question on dog hunt style

[tony s.]

my buddy has young male 17 months he hunts on run seems like he misses alot of area will he slow down with age seems like he did before.

[Lone Pine Beagles]

Tony,

I classify hounds as to how much acreage they hunt the first hour. Some hounds hunt very thoroughly and only cover 3-5 acres in an hour. Others run a straight line, circle back and occupy a larger area these would be the 40 acre hounds! Most hare bred hounds seem to hunt larger areas, where as cottontail bred dogs concentrate on thicker cover.

So, i would guess that his hunt is in his genes and he will always be a 40 acre hound.

run him hard,
Lone Pine Beagles

[Chris Spall]

I brought up this topic about a year ago and there were a lot of opinions of what hunt is. I contend that search ( what you tend to find in the hare breed hound but definitely not in all of them ) is a dog that covers a lot of ground or hunts on the run and they are looking for a line rather than the rabbit it's self. On the other hand, I say that a dog that has hunt is the dog that looks more delibertely for the rabbit and not the line. Pretty simple but there is a fine line. They are both hunting and they are both searching and we all know that some do it a lot better than others. I believe that it is the type of terrain and cover that determines they style of hunt or search that you need in your hound. You take a hunt on the run hard searching hound and put him in the cerecea covered strip mines or the frozen cedar swamps of the north and they really tend to shine as a jump dog. You take that same hound and hunt him in fence rows and sparse covered set aside fields and they don't seem to do nearly as well. the complete opposite can be said for the slower more deliberate hound. All of this is not to say that there are not hounds that can do both because there are and the owners of those hounds are very proud of them to say the least. I believe that hounds exibit the style of hunt they have right off the bat and it's not likely to change. You just have to decide for yourself if a hound that hunts slower and more deliberate or a hound that covers a lot of ground suits your needs the best.

[hoytaholic]

That is one of the best discreptions of hunt i have seen Chris.

Signed Larry

[fair chase]

Yea, pretty good.

[gus]

Chris and Longpine you nailed it. I discovered those truths a couple years ago when I bought some hare bred dogs and pups. In East Tennessee, if a dog doesn't head straight for the brush, fence row, or ditch bank, when the tail gate drops, it's going to be a boring day. Those ranging trail searchers just won't do the job in this area.

[jim j]

the guy did state that this dog demonstrated good search before when he was younger if he did it before will this come back?

[JIMMIE ABSHIRE]

Also i agree with all said , remember we are all taking wound up bred HAREHOUNDS and trying to make em cottontail hounds... Iaint seen a fence row or rail road male , probaly since i was a kid ... The best dogs i can remember of child hood years , hunt wise are females . I see all these ads of how hard they hunt -extreme hunt --- I will go out on this branch and it may break but so be it ..... show me a HARD hunting male ,
i will show you 5 that aint .. All this big time breeding thats going on in this already saturated market hunt is suffering . just my thoughts I am not trying to step on toes but i think hunt is suffering . Speed is easy ,breed for hunt , somebody better , Ialso think thats a hole with akc
Jump and strike may be noticed but screw a bunch of path walkers , not saying they are but seen my share Once again my thoughts only

[gus]

Jimmie you are correct. When they start giving ribbonss, medals, and trophies for the best jump dog, or start enforcing the rule of picking up dogs that don't hunt, you will see and increase in the quality of good jump dogs.
I wonder how many owners of field champions, when actually rabbit hunting, their field champion is their favorite rabbit dog. Do their rabbit hunting buddies ask them to be sure and bring FC xxx. Or is the FC just another mouth in the pack.

[JIMMIE ABSHIRE]

Just pay attention to these ads , there is one certain line that several people worship as though jesus has blessed it . that i would not feed if they were hungry , but they sure can check check check . Its just a incredible experiance to talk and listen to others from other parts. My line lacks nose , to me anyway . But my buddies are selling these mouthy dogs to up north guys and they are great , people calling wanting more. I
have made a recent cross that i beleive will be about as close to what i want as i have had ...

[Chris Spall]

show me a HARD hunting male ,
i will show you 5 that aint

Jimmy your absolutely right. It's what I refer to as the Big Male Syndrom.

It's taken me 7 years to finally get a big male that hunts to suit me.

[JAW]

Mr. Jimmie your right about that one liner {they sure can check}but to me the breeder should be breeding for a smooth flow running style with as few checks as possible.Willet Randall & John Parks both said that speed is the easiest thing to breed for and their right.We as breeders must first and foremost breed for HUNT,HUNT,HUNT and more HUNT then we can proceed to the next trait or set of traits.I also agree that the trail runners need to hit the brush more but they wont unless we breed that in them.I have a trail runner, not proud of that fact but he will get in the thick stuff if he wind a rabbit and sometimes he'll do a small amount of searching in the thick stuff but on a hunt scale of 1 to 10 he'll get a 4 at best from me.I see that I have to breed to a hunting hound for a generation or two to straighten out the mess someone else created.
John Watson

[Ky Scott]

Jimmie, Gus, Chris, and Jaw. I agree 100%. Some people just don't get it. With out hunt how can the rest of it matter!!!!!! How many times have you heard this- Man he or she is a check dog deluxe, just has a nack for figuring it out, or man he or she can flat pound a rabbit. Then you ask well how is it's hunt? Then you get-Hunt's decent or it can use a little more hunt I just dont get it. What do you do when you take the same dog out to show it in the field to somebody take a TALLY HO STICK Get one up so they can whatch it check and pound old bunnie. Here's my philosophy if a dog hunts hard the rest should fall in place if it gets enough running time. To me the first sign of desire to run a rabbit and bring it to the gun is hunt. As far as the trials go I think dogs should be rewarded for there hunt at the end of each cast on the scorecard and if it has no hunt it should be picked up period!!! If theres a 6 dog cast give them some points, maybe starting with the hardest hunting dog and go down 50, 40, 30, 20, 10, 0. That would also break a lot of ties. Just my thoughts.

[JD Baisden]

Over the years, I found that you need a dog that can find a rabbit, before it can be ran. ( most of the time anyways HAHA).

[matt king]

what breed you think is producing the best jump dogs that will hunt fence rows and brush piles.