Running dogs locating

[Bon Plott]

Awesome picture, look like the hail Mary might be picked off

[al baldwin]

Great photo! Where in Virginia? Al

[undertheradar]

This was on nc va line. All of our hunting is with in 50 to 60 miles of the coast and hunt both states.
I had to work during this hunt so i cant claim the photo credit or the dog work.

[Andyva]

[Dan Edwards]

A lil gamey varmint dog goes a long way at times.

[Andyva]

I grew up coon hunting with hounds, switched to curs, now I've got a couple Trigg hounds. Dabbled with bear hunting, always with other people's dogs, and some east coast deer running, some with hounds, most with beagles. Have some real good rabbit cover here, so I've hunted with a lot of different people and their idea of what a rabbit beagle is.

This is my impression of the running dogs I have been around. With the curs, they wanted to eat something up. That was their motivation, they wanted a scuffle. Most of the more gritty bear and coon hounds have been this way. The curs would run a track, and tree, but it was so they could scuffle. I had one I tried to pleasure coon hunt, she got to where if you didn't take a gun with you, she wouldn't leave the light beam. When she got older, and didn't have good teeth, I got to where I did a lot of head shooting, she didn't seem to like that too much either.

Some of the tree hounds I hunted with, seemed to be more motivated by hearing themselves bark up a tree than anything else. A fair amount of them liked to pull fur, but some of them didn't always have fur to pull, and seemed just as happy. The good ones liked to pull fur.

The running dogs like to run track, from what I can see. They remind me of a beagle. Some beagles, you can shoot a rabbit, and they act like you just peed on their cereal. Seem to say "Darn it boss, I was running that one." Some will pull fur, doesn't seem to matter how good they are. Some of the path runningest beagles that acted scared of briars and pulled the pack out of a thicket when they happened on rabbit smell out in the open were kill dogs when you had a cripple. But it seems to me that the running dogs I have been around liked to run track above all.

I haven't been around all that are out there, keep in mind, I am east coast, most of them are deer dogs and pen dogs. I've heard good things about some of the midwest dogs, the Julys and the Liquor bred walkers. I did have a liquor bred walker, bought him for a pup trainer, he didn't work out. I think the liquor had been watered down.

On the fur pulling, some of the bear dogs I have been around, I don't think you could handle the same way as some of the running dog people handle their dogs. Some of the better bear dogs I have seen, for making bear want to find a tree, you had to give a little thought to how you hauled them. Certain dogs couldn't be loaded in the box with dogs of the same sex. Not ill, just a little too grumpy to trust on a long ride. A lot of the fox field trial people I know about load 27 dogs in a trailer and ride to the pen. Stuff that eats foxes don't get invited back to pens from what I hear, either, so I'm thinking that a lot of grit has been bred out of them.

For a dog that wants to sit at the base of a tree with game in it, until somebody gets there, it either needs to have some insane desire to bark up a tree, or it needs to want to eat the animal in that tree. I have had some knuckleheads that seemed to have an insane desire to bark up a tree, because there wasn't anything to eat up there. But just a little of that is good, if you hunt tree game.

[barksalot]

Andy; Good thoughtful post. Thanks for sharing.

[david]

X2
Yes you can write anytime you feel like it and know that you have an audience that enjoys reading it.

Thank you for taking the time.

"...I was running that one!" Hahah. Great!

[perk]

Andyva, while I understand from the experiences you have had with dogs how you have arrived at your opinion, however I believe it is an unfair assessment of the foxhound and his desire to catch. I'd say most, not all, the boys that keep true outside fox/cat dogs (or coyote dogs) have running dogs that are running to catch their game, not following a track. Have you ever seen a fox caught by a pack of dogs? The ones I normally put my hands on are unmountable if yo wanted one to look pretty on a shelf. I have been bitten by dogs more than once carrying game out of the woods, bc that dog wanted that game (dead or alive) just like some high bred tree dog wanted that coon or whatever once he was dead. Walk a piece of game by the back of one of my buddies truck and watch the dogs explode squaling and barking and biting the bars and trying to get off the truck.
If I have a dog that is slow coming out I can shake an old fox tail at my dogs and they will blow the truck up baying, pulls other dog out of woods every time. Why are those dogs bayinng at that tail or piece of game? My assumption is because they WANT it.
Think it is all in the traits bred in dogs, never owned but 1 Fox dog that didn't care about catching that I know of, great trail dog great track dog could run it, once caught or holed went hunting agian, didn't stay around area, I hunted her til she died but didn't raise pups off her bc she lacked that desire for game I like in a hound.
A lot of Pen dogs, and a lot deer dogs aren't a good indicator of what true fox hound breeding produces bc those aren't traits the hunters need or necessarily desire. Although I know deer hunters whose hounds will pull hair from deer too. We never kept rabbit beagles that didn't run to catch him, if you didn't kill the rabbit they may catch him, if you crippled one they would have it destroyed before you could get it from them.
I'm not saying your opinion is wrong, esp from your experiences, I however know plenty of men who have different experiences around those breeds of dogs, so their anecdotal evidence leads them to believe different things, and I happen to be one who differs on this subject. Ain't right ain't wrong just what we have been exposed to that influences our opinions
Perk

[Dan Edwards]

75% of me agrees with Andyva and 25% of me agrees with perk. That's my experiences incase yall was wondering. HAHA!

[perk]

Dan, I don't like odd numbers they confuse me can you go 70/30 or at least step back to 80/20

[Dan Edwards]

Actually I can. It would be 70/30 though not 80/20. That's just too far bruh.

[perk]

Appreciate it. Simple minds gotta use simple numbers

[Woods]

I like to see here on the west coast hunters that are hunting tree dogs on bobcat. Because most are not going to catch the ones that are going to try and get away. They might catch the 25-30 pound Tom's but most everything else will be safe. The straight tree dogs I've been around the last 15 years want to bark, tree and most can't get out of the ditch. If one barks they all bark, one trees they all tree. If the running dog crosses bark they all run to help advance the track, and when they tree it's time to boot up because there not treeing to hear each other bark. You'll catch more with one that runs a lot and trees a little than one that trees a lot and runs a little. Good luck to everyone

[Andyva]

I said what I said, based on what I've been around. It would be my preference to have a dog that does what he does because he wants to catch what he's running. I would imagine that that is hard to find in most pen dogs. Sadly, nobody from maybe just a little east and north of here will come across with any real outside fox dogs, to change my opinions. (I'm kidding, I haven't asked for any, YET.) The trouble I have run into, is pen dogs, and the scarcity of anything else.

The guys that have been hunting with me are amazed at the speed on these dogs. I am, really. I think it comes down to build. There are an awful lot of tree dogs that are not built good. Build isn't everything, they have to be able to have brains and desire, and this gyp desires to move a track. If I ever breed her, it will be to a snipey nosed little Plott I know that loves to yank hair out of a coyote tail.

Getting everything in one package, I have come to realize, is not a realistic dream. Has a lot to do with why most people have packs of dogs.