BigGameHoundsmen.com

There's a lot that goes into a good dog. Everyone probably agrees on that. However after that no one tends to agree on anything.
That said. There's a few traits I think should be looked at. Durability. General temperament. Natural willingness to handle. And voice.
Now durability is easy the more durable a hound is on any given day and over its lifetime has to be a plus. You know there's hounds that are in there all the time. They just don't seem to ever wear out or get laid up.
Temperament. Isn't so easy . some people just don't like the same thing. But I feel we all have a middle of the road type we will be satisfied with. I like a friendly active dog that's never surly or moody. I have seen a lot of hounds that I have questioned if I would be willing to keep though. From just general pain in the necks to coyote skittish all the way to pushy and aggressive about everything.
Willingness and ability to handle. I don't put up with much here. But again I've had dogs that I couldn't put the time into or expose to enough variables to have a good handle on. While others didn't require nearly as much effort to develop a good working relationship with. I don't have cowdog like handle on most but I don't have to cuss and fry them to get any response . I have to say the more handle the better. And I don't want a hound that's always testing to see what they can get away with.
Voice . well it seems in the past just about any breed or family had some nice voices in them. Maybe its do to technology or x ing for different traits. Either way big hounds seem to come with any possible voice now a days. I was at a beagle kennel last spring. Two things struck me. Actually it was a single thing. Uniformity.. From size to markings to voice. I'm kinda used to large numbers of dogs milling around. But here the owners telling me this dog is from this line and that one this and the smaller bitch is that. I don't doubt them. But I've seen less uniformity in a black and tan kennel.
But these guys sure weren't bark broke and it was just a continuous sound. Repeated over and over. I had to really try to distinguish individual voices and could only hear a few differences. A few older hoarser sounding hounds and some had a note missing. I'm not sure that kind of uniformity of bay would be a good thing in some cases. Knowing absolutely who is doing what is probably a educated guess.
My dogs have a wide range of voice. I prefer the deeper mellow tones. They carry further and just appeal to me more.
But as some one pointed out some sharper more frantic and squally mouthed hounds seem to sound faster. I agree with this after thinking about it. A pretty good example is horses. As most of you know horses seem to pick up a personal interest in following hounds pretty quick. They perk right up, shoot their ears towards the dogs and gain a gear. Now the same horse will really step out when there's a more frantic squalling dog in there then if its just a few deep bawling dogs.
I've even ridden in kinda wondering if those dogs hadn't separated or some where trailing that much quicker. Only to find them all feet apart.
I still prefer the deeper voiced dogs.
Anyway just me rambling and wondering about everyone else's thoughts and preferences

I've mostly hunted full blooded running walkers my whole life, their voices run the gauntlet from squeaks and squeals, fast chops, to deep bawls. To my ears I can still hear some of those high mouths when the rest of the pack is out of hearing. I think a high frantic type mouth calls the other hounds to where it has it better than a deep bawling mouth. I mostly just like a voice that stands out, one that you can pick out every time it opens, in a pack of 6 or 46.
Peg leg, you mentioning riding to the hounds made me smile, decades ago I judged a few fox hound field trials a horseback. Rode a little black stud I think loved a race as much as the hounds. He'd perk his ears, I'd give him his head and he'd go to a pack as far away as he could hear. When he got there you had to pick up on him though because he'd try to get right in the pack. Sorry about the rambling about the horse, just brought back happy memories, was in my late teens, early 20s, me and ol black stud had a lot of fun.

For me horses are just as much a part of hunting as the hounds. Most add to the experience some maybe not in the best way. I expect enthusiasm from my horses but recently have been using a lot of horses that have never seen or heard a hound before. It brought home how universal and quickly they pick up on following hounds. Like a good cow horse they figure out what's going on .
Maybe its terrain or vegetation. Maybe its just our ears. But I can hear some bawl mouth dogs further then any of the others. That said I do have a couple who squeal for lack of a better discription. They can be heard long distances unless the wind is blowing wrong. Its unusual but not what I call a pleasant voice. It does stir up other dogs. But sounds like a pup getting eaten. Tracking systems make voice unimportant to catching game. I have hunted silent dogs and don't find it nearly as interesting though.
I understand the early stage of wanting to catch as much game as quickly as possible. But you know hounds only get so fast before you loose endurance for speed . and I think voice might be similar but I have seen some very nice sounding hounds that didn't loose speed or endurance by being vocal. On the other hand I've seen some dogs that their opening did affect these things.