How to hunt land where dogs are used to chase deer?

[PMVBowhunter]

I have access to land where the hunt club runs dogs during gun season. They randomly run patches of woods and cut overs. I don’t participate but would rather bow hunt or hunt from my lone wolf. This land gets more pressure than most public land. Thoughts?

It is hard to find unpressured areas once gun season starts. This is only my second season hunting there and haven’t found much bedding. The land consists of cow pasture and hardwoods and a large section of clear cut planted in pines. Pines are about 12-20 feet tall and thick.

[AAAK]

I would find areas with no roads and swamps. Dog hunters look for tracks on roads and hunt those roads waiting for deer to cross. If you can find a swamp that would be ideal because no roads and deer likely escape to that area.

[Boogieman1]

Personally would walk away and find somewhere else to spend my time. After a time or 2 of getting run down by hounds any deer will head for areas where there not harassed. A good buck is likely not even around unless the entire area does such hunting practices. Hunting is hunting so if that's all u got I certainly sympathize. But there is a fine line between hunting and sitting in a tree like a idiot on a place that there isn't deer. Time is limited so I try to spend it in high odds situations and IMO that is not one of them.

[PMVBowhunter]

I forgot to mention that it is about 4000 acres and I pay $700 a year to hunt it. Not sure if it is worth it for 6 weeks of early season. The land is 1 hr from my house.

[Buckshot20]

Find water. The dogs can't get them out of the water over about 6". Also, look for those small blocks that don't get hunted much like highway blocks or close the the camp

[ghoasthunter]

Personally would walk away and find somewhere else to spend my time. After a time or 2 of getting run down by hounds any deer will head for areas where there not harassed. A good buck is likely not even around unless the entire area does such hunting practices. Hunting is hunting so if that's all u got I certainly sympathize. But there is a fine line between hunting and sitting in a tree like a idiot on a place that there isn't deer. Time is limited so I try to spend it in high odds situations and IMO that is not one of them.

im right with boogie get out of there and find better ground id rather find a patch of heavy pressure public near buy before dealing with dogs. look at dans hunt with the hunting public this year he was going 3 hours too find the rite kind of woods too hunt. he wanted marsh islands with acorns and it worked. finding a consistent pattern you can hunt is always going too be more productive. no matter where you hunt in the country you can find the overlooked spots. could be a 1 acre block of woods if the pressure is not there the deer will be there.

[Rich M]

While I agree that dog land isn't prime trophy buck land (due to young bucks getting shot), the dogs do not run the deer off.

If you can find where the bucks bed and hang out, then it would be money well spent.

The guys down here will drag/smooth the roads the night before dog hunts. They do it to see where the deer tracks go. When they find the block of woods with the deer, they surround it and let the hounds out.
The deer are usually in a few select blocks - the best bedding areas that provide good security.
They don't let the dogs out until is full, good shooting light and everyone has met up and agreed to a plan based on where the deer are bedded.

You can use this knowledge to your advantage - find out where they usually jump deer. That's the bedding.

Find out where they usually lose deer.

A buddy of mine used to belong to a dog club, we hunted infrequently due to him having ADD and not putting 100% into anything. He gave me an option to hang a feeder one year and I did - had a jumbo buck hitting it until we had a flood that washed it out... Buddy asked the main fellow about the area we were in and was told that they don't run dogs there often cause it is heavy swamp, the deer easily lose the dogs, and it is hard to retrieve the dogs there. Makes sense.

They used to get flooded frequently and their answer to that was baiting the high spots, they shot a lot of deer off that land - very few mature bucks. The mature bucks were there, they just shot few of them.

[cedarsavage]

Idk anything about hunting deer around dogs but I’m willing to bet you could travel to a quality state where that’s illegal and camp/hunt on public for that or maybe a little more money definitely under a grand. I did it for a grand and stayed in a decent motel. With gas costs to travel back and forth an hour I bet you have at least a thousand dollars wrapped up in that place. Jmo but that’s what I’ll be doing next season

[PMVBowhunter]

Great advice gentlemen. I’ll adopt those techniques for the remainder of this season and consider options and properties for next year.

Thank you for the help.