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I wanna kinda know what everyone's opinion is on this. Do you guys think that some dogs excel better in dry ground hunting opposed to hunting in the snow or is it all the same just kinda curious

i think that its the area you hunt, in some places most of the time all there is, is dirt during the lion season, in other places running on dry ground is almost unheard of, i also think its how the dog is brought up, if all you ever hunt is dry ground thats all your dog is going to know, same with the snow, i think the soil plays a part in it too, i don't think a dog in southern utah that runs dry ground awesome will do as good up here where i live but thats just my opinion on the matter.

I agree with the first part of bristol blues statement. It is all what a dog has seen. Once a dog figures out that a lion can be caught on dirt only he will hunt dirt harder. it's a matter of seeing it start to finish. the other part I disagree with. I hunt the deserts down here by saint george and I also hunt as far north as manti and oak creek. my dogs that do medioaker down here smoke up in those parts. That is asuming that northeastern utah is the same as central utah. that I don't know because I have not hunted up there. I have hunted elk up there and the terrain looks great for dry groundin cats. that don't mean it is , but it just looked that way to me. I would also add that some guys that hunt az. and new mexico could probably smoke em here in so utah. I have also had dogs that were champs in Idaho and wyoming that couldn't chase their tale down here. but again I think that is cuz they were trained in different conditions. All parts of the world have hounds that are unmatched in their home terrain so I won't take anything away from anybody no matter where they hunt. I think just about any hound that has half a nose and half a brain will run snow, but it takes alot of culling to bring forth a good dirt dog. I'm resting my dogs for a week or two now that bear pursuit is over and then I'm gona start hittin the cats hard on our year round unit down here. anybody that wants to come put their dogs to the test is welcom around my campfire.

depends on the time of year, i know early spring and late fall its really hard to run them up here, but half the battle is getting a dog to start one on dirt for the first time. i've only had dog that did it any good, but i agree with houndem, if you run on snow, try to run one on dry dirt and you will find your smart cold nose dogs, to your average dog, any dog can catch a lion in the snow if the conditions are right.

well put bristols blues. What blue lines you runnin?

Thanks for the opinions that kinda what I was thinkin too but these dogs that are bred to be dry ground dogs does that affect the pups on how they will do in the snow

i run my own blood line pretty much, they came from my uncles blue utah blood line and a female that i got out of wyoming i think its casey bloodline but im not sure anymore, we crossed them, and are trying to keep them going, so far they are awesome lion dogs, and if trained right they are way good bear dogs, and i got one dog right now that is alright on dryground with lions, but i don't try very often, cause in the off season i'm trying to get my pups going with coon hunting, i've also got two camerons, and a mountain cur, but it doesn't matter the breed or blood line, once i get them going good, they are bristolblue's, not blue utah, or casey, or cameron, they are my dogs, and will be considered bristolblues, cause really its all the training you put them through, all a bloodline gives you are certain things that the dogs are better at, but if not trained right they will never make a good dog, and i don't see why a dry dirt bloodline wouldn't be able to run a lion in the snow, you train them right and they will start older tracks for you, at least thats my opinion on the matter.

bawlinhound, It has been my experience that, with a little help at first, a dry ground dog can hunt the snow without much problem. On the other side of that coin, a dog out of typically snow only genetics, won't fair so well or make the change as easily to dirt.

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(I run lions year round with my hounds, and they do pretty well throughout the summer if a track is started early and isn't too far away. Like I've always said, lion hunting is a game of time, distance and conditions and a good trail hound in shape will finish most of those tracks whether it's in the snow or dirt if the catch falls within the boundary of the "time, distance and conditions theory"........)

ike




True wisdom there Dennis I couldn't agree with you more!

Ike, you know I don't like to agree with ya, but you nailed it buddy.

personally I like to start my dirt dogs on snow. I can usually show them a bunch of cats on the snow before they are a year old. By the spring I will gradually work them into hunting half snow half dirt and then by summer it's dirt only. I have never had a problem with my dirt dogs running snow, but they probably run as much snow as they do dirt. I don't know of many places that it doesn't at least snow a few times a year.

Very good post. I had a chance to see two "snow only" lion hounds run their very first dry dirt track last weekend. Once I was able to convice the boys it really was a lion track, they gave it a shot. It took a little walking and coaxing at first, and started with fits and spurts, but, once the 2 dogs on the track kinda cleared their brains and buckled down, they did a bang up job and cought the lion a couple miles in.

Ike nailed it with his comment. If the situation is within the perameters he described, a GOOD trail dog will do the job with a decent results.

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 hunt dry ground dogs. I do not like the snow all that much. And my definition of dry ground is alot different than those dirt guys from the South West. Shoot4fur, I believe it all has to do with the conditions that day. As you pointed out when the temp drops below zero and there is week old crusted snow, the conditions can be tough. I still think it is easier for the dogs than dry ground. The ability of the dogs to move a track has many variables, not just age. I agree with the guys that believe a good dog can work out anywhere as long as they can adjust to the track they are trying to move. My dogs look their best on dry ground, they have no problem in the snow but I think they seem more confident and comfortable when not in the snow. Maybe they can tell that I am in a better mood when I am not in the snow! But most likely it is because they only spend a few days a year on snow.

Watch dogs work an old track, in the snow covered areas they seem to be moving pretty good, even the hotter nosed dogs are able to trail. But when the track heads out on a bare face of a ridge, or across a nasty rock section without snow, it is time to depend on those colder nosed dogs that excel on the dry stuff. Snow makes it easier, unless your dogs are never hunted in it. Then they need to adapt, the good ones usually do. Just my observation.

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.

You pretty much nailed it with the exeption of one thing. I trail 50 50 snow to dirt. snow from dec-march and the rest of the year on dirt. The one differance that stands out to me is age of a track. my dogs won't usually catch older than 12 hrs or so on dirt. I usually don't even turn out on dirt unless it's fresh. snow however, I will turn out on any track I see. 2 3 days old usually don't matter they stick their nose in it and run till it's caught. one other huge advantage on the snow is that you can circle a mile or so out and if the cat has left you will cut it fresher. you could do the same on dirt, but with alot less success.