Coon Dogs

[MtnCreek]

Anyone still coon hunt? I gave up chasing dogs that were chasing critters a long time ago, but was talking to the wife about getting another dog and mentioned maybe getting a redbone. I really enjoyed it as a kid and I'm sure my kids would too. I'm not settled on it, but considering it.

When I hunted most everyone had walkers. They were typically faster and more hot-nosed than colered dogs. I had some walkers, but my favorite was a red dog that was crossed up with redbone, plot and a little black & tan. He had a lot more personality than any walker I'd been around. Maybe that was because I treated him more like a pet than a hunting dog. He also seemed to be the only hound I had that didn't need much help from a vet to stay alive.

Just wondering if anyone has coon dogs or other hounds and your thoughts on them.

Thanks.

 

[dogrunner]

Yeah, I do. In my 7 decades I've owned a bunch......as you said, the walkers tend to be a lot more 'hot nosed' than the other breeds, but they surely make up for it in enthusiasm and drive. To my mind there's nothing quite like a good pack that just seems to explode when they jump their game. Too, for pure 'work it out' ability, it's awfully difficult to best one of the slower breeds that were bred for foot hunters.....remember, those walkers were used by horseback hunters mostly.....I've hunted over black and tans/blueticks and even the occasional bloodhound that someone somehow acquired. Walkers were not used for coons when I was a boy and nearly all the dogs I was first familiar with were the slow trail types, including redbones.

Growing up in the W.Va hills I was introduced to hound hunting at a young age and I have never gotten over it. I deer hunt now and my dogs are walkers, but like me they are getting older and slower. Had one drop stone dead on a deer race last Dec.....twelve years old and looked like she was sleeping when I found her......good way to go, dog or man I'd say.

I truly believe that most hunters today do not appreciate just how much a good dog can bring to the hunting experience. I've heard it labeled unsporting, atavistic and something that ought to be outlawed........too easy, say some. I took a boyhood friend on a deer drive here in Florida a few years back, totally confused and frustrated him even tho he is quite an accomplished hunter in his home territory it always seemed he was just too slow when an opportunity came his way.......a young man's game some say but I intend keeping on keepin' on till I go like my good dog did!

 

[Patocazador]

I used to have a pack of beagles but only used them on rabbits. My youngest brother is the hound man in the family. He never had more than 4 dogs and they were Plott/redbone crosses for the most part. He used them on bears, bobcats, coyotes and coons. Of course the coyotes never bayed up but they would get a few every year.
He is out of the hound business now. It was too hard getting bear permits.

 

[wally247]

I'm 25 now and grew up with English Redticks. Since I can remember up until I was 18 my dad and I were big into coonhunting. Competition hunts all summer and fur hunting all winter. Some of the best experiences I've had were walking miles after dogs in the dark. It's a great way to spend the night as a kid.

 

[witchhunter]

I ran blueticks for 20 years out here in Nevada and northern California, mostly bear and lion. Wish I still could, it was the best time huntin ever. Love hearin those dogs cold trailin a bear or a cat and then jump him! Don't get me started...

 

[pigger]

Man this really takes me back to my younger years, the best coon dog that I had was a half walker and half boxer. You never heard him open, but he always checked in and he would kill a coon and bring it to you, sometimes alive. I could send him in after anything. he was best when I hunted him with my plot, she would strike them and he would catch them.

 

[kbheiner7]

Lost my cherished red bone a few months ago. He was hell on coons and house cats.