Gun Dog Forum

I'm looking for ideas on a way to transport bird dogs via a snowmobile. There are many places that haven't been hunted in 3 weeks due to the snow. There are areas on public land that have 40 acre standing corn that I know are full of birds, but there is 3-4 feet of snow in the road/prairie trail. I hunted a place today that had not been hunted all season, and it was fantastic! The birds are so concentrated that it makes it really nice. Snow shoes rule by the way.

I've never tried it but do you think you could rig something up like a plastic child's sled with a crate on it that you could tow behind the snomobile?
That or maybe take just one well behaved dog that would sit nice in front of you.

I was thinking about the sled idea myself.

There are lots of sleds & sleighs made by various manufacturers. Take a look at the "Otter" brand plastic molded heavy duty sleds sold up here in the Northland. They are used the most by ice fisherman to haul gear out onto the ice. One caution though, beware of making your load top heavy. Sleds generally have a narrower footprint and you'll want a low center of gravity so the sled with the dogs doesn't tip over.

Beware of wind chill affecting the dogs being hauled behind a snowmobile. A 30 mph ride on a sled is pretty slow but combined with the cold can produce quite a chill for dogs wet from exertion going through the cattails.

Teach the dogs to pull a dog sled, it's great exercise and you can use the sled to haul home the harvest too!

You should be able to find a tag along sleigh that you can haul children in. They usually have a windsheild and roof and you should be able to adapt it to your liking. I would just get on a sled site or blog and I'm sure you'' bew able to at least get a look at one and a price range.

Agree with BigShooter, the Otter sled will work fine. They do have a rigid tow bar that helps the sled from being to unstable but you still have to go slow and be careful, it still can tip over.

I'd think about the fumes...most smell pretty strong.

Using a snow ultralight



for travel could take care of the CO2 emissions.

MG

That goose looks like it fully understands the predicament it's in!
Love the house in the backround.

x2 with the emissions.

My brother-in-law almost lost his 2 setters this fall due to CO poisoning. He had the crate on the back of the ATV with a cover over it to keep the dogs dry and out of the wind, it almost killed them. The same thing that blocked the wind kept fresh air out. The male pup let out an awful yelp and they stopped to check the dogs. When they took the dogs out the pup was stumbling and staggering around, the female was limp. Took awhile to get her revived.

Shouldn't have that big a concern with snowmobiles as the exhaust is at the front. The tow behinds for people are ok, no exhaust issues.

As for cold on the dogs a smaller crate that keeps them tight together is warmer and also very important, safer as they are packed tight and can't bounce around and injure themslves.

Was doing some research on hauling dogs with snowmobiles for hauling scenthounds or staghounds for coyotes.

Some cat hunters in the west haul dogs that way.

What about putting a couple roading harnesses on your dogs, and let them pull you on a sled? In all seriousness, could you come up with some rig that would staddle your seat, kind of like saddle bags but big enough for a dog box on each side to sit in, and then strap down securely? I've never seen it done, but just something that came up in my head. DOn't know if it's even possible or not?

I've had an Otter "Magnum" with a rigid tow bar for a number of years. Like I said before look at the Otter sleds. If it were me I'd buy the largest sled they make if you can fit two crates in it. Of course the larger sleds are harder to pull. I'd either get the ready made insulated covers for each crate or I'd have a "dodger" (canvas shield) made to fit on the front of the sled. A dodger is a cover attached at the front edge of a boat or in this case the sled & it arches up on aluminum supports (like are typically used for boats with soft tops). The front edge, fastened to the sled, blocks the wind & the arched portion creates a short roof. They are open in the back, allowing loading and unloading. The dodger & the supports are designed to collapse forward & down onto the front and side edges of a boat or in this case a sled.

A brief note about snowmobiles. You'd be best off with a snowmobile with an extra long or extra wide track for traction, set up with a clutch for pulling not a racing clutch. A short track machine with the wrong clutch pulling the largest Otter sled, loaded with dogs, in deep snow could be a problem. Getting stuck, especially without help could end up being about your worst nightmare, depending upon the weather and how far you were from help. Our hard and fast rule is to never snowmobile alone. We always go with at least two snowmobiles. Riding home double beats walking any day. About the best setup would be to get an extra long aluminum snowmobile trailer that uses ramps to load from the back & allows you to take another ramp at an angle off of the front. That way you leave the sled hooked to the snowmolbile and it's easy to load and unload. If you have to back the snowmobile off the trailer, slide off the sled, line them up and hook them together you'll be regretting the extra effort and time wasted. Also make certain you have traction bars or a traction pad because the snowmobile track paddles will need something to catch on to pull along the extra weight of the sled when you load.

Seems like you should just get two more dogs so you have four in harness for the deeper snows you will encounter. Use a dog sled and your hunting dogs to get out to those remote spots you want to hunt.

Some of the MN WMA's have sighs that read 'no motorized traffic". Probably should check that first.

I'm not going to hunt off of the snowmobile. Just use it to travel the prairie trails, to get to the standing corn, and cattail sloughs. Then I will let my dogs out and use my snow shoes to hunt. I just don't want to get my truck stuck trying to get to them.

Last year two of my sons and I hit an "L" shaped shelter belt during the last week of the season in ND. I let them start into the shelter belt by the road. I said I'd cut the corner & get to the end to block birds. I set out, 2' deep, 3' deep, suddenly I was nearly up to my waist. Needless to say I wandered into a drift. I never made it to the end and the boys got enough shooting to fill out. The point is a person has to really be careful about drifts. Some are pretty easy to spot, others like the one I got into are nearly impossible to spot in advance. If you bury your snowmobile in a drift like I was in, it's very unlikely you would get it out by yourself.