How many top dogs

[Catman]

Question......how many top dogs have you owned in your hunting career? I'm not talking about just a dog that will go tree game, I'm talking about dogs that stand out and get treed when other hounds are still struggling to figure tracks out or dogs that seem to always be first to figure tough tracks out, and lead the tailgaters to the tree. I have and had lots of dogs that can and would tree game but I'm looking for them dogs that stand out in your mind, or that others have hunted behind and always said they'd feed if you decided you didn't like them . I have had 3 dogs that stood out above my other dogs. One that stood out on bear. She was a pretty good strike dog as well. I've had one that really stood out on lions. She could go down tracks and finish them that I figured were uncatchable. And I had one bobcat/lion dog that excelled.
Not that it matters to me but the dogs were a bluetick, a majestic, and a walker.

[Nolte]

We've had 3, 2 B&Ts and a red dog. Just a cut above everything else.

I've hunted with about 5 others enough to consider them top dogs. They were 3 B&Ts, 2 Walkers. I've been around a few other dogs that could be consider top dogs, but haven't hunted with them enough times to really give my opinion on the matter.

All I know is that those good dogs are damn few and far between. You can sure cycle through a pile of waterhead before you find one. They aren't grapes, they don't come in bunches.

[liontracker]

One - a Cameron.

[Big N' Blue]

In 42 years of hunting and hundreds of hounds only 4 would I call outstanding.
Mac a walker, Chief a big O.O. Grant blue dog, well maybe I overcounted. LOL
Had several that were well above average.

[Mike Leonard]

I am not as old as that old Big N Blue guy I only have 40 years at this. LOL!

At last count which was several years ago I have owned over 400 hounds. That my friend is a lot of dog poop. LOL! Ofcourse a lot of these dogs were young dogs and pups when i was really breeding a lot of dogs especially black and tans. so a number of these were not dogs i finished.

But in this number there were probably 20 that I would say were good solid hounds that were priductive game catchers.

But the real standouts were dang few.

1.Earl Registered Bluetick. Started early was check broke and solid by 18 months old. Awesome track dogs very cold nosed and would put a tree on a very high percentage of his strikes. I only hunted him on bobcat and coon and he was great on both.HE SPOILED ME EARLY.

2.Gusmoke Registered Black and Tan. this dog taught me more about trailing and hunting than any person or book ever could. I guess you would say we spent our youth together. I hunted this dog extreemly hard for many years, and he caught truck loads of game. He was filthy cold nosed. fast and smart. Also could take more hunting day after day than most hounds. All I can say is what a dog!

3. Bobby Registered Walker Started treeing her own game a 8 months and was a super bobcat dog and she was trash free and just a model of good behavior.

4. Dan Registered Walker son of Rolling Hills Dan. I got this young dog from John Wick, I hunted this dog with Bobby and the pair were pretty tuff on bobcats. They seemed to have a knack for getting on one of those old tuff roaming cat tracks and working them fast and putting a cat at the end.

5. Drum Registered Walker littermate to Bobby awesome cold nosed coon and bear dog, but excelled on lion. Very patient pounding cold trailing great tree dog and excellent behavior.

6. Hawk Registered Plott super dog on all species. Tremendous bear dog and he could cold trail a bad lion track. Best rough water swamp cooner I have ever seen.Man I loved this dog and somebody stole him.

7. Sparky PlottXbluetick cross great lion dog. Nothing flash just got er done.

8. Scout Registered Walker out of Van Johnson's old Butch dog just an excellent hound in every department.

9. Buddy Registered Bluetick super dry ground lion dog of Sugarcreek and Lee Bros. Breeding. Best lay up coon dog I ever witnessed.

10.Poppy a lemon and white old strain bitch super little lion and bear dog.

Now for the short list of those just a cut above these

1. Josie Redtick old strain bitch famous for cold trailing lions and produced as well as she hunted.

2. Booger Jeff Allen bred walker. About as good as lion dogs get.

3. Gunner Jeff Allen bred walker . Super strike dog double tuff big hearted would cat the bad ones. Not quite as fast as Booger but a little better tree dog. Probably the best strike dog I have ever hunted behind.

4. Bog Nosed Kate ( allen's Ace, by Stan Meacham black dog). Katie had it all I mean she was a bobcat machine and a lion just couldn't get away. Damn do I miss this dog!

5. Last but first in every department was BIG JOHN
Monster redtick of Goswick and Layser background.
About all you can say about Big John is if he barked twice you were going to catch it and it didn't matter what. Lion, bear, bobcat, coon.

Ask me again in a couple of years and maybe I will have a few more to add to the short list.
HOPE SO! that's what keeps us going............

[Big N' Blue]

1.Earl Registered Bluetick. Started early was check broke and solid by 18 months old. Awesome track dogs very cold nosed and would put a tree on a very high percentage of his strikes. I only hunted him on bobcat and coon and he was great on both.HE SPOILED ME EARLY.

That old guy comment hurt my feelings! LOL

That Spoiled me early comment really hit home Mac and Chief came around in my early years and really hard to be satisfied with less once you have hunted the best! LOL
Oh well, I will keep trying, only have 40 more to go!! I hope!

[Mike Leonard]

Got to ya did I. LOL!

Listen old feller I sure wish you would have been around to help this poor guy out with those 2 extra years of experience you had. LOL! Maybe you could have slowed me down while I was trying to turn the earth upside down to find another blue dog that would match that first great dog,old Earl. Ofcourse you had a litter advanatage on this poor old clod busting country kid from the sticks. I just read those names on that pedigree and dreamed about Elbert Vaughn, Warren Haslour,and those other greats while you was walking around rubbing shoulders with them. LOL!

Now that hurts my feelings. LOL!

Sure glad to have you as a friend Amigo I think it was inevitable for a Texas Coon and Cat hunter to get plumb spoiled by these lazy old mountain lions. LOL!

[twist]

I have been blessed in my 25 yrs of fallowing hounds to have had 9 stand out (bobcat dog) 2 walkerXblutic, 2 plott and the other 5 were walkers all Nance breed.

[blackpaws]

still looking for one here. i have seen a few that other people have owned but nothing in my yard. i have and did have some dogs that could tree bear but when it comes time for the fall kill season the cold trails get a little longer and that's what i am trying to fix. i had a little plott female that died this past winter that was well on her way to becoming a fine little cold trailer but died way before her time. just once would i like to be able to put a dog down and have a real good chance at catching the animal being hunted. anyhow, i gues i will keep trying new lines of dogs until i find what i like. in the mean time i will keep running the so-so dogs.

[bearhntwi]

I've had two,
1.Spanky,a vaughn/womack bred bluetick.

Katie,a shamrock/weems bred plott which i still have and is the cornerstone for the line i've been working on for the last 8 years.

[HoundDawg]

Owned 2 Top shelf dogs in my life:

Chester - Brindle plott, top cold trail dog, gritty on bear, sticky... helluva mechanic. Only flaws: A bit of a braggart and kept stealing tools

Thunderheart - Perfect in every way, dog had it all and could do it all. Only flaw: S'mores flavored Pop Tarts gave him gastric issues (Also had a mild case of Teret's Syndrome but if you didn't mind profanity, a near perfect dog)

Those are the only two real Top dogs I've owned.

[Yaak attack]

To me it really is not right to compare specialists with all arounds. Dogs that do many tasks extremely well are ten times rarer than those that just specialize in one or two styles of hunting.
By the way how many Catmans will one run into in a lifetime of hunting. What must one do to earn the title of Catman? Seems to be one on every site including Taxidermy.net.

[Ike]

Good question Yaak, and one that certainly deserves an answer...........

[tntoutfitting]

Ya, lets start a thread on that.....

....what constitutes a 'catman' ?

.......where might one, or several be found ?

...........who are legitimate contendors for said "title" ?
..............who judges and awards this moniker, or can one self declare?

...................is there seperate divisions of 'catmen', lightweight, heavyweight etc. ?

.......................'CATWOMAN', or even better, 'CATWOMEN' , lets see a parade of them instead !

.......................Ike, you take it from here or HoundDawg will, I'm heading out back for another beer

[Ike]

tnt,

I laughed so hard at that post I had to wipe my keyboard off before responding!

Maybe dog or Yaak can start that post, cause I'd love it.............

I'm gonna go load dogs as well, back later.

ike