I see your point, but i do alot of bear hunting, and dont carry a gun hog hunting 99.9% of the time but when i do i carry 454 casul, now if you were to bring a 22 to shoot a bear the idiot term would be reversed.
I have shot hogs with bow, pistol, with dogs. no dogs hurt. Most of the bears we shot last year were on the ground with anywhere from 5 to 15 or more dogs baying and were shot with flame throwing cannons, dead bear, no dogs or people shot.
Now would i shoot a 454 off a mule while standing in the saddle? certainly not. It just all boils down to the dogs at hand and just like breeds, personal preferance.
I cant say if it effects curs more just know that it doesnt bother 90 - 95% of hounds. Now if my dogs think they hear a gun shot wether it be a backfire or fire cracker, they go nutts. which makes it hard to sleep around the 4th of july and new yrs eve.
Just different strokes for different folks. I just prefer catch and tie, but like it all as long as theres dogs involved