BigGameHoundsmen.com

Just curious what you all think after reading the great stories on the "hall of fame". So...is it nose, brains, drive, something else??? Don't give me the easy answer of a "its a combination of....." I'm sure thats true, but what is the MOST IMPORTANT trait??

For me, the most important trait is personality. I gotta like a dog to enjoy hunting them no matter how good or bad they do.

Jcathunter is right on! If you don't really enjoy the dog your are working with it won't matter what they have. I see so many different personality traits in all of my dogs even some that are closely related are very different but it is just like people learning to work with all of these makes it very interesting.


All the traits you talked about are needed to really become that super star but if they don't have hustle and drive you will seldom see the rest.

I really like a dog that is a busy hunter. My Chassie dog is a classic in this way. I can pound along for hours on a horse over rough terrain and battling brush and ledges and you name it. The day warms up and the hours go by and still no fresh tracks are crossed and yet she is casting back and forth looking here and there busy as a bee just knowing the next few steps she takes will bring her to a lion's trail. these types of dougs have to have a lot of bottom because they usually travels considerably further than the ones that tire and plod along with the horse. But without these types of dogs out hunting for a track you will have very little success. It is so much different than finding a track or rigging a track and then letting them run it. They have to be willing workers.

..

I think drive and persistence are the two most important traits. Without a lot of both, they will have a hard time finishing a bad track.

All of these are good answers and then I re-read the question.

Most Important and I had to think about that.
Obviously Nose and the intelligence to slowdown and the willingness to listen to his handler are very important traits = brains.

Tough question to answer without mentioning it all!! Oh well.

cold nose, if they cant smell it all the brains and drive dont make a difference.

I think brains and prey drive determines what a dog does with what he smells....we really don't know for sure what they are smelling as far as hot or cold track goes...only by the response of the dog...i suspect a doberman can smell the same scent as a dry ground dog....it just does'nt provoke the same response...so I would say a dry ground dog has more prey drive and desire to catch than other hounds do....jmo.

Years ago I spent one day on the mountain with an older houndsmen that had probably been there and done that so to speak. I was pretty green and hadn't been running my hounds very long, but he could readily see that both me and my hounds had a big heart for the sport. That old houndsman told me you can usually measure the size of heart or hunt in a hound by the man who trained and hunted that dog.......basically, if the man doesn't have a lot of heart then his hounds probably won't either.....

I suppose he probably also knew that a man usually won't keep a dog that won't live up to or equal to his standard or interest, and either cull or dump that hound. In my opinion, a dry ground hall of fame dog is a dog that matches the interest and expectations of his trainer and between the two they help take their sport to the next level........and that dog also has to be able to do it in the dirt all day long!

ike

papa, Lets say you are trailing a real hard track and your top two or three dogs are trailing it but you have a dog that is working his tail off trying to smell it but cant. He is working just as hard as the dogs that can smell it if not harder. I had a little walker female that was not as cold nosed as my goog dogs but she would have just as much drive as the others and probably works harder than the dogs trailing but can only smell it in certain spots. jmo

To me this is a trick question. I don't think A dog could be "GREAT" material if they don't have every atribute that was mentioned. A dog better have brains, nose, drive, tough feet, be a busy hunters to even be a canidate for a dry ground hall dog. I think we are very loose as far as what we consider a hall dog. I have personaly never owned one and may never for that matter. Some of you have been very lucky from what I have read on other posts to own several hall of famers. I've been fortunate enough to vesit wi some of the greatest dry ground hunters in the west and to get them to mention one or two dogs is a chore. Thats over fifty or sixty years 0of this stuff too.

Like I said I've never owned one but I'm not the kind of guy thats quick to induct one either. They'll have to be pretty impressive to me and then you don't now till you've compared them with other dogs. I don't mean to be negative but it takes one hell of a dog to make that list. Hope I have one some day. Until then I'll just keep pounding the powder and breeding the best to the best.

AZDOGMAN wrote:cold nose, if they cant smell it all the brains and drive dont make a difference.

Just thought you should reread what you wrote, it is very true but you could flip flop it and it would be true too. You can have all the nose in the world and without the brain and drive to make it work you will have nothing.
This is a great post, and I will agree with everyone on this because everything mentioned is very important. I will also ad training, I have seen hounds trained as coon dogs out east and they have learned to run a track fast and wont bother slowing down to run a cold track. I have seen dogs trained to run cats in snow and they wont even look at the dirt and I have seen dogs trained on dirt that wont look at a track in the snow.As Mike mentioned it takes a very well rounded hound, but if I had to pick one or two I would pick brains and drive more than nose. I have seen terriers and curs run a cold track on dirt just as good or better than a hound, I would have to say that is brains and drive make the nose work to the vey best it can work. Many of us have seen a "very cold nosed dog" sit and boo hoo on a track that is very old but do not have the sense to move it .
Anyway great post, I thought we would get many different responces to this but pretty much everyone is agreeing, I think

Start my long list of requirements with HEART...............

tntoutfitting.com wrote:Start my long list of requirements with HEART...............

Amen! I personally believe it's that single-tracked mind of a big hearted trail hound that keeps them moving down a track all day and all night long. The larger the heart for the hunt and catch the longer that hound is gonna pound down that track, period! Someone mentioned other breeds of dogs can probably smell that old lion track but aren't driven to trail it, which is true. A hound has to have that trail desire in the blood to make it, but that trail desire has to be fueled by a stick to it never quit type heart.......

Coldtrailing a dirt lion track is something a hound learns to do, and something a good hunter helps that dog learn. Any hound that ever stayed in my backyard very long learned to cold trail a dirt lion track, which is just the natural and next level for a trail hound over a hot track........

ike

You know we all hear about training...training...training, and honestly from my experience...a hound that has the right breeding needs very little training because its all natural ability. They need exposure, and need taught handling, but there's hounds out there that will cold trail in snow or dirt at very young ages....all they need is taken to the woods and hunted. Yes they need corrected occasionally on what to trail and what not to trail, but a good bred hound really doesn't require anything but exposure and the more he/she is exposed and handled...(if they have the brains) the better and better they become. Ya know I don't know how a guy is going to teach a dog to cold trail in the dirt...you can send them with older dogs and let the older dogs help teach them or you can walk along and encourage them and keep them young dogs interested, but if they don't have that natural desire to catch certain game...they will not make the kind of dogs you all are talking about imo. I know you hear guys say they took a coonhound and turned him or her into a dryground lion hound but I believe the ability just happened to be there and the individual exposed them to that style of hunting and they picked up on it. I know several won't agree with me on these statements, but I truley believe if you get the right hound....there's very little training involved, just exposure. I also believe that there's a world of difference in the noses on hounds, but I won't go into that because its what I personally believe and have no real scientific evidence to back up what I think