Treeing is a method of
hunting
Hunting is the Human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, and killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to obtain the animal's body for meat and useful animal products (fur/hide (sk ...
where
dog
The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the gray wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it was selectively bred from a population of wolves during the Late Pleistocene by hunter-gatherers. ...
s are used to force animals that naturally climb up into trees, where they can be assessed or shot by hunters. The idiomatic phrase "''
Barking up the wrong tree''" comes from this practice.
Description
The treeing technique uses
dog
The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the gray wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it was selectively bred from a population of wolves during the Late Pleistocene by hunter-gatherers. ...
s to force naturally climbing animals into trees, where they can be assessed or shot by
hunter
Hunting is the human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, and killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to obtain the animal's body for meat and useful animal products ( fur/ hide, bone/tusks, ...
s. Treeing enables hunters to see the quarry and decide if the prey should be killed, and if so with a cleaner kill, or spared.
For example, females with youths may be left untouched,
or quarry may be observed or tagged for research.
Use
Hunting
Particularly used with
coonhunting, treeing dogs are selected for the instinct to not cease barking at an animal after it has escaped into a tree.
This method of hunting is also used for
cougar
The cougar (''Puma concolor'') (, ''Help:Pronunciation respelling key, KOO-gər''), also called puma, mountain lion, catamount and panther is a large small cat native to the Americas. It inhabits North America, North, Central America, Cent ...
and
black bear.
The dogs are trained to
bay
A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a ''gulf'', ''sea'', ''sound'', or ''bight''. A ''cove'' is a small, ci ...
, not directly attack the quarry; however, it is not unheard of for the quarry to kill some of the dogs or for the dogs to kill the quarry. Usually, the quarry will climb a tree to escape the dogs after a period of chase and harassment.
Blackmouth Cur use this method. Traditionally, the dogs were followed on foot by hunters listening to their barks, although some hunters now use
radio direction finding
Direction finding (DF), radio direction finding (RDF), or radiogoniometry is the use of radio waves to determine the direction to a radio source. The source may be a cooperating radio transmitter or may be an inadvertent source, a natural ...
equipment to follow the pack.
Research
Treeing is also sometimes performed without the intention of killing the quarry for scientific purposes (such as
radio-tagging) or recreational purposes. It is especially useful for
cougar
The cougar (''Puma concolor'') (, ''Help:Pronunciation respelling key, KOO-gər''), also called puma, mountain lion, catamount and panther is a large small cat native to the Americas. It inhabits North America, North, Central America, Cent ...
s, which are notoriously stealthy and difficult to capture without the aid of dogs.
Research indicates that treeing and freeing predators, a process that is somewhat similar to
catch and release fishing, can encourage them to maintain a healthy distance from humans.
Law
Treeing is illegal in several US states, including Montana,
New Mexico,
Oregon,
and Washington.
Treeing is restricted in California, but permits may be sought for treeing mountain lions (cougars), bears, and
bobcats in limited times and places.
References
See also
{{Hunting topics
Hunting dogs
*
Hunting methods
Dog training