The Busy hunting dog. How much value do you place on this?

[Mike Leonard]

When I think of a busy hunting dog I think of a hard driving English Pointer who covers his ground his every step is with drive and earnest behavior just knowing the scent is right there. But as hound hunters who freecast for lions eaither on foot or ATV, or saddle animals how much value do you put on this trait?

[pegleg]

I don't put a lot of time in strictly lion hunting but meet the other criteria. I just hunt a little lower in the hills on average. The best strike dogs I have or have had are always busy looking for scent and cover huge amounts of ground ranging in front of me and the less busy hounds.these hounds are also the ones willing to really buckle down and put some thought into a hard track and work it until I call them off. I figure they save me at a minimum 60% of the distance traveled between strikes and some real rough country as they're willing to check those catty looking areas with out you having to ride through it. and in general they are always the first one to start wagging and let out the yelp. so I'd have to put a whole lot of value on these dogs. I like a busy hound just not the type that once let out leave the country in a strait line for who knows where. they have to hunt for me.

[M Evertsen]

I have a dog that matches that description, lol

I rely on him more than I rely on my eyes to actually find lion sign.

He will cover lots of country, and will check EVERYTHING to make sure a lion didn't put its foot down there. It can drive a person crazy because it takes him a while to cover that country, but I have gotten used to it, and actually enjoy watching him more looking for sign. You sure can tell when its deer, coyote, rabbit, or LION. Really gets my blood going! It seems any more if I can't find a track in one canyon, or make it very far up the canyon, I turn the dogs loose, and either road them for a while, or start burning boot leather. I figure the dogs learn more finding stuff for themselves than sitting in the back of the truck all day waiting for me to find a track for them.

Later,

Marcial

[Dan V]

I put a high value on this trait.

Busy hunting dogs find more tracks and keep the bad tracks going.

The ones I have been around are busy to find and strike a track; and they seem to possess that drive to keep pushing a track FORWARD.

They seem to be the dogs that figure out a loss.

[Mike Leonard]

Very interesting stuff. Pegleg I agree with your assesment very much. A person never realizes how many strikes he walks or rides by until he get one or more of these busy, bee hunters. The kind that pounds the ground looks in every concievable place for lion sign. You can't ride a horse or mule thru the country that a lion can go thru. Oh sure you can cover some of it and rim around but you just can't ride them dogs over all the lines a lion makes. And all ground is not equal some hold scent better than others. If you think you are really covering the ground with them dogs trotting here or there and smelling this bush or that you probably are not even if you have a bunch of them on the ground.

I learned this a long tome ago but it was brought up around a campfire in Steve Smith's back yard after I had watched a pair of extreemly busy GSP's put quail up all over that rock filled, cat claw lava rock and sugauro cactus country that some other very good bird dogs were just not getting to. It's hot and it's dry and it's rough and it hurts but they still keep going and looking and thinking any minute the strike will come.Smith says you better have hounds just likie that here or you may as well set on the porch and drink beer.

I would give up some degree of nose to have a dog that is like this. The ideal is to have all the nose and this too and that is what I and my partners are trying to breed but we will not breed to a dog that is anything but the pink rabbit of busy hunters. Yes to me it is that important. I hunt very rough country and there is no flippin way I can ride a dog over all of it. I don't want a dog that sells out and goes deep as coon hunters call it. I want a dog hunting for lions with me. But they better be busy or they won't last long around here.

[Ike]

Seldom does a tom lion cross a ridge top without crossing the road or trail that I'm on, and therefore if those hounds are spread out fifty feet either side of the road they should about all strike the track where he crossed. Occasionally a tom lion will top a ridge or canyon and turn back but that seldom happens. Therefore, I don't see much benefit in a busy dog as long as they all spread out and hunt as we move along.

If that busy dog was the one who always struck the track then a higher value may be placed on the dog, but I've not seen that as different dogs make first strike on most hunts....

[Tom White]

Busy= Desire , or Drive. One of the first things I look for in a young dog.

[sourdough]

Mike,

I will say that it's very hard to have both in the same hide and when you do, you have a special animal indeed. I love busy! A dog that hunts their tail off, one that goes to the top of bluffs, through rock piles, one that really covers a lot of country in search of a track, but I also love that dog that is a little closer hunter that covers every inch of ground in front of you. Those are the dogs that can really anchor a track, settle it down and inch that cold track forward. The mix of hounds I have compliment one another. Since I have not found the secret yet to having both in one hide, I hunt what I have and move those that can't help out with the style of hunting I do. I would love to have that perfect dog in every one of my hounds, but the key is to recognize what each hound brings to the pack.

sourdough

[Ike]

Mike,

but I also love that dog that is a little closer hunter that covers every inch of ground in front of you. Those are the dogs that can really anchor a track, settle it down and inch that cold track forward. The mix of hounds I have compliment one another. Since I have not found the secret yet to having both in one hide, I hunt what I have and move those that can't help out with the style of hunting I do. I would love to have that perfect dog in every one of my hounds, but the key is to recognize what each hound brings to the pack.

sourdough

x2........I have both kind as well, and to label one above the other (if busy means wide ranging) seems foolish to me! Personally I don't like a dog strike three hundred yards up the ridge and away from me or the other dogs, cause b y the time I get to the track they are gone. And if I'm hunting lions and they've struck bobcat or bear the deal is done.......and the lion was never found because they are off running something I wasn't after that day. A dog can be busy but needs to work close enough to show me the track.

ike

[Mike Leonard]

Excellent stuff here guys! Thanks.

[Big Mike]

I agree with Tom that Busy= desire or drive in my way of looking at it.

Hunting horseback I like dogs that range out and check every rock and ledge and tree. I cant ride through all the good places so if if I get on a bluffy ledge i like dogs that cast out and check where I cant go.

[sourdough]

I really thought about this today, although I do feel it is very hard to get nose power and super busy in the same hide. I guess I will have to ask what is "busy." Busy can mean a lot of things in the dog hunting world. Look at competition coon hunting. Fast, busy dogs with amazing tree power, could that hound cut it as a dry ground lion dog? Could a dry ground lion dog make it as a comp coon dog? I have one hound in my pack that has several holes in her, but what she brings to the pack is she does not miss anything. Oh, she gets behind in most races and at times even blown out, but she is amazing at starting tracks. She has started a lot of cold tracks the others walked over. Some were not as cold as you would think, trailing conditions being what they are from day to day. If I had to pick my best hound it sure would not be her, but she is a great hound in her own right. So does busy mean with their legs or with their nose? Don't get me wrong, I am with Mike when it comes to giving up a [LITTLE NOSE POWER] for a dog that will hustle up a track and save you some time covering the country. So what is "busy."


sourdough

[Mike Leonard]

Sourdough,

I would say you are busy. Yep always thinking about it. Hey we are not just out here for a stroll until somthing maybe happens. No sir, we are going to find it, hunt it up, and make it happen.

We need a combination most of the time, but trust me there are some that cover the whole spectrum. Not many yet but we will keep looking right?

[.25-06]

extreemly busy GSP's

They sure are busy aint they. Terry

[sourdough]

Mike,

Always looking, Always learning

Sourdough