Bad idea???

[BLUEBULLS]

i have a year old redbone/bluetick mix. He's never hunted but he's giving cats hell in my yard. I'm confident that he'll follow scent good. I'm not sure if it's a good idea to turn him loose solo on a coon without a collar.

Any advise or suggestions?

[Machias]

I wouldn't turn a dog out without a recovery collar on, at least not a hound.   Ecspecially young hounds.  You can loose alot of sleep and spend alot of money in gas looking for them for several days.  Are you thinking of turning him out with an older dog or on his own?  He could hit a hot deer track and be in the next zip code before he looses interest and then he's lost. 

[CP]

It’s a real bad idea.  I found a redbone once trotting down a gravel road, all four feet bleeding so bad he was leaving a trail.  He had a collar with his owner’s phone number so he made it home but he was over 10 miles from where he was set loose.  If he didn’t have a collar I’d probably own a hound dog.

[Houndhunter]

ya i wouldnt if he had no training, mostly likely gonna go off on somthin else that crosses his path then end up several miles away. but i've had family tell me they had dogs never been out over a year old and first time ever hunting did everything they was supposed to. i'd get a tracking collar on it then let loose and hope for the best

[BLUEBULLS]

thanks for the quick answers, neghibors cats will have to do until i have a collar.

another ?, how do you keep them off deer? I know he'll chase them.

[Houndhunter]

firm hand and practice, took mine a bit to not be interested in them, even now i still wonder what she'll do if one gets in her vison

[Machias]

Easiest way is Tri Tronics.  Set them up for failure in a controlled situation.  Another way if you have a young dog is to hot wire a deer tarsal gland in a pasture and let them explore.  They find the gland and go investigate and they teach themsleves real fast. It is imperative you break them off of deer elk etc.. it will save their life eventually.

[BLUEBULLS]

thanks for the advise, Is it too late for him to learn? he's very stubborn but intelligent at the same time?

also, when he finds a cat in the yard, he'll trap it somewhere and then let the whole town know about it (which sounds awesome to me, i thought he was loud barking at people but this is 10x louder) he doesn't try to kil it, is this good or bad?

[Machias]

No he's not too old.  Also remember you can ruin a dog pretty quick with a shock collar, so before you strap one onto his neck do some reading.  He's only one so I wouldn't hold it against him, but if one of my two dogs were baying on a house cat they'd be cut from the pack   Once he gets a little fur in his mouth those cats won't be safe.  I had a female bluetick a few years ago that I kept on a 20 foot cable tie out.  I had a big old orange tabby that would sit down about a foot outside of Whisper's circle and just stare at the dog while she was waking up the dead.  Eventually the cable kinked and I had to buy another.  They only had the 25 footers.  That cat was dead about two seconds after the dog hit the 21 foot mark.  I thought she was going to shake it's head and tail plum off.

[stumprat]

With the price of tracking systems these days there is no excuse to ever turn loose without 1.