Hunting with an off-leash dog

Typical hunting with an off-leash dog, where the dog is the hunter’s only companion, is done as follows. The hunter walks slowly into the wind through the section of terrain to be hunted. The dog runs off the leash making short and long searching forays ahead of and to the side of the hunter. A good off-leash dog does not hurry this search. It will often find high ground in the terrain, where it will pause to test the wind for the scent of the sought-after moose, or to listen for a sound or perhaps even make a sighting of the massive animal. Of course, it often finds the moose by more or less carefully following its tracks.

Once the dog has discovered where the moose is, it should approach very carefully. In this way it can often get the moose to remain at the point of discovery. If the moose is frightened it will often flee so fast that after a short chase the dog will have to give up. If the moose stays at or near the point of discovery, the dog should bark constantly to try to hold it at bay. The hunter can then, led by the barking, and protected by the wall of sound caused by the baying sound, can stalk forwards into the wind to the spot and shoot if the animal that the dog is holding at bay is lawful game. If this is not the case, the dog should be so well-trained and cooperative that the hunter can call it to him and put it on the leash so discreetly that the moose does not notice the person’s presence. The dog can never force the moose to remain at bay. Often, the moose slowly retires, and the dog can remain in front of or to one side of the moose while barking. A good off-leash dog never barks at the moose’s tracks except when it can stay close to the moose. When the dog starts baying on the move, the hunter needs to be able to keep up, and the hunting domain needs to be sufficiently big. The form of hunting thus requires plenty of land, and well-trained participants.