Red Tick vs. Blue Tick vs. Treeing Walker

[jhy]

Not trying to start anything or take away from the hound post earlier, just would like more specific info, and would like to know which type has better precentage of competition ranked dogs and why?  I ask because I dont know many coonhunters, and the ones I do know dont have competition bred dogs of any of the fore mentioned breeds.  Any info (blood lines, breeders, websites, etc.) as to which ones have the speed, bottom, heart, and brains too hog hunt with.  

Joey Young

[Cutter Bay Kennels]

I know what my answer is.   

[jhy]

I figured that much!:)  I had asked a competition coonhunter while he was hog hunting with me why the Red Tick, his dog of choice, instead of the bluetick.  His answer was that the Bluetick is a colder nosed dog but slow and more of a pleasure dog and the Red Tick was much better for competition hunting.  Now I dont know what makes a great competition dog, but I would like to learn.  As for the the Treeing Walker, I am told that it possess all the traits at a better precentage of turn out to make dogs in a litter.  Just repeating what I was told, not my opinion.

Joey

[Cutter Bay Kennels]

I figured that much!:)  I had asked a competition coonhunter while he was hog hunting with me why the Red Tick, his dog of choice, instead of the bluetick.  His answer was that the Bluetick is a colder nosed dog but slow and more of a pleasure dog and the Red Tick was much better for competition hunting.  Now I dont know what makes a great competition dog, but I would like to learn.  As for the the Treeing Walker, I am told that it possess all the traits at a better precentage of turn out to make dogs in a litter.  Just repeating what I was told, not my opinion.

Joey

Don't always believe what you hear.  However, if you know any redtickers that would like to match race against some slow blueticks, I would be happy to let them test their words. 

[scdogman]

I am no coonhunter, but I do know that walkers are like the yankees of competition coon hunting.





"Strike my dog, tree my dog."

[leonriverboy]

I night hunted (compitition) coons for years.  Treeing walkers dominated the hunts (75%) where treeing walkers.  I don't hog hunt with hounds.  I just perfer silent dogs when it comes to hogs.

[hogdoggintn]

As with any breed, there are those that are good and those that are bad. As far as competition hunts, there are more walkers than any other hound. Most walkers are fast on track and tree very hard. They are also bred to start treeing very early. With this being said, I am not a walker person, and I prefer a red tick. I am not a competition hunter, just a pleasure hunter. I have hunted with a few of each type of hound, and probably some of the best I have been with were walkers. One problem I have seen with the walkers that I have been with is that they require a lot of electronics, such as shock collars and tracking collars due to their long range and many will trash. Another problem is that some rush to tree and do not fully work out the track and will end up treeing in the wrong tree. My cousin had a female that anytime she got excited, she would tree.

I have not hunted much with blue ticks, so I can't say much about them. I owned one and could never get her to settle down and tree. She wanted to back track once the coon went up the tree. That is about all I can say about them.

As far as red ticks go, they are usually better for pleasure hunters because I believe they are easier trained and not as bad to trash as a walker. They are usually slower to start and most will make an average dog. They are usually slower on track than a walker, but from my experiences they are usually more likely to have the coon.

I hope nobody takes these comments the wrong way, I am only speaking from my experiences.   

[BIG BEN]

 You cant be a good walker. I have seen some great dogs in each breed but this was bear hunting not coons.

[Cutter Bay Kennels]

As stated above, it's all about personal preference. I've hunted with some treeing walkers that could really produce some swine, however I would not feed them because they were not my style.  I've got a buddy that has some of the biggest monster mouthed redticks out there, but again they are not my style. I personally like a fully bawl-mouthed hound. Most walkers tend to be chop-mouthed.  I do agree though there are fine dogs in any breed (including curs). Some specific lines within each breed generally are known to produce a higher rate of standouts than others. Find what works to fit your needs and desires.

[jhy]

As stated above, it's all about personal preference. I've hunted with some treeing walkers that could really produce some swine, however I would not feed them because they were not my style.  I've got a buddy that has some of the biggest monster mouthed redticks out there, but again they are not my style. I personally like a fully bawl-mouthed hound. Most walkers tend to be chop-mouthed.  I do agree though there are fine dogs in any breed (including curs). Some specific lines within each breed generally are known to produce a higher rate of standouts than others. Find what works to fit your needs and desires.

Very well said, and thank all of yall for your input.  I was fortunate enough to work with two FINE Examples of Plott hounds this past summer and I am thinking of getting my own pair of hounds to work with.  Though I liked the plotts and I have also owned some real nice plotts in the past, I still like to listen to what others have to say with about their expierences with these breeds.  I currently have both treeing walker and bluetick crossed into my curs, but in the future I am going to have to add it again and I am trying to decide what to work with this next year. Plotts, Blueticks, Redticks, July, or Treeing Walker.  Its a tough decision for sure.

Thanks,

Joey Young

[raider54]

I night hunted (compitition) coons for years.  Treeing walkers dominated the hunts (75%) where treeing walkers.  I don't hog hunt with hounds.  I just perfer silent dogs when it comes to hogs.

There is some truth to this statement! I dont however think the % will be that high now days! I competition hunted for over 20 years and I will tell you 30 years ago probably 80% of all dogs entered were walkers! Its not like that anymore. Two breeds that have made a big comeback are American Bluticks and English hounds. Redtick is not a breed, it is a color! The English hounds can be Bluetick, Redtick, or a mixture of several colors. As for Blueticks being slow, Ive drawn out with alot of Walker dogs and I will promise you thier handlers would beg to differ IF they tell the truth. Coon hounds are so refined now days there isnt a nickel's worth of difference in them any more. It all comes down to color preference now. For all it's worth my color is   BLUE!!!!!.........

[jhy]

I night hunted (compitition) coons for years.  Treeing walkers dominated the hunts (75%) where treeing walkers.  I don't hog hunt with hounds.  I just perfer silent dogs when it comes to hogs.

There is some truth to this statement! I dont however think the % will be that high now days! I competition hunted for over 20 years and I will tell you 30 years ago probably 80% of all dogs entered were walkers! Its not like that anymore. Two breeds that have made a big comeback are American Bluticks and English hounds. Redtick is not a breed, it is a color! The English hounds can be Bluetick, Redtick, or a mixture of several colors. As for Blueticks being slow, Ive drawn out with alot of Walker dogs and I will promise you thier handlers would beg to differ IF they tell the truth. Coon hounds are so refined now days there isnt a nickel's worth of difference in them any more. It all comes down to color preference now. For all it's worth my color is   BLUE!!!!!.........

Raider54,

I understand that they are one in the same, and I was told by a fella who competition hunts that as a majority Redtick breeders mostly breed for competition in these parts.  He did say if he was a pleasure hunter that a Blueticks seem to be bred with colder noses and run colder tracks, which wouldnt be good for competition.

I have two teams of cur dogs that are, in my opinion, as good of curs that can be found out there today or should I say do exactly what fits my bill.  Of course everybody has their own idea of what a hog dog should be.  My reason for a team of hounds is that I have truly enjoyed their natural ability and with the right handling can make acceptional dogs very fast, as far as bottom and heart goes.

As I stated above, I had the pleasure of hunting a couple of nice Plott hounds for Bud Goatcher this summer.  If given the chance to run them again after deer season I will jump at it.  However, they were to the point that I was beginning to grow very fond of them as hog dogs.  For as young as they were, they were improving with each hunt and jumping hogs in front of my curs, but still needed woods time to improve at working out tracks a little faster.  The last hunt that I took them on with Bud and Adam, they rolled right out nearly a 1000 yds and jumped hogs.  Now the hogs broke leaving the hounds circling trying to figure out which way or which hog to run.(Sensory overload on scent)  Now my curs being very expierenced worked out a track and we bayed and caught one then turned the hounds back in.  While running the other hog Adam witnessed the hog run right to a little pond and swim across.  The hounds, following their noses went right into the pond and swam across, as the curs all went right around the pond and picked up the scent. "Difference between a dog that hunts with its brain and nose and one that hunts strictly with its nose", (Adam Goatchers statement more or less).

I start my hunts with my curs and go with them until they either are getting tired or I see a hog peel off the pack and I will dump the hounds on it to comeback to it later, but I would like to find a pair of hounds to hunt this winter so I can just enjoy their music from time to time and to see how which ever breed I go with can hang with these hogs.  I have had my curs get run 25 miles in one day during the winter on these hogs.(That is not as the crow flies, but the tripometer of total distance traveled back and forth and in circles on my Garmin.)

P.S. I got a female out of your last breeding that has really turned on and is in that video that Bud posted catching that big sow in the lake.  Got her bred to a my Pit, I hope it takes, becasue she is built RIGHT!!!

[raider54]

Where did you get her?  That might be the one that Phillip had, he sold his and who ever he sold it to sold her or traded her or something. Thanks for the report on her. I have 11 new ones right now that I have High hopes for.

I night hunted (compitition) coons for years.  Treeing walkers dominated the hunts (75%) where treeing walkers.  I don't hog hunt with hounds.  I just perfer silent dogs when it comes to hogs.

There is some truth to this statement! I dont however think the % will be that high now days! I competition hunted for over 20 years and I will tell you 30 years ago probably 80% of all dogs entered were walkers! Its not like that anymore. Two breeds that have made a big comeback are American Bluticks and English hounds. Redtick is not a breed, it is a color! The English hounds can be Bluetick, Redtick, or a mixture of several colors. As for Blueticks being slow, Ive drawn out with alot of Walker dogs and I will promise you thier handlers would beg to differ IF they tell the truth. Coon hounds are so refined now days there isnt a nickel's worth of difference in them any more. It all comes down to color preference now. For all it's worth my color is   BLUE!!!!!.........

Raider54,

I understand that they are one in the same, and I was told by a fella who competition hunts that as a majority Redtick breeders mostly breed for competition in these parts.  He did say if he was a pleasure hunter that a Blueticks seem to be bred with colder noses and run colder tracks, which wouldnt be good for competition.

I have two teams of cur dogs that are, in my opinion, as good of curs that can be found out there today or should I say do exactly what fits my bill.  Of course everybody has their own idea of what a hog dog should be.  My reason for a team of hounds is that I have truly enjoyed their natural ability and with the right handling can make acceptional dogs very fast, as far as bottom and heart goes.

As I stated above, I had the pleasure of hunting a couple of nice Plott hounds for Bud Goatcher this summer.  If given the chance to run them again after deer season I will jump at it.  However, they were to the point that I was beginning to grow very fond of them as hog dogs.  For as young as they were, they were improving with each hunt and jumping hogs in front of my curs, but still needed woods time to improve at working out tracks a little faster.  The last hunt that I took them on with Bud and Adam, they rolled right out nearly a 1000 yds and jumped hogs.  Now the hogs broke leaving the hounds circling trying to figure out which way or which hog to run.(Sensory overload on scent)  Now my curs being very expierenced worked out a track and we bayed and caught one then turned the hounds back in.  While running the other hog Adam witnessed the hog run right to a little pond and swim across.  The hounds, following their noses went right into the pond and swam across, as the curs all went right around the pond and picked up the scent. "Difference between a dog that hunts with its brain and nose and one that hunts strictly with its nose", (Adam Goatchers statement more or less).

I start my hunts with my curs and go with them until they either are getting tired or I see a hog peel off the pack and I will dump the hounds on it to comeback to it later, but I would like to find a pair of hounds to hunt this winter so I can just enjoy their music from time to time and to see how which ever breed I go with can hang with these hogs.  I have had my curs get run 25 miles in one day during the winter on these hogs.(That is not as the crow flies, but the tripometer of total distance traveled back and forth and in circles on my Garmin.)

P.S. I got a female out of your last breeding that has really turned on and is in that video that Bud posted catching that big sow in the lake.  Got her bred to a my Pit, I hope it takes, becasue she is built RIGHT!!!

[Reuben]

I know you didn't mention redbones, but we had a redbone that broke me off of hounds back in the 1980's. Once this dog got on a hog you could almost bet that we were going to catch it even if it took all day. He took a cold track and worked it for hours before it warmed up.

I have been around a few hounds and the best hound hog dogs were walkers or walker crosses that I can remember. Some others were redbone crosses with cur. Redbone and pit crosses make good hog dogs.

I think most hunting hounds would cross good with bmc and catahoulas.

I wouldn't cross with mtn cur or leopard cur because these types are already houndyand long range track dogs.

[raider54]

To say that Blueticks dont make good competition hounds is crazy! Go to the hunts and see who is in the winners circle! I won the World All Around in Brazil, IN in 1995 With a Bluetick, I won at National Redbone days, My brother in law won at national Walker Days, thats just a few, all with Blueticks. There are 300 to 500 dogs in these competitions. You couldnt haul the trophies in a long bed pick up I have won with a Bluetick. There are some Old Style Blue Dogs that are slow and true. When I won RedBone Days I drew out with what I believe is the best Coon Dog I ever saw, a 5 yo Redbone Gyp she had me beat with 1375 plus points no minus and treed a possum with less than a min left in the hunt and got disqualified. No one ever heard of her. but she was a machine! Look up the LittleJohn's in Texarkana and go huntin with some of those LittleJohns' Little Arkie dogs, they are Big, BlueBlack, Long Ears, and mouths that sound like a fog horn. They will get struck and treed while most dogs still have thier leg hiked up on the truck tire. CoonHounds arent like they were in the 1930's. You can get beat by any breed in any hunt now!

[Cutter Bay Kennels]

CoonHounds arent like they were in the 1930's. You can get beat by any breed in any hunt now!

Bingo, we have a winner.  Great post.

[scdogman]

So which dogs have won the PKC and UKC world hunts in the last 10 years.  I am curious I dont know.

[Cutter Bay Kennels]

So which dogs have won the PKC and UKC world hunts in the last 10 years.  I am curious I dont know.

Something smells fishy here.   

At the typical local UKC hunt, there are 20 walkers, and about 4-5 of some other breed there.  I would expect to see a larger # of walker winners with those odds.  The whole "which coon hound breed is better" thing will go on for years.  There are plenty of dogs from every breed that could beat out the competition on any given night. 

[raider54]

So which dogs have won the PKC and UKC world hunts in the last 10 years.  I am curious I dont know.

Walkers and Blk&Tans own the PKC hunts. PKC only hunt for money and they have to pay out. There are alot of PKC Super Dogs that wouldnt get a second look in a UKC hunt. Truely a PKC Champion could theoretically get there and never tree a coon. If you really want to know what the best dog each year by rankings are you need to follow the Purina Points race. Its like a NASCAR series. At the end of the year they crown a champion. I know in 2004 there was a 13 mth old Blue Dog leading for 7 or 8 months but ended up 3rd or 4th after being sidelined for a heat cycle.

[jhy]

Raider54,

I bought her off a guy named Cole Whatley I believe.  She was  a slow starter, but I hung on to her and she has turned into an idea bulldog. River, is the gyps name out of your last litter. She is really starting to fill in now and will rollover with the baydogs after the hog is stuck.  Will hunt behind horses too and bring pigs to you in her mouth, but will catch anything that has a fight to it.  Here is the latest pic I have uploaded to photobucket.  She is middle bulldog, but she is much more filled out now.  This was probaly taken 8 months ago.

Joey Young