I am very disheartened by the hunting hound scene in America today.American Foxhounds are almost virtually extinct. At least my Google search would have me believe that. Finding a pup anywhere in the Lower 48 will be something of the Holy Grail. Walker pups also seem hard to find. Bloodhounds are unattractive. Black and tan coonhounds aren't that pretty. I don't especially like beagles or dachshunds. And Basset hounds are flat-out lazy and homely.
I like the looks of the tall and leggy American Foxhounds and the Treeing Walkers but where in the devil does one find a pup of such breeds anywhere in America? Google searches have not revealed much. They must be a top secret.
Nobody seems to want hounds anymore. Not many people are dedicated to breeding them it seems.
I feel that I would most likely have to travel to the former Confederate States from Idaho out West to find either a foxhound or a Walker puppy. Getting AKC-registerable pups will even be more of an uphill battle. Tricolor is my favorite hound color by the way.
Why do hunting hounds seem so exclusive and rare like a Rolls-Royce, Hope Diamond or a Rolex?
Why are they so seemingly hated and unpopular in America today? Foxhounds and Walkers certainly aren't breeds for the masses unlike Labs, Golden Retrievers, German Shepherds and Poodles.
After all, America's Founding Father, George Washington, had 36 American Foxhounds, a breed he invented.
The American Foxhound should be Our National Dog.
There just aren't a ton of breeders that pop up when I Google 'American foxhound' or 'treeing Walker'.
I love those Walker and American Foxhounds. What can I do to help promote the popularity of the hunting hound in America again and stop these breeds from possibly becoming extinct?
Another thing, it's a shame that hounding black bear in California is no more for five years plus now...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BCVzr_xJYM
...and that only deer hunters in the American South can still enjoy the song of unleashed hounds in the forest on those famous deer pushes down below the Mason-Dixon Line.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_mqB6lJcMY&t=377s
Fortunately in my home state of Idaho, game regs still allow a deer hunter to possess a leashed hound for blood-trailing but conscientious hunters never want to wound deer in the first place and we can still free-cast dogs on bear, lion, fox, coons, coyotes and bunnies here.
I have written this poem lamenting the plight of the great American hound tradition in hopes that hound popularity will someday pick up again before the Cry in the Woods is forever gone everywhere:
The American Hound Poem
Let 'em run, let 'em bay, let the FREE hounds bay,
From the South to the North, 'tis the American way!
Let em track, let em trail, let the HOUNDS prevail,
From the East to the West, dogs on deer is the best!
Let em hunt, let em tree, let the HOUNDS roam free,
From the coons to the moose, let the dogs run loose!
