There is a book Big Thicket Legacy it was published about 1977. The entire book is interviews with old timers that settled in the Big Thicket of east Texas in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Some of the language wouldn't be politically correct today but it is in their own words. Several of them talk about using their cur dogs for hogs , cattle, bear and panthers. These people didn't just go hunting 3 or 4 times a month. They used their dogs every day. I think that is the key. Knowing your dogs and them knowing you. JMO
Hmm. The bear and cat was all but hunted out of that country by the mid 1900s. Says a lot to me about those East Texas cur dogs and the men that bred and hunted them.