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I was wondering what was the best dog that people have hunted with or own? Also who owned the dog/what breed it was? There are 2 dogs that I personally was lucky enough 2 hunt with ! Darrel jonets gypsy dog! Darrel hunts harder than any man that I personally know! He hunts bear bobcat mountain lion! I went along with Darrel and gypsy was cold trailing bobcat in dry ground when we were out bear hunting !Gypsy is a plott. The other dog was Tim Collars star dog I hunted with that dog for 4 years she would come up with a bigger bear than we dumped on a lot! She was 1/2 plott and 1/2 trigg !

The best dog I have hunted with was a half plott, half leopard cur named Bo. He was bred by Orval Roberts in Louisiana, it was a accidental breeding. One of my hunting partners bought five of the pups. Four of them were good hog dogs. Bo turned out to be a machine. He could take a track from the road or you could cast him, no trash, very long-range, never opened till the hog was stopped, and was as good a bay dog as I have ever seen.

I told somebody you could dump him in down town Houston and the next time you found him would be at a hog. Lol. He was something to behold.

THere are two dogs that are about equal in ability although they hunted different game . The first one was a grade redtick that I got from Wallace Trone from Parsonsfield, Me. an excellent coon dog from truck to tree. NEVER needed a leash nor would he leave the woods with out showing you every tree when he treed a litter. struck out the paasanger side window of my truck. Excellent free caster also . The second one I hunted was a grade walker that I got from Jim Merchat from Maryland. THE BEST bear dog I ever hunted behind would strike from Rig, Bait or freecast Regularly treed bear by himself , There again when the hunt was over never needed a leash. Both had excellent temperments and to talk to them was like talking to a human ( Both were smarter than most humans I've meet) . Thereare others that were great dogs for instance Tom Hookes' Racket dog(out of turkey ridge rackett) .But thosetwo left there mark

Btt

Scarlett and waylon, the best two dog team I have seen. Those two dogs caught more game at two years old then most dogs have caught a lifetime. I know they came from Salmon, Idaho I dont know where they are now but whoever has them has some real nice dogs. They were walker bluetick cross and it was an accedential breeding but they turned out.

I have been fortunate to have hunted with some outstanding people as well as dogs throughout the years. Way back in the day, when I was tryimg to figure this out, I even had a good dog or two, just didn't know what I had at the time.

As for dogs that I have owned since almost getting things sorted out, there are two that stand out. Derrick was a hi tan dog that came from a man named Mike Pock out of New River, AZ. Mike had family that managed a ranch north of Phx., and Mike loved to hunt lions. He had way to many pups, so I ended up with a little tiny trouble maker that was focused and intense.
The other dog still runs around the yard today. She came from a guy at Tucumcari, NM named Joel Garnett that had a blue tic named Pete from Van Johnson, and a walker bitch he called Mary. Trip was a comical little dog that couldn't make it up or down the porch steps without tripping on her own ears.
Both dogs were free, and both dogs were the same age. At six months old those pups were on thier first lion. It was a stock killer that a friend caught in a trap. That tom lion killed one dog and wounded several others. That day Derrick decided that he was a lion dog! Trip knew that she wanted to do whatever Derrick did, but she didn't appreciate all the intense action of fighting a lion that couldn't get away. Trip would work the trail as hard as any of them, but as far as fighting a lion, it took her about two more years to be ok with that. Derrick was the ultimate cold trailer, and Trip was the best locator I have been around. The two complimented each other. Maybe some day I'll have another that stands above the rest, but for now, I'm just gonna miss Derrick and give Trip a few more rubs on the belly.

I have had so many hounds over the years and some pretty good ones but a few stick out in my mind. I don't think I could classify any single one as the best of everything but I will try to narrow it down. I will say after owning over 400 hounds there are still only a very few that I would classify as truely outstanding.

Coons: Gunsmoke Gene Hicks bred black and tan anywhere anytime.
Bobcats: Blue Moon Rock( Earl) Smokey River Bluetick a cat getter
Bears:Bearpath Hawk Registered Plott he hated bears hated their guts and livers!
Lions (snow) Big John(Goswick/Layser bred) if he barked 3 times they were caught.
Lions ( Dirt) Big Nosed Kate (Jeff Allen old stock) Kate was a machine!


Best All Around dog: BIG JOHN he could do all of this pretty darn well!

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Best bear dog: My vinnie dog strike to tree and was not afraid to pull hair wene needed he was a 1 dog bear pack. best bear dog i hunted with that i did not own was vinnies dad horn owned by my sister in law.

Best bobcat dog i ever hunted with a dog named kate that Ron Pitts owned hell of a dog on dry ground our snow. and my brother travis stireks Dog Rj and russal father and son. they are now dessesed but were awesome cat dogs.

Best lion dog is a hard one for me i have a few, my old liza dog vaughn and my jake dog he was a walker. dogs that i hunted with would be Roger Ohldies milli dog half walker half plott. My sister in laws horn dog walker. And her dads dog rock.

Hey bud,Thanks for the great comment on Gypsy.We really miss her but I have to say her daughter Lucy is right up there with one of the greats like Gypsy,Dagger,Nitro,& many other hounds mentioned on many of these posts.I believe there are alot of great hounds out there.They just need the chance to be seen!