Qualities of huskies
Laika is a versatile dog that can be used to hunt for prey all year round. In the spring, it is similar to a pointer dog and helps catch upland game; in the summer, it is used to catch moose and bear. And in winter, the husky, like a hound, becomes an assistant when hunting a hare or fox.
This breed of dog is highly independent. She can assess the situation without the owner’s knowledge and make the only right decision. Good training and proper upbringing make the dog an excellent hunting dog that understands everything perfectly. There is no need to twitch her with strong words.
The hunter and his four-legged friend understand each other perfectly. The husky has an excellent sense of smell. Despite its independence, it is a dog devoted to humans. She loves her owner so much that she is ready to give her life for him. In addition, he is a wonderful watchdog. He will never bite his owner's household members.
This dog will be kind to them. When a hunting object is detected, the husky begins to bark. But until then she remains silent, and this is her valuable quality. She silently runs on the trail of an animal or bird, and gives voice only after detection.
Laikas are excellent hunting dogs
Hunting with a cop
It must be admitted that hunting a hare with a cop is not the best choice for a hunter. Cops are in many ways inferior to hounds, both in endurance and tenacity and the ability to drive an animal. A standard hunt for a hare with a cop is when, having found the game, it makes a stand and waits for the hunter’s command to pick it up.
The key advantage of pointing dogs is their versatility. They have a good sense of smell, are disciplined and, with proper training, can equally successfully hunt game birds, a hare and even a wild boar.
But pointing dogs are used extremely rarely in hare hunting, since they often “stand idle” and over time lose their ability to hide and stand, for which they are highly valued. After all, “hiding” when hunting a hare is not the best way.
Among all the pointing dogs, the Drathaar and Shorthaired Pointer are considered the most versatile. Moreover, there are no key differences in the process of hunting and training these two breeds. The only significant difference between these two breeds is that drathaars, unlike shorthaired pointers, have long hair and are better protected from frost and accidental damage. However, when hunting a hare, this does not matter much, since the animal’s rut occurs mainly in open areas.
When hunting with a drathaar or shorthaired pointer, you should not force things too much. If the pointer is disobedient or poorly trained, it is better to refuse hunting with her. The fact is that a running hare is a very strong irritant for any dog, and it can easily take off even without a command from the hunter.
The method of hunting with a shorthaired pointer and a drathaar for a “slanting” one does not particularly detract from hunting feathered game. You send a leghound against the wind in search of a hare. You can hunt at any time, and if your four-legged assistant is well baited, he will accurately predict where the hare lies after the night's feeding.
Unlike the same hounds that bark and chase the animal, the cop is faced with completely different tasks. She must find the “slanty one” and when he rises, lie down on the ground, which is quite problematic for most dogs and is achieved through long training. In addition, it is rare that a hare will allow a hunter with a dog to come within shooting distance. Therefore, in areas where the animal is frightened, such hunting is ineffective.
Boar hunting
Boar hunting with huskies is a better option than without them. The four-legged companion must be angry towards this beast and capable of dodging the wild beast if it attacks. For such a hunt you need to take two or three dogs. They are excellent at picking up the trail of an animal and finding it while feeding or resting. Then the boar begins barking.
The hunter comes to bark, and at this time the huskies use cunning tactics of pressing on the boar. Their task: the boar must remain in place until the owner approaches. One dog usually barks from the front. The boar thinks that this is his only enemy, but at this time another husky grabs the boar’s paw and immediately jumps away.
The wild animal dodges and experiences pain from the bite. At this time, the second dog again grabs the boar by the paws. And so it continues until the owner arrives: the dog bites, the boar twitches after it, and at this time it is again bitten on the hind leg from behind. At the same time, the dogs do not stop barking, and the owner runs with a gun ready to the place of the fight.
Tired of the attack, the boar presses against a boulder or large tree. The hunter just has to approach and make an accurate shot at the vital organ of the forest pig. Many hunters do not hunt wild boar with the help of huskies, but take hunting dogs of other breeds into the forest. By doing this, they make a terrible and deadly mistake for dogs.
The dogs rush at the head of the beast, since it is impossible to train them to grab a boar by the paws. As a result, the embittered boar simply tears the dogs apart with its powerful fangs. This trick doesn't work with a husky. If the boar was wounded and was able to escape into the forest thicket, then the huskies bark and rush in pursuit of the animal, and their owner rushes headlong after them.
But experienced hunters do not advise rushing, otherwise there will be trouble. The boar is an intelligent and cruel animal. He will sit in ambush and attack a person or husky himself, even bleeding. After the first shot, it is recommended to hold the dogs, rest for half an hour and only then rush in pursuit of the wounded animal.
During this time, the boar will leak a lot of blood, it will get tired and lie down behind some tree. He will be in his death throes and all that remains is to finish him off, since the dying boar will no longer rush into a second pursuit of the man and the huskies. If it's winter outside, then there's no need to worry at all.
Boar hunting with huskies, almost always successful
The boar will be easily detected by the bloody footprints left on the snow cover. Training huskies against wild boars should not be carried out. They instinctively hate all pigs and their relatives. Therefore, even on the first hunt, a husky who sees a wild boar will immediately begin to greet it with barking. But only an experienced dog can do it correctly.
Young huskies are often injured by wild pig hooves. Therefore, an experienced hunter never takes only a young husky into the forest. The presence of a second, experienced and older dog who has experience in wild boar fishing is required. Boar hunting is impossible without a first aid kit.
They will help both the person and the husky if an injury occurs. The first aid kit should include brilliant green, iodine, bandages, hydrogen peroxide, a needle and thread. It is advisable to wear a vest on the dog, which will help avoid being bitten by the sharp fangs of a boar.
Features of boar hunting
Hunting for wild boar with huskies requires compliance with some rules:
- The skin of a wild boar is very strong. You need to shoot at it from a distance of at least 20 meters.
- When hunting with a husky, it is better not to use explosive bullets, much less buckshot, to prevent injury to the dogs. Regular round bullets will do.
- The most vulnerable places of a boar are the neck, chest and head. These are the ones you need to aim at.
- Having shot a wild animal, you do not need to immediately run to it. A wounded wild boar is a very dangerous animal. Even after a series of well-aimed shots, he may still be alive (pressed ears can indicate this).
- If the boar is just wounded, it is not recommended to look for it right away, especially at night. It's better to continue searching in the morning.
Tactics
Hunting wild boar with a husky involves the following:
- Laikas look for the boar's trail, find it and follow it.
- Sensing the beast, the dog begins to bark loudly.
- Alarmed by the dogs, the boar runs away, and the dogs begin to chase it until it gets tired.
- Then the huskies stop the beast and continue barking at it, periodically biting the boar.
- Laikas indicate their location by voice and wait for the hunter.
- When shooting, the hunter must clearly see the wild boar so as not to hit the dogs with the bullet.
Precautionary measures
The article mentioned many times the nature of the wild boar, its size and reaction to persecution. There is another feature of the beast - it is able to pretend to be dead. If the hunter has only wounded the animal, the boar may rush at him when he approaches. When approaching a hunted animal, you must always keep the gun cocked and loaded at the ready. It is best to make a control shot behind the ear to make sure that the animal is dead.
Particularly serious precautions must be taken if you are hunting a wild boar with a knife, and remember this feature of the wild boar. You can understand that the boar is pretending by looking at the animal’s ears pressed to its head.
Night hunt
Night hunting for wild boar is very dangerous and unpredictable. Darkness is a particular inconvenience for the hunter; lighting (a flashlight) is indispensable. And when the boar sees the light, it will go to a place where it will be difficult to find it at night. Hunting wild boar at night requires the presence of a night vision device.
They try not to take huskies for night hunting; in their excitement, dogs can chase the animal and drive it very far, and further search for dogs becomes a very difficult task. If dogs are to hunt wild boar at night, they must be led to the place on a leash. It is better to hunt wild boar at night in its feeding areas; it is determined by droppings, tracks on the ground and trees. It is better to go on a night hunt before dark; you will have to spend many hours in the shelter.
Caution must be exercised here, as the wild boar is a very aggressive animal. It is better to prepare a shelter in a tree in case of an unsuccessful shot.
If everything is done correctly and safety measures are followed, the hunter will be able to receive incomparable pleasure from the process and become the owner of a long-awaited trophy.
Moose hunting with a husky
Moose hunting with a husky begins when the dog has reached the age of 1.5-2 years. For the first hunt, you should take an experienced husky and a young dog at the same time. An experienced human assistant will show you all the intricacies of the race for the forest giant. Laika must be strong and resilient. She will have to run through snow and mud for many kilometers.
Elk is an animal that develops sprinting speed. Therefore, the pursuing dog must have a healthy heart and lungs. While searching for a moose, a husky can run at an average speed. But after discovering an elk, the dog must run at a fast pace to try to catch up with the animal.
The goal of the dog is to search for the animal, chase the found animal, overtake it and constantly bark until a person with a gun arrives. A hunter cannot quickly run a long distance through snowdrifts and windbreaks, so his four-legged assistant must hold the animal in one place for a long time.
The elk dog barks at the elk for a long time and persistently, with anger, hovering around it, not allowing it to escape in any direction. The dog must understand that the elk can hit him with its strong legs and cause fatal injury. If a dog only chases an animal, but is afraid to stop it, then it is not suitable for hunting.
The dog should bark not just angrily, but also loudly, with a ringing voice that can be heard even through a strong wind. If the dog has a muffled voice, then gusts of wind will not convey to the person the necessary information about the discovery of the giant eagles.
Huskies are also good at moose hunting
If the dog barked, but the elk still ran away, then the husky is faced with a new task: to again catch up with the animal from the front and hold it again with continuous barking until the hunter arrives. And this can go on many times. Because of this, the hunt can last several hours, and only strong and healthy dogs can withstand such a process.
As a result, the hunter sooner or later approaches and takes a shot. If the elk does not die immediately, then it has turned into a wounded animal. The dog and its owner can only follow the new tactics. They do not chase a wounded animal, but simply sit and rest. The dog is refreshed, the owner drinks tea from a thermos.
Forty minutes pass and the chase begins in the wake of the wounded animal. A wounded elk cannot run far. He is bleeding profusely and following the bloody trail the animal is found lying behind some bushes. A sure shot to the head and the trophy is guaranteed.
Bear hunting with a husky
It is not easy to catch this large animal. A bear hunt with a husky can end in different ways. Laika is an excellent assistant in detecting bear dens and hunting clubfoot. They go to the forest in winter.
It must be cold outside. In such weather, the owner of the taiga sleeps especially soundly. The fisherman leads the dog on a leash. Sooner or later, the dog senses the presence of a den and begins to bark, asking to visit the bear’s home.
But the owner does not allow this to be done, otherwise the owner of the forest will be awakened, angry and will take the initiative. A man asks his four-legged friend to shut up. The two of them silently walk to the den, examine it, remember the place and leave just as silently. The first mission is now complete.
But a person always takes into account possible unpleasant circumstances. The loud barking of a dog sometimes wakes up even an animal that sees its sweetest dreams. The awakened bear is very angry, he is merciless to anyone he meets on his way. In this case, only an accurate shot at the clubfoot will help, otherwise there will be trouble.
The wolf laika fulfills its task if it manages to quietly leave the forest. The next day you can come to the den without the dog. Laika will no longer be a good helper. On the contrary, a clubfoot can tear her to pieces. There were cases when the bullet missed the target and the dog was accidentally wounded by a gun shot and then died.
After all, they go after bears with powerful bullets with strong killing power. But some hunters still take huskies to help pull the bear out of the den. Several dogs are taken on a hunt at once, always fast and experienced. They are placed near the den. By order of the owner, they bark and wake up the bear.
If the bear does not come out, they move a long stick inside the den. Next, a variety of scenarios are possible. Sometimes the bear just sticks out his mighty paw and injures the dog. In another situation, he quickly jumps out and runs away from the home. The hunter's task is to make an accurate shot at the fleeing owner of the taiga.
Hunting a bear with a husky is a pleasure
Most often, such a large animal turns out to be a wounded animal. The huskies and the man begin to chase the animal. It is better to do the same as in the case of wild boar and elk. After waiting about an hour, the bear is discovered by the bloody trail and a second shot at the bleeding bear is always fatal.
If it was not possible to hit the bear that came out of the den, you can only rely on the dog’s good sense of smell and his fast legs. The huskies must catch up with the clubfoot and bark at him until the hunter comes running. It happens that an enraged bear himself begins to attack the dogs surrounding him, and tears them with his strong claws and teeth.
Therefore, the hunter tries to run as quickly as possible towards the barking dogs. Many regions of Russia have decided that killing a sleeping bear is an inhumane activity. Therefore, in such constituent entities of the Russian Federation there is a ban on this method of harvesting clubfoot. Due to these circumstances, we advise you to carefully study regional bans on hunting animals before hunting. Poaching is a punishable evil.
Features of hunting an animal with a husky
To get the long-awaited trophy, you need to find out in advance where the badger’s hole is. To do this you need to use the help of a dog. It is not difficult to find out that the badger’s home is located ahead: most often these animals settle on hills - where the soil is much easier to dig out.
Animals can use one burrow for quite a long time, inhabiting it from generation to generation. Old burrows have many entrances and exits, which are necessary in order to escape from danger in time and also for ventilation.
The fact that this is a badger hole is indicated by the remains of dry leaves, branches and sedge near the entrances - this is how badgers clear out their house before hibernation. In addition, animal claw marks on the trees also indicate that a badger lives somewhere nearby.
And, of course, the tracks of the animal left on the ground help to accurately determine the presence of a badger. In a calm state, the animal advances slowly and leaves clear prints that do not overlap each other. But if he is jogging, then the tracks may overlap each other.
The hunter also needs to prepare before going out hunting with huskies. This applies to equipment and choice of weapons. You need to be physically strong, resilient, and patient, because sometimes you have to wait for a badger for a while or run after dogs in the dark.
Also, the hunter must be able to immediately hit the target so that the animal does not die in agony. In addition, a wounded animal poses a danger to dogs and humans - it can attack or hide in a hole, and then you will have to dig it out.
Some hunters go out to hunt badgers in pairs: one person shines a flashlight, and the other fires an accurate shot. In this case, you can be sure that the bullet will not hit the dog. If you don’t have an assistant, you can install the lantern on a tree or attach it to the barrel of a gun.
Sometimes hunters put a bell on the dog so that they can determine where it is. After all, some dogs get so carried away by hunting that they kill the animal themselves and then stop giving voice to the owner, without throwing their trophy or releasing it from their teeth.
The start of the hunt should be scheduled for the evening, and, first of all, approach the mountain to make sure that it is empty and the badger has left. Then the wait begins until the dog finds the badger and gives a signal to the owner. By her barking, you can understand that the persecution has begun and you need to have time to cover the discovered entrances to the hole during the day with various obstacles.
Hunting for upland game
Capercaillie, hazel grouse and black grouse are considered upland game. Their meat is tasty, tender and dietary. They look for birds in the forests, where there are a lot of berries - the favorite food of these birds. They go hunting in the morning dew. Then the dog picks up the trail of birds better. After discovering a family of feathered inhabitants of the forest, the husky with a loud voice makes the birds rise from the ground to the tree.
The Laika stands near a specific tree and barks until the owner arrives, who comes up and shoots. The smart husky always accurately determines which tree the bird's hatch has climbed after the birds have been scared away. The man makes an accurate shot, and the husky finds the shot game on the ground and brings it to its owner in its teeth.
The hunter must say kind words to his faithful assistant, stroke the dog, and praise him. In hot weather, it is customary to look for upland game in the forest shade, and in the afternoon in the baths. The autumn capercaillie loves to feed on aspen leaves that have turned sour in the cold.
The feathered giants chew their food noisily and thereby betray their presence. After the dog begins to show signs of detecting the brood, the person lets it off the leash and then approaches the aspen tree that the dog is barking at. After a successful shot, the fallen bird is not picked up.
The rest of the brood soon calms down and starts crunching leaves again. Soon another shot lays the new capercaillie on the moss. So, with the help of a husky, in one aspen forest you can shoot several wood grouse at once and come home with an excellent trophy.
Squirrel hunting with husky
Squirrel hunting
A squirrel is a small fur-bearing animal that can only be obtained with the help of one breed of dog - the husky. Hounds, pointers and greyhounds are not capable of performing such a task. This is in the blood of huskies, since when the breed appeared, the main task of huskies was precisely to help catch squirrels. Laika goes with her owner into the forest.
After discovering a squirrel, she approaches the tree in which the animal is hiding. If a squirrel runs out onto the moss, the husky chases it up the tree again. The squirrel is a smart and cunning animal. She has a fur coat, the color of which is similar to the bark of a tree. When she sees a dog and a man, she clings to the tree trunk. You have to spend a lot of time to see a squirrel in a tree.
Laika tells the owner that the squirrel is hiding in this particular tree, but the camouflage allows the animal to be seen only after a long time. It is even more difficult to make an accurate shot on a small animal. Fluffy is helped by twigs and branches that make it difficult to aim accurately.
Squirrels are hunted in winter. In summer it camouflages itself so well that it is simply impossible to see through the foliage. In winter, the cunning creature specifically jumps on coniferous trees that do not shed their needles in the middle of winter. The squirrel understands that it is easy to notice on an aspen or birch tree, since after the autumn leaves fall they have no leaves at all.
Duck hunting
The Laika is excellent for duck hunting, coping with the task better than a spaniel. Most hunters keep this dog specifically for duck hunting as the favorite pastime of most Russian hunters. Laika always looks for a duck when it is close to its owner.
She does not run far from a person, but if she still gets carried away with the search, the owner usually calls the pet to him. If a dog sees a river or lake in which a brood of ducks is sitting, then it waits for the owner to approach and climbs into the water only with his permission.
Laika is not at all afraid of water and is an excellent swimmer. She has an excellent sense of smell even when in water. Laika sniffs the reeds and cattails and looks for ducks in the aquatic thickets. Such four-legged helpers must have a strong character and excellent health. Laika, which does not have a persistent disposition, is not suitable for duck hunting.
Duck hunting with a husky is interesting and fruitful
Such dogs first climb into the water, then they get tired of getting wet and go ashore without completing the task. A properly trained dog should be able to correctly retrieve a shot duck. Incorrect training can lead to the dog simply carrying the duck in its teeth and leaving it on the mound, rather than giving it personally to the owner.
In this case, the owner gives the dog the command “Give!” If a dog was not trained correctly as a child, it will crush the duck in its teeth. This is also unacceptable. The hunter can use different hunting tactics.
He is watching the dog. When a husky hears the flight of ducks, it turns its head towards the flying birds. The man shoots, and the dog must chase the wounded animal and bring it back in his teeth.
Hunting on a pond
The Laika is usually one of the best dogs for duck hunting. Her task is to lift the duck onto the wing in the shot zone, and after it find and bring to the owner a dead bird or wounded animal. Laika on duck hunting reduces prey losses to a minimum and this makes the owner very happy.
Of course, in commercial hunting areas (Urals, Siberia, Far East), where the husky is both a breadwinner (fur) and a nurse (meat), the hunter himself is unlikely to take it on a duck hunt. After all, in dogs that often swim and dive for wounded animals, the hearing of water getting into their ears weakens over the years, sometimes to the point of complete deafness. But let the owner of the husky decide whether to hunt ducks with it or not.
To all this, all that remains to be added is that when hunting with a husky, you need to look very carefully before shooting to see if the dog is barking at a female (especially a capercaillie). And even more so, you categorically cannot shoot “clucking” birds - this is a stark thing. This is our wealth!
Hare hunting
Hunting for white hare and brown hare, along with duck hunting, is the most favorite pastime of hunters who own huskies. But it should be remembered that if a husky is trained to hunt a hare, it will no longer be an assistant when catching a duck.
Laika can smell a hare's trail very well. She silently follows the trail, but as soon as she sees the oblique one, she immediately raises her voice. With the help of this dog you can get around windbreaks, thickets of rose hips, and willows, because the hare is a great cunning one and desperately fights for life. He confuses his tracks, makes false tracks, doubles, triples and loops.
Laika by nature is not so well versed in the rabbit's tricks. If the scythe managed to confuse the tracks, then the dog will be powerless to unravel this labyrinth in the snow on its own. Therefore, for purposeful catching of hares, they try to raise a good hound, not a husky.
But a real hunter never loses heart. Right in the forest, she teaches her four-legged friend to unravel a tangle of hare prints. Sooner or later, the husky learns these intricacies of the hare trade.
Everything comes with experience, eventually the husky becomes mated, and the owner comes home with a trophy. On subsequent hunts, the husky manages to easily unravel the hare’s most cunning moves. Therefore, this advice: the main thing is patience, and the result will not keep you waiting.
Hare hunting with husky
Hunting a hare with a husky is practiced by some hunters, but most believe that this spoils the husky, since it was born to hunt squirrels and birds.
Legends about huskies haunt the owners of these hunting dogs, so they try to show and prove the dog’s versatility in practice, which is why they use it to hunt hare.
The hunting behavior of a husky is completely different from that of a hound dog, which is specifically used for hunting hare.
If hound dogs always chase a hare with a voice that can be heard throughout the entire area, then with the husky the situation is completely different.
She begins to bark only when there is a very fresh track of a hare or he is within her range of vision, that is, he jumps out of his bed.
This feature of the husky helps the hunter get very close to the game, but in hare hunting this quality is not as important as in other types of hunting.
When the hare is raised from its bed, the dog begins to chase it until the first chip. Then she returns to the hunter.
This behavior is absolutely opposite to the behavior of hound dogs, which themselves correct chips and continue to chase the hare.
The dog should be helped to find the track of the hare, so the hunter needs to return to the place of the chip together with the husky and show it how to look for the missing track.
Thus, a dog can be taught to correct chips, but this will not give the same results as when hunting a hare with hounds.
Hare hunting with a husky is usually practiced from the moment the dog is eight months old.
If you are going to hunt a white hare, then you need to go to the forest where this hare lives every day, but to hunt a brown hare you should go to the field, since it is a lover of steppe terrain.
It is better to walk in hunting areas where there are few hare, so that the husky is not distracted by extraneous tracks and develops its viscosity.
With each new hare hunt, the husky will improve its performance, gain experience and skill.
It should be noted that the husky has a very good sense of smell, so it does not have such a vice as chasing an animal along the scent in the opposite direction, which is found in some hounds.
If hound dogs get lost by some hunters while hunting, this does not happen with huskies, since they can almost never get lost in the forest, because they have a very subtle sense of smell.
Calling a dog with a shot is not allowed, because in this case it will develop the habit of running to its owner every time it hears a shot.
This negatively affects the viscosity of the dog, which will simply disappear, and the husky will run every time in the direction of the shot, even when another hunter makes it, that is, the dog will simply be spoiled.
The use of a husky for hare hunting can be considered undesirable to a greater extent than necessary, since it begins to lose such a feature as the lack of vocalization on the scent.
A lot of time is spent on searching for a hare and its rutting, which could be used more efficiently on squirrel hunting, so hunting for a hare with a husky is carried out by hunters only in those places where there is no opportunity to hunt more valuable game.
