how many dog is to many

[bayhard]

i have a lot of dogs and sum how still get more when is to many 2 many counting pups i have 51 between me and my hunting partener

[Circle C]

I say too many is when it feels like work taking care of them.

 We have 3 bay dogs and 2 catch dogs, and we keep one bay dog for a friend who is not hunting much anymore. When we had more dogs, we were not able to hunt each dog enough to feel like we were putting them to good use.

[Russ]

Depends on the area your in and how much you hunt. My buddy has at least 10 or 12 bay dogs and 4 catch dogs, but he hunts alot of grain fields and then hunts with us for clients so having extra dogs means he can hunt longer with out wearing out dogs. Also it never hurts to have a back up dogs

[bayhard]

at lest 3 time a week out side of deer season

[kevin]

  I would have to say 51 is way to many unless your hunting fox.

[BarrNinja]

Keep as many as you can afford to care for and hunt regular. That number will be different for just about everybody.

[cantexduck]

51 is alot of dogs.Dang.
  I have my hands full at 7.
4-bay dogs
2-catch dogs
1- bird dog
   

[elliscountyhog]

Thought i had a lot with 5  ..  I would say that is too many though if u hunt 3 times a week i would think to have 2 packs of dogs wheather u hunt 2-6 dogs at a time 15-20 would b better... But if u can afford the food and care then u can never have enough

[Silverton Boar Dogs]

I like to hunt 3-4 dogs on the ground at a time and I like to have two sets so I can rotate dogs when one set get winded.

I also so like to have a set of longrange hound cross dogs and a set of medium range dogs.

So for me I like to have: 6 solid long range dogs with 2-3 young dogs in training and, 6 solid medium range dogs with 2-3 young dogs in training. I like to have 2 big catch dogs that I lead or let run, one to catch one just in case.

That adds up to about 20 grown dogs that are ready to hunt.

More than that is to much work.

Paul T

[jhy]

Refer to what Circle C said about the whole feels like work.

  I keep 10 dogs right now and it is way too many!  Ideally I would like to have one catchdog, two finished dogs, and a puppy to work with, but it never stays that way long.  I dont know your situation, but I think that I would cut down and focus on training one or two dogs at a time and give them the best nutrition and all the proper medical attention they need and you will come out ahead for sure.  Feeding, caring for, and hunting that  many dogs really is a waste of your time and money.  Especially for three times a week or so.

Joey

[Txhoghunter]

I look at it like this: Can you really hunt 51 dogs enough? Even if you hunted 7 days a week with 5 dogs at a time, thats not anywhere close to 51....If I couldnt take mine at LEAST once a week, I'd have too many.

[tnichol]

For me rule #1 is: keep only as many as I can without getting divorced.

I've got 5 (3 + 2) I hunt on average once a week year-round. Round this time I'm going more like 2 or 3 times a week, but come July/August/September its much less often.   Having EXACTLY as many as I need to make a hunt is sometimes a problem, no backups means I often find myself stuck without the ideal team. 

Right now my mix is 2 very solid older find dogs (finished) and one young dog on trial + 2 catch dogs (1 finished, 1 coming along).  I'll keep working to find the right young dog to put into the mix - but I'm not going to take more than 1 or 2 on at a time. 

Guys that hunt more need to have more backups, or ideally a full second team.

Another thing to consider is are you a hunter, a breeder - or are you trying to be both? If you are trying to do both - it will mean you'll obviously have to keep more dogs. 

Another rule that I TRY to stick to is I don't buy/take a dog on that isn't better than something I've already got. That means that I'm not going to bring something onto my team that I don't think has a realistic shot at improving upon what I've already got.  A few times I allow myself to bend this rule - but not often (see rule #1)

Tim