BigGameHoundsmen.com

I know alot of you are gonna think this is retarded which Im thinking it might be also but I also think its gonna be fun... Right now I run Bluetick's and I love it, great dogs and I catch game so cant be happier. Well now the more I read about these other breed's and crosses I think I got to have me some of these. I want to train and hunt two different style's of dogs. I have some to little knowledge of hunting Walker's and running crosses. But I like what I see and hear from all of you who do run the running crosses. I got two young prospects picked out that I hope to have soon. I know alot of you are gonna say its gonna be tuff to hunt two different pack's and I agree but I got the time to do it so why not... I wanna see everyday the difference in style of hunting in my country between the two breed's I wanna hear from you guys what I should expect I have a good idea but still want to opinions on problems I'll face with the running stock and the solutions Im gonna need to correct and also what to look for...

I got a question to add to your post a little bit. Why don't people cross running dogs with blueticks more or anything. It seems to be the go to with running/Walker, Why not other breeds? I personally have a plott crossed up with running dog but you don't see much else other than running/walker. Why?

You know I read your post I would like to ask you a question. Why run two Packs? It seems to me that after you run one pack or the other that you will question yourself as to what the other pack would have done on that given hunt. It seems to me that I would hunt them all together and when the track has a problem you can see which style of dog does best under what conditions. And even after you think you have it figured out you need to take in consideration that all dogs of any breed are not the same so another one of the same breeding would give you different results.

AS for why running dogs are not crossed with other breeds i.e. bluetick, black and tan who the heck knows. Maybe in the beginning running dogs and walkers look a lot a like so people could do the cross and not be found out ? Strictly a guess....

Outlaw, I have also wondered that question, I figured it had to do with the Walker's having near the same style of running as the running stle dogs but Who knows...

Justaguy, I have also thought I would be questioning what the others would have done in that situation. I do plan on running my Blue's with the runing stock hear and there mostly to get them started then after that I'll seperate the two and see how they form and what they do from there. And I agree each breeding of any stock is gonna be different on how the dogs hunt so more or less it's gonna be just towards the dog's I'll be hunting rather then making a judgement of the breed in general... More or less to find what dogs I'll be sticking with in the future I guess....

Makes no sense to me what you are wanting to try. Have two packs of dogs for the same game! That is one of the most insne things a hound hunter could do, focus on one pack as no one on here has the time or game to hunt to different packs of dogs. Mix hunt them like others are doing. Andy

Merlo, I rather enjoy your fresh perspective at times. I hope you dont let any of us squash your creativity. I think if you could just stay completely away from all of us long time traditional hound guys and let your thing develop in a vaccuum, you might come up with something none of us have ever thought of. You come across sometimes as kind of a smart alec kid. But I think you have a real good mind. You challenge my way of thinking and doing things which ticks me off at times, and at the same time I like that about you.

If you want to do something that absolutely none of us on here would do, I say go for it. You might learn something that absolutely none of us on here would learn.

My personal feelings about your idea are the same as what Twist and others expressed. Unless you are independently wealthy and can work dogs full time and never have to work to make a living, I just don't see how you can make two separate bobcat packs and truly find the outer limits of each pack. I myself would find it impossible to leave dogs at home when I go to the woods.

If I had the time and money, I think what you want to do sounds like fun. But I would probably be hunting one pack in this drainage, while I was also running the other pack in the next drainage over, because I dont see how I could just leave dogs in the box or at home, unless It is during season and I am rotating packs to have fresh dogs each hunt. But again, that is full time hunting.

And the thing with me is I am not devoted to a breed, so it would not take me long to figure out which dogs were better. I would not be keeping the inferior dogs unless they added something to the pack. And already, I am down to one pack again.

give it a go man! wish I had the starch and time to do that. keep us posted with unbiased observations on the deal down the road.

merlo_105 wrote:Justaguy, I have also thought I would be questioning what the others would have done in that situation. I do plan on running my Blue's with the runing stock hear and there mostly to get them started then after that I'll seperate the two and see how they form and what they do from there. And I agree each breeding of any stock is gonna be different on how the dogs hunt so more or less it's gonna be just towards the dog's I'll be hunting rather then making a judgement of the breed in general... More or less to find what dogs I'll be sticking with in the future I guess....

Biggest problem I see is I think starting the running pups with the blue pup trainers might influence their natural hunting style. Probably going to affect the objectivity of the experiment.

Just a thought, but if you want to start from pups, you might want to get all from the same place. From someone that can produce dogs that will be similar. Otherwise you might have more difference between the crosses making it impossible to run them as a pack.

You will have a hard time training the running cross compared to the blueticks. for example. blueticks are natural tree dogs. When the running cross does tree there first cat , they might not locate it. By the time you get in there to help them out they will probably turn the track around and run the back track. like I told u on the phone . I would just get one and raise it with the blueticks. jmo

hunt a mixed pack. it will be easier to train the running dogs and give you the best of both styles at the same time.

I agree with fox hunter and coast range.

There are guys who hunt enough that two packs are better, but it takes a whole lot of hunting for the need to alternatively lay up dogs in order to keep them huntable. There was a time many years ago when we would lay up sets of dogs to keep them from getting totally wore down, but that entailed lots of hunting.
These days I only dream of hunting enough to keep two packs of dogs wore down. Responsibilties and having to earn a living sure get in the way. Maybe someday I will have be in a position where I don't have to put everything I have on the ground every time I go just to keep them in shape.
If I ever get there again, I do like the idea of a core pack, and a second pack I would call "research and development".

I hunt plott/ running walker crosses, I think the most important thing is to make sure your pups come from good parents or as anything they won't work out, I don't think it matters what kind of tree dog you cross these running dogs on as long as you start with good dogs, mostly what you try to accomplish is "heads up" style running and "cutting and swinging" the track because you move it faster ( In my opinion) and some don't tree right away but most all learn, we hunt ours on coyote coon bears and some bobcats. Also I wouldn't be afraid to run em together, if they learn to run as a pack that's more valuable than having outstanding individuals, just like sports teams, in my opinion

I have hunted different styles of hounds together and the results seem to depend a great deal on the quality of the actual dogs in question and that can set your opinion for or against a breed or strain when with different dogs from the same strain you would have a better or different experience. I've recently seen a variation in littermates that has had me open my eyes. hunting style is a complex genetic issue. the big problem I have had is when dogs have a real different style of hunting young. they can be discouraged from other hounds running differently. like a dog who prefers to trail close on line compared to one that drifts with body scent. you have a dog trailing close to the track and one running further down the ridge opening like he's looking at it and this pulls the trailing dog off the line then it has to return to the line. however the drifting hound will get to the point it won't honor the trail dog half the time. because its convinced its babbling. but I've never run pure fox or running dogs with trail hounds just different styles. I think we prefer to run similar type dogs because the results are more uniform and the track is easier to read from dogs that hunt together then dogs responding to the same track differently. this may not be as pronounced in some areas conditions but for me it seems to be. you need much more understanding and faith in your hounds to run different styles. one prime example was I hunted with these older houndsmen that ran track straddling type blue ticks and my dogs while what I call trailhounds would also take body scent and drift a little not excessive but they would move . well my two eighteen month old dogs started a lion in a draw and where barking excitedly and moving back and forth across a fairly wide swath of ground twenty or thirty yards. well the blue dogs hadn't opened and the guys told me to shock my dogs because they were trashing because of the yelps instead of baying and the frantic searching they did. now that might have been trash but having hunted my dogs I had to take it on faith that since they had hunted like that before on lion that's what they were doing. which as a youngster with young dogs going against older dogs and hunters made me doubt myself and my dogs but I fortunately didn't give in and it was really a fairly easy lion track. but because of one reason or another those blue dogs didn't open until we crossed over a ridge into another canyon. maybe they weren't as good a hounds as they thought or it was just scent differences . but you have to know your hounds as individuals and have faith in your ability to read them. anyway long explanation of why its difficult to hunt dogs with wide variation in style. good luck.