My opinion.. it really depends on the dog. One of my best strike dogs runs loose on my place 24/7.
We don't have a fenced in place for her, she just knows when it's time to go hunting and when it's time to stay home.
She is a very smart catahoula gyp that is the family dog. My wife would put me in a pen if i didn't have her running loose.
I hunt right behind my house, as in i can turn the dogs loose in my back yard and start walking. We've caught hogs as close as 150 yds from my back door. I have others that if you turned them loose, they'd hang around with some attention, but sure as the world, you walk inside or turn your back for some time and they'd hit the woods and be gone. My relationship with this one gyp i think is the key to her working so hard for me in the woods. She really has a personality that requires my attention around the house, and she will hunt her butt off for me in the woods. I can agree that it does seem that some dogs need to be penned and when turned loose in the woods they seem to 'run off' all that energy they've bottled up all week or however long between hunts. On the other hand, i know of several hunters over the years that had dogs that i considered the best strike dogs in the country that he left loose at his house just like mine.
I even have a gyp out of one of those males, and she is just about the same way(only she likes to hunt all my neighbors cats, so she has to be confined
) I am a fan of cutting them loose to have some running time if you don't get to hunt them that often. They need the exercise just like we 2 legged folks, especially if they are hard hunters.
Maver!ck
PS - to raider54... this is a so called cur gyp, that you don't have to kick out from under your feet, and she does possess the knowledge to know when to hunt and when to stay home. Ever want to go hunting with her, she'd love to work for you too
but that is my personal experience, i hope everyone gets to have a dog like her in their lifetime.
