Author Topic: Hunting Dogs in AK (Read 718 times)

Woodchuk · « **on:** October 24, 2003, 04:24:32 AM »

I've got two/maybe three beagles (ones not technically mine yet but might come with me). What opportunities exist in Alask to hunt them. Also, would the winters be too much for them (deep snow). What kinds of dogs do you have in Alaska?

Winter Hawk · « **Reply #1 on:** October 24, 2003, 02:58:57 PM »

Woodchuck,

Once again I am going on what I remember from the dim past, but I don't recall anyone using beagles up around Fairbanks. I always wondered why. I knew people who had them, but they were pets. I think folks got them with the intent of going after snowshoe hares but they never got to using them. I think mostly because hunting the hares is more a matter of tromping through the woods looking to see that little red eyeball under a spruce tree, then putting a .22 slug into it. At least that is the way my friends and I did it.

Also used my .45 muzzleloader and the wife's .30-30 (handloads w/ 110 gr. plinkers) on them. But that is another story.

-Kees-

Stringer · « **Reply #2 on:** October 24, 2003, 06:37:34 PM »

I've got a Golden ret. that I duck and grouse hunt with. He is from WA. and is an excellent hunter that I would love to breed with another
Golden or lab. He is a papered purebred, but I'm not interested in making money. I just want another to hunt as well as he does.
We also just welcomed a Kareilian Bear Dog pup to our family, and plan on hunting him with some of his family for black bear in the future.

Daveinthebush · « **Reply #3 on:** October 24, 2003, 07:12:26 PM »

I have a large lab that I hunt rabbits, ducks, ptargiman and spruce hens with. It all depends on the area, deep snow is not good for him at all. Cold does not usually bother him unless it is -50 -----then he won't even go out to pee! Neither will I! :roll:

I haven't seen anyone using rabbit dogs. I shoot them with a .22 and then throw a snow ball in the direction of the kill. The dog knows the routine well.

We were out one day ptargiman hunting and walking down the road. I hear a bird cluck and the dog took off. Called him back and he hesitated as I continued. I turned around again and he had the bird in his mouth! Caught it hisself! :grin:

kciH · « **Reply #4 on:** October 24, 2003, 09:31:30 PM »

Dave,
I've always admired your stories and input here, especially since you live in the state I'm headed for. Between the yellow lab, the .35 Whelen, and the state of residence, you're nearing God status. When I make my way to AK, I'd very much like to meet you and hear some stories and much-valued advice.

Dand · « **Reply #5 on:** October 24, 2003, 10:31:16 PM »

Depends on where in AK. you land. I think a few folks near Anchorage and Kenai Peninsula may use beagles but often the snow is too deep for their legs - and snowshoe hares may run a long way before circling. I remeber meeting a guy looking for his dog. In the interior in winter I think it would often be much too cold for such a short haired dog.

Like the other folks have said, walking slowly and looking carefully is the most common method for rabbits. And don't expect them to taste like cotton tails either.

When I was in highschool we had a peak cycle of snowshoes from Anchorage to Fairbanks. Sometimes we'd go out at night and hunt in the moon light on the snow. Probably not too safe or even legal but it was fun. Using a shot gun we'd sometimes have to wait a while after a shot to regain our night vision.

akpls · « **Reply #6 on:** October 25, 2003, 07:30:42 AM »

Labs, Goldens and Chessies seem popular for hunting in the Fairbanks area. The few Beagles I've seen were house pets. The most prevalent dog you'll probably see around Fairbanks though is the "Alaska Husky", a mix of sled dog and anything else that happened to wander by. We have a Newfoundland, but she's not for hunting. She is a shadow for our small kids when they're out and about. You can't make her growl, but no stranger would ever be able to approach my kids without the dogs permission! No one seems to want to challenge 120 lbs. of black, smiling fur.

Daveinthebush · « **Reply #7 on:** October 25, 2003, 08:01:29 AM »

Thanks for the kind words.

But I am nothing special, just an Alaskan. Some say that I was an Alaskan even before I got here. Maybe so since Alaskan books and hunting stories were the only reading material my English teacher was able to get me to read.

Being an Alaskan is a state of mind and a way of life that some attain and some don't. I have met Alaskans born here that have never left Anchorage. They know nothing of the interior, the Bering Coast, the Athapaskin or the Yupit cultures. Are they really Alaskans?

Alaskans are a funny group of people. I had a friend that once that flew from Nome to Fairbanks just to give me the key to his cabin so I would have a place to live. The first Alaskan I met, a young lady, without knowing me, took me all over Anchorage to show me the town for a day. She didn't know who I was, just that I wanted to live in the state. When I went back east to burry my dad a neighbor took my lab to his home for 2 weeks, no questions asked, no monitary expectations either.

Alaska is a great place full of loving people that depend upon each other from time to time for survival and the necissities of life. And like I said, it is a state of mind, you either have it or you don't. :-)

Winter Hawk · « **Reply #8 on:** October 30, 2003, 07:37:23 AM »

I met Joe Want in Fairbanks in '69. He had a big Chesapeake Bay Retreiver which was all scarred up. Joe said he used him in the Aleutians to hunt seals. The dog would retreive them in the surf after Joe shot them. Often the seal wasn't dead and objected to being retreived. That was back when there was a bounty on seals. I do not know the veracity of the story, I'm just relating what I was told.

-Kees-