Age of track

[Physch]

How old of a fox track can a hound trail?

[Rowdy Fitz]

It really depends on the dog and the environmental conditions. Some dogs can run one pushin 48 hrs old in the right conditions. Others won’t mess with a couple hour old track.

[Physch]

Thank you.

[kickemall]

A two day old fox track? I guess I need to get out more as I’ve never seen anything close to that.

[perk]

Rowdy Fitz, Curious as to the conditions for a 48hr old track. If ya don't mind explaining ideal conditions for that. Not saying it cannot be but unheard of here on east coast.
Also what's your definition of running a track, versus trailing a track?

[macedonia mule man]

What really hurts your feelings is when you see one cross in front of the truck and they can’t ever really get under it. Just half way follow till it eventually runs out. I’ve never aged a track, I guess you would have to see one cross, put a time on it and come back so many hours later to see if they could trail it up and run it. Like Perk says trailing and running is entirely different.

[perk]

Mule man on more than one occasion I've casted on a fox or cat I've seen cross the road, within 30 seconds of seeing the game, and not gotten more than a few barks, them times they can't smell em they cannot run em, don't care whose dogs they are.
Perk

[lawdawgharris]

That happens a lot with game evidently. I have seen single hogs and groups of hogs that dogs were put out on immediately and the dogs acted like nothing had been there. More than once I’ve been asked why I wasn’t in a bigger hurry to go cast the dogs on hogs we had just seen. I told them because I believed you had to let the scent settle so to speak. We have cast dogs on hogs we just saw and they didn’t act like they smelled anything hardly. Move on to a different area and come back later and the dogs looked ants going crazy because of the ability to smell it now.

As far as how old they can smell, I think that has so many variables. One the individual dog itself and it’s want to combined with its ability. Second, the type of game is going be a huge factor because we all know some game gives off a lot more scent than others. Third, the environmental conditions play a massive role in it, be it temperature or moisture and even wind. The barometer is said to have a huge role in it. Fourth, the condition of the dog is a big factor. A dog that is fat will not smell as well as it will when it’s in shape.


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[Rowdy Fitz]

Perk-
I’m in Northern Nevada. Occasionally when we get snow, due to the cold snap it doesn’t get above freezing for a few days and a track won’t melt out during the day, but warms up enough for the dogs to trail froze in tracks. My dogs have trailed bobcat and fox tracks I know were two days old because of the day it snowed I drove through and saw the fresh tracks. 48hrs later I roaded my dogs through there and the dogs took the tracks. I have also had my dogs run lion tracks that I don’t know how old they were but they were old enough the track wasn’t visible, just mealy snow in a hole.
I only have two dogs that can do it and they’re mother and son. No I didn’t catch those fox or bobcats because of the sheer distance they covered. I did let the dogs work the tracks for several hours each time but eventually called them off due to having to head home.

As far as trailing and running. I don’t differentiate, if the dog takes the track it’s running or trailing to me.

[Bon Plott]

Age old discussion, I got pot lickers that'll follow a week old snow track to the wood and get jumped. They don't trail that yote everywhere he's been for multiple days.

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[Bon Plott]

The yahoo's I'm running, I'm sure would gladly roll up a 2 day old fox turd, and pack as much as they can into my collars

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[Bon Plott]

Perk, if you Remember that Finnish hound, catch 50 percent or so coyotes he run. Never put a tooth on one for three years dead or alive. Last year, his 5th yote season, at 4 year old he catching like Lawdogs ear biters

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[perk]

Bon plott, I don't think mine care if the turd is 2 days old of 10 yr old, if it's crap they wanna roll in it, man's or beast. Mine also are excellent at finding animal carcasses and carrying bones all the way back to the truck. They could probably smell out a 10 yr old deer rib cage if I let them hunt long enough.

Rowdy, you have to differentiate somehow, you know when your dogs are working a cold track they aren't gonna jump or have to work to get jumped and when they are jumped and running breathing the same air as the game. Or else how do we decide which tracks the dogs shoulda finished and which ones they didn't really have a shot but gave it the old college try anyways

[Rowdy Fitz]

I understand what you’re saying. Here’s how I describe it.
Cold trailing if it’s an older track.
Running/trailing if it’s a good track.
Jumped track if they are on its tail.

[scrubrunner]

For years I deer hunted and fox hunted with same hounds. Hounds that could consistently trail and jump a 8 hour old deer track, at times had trouble even smelling a 30 minute old fox track.

But it’s got a lot to do with the scenting conditions. Last Friday night me and a buddy ran a fox 2 hours with 16 head. But most of the race only 3 or 4 dogs at the time were opening. They just couldn’t smell it good enough to get up on it right and hold it.
It’s a dog wise tough fox but they should have been able to run it better than they did.