Deer hunting as a teenager

[ozark]

During the early to mid forties the area of North
Arkansas was one of the few places that had whitetail deer.
During open season it was legal to use a dog on a leash to move deer. Old Drive was a black dog that was mostly hound and would bark every breath when tracking a deer without pulling hard on the leash. I followed this dog many miles on the track of deer. It was customary for the dog to get half of the meat if it pushed a buck over a hunter. The hunter got the antlers. Bucks only were legal. If I came upon a hunter and was told that we were after a doe I would pull him off and look for another trail to follow. I knew where our group of hunters were located and if a deer left the general area and there was no chance of putting one over a member of our group I would pull the dog off and attempt to pick up another track. Ole Drive and I both loved this adventure and back then I could cover many miles over the hills and hollows in a days time. Often I would run behind the dog and on a few occasions was headed off by game wardens who thought the dog was loose. Sometimes Ole Drive and I were used to track a wounded deer and offered pay if we found it. Ole drive went nuts when we got on a track that had blood. He would sniff the blood, lift his head and bawl like he was going to explode. On some fast chases he went on one side of a bush and I the other and we would be stopped. If we got in sight of a crippled deer I could unleash him and he would catch the deer and prevent it from leaving the spot. I would rush there and finish the deer with a head shot. I had a Model 33 Remington single shot bolt action rifle. I am curious if anyone else ever tried this type of dogging deer. Ozark.

[olegburn]

Unless you wear a lot of orange on-that would be "No"in some parts of Ohio.Too many gents are trigger happy.
I love reading about old time hunting.
olegburn

[youp50]

Ben,
What a cool story and innovative way to deal with game law restrictions. Deer hunting with dogs has been illegal in Michigan since around the turn of the century. They now allow blood tracking dogs, but I think they need to be leashed while they work. I have trailed up several wounded bears with a dog on a lead. September 10th through the 14th no loose dogs chasing bears here. Somebody wounds a bear and loses it as a last resort they would call me, usually several days too late to even bother. They would ask you to try to find a bear from a bait that had other fresh bear tracks over the top. Sometimes though I would get a call when the trail was fresh enough to find the bear. I am of the opinion that it is a very good thing that most black bears only want to be far from people, I think if one were to try that with grizzly bears it turn out somewhat differently.

Your story reminds me of one about a poor hill fellow that managed to scrape together 2 bucks to buy a squirrel dog. The dog was cheap for it had a run in with a train and had lost his legs. The fellow was instructed on the art of pushing the dog through the woods on a wheelbarrow. Treeing squirrels by the way the dog barked and turned his head. The man was very pleased and fed his family squirrels for several months. He took the dog into some new country that had a few deer and was gone for 4 days. When he returned home the front of the wheel barrow was worn smooth and he was thin, beat up by the brush, and very mad. He confronted the man he bought the dog from and wanted to know why he was not informed the dog would run a deer.