BigGameHoundsmen.com

Three bags of dog food would be a fair trade........

"They are only dogs and some days they just can't overcome mother nature no matter how much you pay for them."

I agree 100% and i also agree that snow sometimes gives in to some tough trailing conditions like your mud story, lol we have all been there. But for the most part it doesnt take a super dog to catch in the snow. So i was just saying that his make believe dogs that he said would not do good anywhere but oregon brush country and snow are overpriced.

If you find one of those mud dogs send some down this way

DOG#1- $4-6k
#2- $2-3K
#3- $2.5-3.5K
#4- $500-1500
If the dogs are spoken about honestly and are hunted in the environment they are used to. And the buyer goes and hunts with the dog in question.
Most people who run or want to run hounds either don't have the skills or the time to start or finish a hound. Any dog is only worth what someone will pay for it. Some people should just pay for it. My opinion on dog#1 is that the owner-handler is breaking close to even at $4000 with consideration to the price of a pup plus dog food, fuel, exposure to that much game and time into training(lets say $5/hr.).
Good cat dogs are worth money irregardless of dirt, snow, brush, rock, night, day, or whatever. As long as they catch cat in the conditions they are advertised.

if a person is willing to own and train hounds in their own free will you can not charge for time spent training, feed, fuel and etc. If a person decides to sell a hound charge for the hound not the expenses that you choose to spend in the sake of fun.

Ike wrote:Three bags of dog food would be a fair trade........

Dennis why do you have to be such a larry?

Ike, 3 bags is 3 too many and i wouldn't wanna to do that to Paco. He's got some mustang trash of his own that he will be payin someone to take off his hands soon i'm sure.

AZ, agree with you also. I'll keep my eyes open for a mud dog and let you know if i find two of them. The price might scare ya......LOL

plott, i agree with you also, you can't put an hourly rate on any dog. You can spend all the time you want and some just aren't gonna do it. Thats why i think it's important to get pups that have natural ability and wanna hunt. Then all you have to do is expose them.

Cobalt, you did bring up a good point about hours put in. I've always thought that if you just wanted to catch game, you would be money ahead to buy a finished dog for $5,000.00 then to try and raise a pup or ten, that you have no clue what it will turn out to be. I was gonna ask this before but now were getting further off track so....if you paid $1,500.00 for a pup is it gonna automatically be worth more as a finished dog? What about the $200.00 pup or the free one from your buddy? Sorry for takin this post off topic.

I personally could never afford to dig up some money and buy a good dog. I am stupid enough to actually like raising pups and seein them progress. I like to nickel and dime thousands of dollars into them and sale them for a few hundred......LOL.

paco you have to beat 5 bags of dog food poser already turned me down flat on that one. lol poser good times buddy.

Dogs are worth whatever somebody else is willing to pay for them!

I don't know about this whole price thing, but you guys priced me out as soon as you hit 2 digits.

Now from my experience, unless you are a FULL time all day, every day hunter there is a fairly slim chance that you have more than 3 lead type dogs. There is usually a drop off from 3 to 4, or if you're me 1 to 2. I have NEVER had more than one if any at all.

These are the dogs that when you have a track to catch are put down FIRST. Unless they are split up and the Dog B is given a LOT of chances to catch without Dog A, it's not a lead dog yet. It might become one at some point but you can't say it is without a trial by fire. It seems that most lead type dogs eventually just position themselves because of some "it" factor that they just have which other dogs don't. You go through a lot of dogs to find that.

A good lead bear dog around here sells for 2,500 to 3,000. I haven't seen any lead dog cat dogs for sale.

Just cause a dog barks at a critter, runs a track and trees doesn't make it worth thousands of dollars.

this topic always interests me because i think dogs are way over priced most of the time. i know some times you are money ahead bying a dog well started or finished but with my luck i would buy a dog for $1500 and get home and the wake up the next morning and the thing would be dead. i have bought a couple dogs in the past couple of years for the main reason of not wanting to deal with puppies while my kids were real young and i just didn't have the time for them. this last summer i was offered to buy a dog at just over a year old for $600. the thing about this deal was that i had been running this dog for a friend of mine and saw what this dog could do naturally. it was the best $600 i have ever spent on a dog and this dog will never leave my yard.

i know different areas and places in the country the prices will vary because to some it's a business. if your lead dog goes down and you have 5 clients lined up for lion hunts or bobcat hunts, you need a dog asap.

i will have to agree with the packer fan Nolte again; just because they bark at a caged critter or tree on it and run with the other dogs it doesn't make them worth thousands of dollars.

Let me just clarify that if i had a certain job that would allow me to run my hounds all the time and run and train pups to sell i would do it in a second. if i had a guide business and had clients lined up i would be buying a finished hound if my lead dogs went down for some reason.

blackpaws, what a deal that guy must have had a screw loose man do you owe me later, Andy

I agree with Catdogs statement and here is why.The value that an individual places on a dog is directly related to that persons ability to make their own dogs.If you have the knowledge and experience to make your own dogs then it is not very likely that you are going to pay much for someone elses dog.Now if you can't make your own or don't have the time than your willingness to spend more is going to be greater.So what a dog is worth to you depends on your own personal set of circumstances.I think you will notice that the guys selling dogs for big money rarely buy dogs for big money.They don't have to,they make them.This is probably a little off topic but I just wanted to respond to one comment that Nolte made about lead dogs.While I do agree that most guys only have one or two lead dogs maybe because of an "IT" factor where a dog just naturally shines above the rest.I don't agree that is the way it always needs to be.A good friend of mine who is an outstanding dog trainer (Cobalt) taught me something a couple years ago.There is two different mentalities of hunters.One goes to the woods to catch game and the other goes to the woods to train dogs.The difference is subtle but the difference in the outcome is huge.IF you go to the woods with the intention of making every dog in your box a lead dog then the end result is a box full of lead dogs.IF you go to the woods with the intention of catching game and the best way to do that is by putting old reliable down first every time,then the end result is going to be one or two dogs in your box that are lead dogs.You don't have to wait until that natural dog comes along that positions himself to be a lead dog.YOU put every dog in a position to be a lead dog.Now I agree with Nolte that this takes time and that is why some people want to take a $4000 dollar shortcut.

blackpaws, what a deal that guy must have had a screw loose man do you owe me

ya i sure do

in the winter sometimes from sept.-march but usually only from middle nov- march 15 im able to hunt everyday. i know how much it costs to do this even 1 season, so really a dog that has been hunted like that and is 3-4 years old has really got 2 or 3 grand in him. but be weary. just take 3-5000$ and go dog shopping. there a lot more dogs for sale for that price that aint worth five bucks than you might think. my main dog died of cancer at 5 years old 2 years ago. i had him a couple turn in type dogs and some pups outta him. when he died i didnt have squat. i went on the warpath calling looking every reputable guy i had ever heard of. the honest ones didnt have anything at the time, the crooks had a lot of junk for sale. i looked at 1 for 5000, tried 1 for 3000 and bought one for 2000 that is one of the best rig dogs ive been to the woods with. a whole lotta money doesnt always mean a whole lotta dog. just my thoughts.

a wise old man told me a dog is worth what one fool is willing to part with and another fool is willing to take.