Cold nosed dogs

[liontracker]

Borderpond,
90% of the time I am on foot right with the dogs on the worst of the tracks. While one of of the dogs is holding the line I am a little ways behind it following the cat track. I can see that the anchor dog definately has the track. The others drift out left, right and center. If one of them should get a line then it becomes the new anchor dog and the old one will honor and come up and check the track and then cast out ahead of the new anchor. There is usually about 50 - 100 yds between the farthest and the closest dogs. The entire unit has a general "line". All the dogs are free with their tounge and will open at the slightest whiff of scent. They listen to each other in order to keep the line. I see them from time to time, stop and cock their heads in the direction of the hottest action and then redirect their course accordingly. There is absolutely no pushing or shoving or jealousy. It is like a military unit. They take turns like this until it warms up enough to run. Kind of like what scientists call organized chaos...LOL!

[Borderpond]

Liontracker, that must be cool to watch the dogs work like that.I bet I would like watching and listening to that as much as seeing the game in a tree.Bearhunting here in Maine and NH, the country is so thick, if you can see the dogs 30 or 40 yards away you are lucky.

[liontracker]

It is ...

[Ike]

Yes liontracker, watching a good pack of coldtrail hounds working down a track is more fun than racing into a tree for lots of guys. My older hounds all learned to coldtrail both lions and bears on the dirt with me behind them, and to watch them lose and strike, then roll down that track, first one leading and then another, each of them honoring the other hounds, then leading on the track is truly a sight to see......

A few years back I put half a dozen of my hounds down on a huge boar track that measured 5 3/4" off the rig and had four other houndsmen with me. Two of those men told me that my hounds would never stay o that track cause there were "too many bears" and they'd jump a fresh one down the trail. Four of five hours later that same pack of hounds came across a road cold trailing and I said, "lets go see what they have." There on the road a person could easily see that same, huge boar track that those hounds had left out on, and I pointed it out to them.

One of the old hunter/houndsmen told the other, "watch those dogs move down that track and honor each other" as they moved across an old clear cut or timber sale area. Yup, if a guy hasn't spend more time following hounds on cold lion and bear tracks than he has under the tree then they have missed what running hounds in the west is about in my opinion........

ike

[Nolte]

Four of five hours later that same pack of hounds came across a road cold trailing and I said, "lets go see what they have." There on the road a person could easily see that same, huge boar track that those hounds had left out on, and I pointed it out to them.

So what did that old Boar end up scoring or weighing? It should have been pretty good for a nearly dollar bill size track.

[Ike]

http://www.ingramwildlife.com/picture.htm

Sorry if I gave the impression that we ran down and killed that bear Nolte, but the truth is those hounds cold trailed from around 11:00 AM until 5:00 or 6:00 PM best I can remember and then started falling off one by one so I called the last couple dogs in.

In the link above, the first bear pictured measured just over 5 1/2" in dirt with little to no powder and was turned loose. Most guys think this photo, which was on the cover of Hound Dog Crazy, was the state record bear that I killed but he wasn't. The third bear on this link is the state record bear I killed and his track measure just under 5 1/2" across the front pad. It seems like he was in hard dirt with little to no powder so maybe that was the difference, just don't know........

But bottom line is that bear I talked about, the one that we didn't get caught, had the largest front pad I ever put a tape measure to. And I'd dearly loved to see him in the tree. Now if those pads had been in the mud they might well have measured up near 6", just don't know. But all three of these pads that I talked about were in similar dirt. Out West, if a bear measures 5 1/2" across the front pad in hard dirt a guy is looking at an all time potential Boone & Crokcett bear, that is one that measures over 21" dry..................

I did cut a boar this spring that measured up in the same class as these other three boars. We started him one day around 11:30 AM and cold trailed him down along a creek for about two hours before the scent just gave out. And truth is, those dogs spent ten minutes starting that track along the creek which they wouldn't have moved had it been out away from that water. We found him again three or four days later, or one just like him, and the track was old again. But as you know, it's tracks like that that keep people like us in the game.........
ike

[BuckNAze]

Well I dont know about the whole track thing. I have come across a bunch of 5 1/2" tracks and seen some of the bears that were making the tracks and they werent Boone & Crockett by any means. They were probably 400lb bears but I guess we never skulled them out either to measure their skulls so maybe you're right. They were huge bears even for around here, just never thought they were Boone and Crockett type bears. I see a track everyday I work down by a boat ramp that the bear comes down and eats the garbage and knocks it down and then goes down to the water to drink. Leaves a print everytime, measured it 5 times and its 5 1/2" across easy. I have never personally seen the bear because he comes down early in the morning before its light out, but I talked to a guy who saw it and said it was a pretty nice bear and that he would shoot it if he could.

[liontracker]

Ike I wish we could use hounds on bear here in Colorado. Since the early 80's ban we have grown some monsters. I know of three different bears within 30 miles of my house that measure over 6 1/2", one is 7 1/4". for the last several years if we shoot an elk and leave it overnight, you can bet any money that they will have it by morning. This fall I am going to hunt exclusively for one of them during elk season, before they hibernate. All the elk carcasses in that area make some good late season feed.

[Ike]

Well good luck on one of those monster bear liontracker, and I hope you get him. However, you and I both know that killing a bear like that without hounds just doesn't mean the same as they do over hounds. To the common joe, or the deer or elk hunter a bear is a bear is a bear if it's a good one, but having hounds under it or behind it just makes all the difference in the world to people like us.................

By the way, I did just return from a week in Arizona visiting family. Damn it was hot down there in Phoenix last Tuesday and Wednesday evening. I thought about all the guys on here from Arizona as I left Saturday--we had driven down through Flagstaff on the way down and back up through Vegas on the way back. It might be fun to run in that country along the border of the cedars or above, or maybe even below next November.......but now, man that would be hot!

ike

[Nolte]

They were probably 400lb bears but I guess we never skulled them out either to measure their skulls so maybe you're right. They were huge bears even for around here, just never thought they were Boone and Crockett type bears.

Were they "probably" 400lb bears or bears that actually dressed out at 400lb bears. Any bear that dresses out over 400 lbs has great shot of getting in the all-time book, but it's no guarantee. I've seen some real heavy weight bears that didn't make it, too.

There is a big difference in a 5" track to a 5 1/2" track. The former can be 225lbs on up, while the later is usually 300 or better. Not always though. Anytime I see one that you can lay a dollar bill in, I get pretty darn excited. If a guy ends up getting one, he usually isn't dissappointed. They are few and far between though. Biggest track I've ever seen was back when I was a little kid and it was a solid 7+ inches. We never got him, but we think a bait sitter arrowed him. I think he weighed in the upper 500s and nearly 22". A definite super stud.

[liontracker]

The bills in my pocket measure 6". When I lay one in a track and can see daylight on both sides I take notice! Case in point was one a guy got awhile back in this same area. Weighed in at 640lbs on the butcher scales.

Sure wish we could use hounds on them here.

[houndsandterriers]

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[Varminator]

Think it's cool that this post came up, as I was talking on the phone with Sonny Turner about cold nose's and the ability to move out on it. when other dogs have no interest, or take it out track by track. We have both seen it before, and it seems the dog rarely puts it's head to the ground.

He told me that he sold a dog that was 1/2 Walker and !/2 Sheppard to Cyril Gillet(name may be a little off) of Wash. State. In which he told Sonny, had the coldest nose of any dog he'd ever had!!!

I know that there's brush in that country and the scent will hang off the ground in it longer than in open prairie or desert type terrain, where a trail hound has the upper hand moving along licking rocks.

I can see where both types are needed and kept for the area that the hunter lives or hunts.

I've had both and appreciate and respect the good one's!!! JMO

[T.Parker]

Hey Hounds and Terriers, the only reason America doesn't smoke the rest of the world in kickball is that we don't take soccer seriously. Take a look at the soccer athletes world wide and tell me it wouldn't be a different game with Lebron James at goalie? Kickball isn't important in the states, if it were the game of choice in America's ghettos and they were handing out 25million dollar contracts, I garuntee you we'd be on top of the heap in no time.
Hahahahahaha

[Big N' Blue]

Glad this post came back up too! I really miss the wisdom that Ike brought to the board. May have been a little rough around the edges, but a very knowledgable hound man! The GS hounds that liontracker imported one day will prove their worth in improving the cold trailing abilities of most existing breeds.