I have a 7 yr old dog that is a shonuf coondog. Recently it seems like his nose power has just disappeared. He went from a 95% accurate dog to a slick treein' idiot like you flipped a light switch. I've never seen a dog do this. I've tried switching him off slickies. I'm thinking he could have something wrong with his nose. Has anyone heard of this before?

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well chuck u aint the only one my dawgs tree coons also but they seem to be runin lot of slicks or i just cant find the coon or SQUIRRLES!! possibly donno im jus gonna keep huntin them gotta git a coon sumtime

I guess your right CF, the only thing I know to do is keep huntin' and switching him off these slick trees. I know he's a coondog and that's the only reason I ain't giving up on him.

My dogs is slick treeing alot to. I've narrowed what its doing and i've decide that he is just winding not tracking. hopefully that help u.

well where i am the coon are ruttin so its hard to find them. he may be just grabbin the tree or maybe just winding and missin a bit. be sure to check surrounding trees.

I got a thrre year old walker gyp out of Conerager that was slicking 1 out 5 trees. And you knew when she would do it cause she would only locate one time instead of three times. But when you got about 50 yards from here she would shut up and come in with her head down. I thought she was just getting hung up or knew she was slicked. But I caught her red handed in the snow treeing squirrels. She does not run any other offgame so I figured she knew she was wrong and would come in. I know a guy that will pull his dog a tree and walk them around a 50 yard circle around a slick and try to get them to carry on the track. I don't believe in switching or shocking a dog of ant tree whether it is slick or not. Hopefully your dog just had a brain fart and started treeing squirrel cause it ain't that bad to break them off of them.

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"Do not argue about guns with a gunsmith"
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ive been slicken alot here latly to... what they've been doing here is going up and jumping out, i hunt in some THICK stuff, and VERY VERY deep water..so its hard on her, but all i do is say "dead, good girl" and walk about 5 feet in the direction i think it jumped *if the tree is leaning or big limb going out* and cut her, and she usualy strikes up and trees in a HUGE tree and i can't find them there either..lol...but i no there there, cause she will check the trees around her, and then start treeing back on that tree.... i guess its just a slick time of the year? lol...god bless and safe hunting.

Well first of all I will say this. Do not switch your dog off of a slick tree. Obviously your dog thinks something is in that tree. Wether it be a coon or not you do not know. Basically you are punishing a dog for treeing. What I do if it is a slick tree I shine the tree no coon seen and no off game I grab the lead and get the dog off the tree take it on and cut loose again. I do not pet the dog up I do not say dead coon I say nothing. I do not reward the dog and I do not punish it either because I don't know if the coon jumped, bumped, or was feeding in the tree. Scenting conditions are bad when it is colder. Every winter these type of posts come along. A coon can mess a dog up quick in winter conditions. Because the ground or the tree doesn't hold the scent as well. There are many different variables it could be but I sure wouldn't switch my dog for slick treeing for reasons I stated above and also I forgot to add maybe you just didn't see the coon. I have missed them before to see them as I walk away.

Knowing whether or not my dog has slick treed has been frustrating at best! We're incredibly new at hunting, so I know he needs a LOT more experience. So far what I've done is if I am 100% sure that there is nothing in the tree I scold him and walk him away from the tree. I don't hit him as he is a rather sensitive dog and does not require that. The frustrating part is that at times I cannot be sure that nothing is in the tree and therefore cannot scold him (nor do I praise him though). The first coon he got was tougher than nails to find because it was on a leafy branch and was looking up, so his eyes didn't shine as I was searching with my light. Once I saw him I praised my dog so profusely that he must have thought he was the best thing since sliced bread. A couple other times my dog couldn't pick a tree and would bawl treed at several trees all within a close area. I could see the coon in the tree, but because he couldn't pick a tree I didn't shoot the coon out for him. If he had at least locked onto one tree I would have shot because the coon easily could have jumped from one tree to the next. I don't know if I was doing the right thing or not due to my inexperience. Currently I will take down any coon that my dog 100% legitimately trees because he is just starting and hearing the shotgun and seeing the coon fall makes him so happy. After he begins to gain experience I will not shoot every coon, but rather praise him and only shoot some.

lot of dogs go thru this during the change of seasons and yes alot of slicks are squirrels. keep hunting your dog he will come back around.

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JAKE BURDETTE 330 260 2076