Coonhounds and Bloodlines

[Bwhite2024]

Hey folks, I’m new to the business of hunting with dogs in the first place. But I’ve seen many an add about a liter of puppies for sale from some supposedly good and registered breeding stock. So naturally I was wondering a couple of things.

1. How much does bloodline in a coonhound matter?

2. How does one research a bloodline?

Thanks for the help!

[lawdawgharris]

Those two questions apply to all disciplines. You can get a dog from any breed to find and tree coons. The differences are this, one the breeds most commonly used for it will produce more dogs that do it than non traditional breeds. You’ll also find that the level at which they perform will be better and more consistent. Then when you break down further from not just a breed but a specific bloodline in a breed, your odds of finding dogs that will do it and at a high level go way up, they call those purpose bred dogs. They are bred with a specific purpose in mind so that the traits and characteristics required to excel at a particular discipline are intensified. This produces a higher quality of performance and dogs that are much more natural at that particular discipline. It’s kinda like if a Sumo wrestler and a tennis player had a kid, what are you gonna get? Maybe another Sumo wrestler, maybe another tennis player, maybe something that is somewhere in the middle and couldn’t excel at either because those two disciplines require very different characteristics. A tennis player and a tennis player will likely produce a child capable of being a tennis player. Purpose bred dogs aren’t only registered stock. Every breed out there was created by man for a specific purpose by crossing this to that and then selectively line breeding to intensify the desired traits. Some people have a family of dogs that they have had for generations but may be from a recipe they created using more than one breed. I’m personally one of those people. After I exhausted what I felt was enough time and resources searching for what met my demands and not finding it, I started trying to build it myself. They won’t suit everyone but they suit me and that’s all that matters because I buy the feed.

If I was going to research I would go to some coon hunts and start meeting people. I personally target the older folks because they usually know a little more history than a lot of young folks. I would start looking for coon hunt competition results and seeing how the dogs that were winning were bred. There are different coon hunting forums and podcasts as well that you can join and listen to those can be very informative. Ask around local feed stores and see if there are any locals around you that coon hunt and make it a point to meet them. Maybe you can tag along and maybe they can put you onto other locals. Pay attention to the people’s choice of dogs. I don’t do Facebook and all that junk, but there are a lot of places on social media to chat and look around as well. Hope my two cents worth helps. Good luck!


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[macedonia mule man]

Bwhite, you are in a state where a coon dog shouldn’t be hard to find. Find you a young dog about 9 months old that hasn’t been messed with, and you know he is 100 % potlicker coon hound. Take him every where you can when you leave the house if it’s just to go get a haircut and back. The better handle you can put on him the better the train will be. Set in the Bach yard with a ecollar and teach him what come here means. Most of the time it only takes the tone button. Find the area you want to hunt and put out about three corn feeders along ditch or creek banks. Check feeders till you see coons are using. This is the strongest tip I can give you,do not take another person or dog with you. A young un started dog doesn’t need anything to distract. Turn him out at a feeder, don’t say anything to him, that’s not necessary. Let him show you what’s on his mind by watching is actions. Sometimes they will throw their head up and go straight to the feeder and sometimes you have to walk them out to it. Sometimes they will run the first trip and not tree, sometimes they will tree on the feeder and not run. Sometimes it will take several trips, thru go every other night. If he is not running and treeing in 6 weeks with 3 trips a week, I would get another pup. The breeds I’ve had the best luck with were Treeing Walker and RedTick and that cross. Training coon dogs is not complicated, don’t over think it . I’ve found if they don’t do it quick they most not going to do it very good later on. I’ve trained a good many that way. I had a Red Tick male I got from a man I hunted bear in NM that started striking out of the box at the first feeder I drove him up to. Opened the box and he came out winding and up on his tiptoes looking for whatever that smell was. He was running and treeing on third trip. Best coon dog I ever had but was MEAN-MEAN-Mean. Hunted him by himself and enjoyed ever minute, he produced a lot of good dogs and none were mean. How did he pass on coon dogs and not mean coon dogs like himself. Never heard of one being mean like him. ???????

[lawdawgharris]

Muleman I’d say he was mean because he the blood of a mad bear in his mouth and just never could wash it, OR his kind of mean was created and not genetic. It’s hard to say without knowing his background and circumstances. I was given a competition coon dog years ago. He had been banned from hunts for fighting at the tree. I converted him into a hog dog but didn’t keep him. He was too slow, too loud, and too rough for my liking. He was just a possessive dog that wasn’t corrected. I had another dog that was red tick/cur and he hated the world. Other dogs, hogs, and he didn’t really care for people. His was his nature that was made worse by an inexperienced hunter. I only tolerated him for as long as I did because he was a baying machine. One of the prettiest bays I’ve ever watched was him and my old Clyde dog. They stopped a big boar in the wide open. He only had a 3’ pine sapling to back up to protect his back end. We watched from 20’ away and there was nothing he could do about us being there because if he left that sapling, one of the two were swinging from his pride and joy on that south bound end. It was awesome but eventually the anger of that dog was just more trouble than it was a benefit.


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