EAST TEXAS HOG DOGGERS FORUM

How hot is to hot?  At what temperature do yall not hunt dogs in?

For me it's mid 80"s it real humid here and some times 85 feels like 100,In the past if it was close to mid 80's but you had a good breeze we would load'em in a boat and go along the lake, looking for smaller hogs watering

I hunt my dogs year round hot or cold.  In the summer I just keep a close eye on them.

I call "to hot" the off season. We stop huntin around the end of April. And start back around August. Cool nights during the summer, i will go out for a little while. But no day hunts

i hunt mostly nights so i hunt year around

Depending on the Humidity.... 80-85 degrees.  That being said we hunt year round in the morning and try to wrap things up and  get the dogs caught before it gets "too hot".

Waylon

june-august, maybe an occasional early am hunt to scratch the itch, its just to damn hot for us and the dogs.

may through august/october night hunts, starting around 8-9pm...winter morning hunts into day hunts, very rarely do i like hunting at night during the summer(i hate cold weather so I don't like going at night..lol)..when it's hot we water down the catchdogs vest to help keep them cool before the hunt and if we hit a water hole while on the hunt we will make the dogs get wet again to cool them off.


an old pitbull conditioning trick is to look at your dogs toungue. if their tongue is rollled back while panting they are at a breaking point and they are truly gassed(this is when i call it or give them a break). if they are just panting hard but their tongue is out flat and not rolled back they are winded but they are okay.

an old pitbull conditioning trick is to look at your dogs toungue. if their tongue is rollled back while panting they are at a breaking point and they are truly gassed(this is when i call it or give them a break). if they are just panting hard but their tongue is out flat and not rolled back they are winded but they are okay.


thats good to know

no problem...test it out...if you look at a lot of these pics of the catchdogs after the catch(not all but some) you will see the catch dog sitting with their tongue rolled back. normally you have to wait 5-10min before you can move on cause that dog is flat whooped. then look at your bay dogs they can run all day and that tongue will be out flat but they will still tear off when they hit a hot track or if they bay dogs have been run real bad by a hog that tongue will roll back and they will be up your butt for 5-10min then when that tongue goes back flat they will get to hunting again.

I had a young dog get too hot the other day. We got a late start and it got warm in the afternoon. The first place we went did not produce so we loaded up and went to another place. As soon as we turned out we struck and this hog was a runner. Finally we bayed the hog on the banks of the Brazos and the hog was about to swim when one of the guys shot it.

Rooster got weak in the hind end and went down. I took him to a big mud hole and covered him in cool mud. I poured water on his tounge to cool it down. We started carying him out because he could not get up yet. In about 15 minutes he made it to his feet and was OK.

All I can say is just keep an eye on them because it can get hot quick.

In the middle of Tx summers i just wait a few hrs after dark then go to the crops regardless, its normally 77- 82 degrees the, wind sure helps.

When the dog can't get up I will grab a dog and get in the water with em just to make sure they can keep their head up. Plus I like getting in the water too. You have to watch the dogs real good when it is hot. Bird hunts are during the day but you can hunt hogs ate night when you do not have to deal with that sun. Then make the dogs get wet if they don't do it themselves. It is hot in Texas and water saves lives. I had heat stroke once by myself but I realized what was going on and got in water fast. You also have to watch yourself and your buddies. If you do not know the difference between heat stroke and heat exhaustion read up and know how to treat it because they. The heat is no joke but hydration prevents big problems.

Heat stroke; the body temperature has gone too high and the body stops trying to cool itself. The person is hot and dry (I started panting like a dog). You need to cool the person down.

Heat Exhaustion; the body has over cooled itself and the body temperature is too low. They feel cool and clammy. You need to warm the person up.

This is just a short summary, you should really know this if you are outside anywhere it gets hot. I am sure there is better info on the web if you just Google it.

during the summer we hunt at night or early morning and hope we are out of there by the time it gets hot cuz i dont like to be in the heat unless i have to and dont like the dogs to be in the heat either.   I know a guy that soakes all of his cut vests in ice cold water and goes whenever but he vestes all of his dogs.....

Good Advice thanks!

Mkae sure you get some electrolytes and keep with you while hunting for the dogs and yourself.

as usually great point krystal...gatorade will flat out save a dogs life(and yours too).

Drink pedialyte better for you gatorade has too much salt and sugar.

pedialyte is still probally better, but gatorade isn't as bad as it used to be. there is less sugar and salt than when they first created it. besides pedialyte tastes horrible...lol

There are tablets on the market that can be purchased that you can drop into any water to make electrolytes. I have yet to taste it myself, but if I am in a bind I think I will drink it no matter the taste.
I have been carrying these with me the past two summers with very good results. We usually have bottled water in the squirt type bottles which makes easy to give to a dog that does not want to drink on their own.

After planting a dog last summer we learned an important lesson about the real dangers of the heat.  One thing positive that we gleaned from that experience was that rubbing alchohol or vinegar can be carried and and poured on a dogs feet and belly and it will cool them much quicker than putting them in a pond which may have really hot water in it already.  Air movement is key so putting them on a four wheeler rack where the air can move on both sides of their body is very important.  I also always carry a cooler with me and in the summer time I put several bandanas in the ice water that can be wrapped around my neck or placed on a dog.  After having a pretty nasty heat stroke in college I don't play around with it anymore.  When your body gets dried out and overheated it can end your life, not something to take lightly.

gatorade makes packets called gatorlytes, they can be added to gatorade or water. gives the drink an extra boost of electrolytes. used them in football during training camp. very good to use. especially usefull on dogs that are stubborn to drink anything but water. get me more electrolytes per oz than you would in a regular sports drink.

I thought so too about the taste that is till I tried the grape my dogs liked it too. Went to the feed store to load up on some they have an apple flavored one my pups liked.

K9 Hydradtion tabs from www.wildboarusa.com are great!!

A hydration effervescent supplement formulated to help restore body fluids and provide your hunting dogs with electrolytes, anti-oxidants, and beneficial bacteria for hard worked and over-stressed dogs. This product is the simplest and easiest way to carry and provide electrolytes to your dog while on a hunt. Just pop one tab into a squirt bottle filled with 16 oz of water and in seconds you have an electrolyte and vitamin rich supplement that you can immediately administer to your dogs orally. Each bottle contains 10 tabs which equals 160 ounces of liquid electrolytes. Each 5 gram tablet contains 250 mg Potassium, 250 mg Sodium, 250 mg Chloride, 6 mg Zinc, Vitamins A, D, E, C, and Enterococcus faecium. PERFECT for hot or long hunting days!

I just grab the Gatorade powder and mix it. The powder is easy to carry and I can mix it for me or the dogs. So if you want less sugar then use less powder.