legitimate coon hunting question

[T-Bob Parker]

Growing up a lil turd in Texas watching where the redfern grows and wearing the occasional Davey crocket coon skin cap that id get on our annual trips to the Alamo, I always kinda idolized coon dogs and coon hunting. I now own a bluetick gyp who nightly goes on these loooong loouud coon chases. Its kinda pretty when Amanda and I are sipping some beverages on the front porch at night, like now, but here's my take.

No matter what I do in life, I wanna see results. Almost every cur I've ever had or hunted with can easily catch coons on the ground. I've got a certain red dog right now who can't seem to resist a good coon crunching I believe the most I've seen killed in one night was 7 but that was after a good green switching on 10

How many coons does a hound tree in a night and why put up all that racket?

[ole shep]

Good God  T  Thats music not racket. And its how they get that coon up a tree that matters not how many. I dont think you need a hound. You need Jagd. With a little age you will be drinking fine wine and enjoying he finer thing in life. Like good hounds!

[T-Bob Parker]

No thanks, when I start drinking wine I may as well start wearing maxi-pads I actually enjoy a good jack on the rocks with fresh crushed mint and a splash of lime, fruity I know but goooood. And I enjoy listening to lady bird put one up a tree but if coon hunting was my sport of choice id naturally wanna be more successful than the next guy. That's all im getting at, do they score the coondogs by style at tree or total coons treed?

[DixieDogs24]

I agree I come from generations of Coon hunters. It's music! How many Coon would depend on the country you are in in south GA I get one to two a night, once I Treed seven really good night. In Indiana I Treed 11 in a two hour hunt and got beat out. My answer a good hound will tree every Coon be comes across unless it goes in the ground- my dogs are broke from that early on.

[DixieDogs24]

Each kennel club has diff scoring systems but UKC is 125 for 1st tree, 75 second, 50 third, 25 fourth. Strike is 100, 75, 50, 25

[tomtom]

 Theres a reason those competition coonhounds strangely resemble cur crosses more than hounds. Know what really bothers me? My AKC boo-hoo Black and Tan pup from Colorado hasnt matured enough to start opening on a trail yet. She will wind a coon from however far and trot  over to it. She chases the coon straight up a tree and she never says a word.... As soon as she develops and starts trailing, thats all over with.

[ole shep]

Stay away or you will be babbling on about Mojo, Insane X . Walkers,blueticks,Slick trees locate,chop,bawl.......%$#$#@!

[arrowbar]

we had bought two competition bred blues from georgia, they were out of some really good lines but they did not make big game dogs here.

[tnhillbilly]

Stay away or you will be babbling on about Mojo, Insane X . Walkers,blueticks,Slick trees locate,chop,bawl.......%$#$#@!

LOL, dont forget all grand pedigree. Its all about the music. I would rather listen to a hound work a track, give a good locate, and set in treein one one or two coons, than have a silent dog catch ten. But now if hides were worth what they were years ago, might be a little different. But then again, you wouldn't want your hides tore to peices either.

[firemedic]

T-Bob I learned to appreciate hound music at an early age,....my granddad was an old time fox hunter......he and his friends would turn the fox dogs out and sit on the porch and listen to them run. That's just what they did....it's also where I learned a lot of what I know about dogs running critters. I do understand about being results oriented, I am as well to a point....but listening to some hounds work a cold track out 'til they jump it and hear it all crank up and get going on to the tree is just like your 'beverages' you spoke of.....I knida doubt that you mix that drink, go sit down.....and all at once turn it up, swallow it all in one gulp.....you sip it an enjoy it, same with coon hunting, enjoy it while it lasts,....it's like a fine whiskey. 

[preacher1]

We coonhunted all my life and still do. Love to hear a hound strike up an old cold trail and work it up to where you would swear that ol' dog was lookin at him. A then when he forces that coon to climb to hear a definite locate and to change over to a steady chop or to even get to hear a dog tree with a dying bawl and to be able to pick out your dog from several dogs in a pack . Go up and find a coon looking at you with disgust and then to reward that dog with a coon squalled out to fight to its dying squall or whip all the dogs and walk off.(That's another story) Or sometimes we would jump the coon out and hold the dogs to give him a little start esp. with young dogs. And then turn em loose to try and retree that coon. Daddy always said if you had a dog that would tree a coon that had been jumped  out after being treed twice ,then you could brag about having a real coondog. Anybody should realize that hounds were bred for pleasure hunting. Cur dogs are meat dogs. They are silent they were bred that way. They hunt different. I enjoy hunting with any dog that does what it's bred and  trained to do .

[Critter Catcher]

O yes the sweet sound of a good coonhound or cathound for that matter..this is the ol'timers number one form of dog hunting..My uncle got me started on the coon and cat hunting the first time I went at 12yrs old give or take, that was a long time back, and before that was rabbit hunting with Beagles. I love the sweet sound of hounds on track and the tone change as they tree their quary. Now don't get me wrong I do love my new found target but the style is COMPLETELY different from that of coon or cat hunting..I might get back into the cat hunting if I can find a place (legally..different topic) to run some hounds. A good long range, bawl mouth, redtick hound just makes the hair on my neck stand up.

[waylon-N.E. OK]

Poor T-bob

I really need to step up the July hound thing for ya I reckon, maybe you should come up here and listen to a pack of open mouth hounds strike, track and tree a good hard running coon or bob cat, then we will go out and dump some running dogs and listen to them burn up a coyote track before they stretch him out. It wouldn't take much of that and you would relocate to my country and be a hound man like I use to be. My neighbor had a trash running big bawling walker dog that runs every hog off that I bait near my house, the only reason I've not sent him off to the promise land is he has real nice bawl mouth that puts me to sleep night after night 

[SCHitemHard]

Poor T-bob

I really need to step up the July hound thing for ya I reckon, maybe you should come up here and listen to a pack of open mouth hounds strike, track and tree a good hard running coon or bob cat, then we will go out and dump some running dogs and listen to them burn up a coyote track before they stretch him out. It wouldn't take much of that and you would relocate to my country and be a hound man like I use to be. My neighbor had a trash running big bawling walker dog that runs every hog off that I bait near my house, the only reason I've not sent him off to the promise land is he has real nice bawl mouth that puts me to sleep night after night 

i had a gyp walker that was silent till tree and her first tree bawl would send chill bumps up everyone on the hunt

even had 3 doofy plott hounds that were good for catchin and killin coons on the ground, they could wake a deaf man

[Critter Catcher]

T-bob just doesn't know any better waylon...give the poor guy the benefit of the doubt, he'll come around someday

[waylon-N.E. OK]

 " T-bob just doesn't know any better waylon...give the poor guy the benefit of the doubt, he'll come around someday "

  I hear ya, this thread is making me wanna round up some hounds right now, I'm an old hound man myself and haven't had curs but for a few years now, there are days when the cur dogs can't take an old cold track and work it out like a hound can that I cuss'em and swear I'm gonna add some hound blood to my pack. So far I've held out but the way the hogs move up here so much i may recruit one after all just to use as a hard times strike dog, even if he trashed at least I'd have a pretty race to listen to

[Critter Catcher]

" T-bob just doesn't know any better waylon...give the poor guy the benefit of the doubt, he'll come around someday "

  I hear ya, this thread is making me wanna round up some hounds right now, I'm an old hound man myself and haven't had curs but for a few years now, there are days when the cur dogs can't take an old cold track and work it out like a hound can that I cuss'em and swear I'm gonna add some hound blood to my pack. So far I've held out but the way the hogs move up here so much i may recruit one after all just to use as a hard times strike dog, even if he trashed at least I'd have a pretty race to listen to

yea I just picked up a pair of redbone/bmc pups..just added a little hound to the mix but heading up to the trade days in Madisville in September with my uncle (old coon hunter) and pick up a pair of my favorite, Redtick pups.

[T-Bob Parker]

C'mon now, yall are killing me. I didn't say I dont like hounds, just wondering from a productivity minded mans perspective how you justify coon dogs running one lil coon all night. Whoever said earlier that curs are meat dogs and hounds are pleasure dogs had it right I guess. That statement made the situation clear.
and ooooooooohhhhhhhhh yeah I want those Julys bad. Im not a hound hater, I just like super fast productive type dogs.


My old slow ladybird will continue to tree coons every night and sleep on my dang porch right up against the screen door until all her blue fades back to white.

[SwampHunter]

I can see more coons any night just walking an spot lighting the trees than my dogs will tree , we may tree one or 2 a night but I like listening to the dogs run an you can can tell the dogs competing with each other one dog will be in the lead for a few min then the other dog will , it's fun an nice an relaxing , we hardly ever even carry a gun we just let them tree a lil bit then lead them off an let them go run another , just like anything eles you don't wanna kill all of what you are hunting , just think if it was possible that all the hogs got killed around your places you hunt you would be sick an looking for more places to go , so no reason to catch the coons on the ground , let them tree an let them live , shoot a few every once in a while , some times a hound will catch one on the ground too so listen to the dogs an have fun

[waylon-N.E. OK]

T- Bob you will have a good pair of July hound, believe that.

now as for the coon hound chasing one ol coon a night, I can tell by that statement you ever been in the woods with a " Good  " coon hound. I was/am a Finley river bred walker dog man, the good ones from that line will wear you out treeing coons in a night, My old dog Joker ( R.I.P. good buddy ) Was the smartest dog I've ever seen and I'm talking all breeds and flat smoked a coon track, open mouth the whole way and if that coon didn't climb he would soon find himself wedged between a set of jaws. I rarely hunted him more than an hour or 2 a night once he was past 3 years old cause he just got so good at it you were done by then, He could tree several coons every time you dumped him, he wore out more dog box doors pawing at them than I can count and was a FINE example of why I still love a good walker hound.

If you find anyone in your country with a Finley river bred Walker dog do your self a favor and go along, you may rethink the old slow sterotype that hounds are labeled with, those my friend are " meat " dogs with a little music thrown in on the side