open or silent??????????????????

[nightowl24]

i'm not starting a pissing match...i will take it that it is meant for me...lol...i like good debate...i have never questioned your dogs' ability. 5+hr is considered a cold nose by most people's standards. maybe it's our "easy" hunting enviornment here in southeast texas that has made our curs weaker. but 5+hr is considered a cold nose dog, 2hr-3hr is considered medium and anything under 2hrs is considered hot nosed. i've seen a couple of curs take tracks that seem to be older tracks and work them out, but most of them run by them and look for a hotter track. i like curs, heck i've got a reverse colored bmc gyp right now. i like good dogs don't care how their breed or what they look like.

if you have taken any of my posts as being offensive i apologize.

[12-GAUGE]

TRC,

When I was speaking about PM'ing me for info, I was directing that at the gentleman from the big island. I did not take any offence to the post. I actually saw where you had inquired to Mr. Santana about a bluetick for cats. I was mainly trying to let the Austrailian gentleman know that they do exist, but I would recommend a lot of research to make sure you get the most bang for your buck when it comes to blueticks. My buddy that hunts catahoulas actually likes my gyps so much, that he has had me recently get him 2 blueticks, for him to run. I think he is going to have one kept back for coons. However, his male pup has all the makings to be something special on those pesky boars. I've never hunted in CA or TX. However, I would love to one day. Until then, keep up the hoggin.

Regards,
12-Gauge

[browndog]

[nightowl24]

a cur is usually on of the other silent type of hunting dogs...catahoula, black mouth cur, or mountain cur. also understand that there are curs that are open on trail, just not as many. they are usually silent on trail

a bluetick gyp is a bluetick female..gyp is kind or an acronymn G = good Y =young P = prospect..it has now kinda of steered away from that acronymn and it just refers to a female dog..

there are plotts that are cold nosed. if you want a cold nosed dog make sure both the parents are cold nosed or at least one of the parents are cold nosed and the other is at least medium nosed. i think plotts vary more than other hounds. it really just depends on the parents. a lot of your hog dog plotts are more hot to medium nosed and your coon/bear/cat plotts are colder nosed.

no they aren't mutually exclusive or inclusive. you can have a cold nosed dog that is silent on trail as well as having a hot nosed dog that is open on trail. it just depends on the dog and the bloodline. i would say if you are getting a pup make sure both parents are cold nosed and silent. that will increase your chances that the pup will be that. in your case i would just find a dog that is exactly what you are looking for. also understand there are many open dogs that are catching hogs at really high rates. i would think that most of those dogs are hot nosed dogs though.

i'll be honest with you. what you are looking for is a dog that not a lot of people will be willing to let go..lol. if they are they going to ask a pretty penny for it. 12-gauge is a good go to for blueticks, i believe that most of his are open on trail though. mine is silent on trail and he has a decently cold nosed, but i couldn't tell you how cold it really is. most of the places i hunt have tracks that are fairly fresh so he doesn't have to take 5+hr tracks.

[browndog]

Thanks for that info.Where i live know there are lots of hogs but i will not be living here for ever,8 a night. But were i'm from i'd be lucky to catch 1.
I would like a pup, it would be know trouble to get him started.Down south i can get some good lone boars but more often then not they have been gone just that little bit to long. And in ruff country i can not track him all the way. Hound with a traking collor,and hard enough to stop him.
A colder nose in my dogs wood be ideal.

[12-GAUGE]

A gyp is a female that has not been breed. I would also add that she will be under 2 years old. After that, they are considered a bitch whether they have birthed or not in my eyes. My blueticks are very vocal. More than that, they are loud. They trail with a tenor bawl. If you have hopes of a silent bluetick, it won't come from my stock. They have been specifically breed for 35 plus years to meet and exceed breed standards on conformation and hunting ability. Though a pup is always fun to start, you won't be able to garrantee anything as far as style of hunt. Even though a good finished intact dog is going to cost a pretty penny, I think in the long run, this is your best bet. I would imagine that there is someone around Texas or the Southwest United States, that has a finished out hog trail dog that they would be willing to part with for the right price. Keep looking. Don't settle for less than exactly what you want. Until then, keep hoggin. Good day!

[12-GAUGE]

I forgot to address the "start to finish" question. I do hunt my dogs from start to finish. When I said, I let them rig from the box, let them off the truck, let them line it up, and then pack them up, I was not very clear. If my buddy was to say turn his catahoulas loose at a feeder, where the hogs had fed around 2:00 AM, but it say close to 8:00 AM, the cats would not have any idea that the hogs had been there. However, my blueticks can unravel the maze of hog scent, and work to line it out. They would get the track going in the direction of where the hogs left out. By listening to their bawls, I can tell when they are getting to the hotter scents. At this time, any of my buddies that want to get their dogs with less tracking ability in the race, will dump in to my dogs. Now, if no one turns any thing in, then my blueticks will jump the hogs and shut one down for the bay. I've had them bay for 45 minutes barking every breath until I could get in to them. I had to belly crawl for the last 150 yards because the brush was so thick. The dogs I am currently hunting will stop a hog, but then they will back up 10 feet or so depending on the terrain, and just bawl like crazy. If the hog decides to break, they will stop him, them back up again. I personally don't like my bay dogs to be right in the face of a hog. I have had them like this, but they got cut down way too much for me. I take pride in my blueticks, and I'd be a fool to wish harm to them. When hog hunting, everyone's got the perfect way to hunt. For me, the way I hog hunt works for me. Different strokes for different folks. Back to the original answer, my dogs do hunt by themselves just fine. My hunting partners all have dogs, and all of their dogs will get it done by themselves. It just depends on how old the track is, as to whether any one particular dog can get it done on that particular day. Like I have said from the beginning, a lot depends on the hog you are pursuing. If the hog has no interest in stopping to fight, a grey hound can't catch them in the swamps of Florida. Feild hunting is a totally different story. In that situation, I would perfer to hunt two running catch dogs. I, however, mostly hunt dense woods.

I hope I have not caused any more confussion. Have a good one.

12-Gauge

[nightowl24]

12-gauge we have tendency to do the same. my dog is still a little young in the hog hunting game to really work those tracks out. he will pick them up and will run them for awhile, but he will lose the scent or he just can't line it out completely. he is getting better at it, but he needs some more woods time to really get it down pat. what usually happens is that he will take that cold track and the curs that are with him will follow him till it gets hot, usually the more experienced dogs will take that track and really work it out and we'll find the hog.

what i've been thinking about doing is getting a dogo to run with my hound. teach that dogo to find hogs as well, then i got me a jam up track dog in my bluetick and a running catchdog/find dog in that dogo. i'm really considering it. we have some dense areas and we got grain fields where we hunt. it's kind of mixed. i think a combo between a good running dogo and my bluetick would be great.

[browndog]

G'day , 12G
Would a male bluetick hang with a houlding dog?. Your mate runs cats they are a baler from what i here,so you must use a rifel to finish things. I have shot pigs but never when dogs where involved. How fare will your bitches go for a pig, in hrs. In your apinion if i x a blue with my bred would the they be silant on trak?. The 2am 8am thing is what i face regualy down south.I tryd to PM you, it sounds like some one else hase receved it. Im not verey handy with computers. TRC did you get my PM by mistake, sorry. Cats are incresing in popularity over here thay gust not my thing.Have you any more info on plotts,thanks. Nightowl was your dogs perants silant?. Or do you think i try to find a silant cold nose plott.
But if i go that way will i loose to mutch nose when i x him with my dogs.
thanks guys.

[nightowl24]

neither one of my dog's parents were silent(i think he is just cut from a different mold than most hounds). i think you could find some cold nosed plotts, i would try to get in touch with some bear hunters. many of their hounds have some cold noses and there are a fair amount that are silent as well.

as far as a crossing a bluetick with your dogs. it honestly is kind of a crap shoot. most of the time when you cross a hound with a cur most of the pups are silent. if they aren't silent they are semi-silent(barking every so often on a track). i do know that if you go with a 3/4 cur 1/4 hound those are about 97% silent dogs and they have above avg noses.

i'm partial to the blueticks. they have great noses, are seriously accurate, have great tracking ability and are normally loud dogs. there are many other dogs that possess the same ability though. i will say that you see a lot of your cat people using blueticks cause they have those cold noses and they are breeding that track speed into so they are dynamite dogs. if you get a cold nosed bluetick that is open on trail cross them with your colder nosed curs and you will probally get what you are looking for. fairly cold nosed, fast on track, silent on track and gritty enough to keep the hog bayed.

[three rivers catahoulas]

[three rivers catahoulas]

[broncobilly]

[three rivers catahoulas]

Bill,
you hit it right on the head. And thats probly what he's runnin is those bullarbs, I dont know how much nose they have but I have herd they're pretty rough, but I dont have a dog box big enough for'em LOL, I have looked at some of those dogs there on boar dogs and it looks like you could put a saddle on'em and ride'em to the bay LOL.


Browndog,

From what I have seen and herd you dont need all that much nose down there, most of it's sight runnin, and most of the trailin ya'll do is pretty hot tracks. Now not takein anything away or talkin bad about blue ticks but, thats some real big country and I think you'll be huntin dog more then runnin hogs with a super cold nosed dog. Talk to Lee at First Strike Catahoulas he's there in AUS and he has some jam up pig dogs and all the nose you'll ever need.

[nightowl24]

trc your bro did seem to get kinda hot...from all the posts i've read from you it DID seem kinda odd...lol. it's all good though...but in reference to browndog, he was looking to run 5hr old tracks with some dogs. he is trying to get those big ole boars that hit a spot then move to the hills on him. that is why he was looking to get a bluetick to add more nose to his dogs.

brono you are right though, if he is in open country and mostly sight hunting a cold nose blutick is going to leave the country tracking up that hog, BUT that is what he is saying he wants to do. what i'm seeing is that he trying to get two packs together(like most of us do here in the states). he wants one pack when he is out trying to get meat. they are his short range(or in his case sight hunting)dogs. he seems to want to get another pack going of some cold nose long range type dogs. we all like a little variety. if i were getting 8pigs everytime i hit the woods, i wouldn't get boared per se but i would defintely look to up the ante. i would want to try something a little more difficult, so trailing up a 5hr track would definatley be the thing to do.

if that is what you are looking to do browndog, then i so good for you. that is what my budy does. he has several packs of dogs based for differnet plots of land he is hunting. when we are in a big area we take the dogs that will get out a little further. if it is a smaller tract we get the dogs that stay in a little closer, so as to stay on the correct land and to increase our odds.