Hound Horns

PAPPY · Post by **PAPPY** » Tue Oct 11, 2005 11:41 am

Richard, for one thing my collars don't have the tone buttons but if they did I would still use the horn.I guess you could call it a tradition dating back to the fifties when I hunted with my Dad following foxhounds.It just kinda fits with hound hunting and I got stuck on it LOL.I use it more on my coonhounds than the Beagles but it is always with me.I really like to hear a buddy blow one when I am off in the distance,it brings back lots of sweet memories of hunting with my Dad and friends,but you are probably right,with the new high teck collars a horn isn't really neccessary.

Keystone Kid · Post by **Keystone Kid** » Tue Oct 11, 2005 5:33 pm

channellkat wrote:Score this up to me being fairly new to beagling but, with the tone most collars have does anyone really use Hound Horns and why would you want to carry one in the field? No sarcasm intended just wondering.

This is an easy one to answer: If the collar buses or beeps it doesn’t tell the hound where you are or in what direction you are. So for this reason I want a hound to come to my voice for short range, and a horn for longer ranges.

I have a Tritronics Classic 70 XLS 6-Dog unit. The range on it is 1 mile.

NorWester · Post by **NorWester** » Wed Oct 12, 2005 7:45 am

The horn just plainly out reaches the e-collar. I lost a couple of my dogs on a trash race last season. The day after I got a signal about 4 miles away, off a neighboring road, and the signal was faint. It was pouring rain and the woods were like a jungle. E-collars were useless at this point. I pulled out the ole horn and blasted away. It took the dogs about 45 min but they came out of the woods right at my feet, all I did was open the van door and in they jumped. Horn paid for itself right there.

S.R.Patch · Post by **S.R.Patch** » Wed Oct 12, 2005 11:30 am

I recieved a little tape recording from one of the english pack huntsman and found they sound the horn in much the same way, as we use our vocal calls to alert hounds when one has made a find or jumped rabbit(short rapid notes). Also, there is blowing for home, which is the same as if you were sounding off your long calls, to bring in or gather the hounds to go home.
The horn is used to inform the followers of the progress of the hunt, as much or more so, than it is to give instruction to hounds. Many people go out to follow hounds on foot/bike or car. They enjoy the hunts for the sport, exercise and the social gathering afterwards. The young and fit run after the pack much like the judges in a field trial, only, we're talking Large pack style and the hope of them getting to close is slim. The one thing they have to watch for is, if the hare should make her turn and come back through them. They must stand still and not foil the ground, an try not to head(turn) the hare, so the hounds may come through on the line, undisturbed by their presence as much as possible. Remember, this is run to catch/no guns, and it is hoped this can be done in something under 2 hrs. When and if, the hare is caught, the huntsman will blow the horn, in respect to the hare and praise to the hounds, this is call blowing the death or the kill. This also informs all the followers that are behind or off on a distant hill, awaiting for another circle to be made, that the chase has ended and hounds have been successful in their hunt.

I had my first foxwhistle(horn) when I was in 7th grade. We parted ways when I found it was much to fun to gore, or rather goose, the young lady seated in front of me...

My teacher never did give that horn back...

timberdoodle · Post by **timberdoodle** » Wed Oct 12, 2005 11:57 am

mr. patch, that was excellent!! (and i'm not tooting your horn!) thank you for sharing that.

S.R.Patch · Post by **S.R.Patch** » Wed Oct 12, 2005 12:29 pm

Your very welcome Mr. Timberdoodle, and may I say, that was an excellent double you pulled on wit...

DRamey · Post by **DRamey** » Thu Oct 13, 2005 8:37 pm

Lynn Perkins quit using those horns after he went through about 9 or 10. He kept blowing them up. I mean, they just shattered like a plugged gun barrel. If you are going to use a horn to get your hounds to return to you, first do this test before investing all that cash. Get an empty onion sack, put it up to your mouth, and blow. Do this away from others, as you may put an eye out. Also in the case of the extremely windy, you may need to wear safety goggles. In the event of inflation or even bursting, you may want to avoid the horns. There are many on this board that should probably avoid horns, most notably Swing, Chad Blair, and for all the rest, you know who you are!

J.C. Blair · Post by **J.C. Blair** » Fri Oct 14, 2005 2:20 pm

LOL Ramey you are definitely a character. Where do you think we all learned this from??....Thats right.......YOU!!! Lord knows you been guilty a time or two of telling a tall tale...Before accusing all of us you better take a look in the mirror lol........

PS When do you finish up school and start teaching full time?? Now thats a scary thought, David Ramey molding the young minds in the classroom. The world will never be the same lol.......

DRamey · Post by **DRamey** » Sun Oct 16, 2005 9:49 pm

Chad, i will concede that since I'm older than you or Perkins I was first to blow up an onion sack. I will finish for my BA starting in the summer, after Meranda finishes her RN. She now has a BA in paralegal science, works in a law office part-time and is 3 rd in her nursing class. I substitute teach and am part of a federally-funded program called GEAR UP, an acronym for Gaining Early REadiness... something about undergraduate programs. It is math tutoring, basically. You think you're afeard for the young'uns, think about me a'teachin' em aljubur! At least it AIN'T ainglish.!!!!!

Keystone Kid · Post by **Keystone Kid** » Thu Oct 20, 2005 1:18 pm

I just received my "Hunting Horn". It's very nice, and sounds great. Since I had a band class in Junior High School seventh through ninth grade, and did play a trumpet I got a nice tone first time trying it out. But my lips soon got weak and tired, and it definitely will take a while to get the lips in shape.

From reading the literature Libbylou send me, I'm assuming she's a Christian. It gives me great pleasure to know I'm doing business with other fellow brothers & sisters in Christ!

Thanks again Libbylou.

This "Hunting Horn" will be a treasure and valued tool I'll use while hunting the remainder of my life.

DRamey · Post by **DRamey** » Thu Oct 20, 2005 4:53 pm

Kid, I'll get serious now. What price range are horns in? How would one go about training hounds that are already grown (2-3) to the horn?

Keystone Kid · Post by **Keystone Kid** » Thu Oct 20, 2005 7:31 pm

$ all depends on what you want. I've heard you can get some cheap horns made in Mexico, but don't have a good sound when blown. Cow horns are easier to work with so they're cheaper. Nice sounding cow horns run $25 to $50 depending on size. Nice sounding goat horns start at $45 for Black, and go up depending on color. Goat horns usually are 9" I think. Mine I got off "Jewels of the Horn (Libbylou)" is I think 9".

As far as training a dog to come to a horn later in life is simple. I would just blow the horn prior to feeding your hounds several times. This will help them associate something positive happening (positive reinforcement) when the horn is blow. After a week or so you should be able to carry this right to the field. Let you dog/dogs hunt for a while (15 to 20 minutes) in the field. Use the horn first to attempt to call them in. If this doesn't work call with your voice (of course this is assuming your dogs are trained already to come to your verbal come commands). After the dog/dogs come to you give them some sort of treat. After they are coming to the horn for several week well, you can start fazing out the treats with physical & verbal praise (I can't emphasis the area of "praise" enough!). All this is with the assumption that you dogs like being around you. If they do, in the end praise should be all it takes.

All my dogs love me (in a dogs sort of way). On rare occasions (good or bad) sometimes I do get heavy handed with some of my hounds. But by far more often than not, I'm picking them up in my arms (cradling them) and sweet talking to them. This is just "me", and it works. Others I'm sure have their own methods. If it works it's right!

NorWester · Post by **NorWester** » Fri Oct 21, 2005 8:37 am

You may not quite get the desired affect that you're thinking of. If the dogs are working a track or hunting hard......they will ignore the horn. Especially if its only been about 20 min of hunting. If you are gonna use it to that extent you'll need to train them up a little harder to come to the horn no matter what is going on and probably have to use the e-collars in conjunction with it.

Keystone Kid · Post by **Keystone Kid** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 1:05 am

You guys don't get discouraged if you can't get a decent tone/sound out of your horn at first. If you haven't played a instrument similar to a trumpet in past years I would be surprised if you can get quality sounds real soon. I'm 44 yrs old and I still have my trumpet I played in Junior High Band 29 yrs ago. But it has been about that long since I've seriously attempted to play it. A "Hunting Horn" is very similar to playing the trumpet, but for me since the mouth piece on my hunting horn is smaller than my trumpet's mouth piece it's a little more of a challenge getting good tones all the time. If you work at it patiently several times a day for short intervals (5 to 10 minutes), you'll figure it out in a short time (1 to 2 weeks). At first just try and get decent sounds out of your horn. Don't try and over blow it. Volume will come with time.

I got a nice sound out of my hunting horn on the first try. But seconds later on my fourth and fifth try's it sounded terrible. Today is my second day working with my horn and I've notices good improvement since yesterday.

Just don't get discouraged!
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October 24th

It's now been about 4 days since I've recieved my new goat horn. Sound and tone have improved immensely. It seams like most of my hounds are coming into it already.