. Three circles with only brief checks. Matt and I set up in the swamp but the other two boys were happy to stay back on the road. Time after time Stella brought the hare around but thick as it was we never caught a glimpse. After half an hour, Stella lost the track. She had run him well enough to shoot him but few openings in this greenhole. Stella still combed the area but we'd had enough and packed it in for the day. This was fairly typical of the conditions we've had for the last month. Two of the hounds did a good job, but not good enough. In the past I've nearly always had at least one hound who'd save the day for us, and while Mac and Stella are close, they're not quite good enough. Stella's mother would do better on the same conditions but she's nearly 13 and only gets out occasionally for a few hours at a time. At least we never worry about moose or deer runs, lost dogs or any of the other nonsense that dogs will pull on you when the running is tough. Still, I need better hounds. I've got 90% of what a snow hound should be but still lacking nose enough for these conditions.

[TomMN]

Steve, sounds like Stella is a good one. I hunted last weekend, dogs ran hard Saturday. Checked the thermometer Sunday morning about 9:00, -27. The sun was out and no wind so it warmed up pretty fast, got up to +4 for the high. Had company that had gone along earlier on a good weekend and wanted to go again. Went to a spot I haven't hunted before, about 40 acres of thick young pines. Road on one side, big pines and clear cut on the other three sides and a snowmobile trail through one corner. We had about 20 inches of powder snow. I just took Traveler and Rose, two different style of dogs but both capable of producing rabbits in winter. I walked in on the trail with the gunners, then took the dogs into the corner. They were showing some wear and tear from the day before and didn't hunt as hard as normal. Trav opened with a looong bawl, then worked a long time to find which way to track was going. He doesn't open unless a rabbit is up and running. I waited while he worked slowly towards the trail, no Rose. It got quiet so I walked out to the trail and found the gunners. They said both dogs came out to the trail and ran down it, nobody saw the hare. I called the dogs back and took them back in. Trav soon opened on another one, then worked long and hard for each track. He sounded like an old bluetick running a two day old track. Trav finaly moved it out across the trail (gunners didn't see it) and worked in deep on the other side. The track started getting better and Rose was starting to open some. Rose runs with a steady chop and picks up the checks with a couple long bawls. The better the track the more noise she makes. On a good drive it's a constant roar. Both dogs were running steady although not like on a summer day. I waited on the trail with the gunners but the hounds were staying deep on the other side. I walked in towards the dogs and there was rabbit sign everywhere. It was very thick, there was no way the rabbits were coming out of there. I found a small opening and listened for a long time, dogs came by but not within sight. Rose was up and running fast now with very little down time, Trav was hanging in there but having trouble keeping up. At one point both dogs started screaming like they had a sight chase and coming my way. I moved a little to the left, then of course Rose turned toward where I just left. I caught a glimpse of a rabbit running full speed past where I was standing, took a shot but the rabbit was gone before the shot got there! Rose came by close behind, Trav split off on a different rabbit. I realized the gunners weren't getting much action on the trail so I walked in and caught both dogs, back together and still running pretty good. Moved to another spot that had fewer rabbits but more open with a trail running down the middle. I put on the snowshoes and walked down the trail a ways, then took the dogs into the thick stuff. They were realy acting tired (or lazy) now. Trav opened, bluetickin' again. Gunners saw a rabbit come out but the dogs never got there. Couple more starts and stops and a lot of tramping down brush with the shoes. Both dogs finaly got one going in deep. Slow going, barely moving. Trav quit opening altogether, Rose was going chop chop chop, quiet, bawl bawl, chop chop, quiet, bawl bawl. I waited on the trail, gunners were down a ways around the bend. Rose is getting closer so I watch the trail. Watch, watch, watch, look over at a tree, look back just in time to see a rabbit hop into the brush on the other side, dang! It takes Rose a long time to get that far, she tries to move it on the other side but I notice it's kind of lonely out there so I catch Rose and go back to the trucks. Gunners are all there, trucks running,Trav is in the box (almost unheard of for Trav to come in on his own!) We decide to call it a day. Typical cold weather hare hunt in MN, no rabbits but a lot more fun than a day at work!

[chase]

Great story guys keep them coming I love this thanks for your time on posting

[NorWester1]

BTT for an oldie but a goodie

[barry wilson]

we need more articles like this. I love to here about good snow dogs