Opinions

[brian j cerelli]

question for the guys running silent type dogs, if the dogs make a loose, once a dog picks it back up, does the dog open to let others know it picked up the track?if the dog takes off silent that seems like a problem unless all other dogs see the dog take off.
i run hare with beagles now, but i to have silent style until jumped, im ok with some trailing as long as they dont say much while figuring out what end is correct, once jumped its a roar. on a loose(check) once a dog picks up scent again, they should open once or twice to pull everyone over to them, and rejump together and keep the pack running together as much as possible

[kordog]

a hounds nose and brain is used for more than just running game when they are hunted in a pack they can tell where one another is as well without barking especially if the winds right,and the tracks from each other also im sure play a part.they also know where we are more than you would think.i have seen on a number of times when running coyote hounds that have crossed road after road into unfamiliar territory or posted land come dark and we are sitting in the truck with just the window down and the wind going towards the hounds they stop at about 800 yards or better and come on a straight line into the wind right to the truck through some very thick territory.

[brian j cerelli]

i guess i got a bunch of stupid dogs then...! i had a female that was real good at running at track, but almost never opened unless she was looking at it. with the beagles you get to physically see alot of the races and i cant count how many times she would take the line and go with out saying a word, the rest of the dogs never noticed she was on the track since she didnt open when she picked up a loose. so she would run damn near solo unless another dog got in behind her, after they opened it was a dog out front, and a pack behind. took her out of the pack and that cut down on the amount of dogs getting spread out.

[kordog]

even hounds that bark can be totally out of balance as a pack.beagles can be some very independant dogs.i have seen a hare run within 10 ft of a beagle and he would not chase it ,because it was not the one he was running.they will run two seperate hare crossing circles.it really is about finding what works for you.ive seen some damn nice silent / semi silent dogs .that being said you will never find one at my residence ,because i like the sound of the race to much.

[Varminator]

Brian, They are not totally silent, they Bark like JC said! Just enuff to let you know what is happening. IMHO!!!

"Once 1 has found where it left the road there will be a bark or 2. And all dogs are heading to that dog. They will open here and there until jumped then it's a solid roar. If they make a lose , complete silence until 1 picks it up. The race tells a story."

[Unreal_tk]

Some dogs learn to trail those silent ones! In my opinion. I've got one whose really handy at sorting a loose but my two females won't trail her out unless they figure it out on their own but my two males will and take the track back. Maybe I'm full of shit with my theory but something is up with it.

[dhostetler]

My best bobcat dog is to silent for my liking on tough cold trails but she is usually giving a lot of mouth long before the jump, so her silentness has no factor in catching it. One problem is its harder to pack trail cold tracks with her. I also don't like dogs that rattle, I want them to bark only when they have the track.

[twist]

I'm not a pack hunter I hunt to catch cats if the pack don't fallow they miss out I guess. Can count on one hand the cats she has not caught in last five yrs. Andy

[South Texan]

[twist]

I sure can't see how a dog can be over broke. Thats like saying one can be over finished on a certain game. The more broke the better! Andy

[coastrangecathunting]

I've seen dogs that wouldn't hunt with young or strange dogs. I'd say they are over broke. I've seen dogs that wouldn't road in front of the pickup for fear of being shocked . I'd say they were over broke. Seen dogs when trailing a cat hit where a heard of elk was standing on the cat track. The dog quit the track and came back to the truck worried it was going to get in trouble. Others went on and caught the cat. Andy, did u train and hunt her . How many cats are u talking about. 200. Or 15.

[mark]

I use to hunt with a guy that had a nice little male cat dog. Saw him catch cats with and without help. The dog NEVER trashed and the guy that he bought the dog from all but guaranteed the dog to be 100% trash free. The dog had one problem and that was while coldtrailing he would sometimes be moving a track good and just quit and come back to the road. We couldnt figure it out and thought maybe we had some growling or some other problem amongst the dogs. Sometimes when he would quit the other dogs would go on and catch the cat and he would just hang out and listen like he had been whipped. Finally one morning we found a track in a small patch of snow in the road and the dogs started trailing it up the road. We were following behind and watching them for a half mile or so and were coming up on another patch of snow in the road. About half way across this patch of snow that dog spun around and came to the truck like he was in trouble. We got up there and saw where a coyote had came into the road and went tje same direction as the cat. We tryed to get him to go to the other dogs when they finally got the cat off of it but he wasnt having any part of it. That in IMO is a dog that is over broke.

[Todd Davis]

Jc, them over broke dogs are just the late starters !!

[al baldwin]

Mark how long had you folks hunted that dog with the dogs in your packs? I come down very hard on all my dogs that trashed, ONCE, they knew better & been on lots of good game. They would spook up for awhile but would soon get over it, never owned one that had a long effect by harsh breaking. However, I was there buddy, treating them with lots of affection days following those times. I believe, unless you have at some point did some serious breaking you are flirting with danger of trash races at some point in their life, especially on yotes. Can think of a few that needed almost no correction, but I seldom hunted them with strange dogs, and when I did it would be a couple or three that I had a lot of faith in. Yes I have had packs that have gone two or three without trashing to my knowledge. Tom started a young dog for me this winter, to my knowledge she only trashed once on a yote & twice on coon. She was turned loose with others to hunt no matter how cold the track. Tom was able to light her up on trash tracks, thanks to his older dogs for telling on her. Would you guys rather have one a little over broke, or under broke. Just my experience. Andy wish you could hunt that female here for five years, interesting to see how she performed. Al

[CRA]

I agree with JC and Mark 100%. I have witnessed more than 1 dog too broke. Most the time the handle was too heavy handed or too button happy for the type of dog they had. Too much force will cause a sensitive dog to shut down in certain situations.

Al, I would rather have one trash once in awhile, than shut down and quit good game because something spooked them into quitting a good piece of game. That's my opinion.