Silent when cold trailing - desirable or not?

[hudson]

I have known of a couple of foxhounds that with age become cunning. They would cold trail silent then you would hear them bark bayed for two or three minutes then the chase would begin (at this stage they would be in voice) I believe this wouldn't push the animal foward whilst on trail suggesting quicker catches. the negative would be, if you dont run a gps system then it would be hard to keep track of the dog and the dog most likley would not rig.
I personally would love to have a pack like this what is your opinion? desirable or would you not want such a thing?


Hudson

[dwalton]

I have also seen dogs that were semi silent . It will cat you more bobcats especially in rocky rim country. To me bobcat hunting is cold trailing. I like to hear a dog take hold and move a cold track. In some condition I will put on a big tom that is made the night before and have to trail it several miles to jump it. Listing to a jump race is also good but our cats don't run long out here unless they have been coon dogged to death. Bobcats learn quickly without the push they will stay ahead of the dogs and give you a good race. Each to their own Dewey

[not color blind]

IMO, not barking on cold trail (any species) is kind of like cheating in my book.

[Nolte]

Have you ever ridden in a vehicle with a radio that's broke, that's how I feel about a silent cold trailer. It probably catches you more critters but it's not as enjoyable to me. The barking and changes as the track warms up is part of why I get up early in the morning to go hunting.

[Big N' Blue]

I will never intentionally own a silent trailing dog, no matter how many critters he catches.
I go to hear the dogs bark, as long as they are not barking out of place.

[hudson]

(This is a question). wouldn't that show that the hound has game intelligence and what could be a better trait than that?

Hudson.

[perk]

Got an old hound now that is retired, but in the past 10 years he has jumped more game(mostly grey foxes) for me than any other 2 dogs ive combined ive hunted during that period. He may bark here, 250 yards later open agian, normally on the 3rd-4th bark he has game up and running. he knows how to 'drift' a cold track and start a peice of game. when you hunt the same area alot and try to leave game that holes or trees up the game becomes dog smart, sometimes its have a dog like this or trail for hours. he has jumped many peices of game being smart enough to cast infront of the trailing hounds. This to me is what is known as a jumpdog and can be just as useful as a good trail dog. Dont think its cheating when he is just smart/lucky enough to beat everything else to the jump. I love to hear dogs work a trail and appreciate it, but doubt many people on here would rather hear a trailing track all day/night as opposed to a boiling hot race. just my opinion.
Perk

[icehole]

I prefer to run silent dogs that dont open up until the trail is hot. Gps makes all the difference to me in having a babble mouthed dog or a quit one. When I hear the dogs now, I know the trail is hot or they are treed. Having a dog that barks on a cold trail just irritates me. In my opinion if a silent dog is cheating so is running a tracking device, I think I will keep on cheating.

[Unreal_tk]

Some statements I've read here really make me wonder if folks can read what the dog is doing by its vocals. My really open dogs can tell me alot about what's going on in the race. If I hear only a few barks I know its not worth my time, if im hearing barks then I know I can work it out. Now with a silent dog, you can't tell that from just listening to the dog. (I am in no way saying I can read if a dog is on such and such game by its voice but I can sure tell if its really old or not though)

Edit: I did some thinking... some folks don't have long cold trails like what we do here so make note, we don't have the population that some do. It is not uncommon to cold trail for 5 or 6 miles to a jump.

[coastrangecathunting]

Have ever thought that because the dogs are being so open the cat stays out in front of them making the cold trail longer and longer. Just what I think happens sometimes. this is for Thomas.

jc

[Unreal_tk]

I don't think its very often no, can it happen? Yes. I know guys with silent dogs including myself that have the same excat thing happen to them. Its just cats travel alot in feburary looking for mates and you cut the back end of a track that you could've recut sometimes but not always.

[al baldwin]

Have ever thought that because the dogs are being so open the cat stays out in front of them making the cold trail longer and longer. Just what I think happens sometimes. this is for Thomas.

jc

Here in this area I have no doubt several cats stay out ahead enough to prevent a tight jump. Hounds that are free with their trail mouth, at times can sound at lot closter to the cat than they are. Know this by seeing the cat and waiting for the hounds to arrive. Other times hounds can barely move the track & very little barking, yet , the hounds can be so near that an inexperienced hunter would think those hounds could never catch a cat. And I have owned hounds that caught cat very well & this left me shanking my head. But, if we did not have those type cats there would be even less cats to enjoying working. There is something that I have thought about a lot lately. By reading about those cat hunts in Arkansas, I have to wonder if they do not have some of the same. Then again, maybe we should give the scenting conditions more credit, just not sure. No matter how many cats elude the hounds for barking on the feeder tracks I prefer the open trailers, However, hunt whatever type hound one enjoys. There was a time here when I thought I had an endless supply of critters to enjoy listening to the hounds run & catch a high percentage of, took those times for granted. Al

[twist]

Prefer them to open sparingly on track and wide open when jumped but have a female now that is silet until the jump and it makes for some quicker trees. Andy

[al baldwin]

Prefer them to open sparingly on track and wide open when jumped but have a female now that is silet until the jump and it makes for some quicker trees. Andy

Andy one of those in a pack works well. But if you hunt them alone not much fun for me. Al

[hudson]

Prefer them to open sparingly on track and wide open when jumped but have a female now that is silet until the jump and it makes for some quicker trees. Andy

Is that the way your female has been since young or is it something she has learnt with age?

Hudson