BigGameHoundsmen.com

Fellows,
I've hog hunted some over the years but I have no experience using hounds. Please share with me your thoughts about using hounds rather than curs or crosses. Hey, I'm NOT trying to start a p****** contest between breeds or types of dogs.... just want some info on what successes you guys are having with hounds as well as what you look for in a good hog hound.
Thanks
John

The Plotts do pretty good here but if I had to pick id want a plottxbulldog or plottxcur cross and try to get all the strengths and none of the weaknesses of both breeds . We all know it doesnt work out that way ,only in a perfect world . The hounds are generally slower ( I say this loosely cause I have hunted and own a pretty quick footed plott) but the curs generally dont have the nose ( I say this loosely cause I have hunted with cold nosed curs ). IMO I want a gritty ,silent as possible , cold nosed , fast dog , with plenty of bottom ,but Santa Claus aint been listening or Ive been bad . Ive had better luck with crosses myself

I agree with coolerman. I have a plott walker cross and she's a darn fine strike dog but she is all bark so far. I run her with a couple gritty dogs that don't have a nose as good as her buy are still jam up dogs. I wouldn't go runnin a pack of hounds you'll usually hear them the whole way across the county and half way across the next before that how will stop. You want a silent on track but gritty dog that'll stop a hog from running!

My hounds are as open as a hound can get, and I have no problem consistantly catching hogs with them.

Ok but how long will your dogs run them? Do you run just hounds or do you run another breed or a mixed dog with them?

12 what breed and what line of hounds are you running , Dont get me wrong I love the hound music ...Ive got plotts and plott croosses and we catch hogs ...BUT if I could change one thing it would be to make them silent ......Ive caught alot more hogs with hounds than curs and the cull ratio is much less with a hound JMHO and MHO alone but I alwalys like em to be a little faster or a little grittier or a little quitter ...I guess its like a woman ...never satisfied haha......I think Id catch a few more if they was silent

Cooler- yeah my dogs are all silent. I have 6 that I hunt but 2 that I hunt the most. One is a nut grabber and the other catches ear. I've caught hogs up near 300lbs with just them two and i havnt had one go more than 100 yards from where they caught up to it. here's one I caught last week. He was pushin 200lbs

I agree with you on the "sometime less is more"! That's why I usually hunt the two. I'm on my way to work so I'll check your pics this evenin. I hope I didn't come off sounding like a prick with that post! Didn't mean to and when I reread it I sounded like a prick to me lol.

Hounds have their place. But honestly I am not the biggest fan of a PURE hound.
You might say they have too cold of a nose, as in hogs move around alot and if you end up picking up to cold of a track you may be trailing into the next county. lol.
Some of them dont necessarily have alot of grit to them. I like my dogs gritty.
And lastly alot of them are open and bay loose.

Now that being said. I have had very nice results with Plotts, Redbones, Black and Tans, And Blueticks. I hunt with a completely silent, trail and catch redbone just because she has only hunted with bulldogs her whole life. Start them young and early and make sure they keep their mouth shut and their nose to the ground.

So I forgot to put my dogs up this evening after we had a family BBQ. I remembered just about the time I got in bed so I threw on my boots and went outside. Started calling them and my young 3 legged dog came back after about 5 min. Well ten min later my other dog started bayin one up. I went and got my big dog, vested him up and took off at a trot. 10 min later I had a 200lb ish boar legged and flipped! Well I'm about 150lbs and can't carry a 200lb boar by my self.
So here I set waiting for one of my buddies to come help. How do my dogs always manage to find one at the most inappropriate times?

Well if your finding one you are finding one thats for sure!

fitz I mean if I find a hound that is silent and will put some teeth in one I am in heaven but since I have not found that yet. I like hounds, but I hunt with cur or cur crosses.

Makes sense I'm with you on that!

Here in Tennessee most people perfer to hunt them with hounds. I enjoy hearing the race and mine will catch alot of them if they deside to stop. You will save yourself alot of miles with silent dogs though LOL