Meat dog or specialized hounds?

[tlewis_2003]

What does everyone think? Pros and cons? I know some of you out there have opinions on this. So lets hear all of them.

[donbhuntn]

iv got a meat dog and the rest stricktly coon...my meat dog hunts coons,possum,diller,rabbit,squirrel,herds cows,loads,never needs a leash,grittest huntinest lil dog ever.his son is just like him too.

[DC DOGGIN]

Maybe im just dumb but i don't understand your ?

[Redwood Coonhounds]

I think he means what are the pros/cons of owning hounds that are meat hounds (all around dogs, used on multiple game) or specialized hounds (used on one type of game)

I don't really see any cons about either option. The pros for having meat hounds are, not matter what you have something to do, and feed less dogs and catch different game. Where specialized dogs catch more of one specific game for sure.

[Paul Conway]

Redwood,Donb, I see your points of view, but in my exerpience [u]many (not all)u] of folks that i've encountered that have a hound or talk up a hound that runs everything are lazy houndsman. I listen, am polite, but the whole time I'm thinking some folks just don't want to take the time to properly break thier dogs off trash. Nothing ruins a good day than trying to get a cat, yote or fox started and the hound is chasing deer, turkey or bear, around. Our bobcat season is only three weeks, some folks only get the three Saturdays to hunt them. If we put a hound on a cat track that also ran coyote we'd soon have a yote race taking up the entire third of many of our gang's season. I've seen plenty of coonhounds running fox and bobs at night instead of coon. We don't spend an equal time trash breaking compared to hunting but it's close. Trash running, at it's best is annoying, at it's worst disasterous and dangerous (in the case of deer with our amazing amount of roads, and folks just lookin for a reason to shoot a hound). Respectfully, Paul Conway.

[M Evertsen]

I have 5 hounds. One is in Idaho getting hunted on bear this spring/summer. I hunt lions mostly, sometimes run bobcats when they are in season, and have not bear hunted yet. I rarely coon hunt, but I have had fun doing it. I want a multi-purpose dog that will hunt all 4. I can't see having a "bear" dog sitting in the kennel for 10 months out of the year or better. All other animals, I do the best to break them off of. If I am bear hunting and accidentally catch a lion, oh well. Same with bobcat hunting. I don't do enough coon hunting to even worry about it, so I don't.

They way I see it, if a dog is hunting, and getting exposure, the better dog it becomes.

[jkcasey]

I have 5 hounds. One is in Idaho getting hunted on bear this spring/summer. I hunt lions mostly, sometimes run bobcats when they are in season, and have not bear hunted yet. I rarely coon hunt, but I have had fun doing it. I want a multi-purpose dog that will hunt all 4. I can't see having a "bear" dog sitting in the kennel for 10 months out of the year or better. All other animals, I do the best to break them off of. If I am bear hunting and accidentally catch a lion, oh well. Same with bobcat hunting. I don't do enough coon hunting to even worry about it, so I don't.

They way I see it, if a dog is hunting, and getting exposure, the better dog it becomes.

I second that. After kids, work, and the like, most any race, besides a skunk or porky, are welcome. Call it lazy if thats the way you feel. A day out with the dogs beats a day at work , ANY DAY. It would tickle me pink, to have the time and money, to get a pack of speices specific hounds, but then again I have a cur in the pack as well.

[tlewis_2003]

Thanks for all the replies. The reason I am asking is I used to hunt coons when I was younger. Any dog that ran anything else was unacceptable. But I am thinking about getting back into hounds. Was thinking of training some dogs to run yotes and coons. Just wondering what people thought about a hound that will do both.

[Deff]

Hounds can be a lot more versatile than a lot of people realize.
I have a cattle ranch and my hound accompanies me doing my ranch chores pretty much all day long. If there are coyotes or bear amongst my cattle, she will go run them off. (it is against the law to run bear with hounds in Montana for sport, but legal to use them to protect livestock). She keeps track of me, whether I’m running machinery , horseback or hiking and stays close by.
When the Garmin collar gets strapped on – that signals that we are going hunting. – then she expects me to keep track of her! At night she does a good job of treeing coons but having come from a line of cat hounds, she shows a strong preference towards running the felines. We can’t hunt cats at night in Montana but eventually she seemed to even understand that we chase coons at night and bobcats by day. (most of our cat hunting is in the snow so the hounds are started on the track).
I guess most folks would call her “ trashy” because she will trail pretty much anything I start her on – but there is something she can hunt almost year around from right out our back door and she seems to have an uncanny ability to understand what we are after.
We had older hounds that kind of showed her the ropes and presently she is starting to help a pup get started in the “ranch hound business”.

Of course, she is a hound … the moment she realizes that I’ve been bragging her up… and has an audience…..she’ll go trash on a deer or pull some other equally idiotic stunt..

[arizonabeagle]

my gunner dogs a "meat" type of dog. if he can smell it he'll run it! no questions asked. LOL..i wont even charge first timers a stud fee!


disclaimer. no catching of said smellable animals (or people) is gauranteed.

[Warner5]

I am fortunate enough to have and need both, I started on coons but before my 18th birthday I had a trained up bobcat dog. I never looked back its been bob's ever since for me. But I live on a cattle ranch that borders up to a very large amount of timber company ground. I might have 2 or 3 finished cat only dogs, but I also try to keep a good meat dog or two around. Good ranch hounds. Thankyou. John.

[bluesman]

You can call me lazy all day . I would rather have my dogs out than sit around the house. There is a large number of houndsmen in southern Oregon and the rest of the state that make the trek to California every year where we can still chase those big black fuzzy things. Some of us just cant give that up. Then it back to fox, bobs and coon at home. I would love to have a specialized hound, but the facts are for alot of us that we cant stand to leave a dog at home or in the box when you could be having some fun.