AR Deer Hunting w/Walker Beagles? Whatcha' think?

[Clay C]

Great write up OP. Glad you got to experience it. I've done it once in Virginia about 12 years ago. It was nothing like I expected and the entire experience from meeting up at the club house in the morning to meeting back up in the afternoon is one I will never forget.

[417scott]

New to the forum (from Canada) and this is an interesting thread. Where I grew up in northern Ontario, baiting/feed piles are illegal. Up there most people use dogs. It tends to be thick forest (smaller pines, spruce, birch, etc..). Without dog's you'd often be hard pressed to see deer and even with them I'm sure everyone knows how hard they are to get a clean shot on in the thick trees.

Now moose on the other hand, just go wait by the nearest muskeg field and one will show up eventually. Word to the wise, put it down clean and before it get's to the middle of a muskeg field.

[breadman]

as a teenager in south Mississippi we hunted with dogs it was fun and its what everyone knew and done . never gave it much thought till I moved to texas at 18 and could not belive you could bait deer with corn here . youd go to jail in miss. doing that . but it was illegal to use dogs . very confusioning at the time . in my opion to each his own ! as long as we still get to hunt u just gotta roll with the laws in each state if not we`d be a federal government controlled 1 state union . that would be baaaaaaaad .

[MadHatter]

Grew up doing this in Ar, every yr, and mostly all yr. My uncles raised the tallest long legged redbones you ever seen for running deer. From the bottoms to the mountains, them things could run for days, and I mean days. I was a kid, they were drunk, and the dogs were always ready, some of the best memories I have. They also had a Walker named Judd, out of Hillbilly Mack, and he was one the baddest coon dogs to ever run the Quachita Mts. IMO deer hunting, ain't got sheet on coon hunting, when it comes to working dogs.
One thing nobody has mentioned, is running the dogs down. Sometimes you spend more time trying to find the crazy sob's than you do hunting. There were no gps collars back then, google maps, garmin, etc.. You had wore out county rd map, and half the county rds had no signs. Sometimes you walked 20+ miles in a day, trying to find them, sometimes it felt like you drove 400 miles of county rds to find them. The best of times for sure.
Good write up OP.

[the marshall]

Thank you sir... I believe you are exactly right. Tommy knew where that deer was going to come out, and he directed me to "the spot", knowing I'd see something special, and I did.

Thanks for the wonderful write up Lenny. It reminded me of a lot of fun times spent in the woods hunting just the way you did on your trip.

I think I would still go just to listen to the hounds

[rjtkdplus]

I killed my first buck in Alabama this way in the early 80s. Lots of fun and I'd do it again. Never killed many deer that way though. Much easier to kill a deer watching a travel route or feeding area IMO.

[Landrover]

oh MAN!!! I AM LATE TO THE PARTY, glad you enjoyed the experience!!! When dogs chase deer it is INCREDIBLE...….us south Louisiana folks only knew this as a method when we grew up. Talk about great times. I definitely understand the private property concerns as dogs don't see property lines and dogs should not go on others property without permission. But in areas that it is wide open and customary it is a total non issue...……..sweeeeeeeet hound music!!! In my opinion, I kill waaaaay more deer sitting on a stand or over a trail. Sad that folks cant find commonality in something so grounded in our hunting roots.

[tps7742]

Yes it was allot of fun back in the day. I know old timers that quit hunting when they couldn’t hear that sweet hound music to them. There are a couple fellows around here that hunt exclusively in AR because of the dogs.

On the other side of that coin making it illegal to run dogs in this neck of the pines helped increasing the deer population IMO. At the same time sadly it is still illegal to even using tracking dogs in this county.

[Bayouboy]

I sure miss it.

[Texas Grown]

Just now seeing this thread. And great write-up Lenny! I've been behind a pack for coon, and for rabbits. But never deer. Thanks for bringing this story back about a dying sport.

[Gunnyart]

Great write up Lenny. Good to meet you this afternoon.