cold nose?

[al baldwin]

Brandon, some days chase would show more nose that he would on other days. Yes he did not waste any barks when working an old scent, and most time was to tight mouth to suit me. Have waited for 45 minutes or so to hear him bark and be quite a distance in, bark a time or two & be jumped. That was when he would leave a road & I could tell he faintly smelled a cat. Have seen him look good a few times, rig an old scent, some dogs get to opening and not move out fast. All of a sudden chase would open a hundred yards in and I knew get the pack to him. Chase was not usually as cold nose as some others he was hunted with, but had days he seem to have as good nose as those. There is an example of letting a hound learn to use there nose. When I got chase back at about two & half he had been hunted at night on hot tracks & knew very little about cold trailing. But after a bit of working him with his sire he got much better. Chase does not have the nose his sire had, And just was not as balanced. However I have regretted selling him. If he had been reliable as a tree dog for me I would have had a very hard time parting with him. Glad the treeing as improved for you. Hard to figure. In his prime have seen chase look very good on a tough cat. He was always a bit independent, but I had him tone wise and he knew when I toned he best come off the track. I have couple young dogs I am trying to hunt a little, when I feel well enough, boy, how I would love to have chase/s sire, skinner, to help me. Chase and another female had been hunted on coon , with the help of skinner & tri-tronic we soon had them reliable to start cat only, in a short time. Just another good reason I like a hound that opens quick when they smell desired game, much easier to train other dogs with. Al

[BrandonCombe]

Yes AL I have also noticed some times chase works up a track better than my blue tick then other times my blueticks pushing the track better than chase but chase is always doin his fair share I wish I new how to put a video up for you to see how good chase has treed since I have had him I though maybe he just treed better on fox but he seems to tree just as hard if not harder at a bobcat tree it's kinda hard for me to imagine chase not treeing good since he's treed hard for me since I have had him. I am looking forward to hunting chase this coming cat season. It's nice to hear you got a few pups goin.

[mark]

As i get older and work on my patience more and more it sure seems like the dogs work a cold track better.

[al baldwin]

Yes Mark, patience does help. Here most times I figured best let them work any scent, may be the only scent found that day. Coarse night hunting most time can find more tracks, just not anything that appealed to me. Always felt could keep a better handle on what was happening in the day light in this brush. Brandon do recall Jerry Hatton telling me about an older dog he owned that went to treeing and he could not hardly believe it. Should chase ever box let me know, that would shock me. He always treed at times just was not consistent. Al

[Big N' Blue]

CJ wrote:
Well Science has proven that almost all breeds of Hounds (Hounds not Dogs) are all born with approximately the same number of Olfactory Receptors. This being said why do some Hounds seem to be able to “Smell” better?

Even tho that statement is a fact. When I had some big blue dogs that treed many coons that other dogs did not even know were in the woods, I have seen many times they would be treed hard and other hounds would be smelling high on the wood popping their noses trying to get a whiff of what the hell Ol Chief was barking at and they could not even get a tail wiggle proves to me that not all hounds can smell the same even tho they have the same olfactory receptors.
Some strains can smell better than other strains is my opinion from what I have seen many times. Just like humans, they are not all equal.
Great topic, by the way!

[dwalton]

Big N Blue: Good morning. Looking back through the years it appears that some dogs definitely smell better than others. But is it really an ability to smell better or more heart and brains for a individual that does more with what it smells? I have know drug dog to be able to locate smells that are unbelievable. Until we figure out a way to see smells or talk to a dog in a level that we don't have now it will be a guessing game for me. The good news is that it will give us some great debates on here. Dewey

[Big N' Blue]

Good morning Dewey!! Yes it will always be questionable. But if one dog can smell it and the other can't, it really does not make any difference how much brains or heart he has. He just cannot smell it. It really does not make much difference in the breeds, it is the strains that were bred for certain traits because of need. Not many hounds bred in the east can cold trail with old south west lion hound strains because nose and trailing abilities in the east are not needed in the extremes like they are west of the Mississippi. JMO
Don't forget to pick me and David up!! LOL Really am looking forward to meeting everyone!

[CRA]

I recently watched an episode of Alpha Dogs on TV. The kennel that the show is about trains working dogs for Police and Military. They aired an episode a few months back about the tracking abilities, speed of tracking and finding their target human between a Bloodhound and a Belgian Malinois (Sheppard). The role player did about a 20 minute trail for each dog then set stationary waiting to be found. The Malinois beat the Bloodhound by about 2 minutes in locating the human decoy role player. The trainer that started the kennel only wants and looks for dogs with tremendous drive. His theory is drive is what gives the dogs the motivation to look for their target. The Bloodhound found its target, but it was slow and sloppy. Even know the Bloodhound is known for its keen nose, this particular test that day, proved that drive, track speed and agility got the job done smoother and faster. The end results was both dogs got the job done, but with different styles.

The better cat hounds I’ve seen or owned always had tremendous drive to catch and it always seemed their nose would back up that drive regardless if they barked much on a cold track or not.

[CRA]

CRA: I have hunted with some top hunters in the past also. It sure is a pleasure to see a top hound man work top dogs. Most of them were made back when we could hunt everything all year long. Thanks for sharing your story. Tom still talks of hunting with your grandfather or maybe father I am not sure. I never got down to hunt with you before you moved. My loss. I hunted last December in a lot of your old stomping grounds. What a loss not being able to hunt that for bobcats again. Take care Dewey

Mr. Dewey,

It absolutely makes me sick to my stomach not to by able to hunt bobcats in the state of California anymore. There isn't a day that goes by that it don't elevate my blood pressure just thinking about how California Hound Hunters was raped by HSUS and their corrupt bought and paid for Assembly Members and Senators. HSUS has forced more tyranny onto sportsmen than any other organization. Hunters need to Unite and put all differences aside and fight these tyrants or our way of hunting will only be faded memories.

[al baldwin]

[

When I had some big blue dogs that treed many coons that other dogs did not even know were in the woods, I have seen many times they would be treed hard and other hounds would be smelling high on the wood popping their noses trying to get a whiff of what the hell Ol Chief was barking at and they could not even get a tail wiggle proves to me that not all hounds can smell the same even tho they have the same olfactory receptors.

Big n Blue I bet those big blue dogs would have worked bobcat tracks that the hounds here in the Pacific Northwest would not of known existed. Included any I have owned. Now they might have needed some of Dewey/s stock to tree all of them, but would bet ten to one they would have had the better nose. Al

[Big N' Blue]

Al, when I was changing from coon to bobcat, my vision was to build a pack of the big blues for cat In the south east, it is near impossible. Not because of lack of heart or running to catch, it is the places a bobcat gets to in this country sometimes is like a brick wall with everything having thorns and you just cant get thru it. When I finally figured it out and got mentored by Buster Moore of Huntsville Texas I became a decent cat hunter. Using running dogs. I have seen them after an hour or two race come out and all the black would be knocked off their noses and their ears be an inch thick from briers. The coon bred dogs just cannot take that kind of punishment day after day and perform up to standards. Back then I was hunting almost every night. The Big Blues are better suited to coon and lion in my opinion. I do think they would contribute in a cat pack by helping move a cold track in the South east but without the running type dogs in the pack would have a very low percentage of success. They would be only part of the team.

Take care and hope you are at the gathering. Would love to meet you.