Best dogs for deer hunting

[Deleted]

What are the best dogs for deer hunting in your opinion? All dogs can but I mean the ones that can help you control deer populations. Of course scenthounds and sighthounds but I want a ranking.

[Hardcastle]

Impossible to compare different kinds of dogs, because different kinds of dog go with entirely different "sports".
Around 2004 England and Wales banned hunting with dogs, before that they had a "deer dogging" culture very similar to the Aussie "pig dogging" culture. I used to check out their forums and see pics and stuff (a few videos, but believe it or not videos were still kind of rare on the internet in 2003/2004). I thought it was very cool, in fact I was more intrigued by deer dogging than pig dogging. They used lurchers who most often had some bull but only about 25% most of the time. The bull was apbt too, mixed with greyhound mostly and often some deerhound. Sometimes a splash of collie as well. In fact some guys would just use collie x grey and it seemed they still definitely could take deer.
I think they probably took "deer dogging" more seriously than anyone and had finetuned the optimal dogs. A quarter bull and mostly sighthound seems to be the ideal mix to really smash deer efficiently and consistently. They'd typically just kill them outright too, but in saying that it was mostly roe, fallow, muntjac, chinese water deer and sika. Rarely big reds. I don't think it was that the dogs couldn't kill reds they just weren't as common.

But that's coursing deer with running dogs. Hunting deer with scenthounds or flushing dogs or blood-trailing shot deer or etc etc, all totally different things.

[Deleted]

Apr 14, 2023 9:02:14 GMT Hardcastle said:

Impossible to compare different kinds of dogs, because different kinds of dog go with entirely different "sports".
Around 2004 England and Wales banned hunting with dogs, before that they had a "deer dogging" culture very similar to the Aussie "pig dogging" culture. I used to check out their forums and see pics and stuff (a few videos, but believe it or not videos were still kind of rare on the internet in 2003/2004). I thought it was very cool, in fact I was more intrigued by deer dogging than pig dogging. They used lurchers who most often had some bull but only about 25% most of the time. The bull was apbt too, mixed with greyhound mostly and often some deerhound. Sometimes a splash of collie as well. In fact some guys would just use collie x grey and it seemed they still definitely could take deer.
I think they probably took "deer dogging" more seriously than anyone and had finetuned the optimal dogs. A quarter bull and mostly sighthound seems to be the ideal mix to really smash deer efficiently and consistently. They'd typically just kill them outright too, but in saying that it was mostly roe, fallow, muntjac, chinese water deer and sika. Rarely big reds. I don't think it was that the dogs couldn't kill reds they just weren't as common.

But that's coursing deer with running dogs. Hunting deer with scenthounds or flushing dogs or blood-trailing shot deer or etc etc, all totally different things.

I have jumped down the deer hunting with scenthounds rabbithole and how deer hunts usually go are like this.

The hunters release the hounds, which go and scout for the deer. When they got on a trail they bay and when they’re following the deer they bay. They follow/run after the deer until the end of the hunt, which several things can happen.

1. The hounds run the deer onto the road or path where the hunters are waiting with a gun, and the hunter shoots the deer.
2. The hounds do what hound hunters call “jump” the deer and kill it on their own. This happens either when the hunter missed the shot on the deer, they can’t get the deer to go the path they wanted and get frustrated, or they manage to grab a hold on the deer. 
3. The deer is either cornered or chooses fight over flight, and becomes dangerous and they have to send in reinforcements. This rarely, very rarely to none happens with does, and the only instances I have heard this happening is with large bucks.
4. This is rare but sometimes deer will collapse of exhaustion from being trailed by hounds and neither the hunter nor the dogs have to do any more hard work to dispatch the deer.