Good hounds.

[DC DOGGIN]

Alot of people think they have good hounds until they hunt with one, commonly used phrase " they catch enough to keep me happy" ya well what happens when you get a new dog that is a game catching fool and and sets new standards and makes you real happy. A Month later he gets killed , then what? Are you still happy catching less game or do you wanna strive to make or buy another top hound. Whats enough game to keep the average person happy? A guy can go from catching 10 to 15 bear a year and be satisfied or "happy" buys a pup raises it for 2 years turnes out to be a superstar catchin 30 plus bear a year then what you'd be real happy huh, and say he gets killed the next year then what?, do you go back to being happy or satisfied ? NO your gonna go through dogs like crazy trying to make another superstar. Thoughts and opinions stories anybody??

[M Evertsen]

To me, hunting is not a numbers game.

It matters nothing for me. There are just some things that I can't control, and determining how many animals I catch in a year is one of them.

I turned loose 3 weeks ago at 3 pm on a track that I did not think was catchable - caught it in 15 minutes.

I turned loose yesterday on a track that was made during the storm, and worked out to where there was no snow in the track - at 10 am. Snow stopped falling around 6. At 4 that night I gave up on trying to catch my lead dog - but he was still trailing it and giving his all.

Any day that I can hear the dogs bark on good game is a good day.

If I see something in the tree at the end of the day, its just a bonus.

Later,

Marcial

[DC DOGGIN]

Well put Marcial..

[goneropn]

Well put Marcial..

+1

[kickemall]

Same thing with a fast dog. Everybody has them until they hunt with some that really are.

I put more emphasis on how many get away rather than how many they catch. If very much game that is jumped is getting away then its time to re-evaluate.

[jason]

I agree with you Marcial,

I don't think I hunt to see cats in a tree but I enjoy following the hounds and watching them improve race after race. I find that I loose some of my drive and ambition when I don't have a pup in the pack.

[inchtowntracking]

For me I like seeing game in the tree, when I go out I expect atleast one in a tree. I have gone through a dog being sold and the pack going through hell for a month before a different dog stepped up to be the leader. Went from atleast one in a tree to not striking on anything and only catching skunks and going home smelly. That was the worst time of my very short hound career. It got to the point I didnt want to go out, but I couldnt stay away. Then the dog I expected to step up did and my pup turned it on too, and started catching two a night to 4. And started catching some of the runners that we couldnt catch before. I still probably dont have the hounds most people have but I am happy with what I think is a "good dog". I dont know if I even gave an answer to what was being asked, but I know I wasnt happy when the catching stopped.

[BuckNAze]

I like hound work as much as the next guy but if Im spending 60 bucks of gas each time I go out I better be catching something

[inchtowntracking]

I like hound work as much as the next guy but if Im spending 60 bucks of gas each time I go out I better be catching something

EXACTLY what I think

[PIGLET]

To each his own! I seen guys catch a ton of game and were never happy and i seen a guy catch one time and couldn't knock the smile off his face! How many also is directly effected by how much you can hunt and how much game is in an area, I honestly think you guys give dogs way more credit than they deserve and what i mean is the harder you hunt and see game the better the dogs seem to be! We do the same in sports do you judge by statistics, championships or judge by what you see em do? So for me its a hobby and what makes me happy is all that matters so everyones number is different!

[arizonabeagle]

i'm just happy to get the hell outta the house, and not be at work or nagged by the ol lady..being able to hear the dogs run a critter is just the iceing on the cake!

[Maddoglures]

Alot of people think they have good hounds until they hunt with one, commonly used phrase " they catch enough to keep me happy" ya well what happens when you get a new dog that is a game catching fool and and sets new standards and makes you real happy. A Month later he gets killed , then what? Are you still happy catching less game or do you wanna strive to make or buy another top hound. Whats enough game to keep the average person happy? A guy can go from catching 10 to 15 bear a year and be satisfied or "happy" buys a pup raises it for 2 years turnes out to be a superstar catchin 30 plus bear a year then what you'd be real happy huh, and say he gets killed the next year then what?, do you go back to being happy or satisfied ? NO your gonna go through dogs like crazy trying to make another superstar. Thoughts and opinions stories anybody??

This a story of a Walker Dog called "Sounder"

About 20 some years ago, I had heard of a mean walker dog. This dog was bad to bite folks and he was sold several times to different coon hunters.

I bought this dog because I really needed an older dog to train some younger dogs. Now sounder was a coon dog, everyone told me he was not much of a bear dog. But folks i can tell you this dog could run down just about any bear you put him out on. He could look at a cold bear track in the snow and still trail it up. He could surely make one climb alone or in a pack as he wanted some hair.

First year he caught 10 bears by himself. Second year I think we had over 40 bears in the year. He could smell a bear from the top of the truck like no other I had ever seen. Did not road him much because of his hips. Just drive the roads and he would tell you when to let him go. He was broke beyond belief. He hated bears but could kill a coon with just a big crunch to the chest.

Sometimes we would drive around all day looking for him, when we found him he always had a bear treed or bayed, just waiting for the rest of the pack to get there. He made the rest of our dogs really take after them bears.

Now Sounder was not in the best of breeds ( had Hip displasia ), he had hip problems and ran throwing his hips. But there was no quite to him. Sounder had his back leg broken by a bad bear, we put a pin in his leg and he was as good as new. That year he caught 20 bears by himself before his leg was broken again.

I had his leg fixed again, this time they had to put screws and wrapped it in wire to hold the bone pieces together. Next year hunting he help us catch 10 more bears, finally a big bear knock him off a cliff breaking his leg again. But as tough as any dog can be, he should have said enough.

But not Sounder, he came back after that bear and was pulling hair. The bear broke and ran up the first big tree he could get to with Sounder biting him the whole time. We watched in amazement at this three legged dog still giving his all.

I hope someday to visit his grave where I left him to rest. I could not ever turn him loose on another race, the next day after resting, we turned loose on another bear.
sounder tried to eat his way out of the dog box. Still wanting to get his licks in any chance he could.

Well I did as any good man would do that loved a dog as Sounder. I put him to rest on a mountiantop over looking his hunting grounds.

May you rest in peace Sounder, My best Friend and Companion.
You gave me 5 of the best years of my life.

[blondbeard]

that was a hell of a story,maddog, hearts go out to you, azbeagle i agree 100% with you. just to be out of the house

[DeVuono311]

Definition of a good hound to me:

Comes to me when called, whether treeing, trailing, or what have you.
Puts in the heart and will to trail the game I'm training it to trail.
Shows me that no matter what ( Unless I call it) its gonna do its best to find what its looking for.

Short Story,

Tom and I are out training my young Bobcat hound. Cut her loose on a track, she chases it into a thick, thick, did I say thick? swamp. We get over there and I can hear my dog treeing, I climb a log out as far as I dare and sure enough, cat is perched at the highest point of a small tree in the swamp, my dog is treeing like a son of a gun on this tree. I mean wants this cat BAD. Mind you this was TRAINING, so figuring there was nothing more we could do Tom and I look at eachother, shrug our shoulders and I say what now? Call er off? Tom laughs and says "I aint getting any wetter, but good luck calling er outta THERE!" I walk the log back to dry ground, and yell out " Maybell! Dead Cat! Maybell Come!" I'll be damned here comes my hound. I was tickled pink! Toms jaw bout hit the ground. I was Damn pleased with her that day, and ever since.

Point is this,
Everyone has THEIR version of the perfect hound in their mind. Fact is a perfect hound is what YOU consider a perfect hound. You may not like how my hound carries itself but I may think its a trophy. Or Vice Versa. I may not like YOUR dog, but YOU may think its a trophy you want to even have that dog stuffed when its passes, but I may think its not the dog for me. Don't matter, get a dog, or pup. Train it the way YOU want it to be or have a good buddy train it the way YOU know he will, knowing what you are expecting. This way there are no "bad habits" to be broken and the dog learns you at the same time you learn your dog.

[DC DOGGIN]

Great story thanks for sharing i would like to hear more of theses stories.

Alot of people think they have good hounds until they hunt with one, commonly used phrase " they catch enough to keep me happy" ya well what happens when you get a new dog that is a game catching fool and and sets new standards and makes you real happy. A Month later he gets killed , then what? Are you still happy catching less game or do you wanna strive to make or buy another top hound. Whats enough game to keep the average person happy? A guy can go from catching 10 to 15 bear a year and be satisfied or "happy" buys a pup raises it for 2 years turnes out to be a superstar catchin 30 plus bear a year then what you'd be real happy huh, and say he gets killed the next year then what?, do you go back to being happy or satisfied ? NO your gonna go through dogs like crazy trying to make another superstar. Thoughts and opinions stories anybody??

This a story of a Walker Dog called "Sounder"

About 20 some years ago, I had heard of a mean walker dog. This dog was bad to bite folks and he was sold several times to different coon hunters.

I bought this dog because I really needed an older dog to train some younger dogs. Now sounder was a coon dog, everyone told me he was not much of a bear dog. But folks i can tell you this dog could run down just about any bear you put him out on. He could look at a cold bear track in the snow and still trail it up. He could surely make one climb alone or in a pack as he wanted some hair.

First year he caught 10 bears by himself. Second year I think we had over 40 bears in the year. He could smell a bear from the top of the truck like no other I had ever seen. Did not road him much because of his hips. Just drive the roads and he would tell you when to let him go. He was broke beyond belief. He hated bears but could kill a coon with just a big crunch to the chest.

Sometimes we would drive around all day looking for him, when we found him he always had a bear treed or bayed, just waiting for the rest of the pack to get there. He made the rest of our dogs really take after them bears.

Now Sounder was not in the best of breeds ( had Hip displasia ), he had hip problems and ran throwing his hips. But there was no quite to him. Sounder had his back leg broken by a bad bear, we put a pin in his leg and he was as good as new. That year he caught 20 bears by himself before his leg was broken again.

I had his leg fixed again, this time they had to put screws and wrapped it in wire to hold the bone pieces together. Next year hunting he help us catch 10 more bears, finally a big bear knock him off a cliff breaking his leg again. But as tough as any dog can be, he should have said enough.

But not Sounder, he came back after that bear and was pulling hair. The bear broke and ran up the first big tree he could get to with Sounder biting him the whole time. We watched in amazement at this three legged dog still giving his all.

I hope someday to visit his grave where I left him to rest. I could not ever turn him loose on another race, the next day after resting, we turned loose on another bear.
sounder tried to eat his way out of the dog box. Still wanting to get his licks in any chance he could.

Well I did as any good man would do that loved a dog as Sounder. I put him to rest on a mountiantop over looking his hunting grounds.

May you rest in peace Sounder, My best Friend and Companion.
You gave me 5 of the best years of my life.

gRE