shoot4fur wrote:Just wanted to know when you guys say snow is easy are you saying wet spring time snow or are you talking cold powder. When its below 0 with a crust of snow with cold powder on top how do you think your dirt dogs would do. It seems that snow or dirt it would just depend on the conditions to make the race easy or hard. All you guys seem to say snow is easy, but how do you think your dogs would hold up to real cold weather.
I have seen this conversation go bad when it comes to snow v. dirt. The plain and simple truth for anyone who has ran in both types of conditions is this. Both environements pose their unique set of problems. Ive had dang tough luck running snow and dang tough luck running dirt and visa versa. They are different in many ways for many reasons. The one and only thing that even comes close to bringing the two close is the dog itself. If the dog has "catch" and can use his/her brains along with it's nose it can and will show well either way with the proper exposure.
A good trail hound is a good trail hound....be it snow or dry ground.
It shouldn't take a "good hound" long to adjust to either.
Robb
For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God - 1 Corinthians 1:18 (NIV)
Dry ground hounds have to adapt: That is true but the real kind have to do it many times , I mean right now. 101 degrees here today the call comes we got a lion killing calves come now. No measureable presipitation in over 60 days. So now what? We called so and so last time he caught more lions than anybody here this last season and his dogs never did a thing. OH they didn't adapt? No they didn't do a damn thing but piss on a bush and wander around. Oh we found a plott dog down the road wandering around but we didn't pick it up. Well that's good he was trying to work a bit I guess. So now what?
Well we called you hound dog guy and we have heard you can catch a lion but here we are in the hot month of June and as far as we can tell most hound guys around here can't catch anything they can't follow the dots in the snow with.
Cruel words I know but heard more often than not when you can't choose your battlefield.
No they are not all alike and not all can adapt and neither can I or you.
THE CALL
Step behind the curtain and let time and space fall away The curtain is the stress of life you face every day Place your self within the scope of things the way that nature planned And you will find your whole prespective changed unlike a modern man
Out in the bush or on the mountains or on the desert plain There is a drama of life and death played out each and every day El Gato the cat stands El Supreme in his most masterfull form A cryptic killer with stealth and power death in every way
The call may come in dead of night or in the heat of the day Come with the hounds, we can't wait, is always what they say. Choosing your time or elements makes catching a piece of cake But going when you have to go, your hounds must be first rate.
So a special hound waits in the pen one whose history is long He has been the weapon of the predator wars since America begun Not the average dog of sport of the happy backyard variety This dog has power ,built in sense mixed with nose and great agility.
So off they go when comes the call go these rare ones and their master's too.
I just hope that someday when that call comes in, it will be your dogs and you.
Mike thats the best Damn poem I've heard in awhile!!!!
The fascination of hunting cougar with hounds lies in the discovery and unravelling of a complicated trail, watching an honest hound strike out on a track that has been found and read, and finally bringing the animal to bay so that you can see it for yourself---Jerry A. Lewis
I dont know about others but I have had a number of young dogs that spend most of their 1st year working the dirt, and the transition to taking snow tracks, definately takes some time.
I have never had a problem with my dirt dogs in the snow in fact a cold nose hound in the snow can be a real pain in the back side on old snow. The problem I have is the transition back to dirt as the hounds tend to want to push a track that is not ready to be pushed and it takes them a while to slow down and settle into cold trailing in the dirt again. Snow is great for starting pups and building confidence in them, but that switch to dirt can be a real challenge for hunter and hound a like. A dog that is successful in the snow may never make it as a dry ground dog. I have had a few hounds over the years that excelled and really stood out on the white stuff that never made a true cold trailing dirt dog, oh they could work a fresh track in the dirt and look good, but they never could settle down enough to grub an old track out. Every geography and climate poses some sort of challenge to hunter and hound. Mike poem summed it up pretty well and that is, you should want to have dogs that can get it done in any and every condition thrown at you. In my humble opinion a snow dog and dirt dog are a world apart as a whole, but there are those special animals that can do both with style and greatness.
I sat rather bumfuzzled at my bench at Sycamore on the old ZX. Well I really didn't need to ride today, twas the sabath, so what the heck.
I just sort of sat around and rested these old bones. I thought about my pards down south and the old folk way back home. My saddle stock was grazing down in the park below And life up high in a summer camps was peaceful don't you know?
Of a sudden I saw the ponies turn and break into a run Well I thoughtmaybe a horsefly, or maybe just time for fun But of a sudden out of the timber came a running bear He was slim and leggy the racing type with sorrel colored hair.
Well damn that bruin, he scatter the cavvy I will be without a ride So I better interceed a bit and maybe stretch his hide.
Well the horses and my molly left the park at speed and was off somehweres in the timber And I was flat footing towards the wreck with an itchin trigger finger
I heard a snort and the bushes crack back behind me toward creek I spun and bolted in a round to let the 06 speak
Then of a sudden come the herd a racing fast around me I tried to draw a bead on the bastard who had brought his gloom down on me
Hrrmpffh! Aha! a dream I guess I was lost in troubled slumber An I rolled over then and settled back in my bunk to think it over
Oh hell might as well get up so much for troubled dreams. Guess I need to back off a little on them spices in my beans!LOL!
Mike thats the best Damn poem I've heard in awhile!!!!
