Do you folks feed more...

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Jan 14, 2003 4:26 pm

the day before a big hunt or trial than you do on a regular basis. I always feed about an hour before dark but dont feed the next morning if I'm hunting then, I wait till right before I go to bed to feed. If I'm hunting in the afternoon I'll give them some sort of dog biscuit or treats of some sort a couple hours before leaving so they may have something on their stomach and it seems to work good, then feed when I get home. But Saturday I'm getting up early and hunting with my brother for a much longer time than my usual 2 hour(+/-) running time and wanted to know if yall gave a little extra a day before or even a couple days before a longer and more difficult hunt. I tried to give them a little feed before I went a few times and they did not perform as good as when they have with no feed at all and I'm certain the two went hand in hand. I have gone on the full day hunts and seems a while after dinner break they seem to not necessarily run out of gas but tend to get a little sloppy on their checks. I'm sure they are tired as they are not used to hunting most of the day but I also never gave them any extra a few days before either. What do ya'll do? Thanks

BlueJack · Post by **BlueJack** » Tue Jan 14, 2003 4:30 pm

stupid piece of junk computer keeps disconnecting me right before I submit and I keep forgetting to resign in. This would be my stupid feeding question. Anyways thanks.

Hare Hunter · Post by **Hare Hunter** » Tue Jan 14, 2003 4:45 pm

BlueJack are you giving the hounds anything for a snack such as a couple of biskits when you are having a diner break? If not you should, it will help them just as it helps you. That said I also may suggest your hounds may not be in good enough shape to run all day if you only usually run 2 hours or so. Hounds are like marathon runners, they must be built up to longer running times, to say to go from running 2 hours most of the time to running 6 or 8 hours is a long stretch for dogs not used to it. To answer your question about extra feeding before running I don't I give them extra after a hard days hunt, it works for me, my dogs ran 41/2 hours in about 34 inches of snow today and believe me they were not as ready to go home as I was. Hope this helps. Hare

Post by **Bev** » Tue Jan 14, 2003 4:59 pm

Earl, now you know why Ralph's afraid to bring his ol' fat soft dogs up there, lol! We'd have to bring all sixteen and spell them in 4's to have enough dogs to run for 2 days, lol!

We feed the same time every day, trial or not, but I do give a biscuit treat or very small portion of food an hour or so before they have to run. Especially if they don't run until noon or after.

BlueJack · Post by **BlueJack** » Tue Jan 14, 2003 5:03 pm

Hare Hunter, we do give them a couple biscuits each at dinner break. We usually take between 45 minutes to an hour for lunch. I also carry a collapsable water bowl and a small water bottle in my vest and about every couple hours take a water break if they are not on a track unless we are near a creek or pond and we break there. These breaks are just 5-10 minutes or so. They are not running terribly bad by evening but I can just tell they are looking for that magical shortcut at the check points and when they start getting too "cute" thats usually the sign to pick up, although I do give them a chance to get it right. Could our lunch break be too long and they get cramped up just like we would after a hard workout? And I also see what you mean by working up to a longer run time for them but 2-3 hours is all the time I generally have for them and still give the "other half" her share of my time also. Well thanks for your prompt answer. Later

Hare Hunter · Post by **Hare Hunter** » Tue Jan 14, 2003 5:33 pm

Bev, tell Ralph I would put lead weights on my hounds so his could keep up. LOL I as serious as a heart attack about the dogs being in shape BlueJack. I know exactly what you mean about them getting sloppy when they are tired, I have seen this thousands of times over the 40 years I have been running hounds, I have had friends new and old wonder why their hounds are not running as good in the afternoon as they were in the morning, when I tell them they are getting tired they usually say, nah the scenting changed or some such thing. Well maybe, but I know my dogs, when they run these hare for hours and make my heart swell that I get to take them home ,then something changes, more checks, more actual losses, dogs start swinging way to wide to pick up checks, dogs pick up heads to look at other dogs to see if they look "Rabbity" that tells me they are tired even if they wouldn't admit it if they could speak. To me their body language speaks plenty good enough. Hare

TomPA · Post by **TomPA** » Tue Jan 14, 2003 5:51 pm

I agree with Hare hunter about the conditioning. Nothing like running them to give them stamina. I feed more about the entire way through hunting season because I hunt pretty hard. I will also do as Bev said and give them something but only if they have at least an hour before they run again at the trials and at lunchtime when hunting sometimes.