What is the best dog for blood tracking and hunting?

Question

I am looking for a dog breed that is good for hunting (mainly deer) and good with families. I have a young child and do not want an aggressive breed. I am a novice dog trainer and would like to try and do most of the training myself. I want a breed that can be trained to blood track and retreive. Does anyone know of any good breeds?

Answer 1

For tracking, you probably will be best served by one of the many hound breeds. The other hunting dogs are not as well suited for tracking or trailing, as they tend to "air scent," meaning that they use their noses to smell their prey in the air. Hounds will keep their noses more to the ground and are incredibly adept at trailing their prey, especially a wounded animal leaving a blood trail.

I'm not sure what you want to retrieve, but if want a dog that retrieves ducks or other game birds in addition to tracking, than you should look at one of several breeds that track, point, and retrieve. These are known as versatile hunting dogs. There used to be only seven recognized breeds, but now there's no list of specific breeds (at least that I have seen in years). They included: German Wirehaired Pointer, Weimaraner, Visla, Wirehaired Pointing Griffin, and some others I can't remember. Also the Spinone Italiano and the Bracco Italiano qualify as Versatile Hunting Dogs.

I've owned and trained a bloodhound, and I loved him a lot! However, bloodhounds and many other hounds can be a bit stubborn and not the easiest to train. Make sure you do a lot of research on the best methods for training a dog to trail.

Good Luck!

Answer 2

I have been hunting with trackers all my life .If you want a dog for tracking you want a breed of hound . Most other breeds will hunt by sight not tracking scent .Hounds have much keener sense of smell than other breeds of dogs.Since you are going to be tracking deer you want a breed of hound that is a fast runner .So I wouldnt recomend a bloodhound .They are fine for tracking something that dosent run fast like people but they are to slow for deer .I would recomend a black and tan a redtick or a bluetick hound .If you can have 2 dogs . I would recomend running it with a irish wolf hound ,if you want them to bring down wounded deer.Wolf hounds hunt more by sight than smell than other hounds but the tracker wouldnt loose him and the wolf hound would take over once they caught him .Any hound will be good with your family if you get it as a puppy and raise it as a pet .

Answer 3

I've hunted for years. If you want to hunt deer there's only one K-9 to get. A high breed wolf/ German Shepard. If you can't find one of these I would go with a Grey hound. I had one for 8 years and she ran down ever deer. Plus you can find them around dog tracts for free. Sound odd but would you trust some who can't even spell Rotts right?

Answer 4

For tracking you would want a Scenthound. Hounds are also the least aggressive of all breeds. They are not easily trained, although very smart.

seedolom4 - would you trust someone who cannot spell hybrid? LOL!

Answer 5

there are quite a few different breeds you could get, but i believe the Labradors are awesome for hunting, tracking and great with kids. i have two labs that are trained, one is trained in search and rescue. and the other is trained for the handicapped. I also have lots of children in my family and my dogs are great with them all, they are patient and very loving.

also my in laws have German Shepard's and golden retrievers that are trained and work for the U.S Marshall. so there are lots of options.

good luck

Answer 6

Good dogs are: Labs, Retrivers or Rutwilers They can run alot!
Hope this helps as well: Get a rut and train it well. Teach it fetch, heel and stay, (His name of course) and sit. Tell him to fetch when you shoot something. :) Good luck with hunting and watch out for big foot *wink* But scence you did say u have a kid do the same but w/ a retriever. Beagles are hyper and cutie. GREAT for hunting! so... I would go with a beagle but a think if you'r kid is a girl get a beagle and if you kid is a teen get a rut! :) So everyone wins! Hope this helps tons!

Answer 7

I have a female Bloodhound and that is the best tracking dog ever...My Rott could care less...he just runs aimlessly while Moonshine is sniffing and tracking.

Answer 8

I think you are looking for a golden(retreiver!)
They are wonderfull family dogs and retreiving,a bit playfull for the first 2 years, consistancy in trainng is key.

Answer 9

blood hounds, basset hounds,look at any hounds,

Answer 10

blood hound