Registered: Oct 2014
Location: NC
Posts: 143

Been hunting my female fairly hard as of late with minimal success at best. Sometimes she'll tree with the coon and others will be slick as glass. Here lately its been 50/50. Went through a phase here not long ago where she would just fall treed about 30 yards into the woods, thankfully we've about gotten out of the phase as I think it had something to do with her being laid up and being in heat. My question is: would it help or hurt to put some buckets out and let her strike some hot tracks for a little while in hopes that it will flip a switch in her head and get her back to treeing more accurately? I don't want to have to relay in buckets a whole awful lot but would be willing to hunt over them for a week or so if it would benefit my dog.

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Registered: Jan 2004
Location: North MO
Posts: 2353

quote:

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Originally posted by wildcat3
Been hunting my female fairly hard as of late with minimal success at best. Sometimes she'll tree with the coon and others will be slick as glass. Here lately its been 50/50. Went through a phase here not long ago where she would just fall treed about 30 yards into the woods, thankfully we've about gotten out of the phase as I think it had something to do with her being laid up and being in heat. My question is: would it help or hurt to put some buckets out and let her strike some hot tracks for a little while in hopes that it will flip a switch in her head and get her back to treeing more accurately? I don't want to have to relay in buckets a whole awful lot but would be willing to hunt over them for a week or so if it would benefit my dog.

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Registered: Jan 2007
Location: monroeville OH
Posts: 2685

hunt/hunt/hunt her!!! if its there she will straighten out!!! after about 30 nites more than what I would give tho!! she should pick up the pace and have more coon!!! hunt her alone and see what she does!! no magic cure!! but some will tell ya there is!!just a dog!!jmo

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Registered: Mar 2011
Location: candler nc
Posts: 1404

quote:

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Originally posted by Josh Michaelis
It would make it worse

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Registered: Jan 2004
Location: North MO
Posts: 2353

quote:

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Originally posted by MARSHALL AYERS
I respectfully disagree. It can't hurt to throw her a bone every once in a while. And if it's not going to be for a prolonged period of time it definitely can't hurt. Hell you will hunt on them in comp hunts in nc so why not pleasure hunt her on some as well.

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Registered: Jul 2004
Location: Nova Scotia
Posts: 2768

She needs to run a few good tracks to a few good trees.WWhatever it takes to get that done. If the coons are runnin to a tree it might help her. If its popping up beside the feeder or been up and down a tree five times and left an hour ago she's likely better of somewhere else.

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Registered: May 2015
Location: Dixie
Posts: 16

Let's put the producing aside and answer this question: y'all remember when hunt time was 3hrs? Who wins a two dog cast Lipper or Rattler? Bhaa ha ha ha ha! I recon we all know that answer don't we boys!

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Registered: Jun 2014
Location: Louisiana
Posts: 3468

quote:

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Originally posted by wildcat3
Been hunting my female fairly hard as of late with minimal success at best. Sometimes she'll tree with the coon and others will be slick as glass. Here lately its been 50/50. Went through a phase here not long ago where she would just fall treed about 30 yards into the woods, thankfully we've about gotten out of the phase as I think it had something to do with her being laid up and being in heat. My question is: would it help or hurt to put some buckets out and let her strike some hot tracks for a little while in hopes that it will flip a switch in her head and get her back to treeing more accurately? I don't want to have to relay in buckets a whole awful lot but would be willing to hunt over them for a week or so if it would benefit my dog.

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Registered: Oct 2004
Location: Clarksville, AR
Posts: 1077

I don't think it will "fix" her, but if you've been correcting her quite a bit, putting her in a scenario where she can succeed now and then wouldn't be a bad thing. If you decide to do it, put your feeder on a tiny tree, quite a ways from anything big enough for a coon to climb. That way you make her trail a little, or at least give her the opportunity to. When\if she trees the small tree at the feeder without the coon, you'll be able to see it quickly and correct accordingly. And when she trails off the feeder and has the coon, you'll be able to praise her. Lots of people forget that night after night of too much correction for anything (slick trees, trash, etc.) without occasional positive reinforcement is tough on a dog.

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Registered: Apr 2014
Location: batsville ark
Posts: 1110

no . you cant make a purse out of a sows ear .live with her like she is now or start over with a new dog . anything else is just a waste of your time . if hunting and training could fix a slick treeing dog i would run a add for my services and retire a millionaire .lol best i have been able to do is fool myself for awhile thinking i saw some measure of improvement in a dog while in truth all i did is waste time .

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Registered: Oct 2013
Location: Maryland
Posts: 2633

You would be hard pressed to find someone that has tried this more than me...it don't work, it don't help, it can and usually does make things worse. It's pretty simple...what I believe happens is that the dog pops up a few easy coons and thinks that is the way it should happen, then when you take the "easy" away and try to get the dog to go out and find a coon, work out a bad track, locate the tree that has the coon at the end of it, well it seems like the dog wonders "why all this work????" It was all so easy before. Maybe another way of explaining it is: it's like expecting welfare to improve someone. Two years of a free ride and now all of a sudden they have to go out and make it on their own???? yeah, okay.
Don't get me wrong, I think feeder buckets used right can be an excellent way to help get certain young dogs started on the right path, but once they are started then the free ride needs to be over. Ultimately, don't we all want a dog that doesn't need that free ride???

Edit: what really made me quit pushing dogs on easy coons is that the last couple I tried it with began running off game when they couldn't find a coon within 100 yards of the truck. Both of these dogs had been pretty well broke off of fast game, but it's that "path of least resistance" thing...red fox and deer are way too easy as opposed to a half cold feeder track that takes a little effort.

Last edited by msinc on 01-18-2017 at 04:46 AM

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