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How often to shoot a coon out got me thinking

How often to shoot a coon? If I interpreted the meaning of that thread title correctly....to me it means that if you don’t shoot out a coon to your dogs a certain amount of times that the dogs will loose interest or a certain performance level...I think it is a very good question...and some really good posts were posted from none to quite a few shot out...

So what type of puppy will make a dog that won’t require many coon shot out to them? Let’s say you have well bred pups...and they are well socialized...you are a breeder that demands the best to maintain and improve the bloodline and you want to keep the best make for hunting and breeding if he turns out...if there are 4 males in the litter...how many would you keep and how would you cull and select so that in the end you have a dog that doesn’t need many coons shot out to him...and he is a bold full of confidence...

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Training dogs is not so much about quantity, it's more about timing, and the right situations...After that it's up to the dog....A hunting dog is born...

There are a bunch of testing done in the police K9 world to test a dogs drive. One test done in an association I was in was simply to place a toy under something really heavy... if the dog gives up on trying to get the toy pretty quick.... you know they won't be driven enough for the "reward" in finding odor.

But most K9 handlers I've been around won't test a dog before it is a year old. I think the only way to pick a puppy is by knowing the parents..... other then male / female, everything is a real random guessing game in picking pups out of a litter.

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No way to figure it out when they are a puppy.

It's really not about how you figure it out then do it. It is about doing it and then finding the dog that matches your standards.

I am sure plenty of the dogs I have owned would have been better, turned out better, performed better or however you want to say it. If I would have gave them more coon. The other side of the coin it just wasn't my style. I live in a state where you can hunt and harvest coon year round. My first 3 or 4 years of hunting you could not carry a gun and have a light. We climbed about every tree, shook or poked out every coon with a long aluminum pole we carried. Guns were then allowed. It didn't make much sense to drive 60 miles to hunt and then have a scarce coon population because you wanted to shoot them. In a state that there is no value in the hides and more aggravation in selling the meat than it was worth.

I have seen one of my better hounds be treed. I would have someone along that wanted to shoot a coon out. We would shoot the coon and it would fall right beside the dog. He would not miss a beat treeing and paid no attention to the coon. His name was Boss and I liked him so much I named several products for him. I run deer with hounds that never see the deer. Fox hunters run fox the same way. The other side of the coin is I have seen some top dog that wanted that coon and their owners felt they needed that coon. Think about this. Hide hunters with the real meat dogs and is some minds the real coon dogs. They didn't let them dogs chew on and tear up the hides did they. Whats the difference in not shooting one out and shooting one out and not letting the dog grab it. This sport has become whats in the mans mind and not whats in the genetics of the dogs.

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www.ConkeysOutdoors.com
"Boss Lights"

I don't think its the amount if coon shot out but the right coons shot out at the right times....u can think that a dog needs all coons shot out , but that is ignorant ...wastefull to say the least.
So imo quality vs quantity....in the end ur dog will be more intelligent.

This is the way I see it in the hot summer I shoot very few coon because it’s like when I was a young man I squirrel hunted I could kinda tell the difference in a young good eating squirrel and a big ole tuff buck squirrel. Same in the summer the kittens are out my eyes are not as good and I just hate to have shot out a momma coon or one of her kittens. Now up in the fall if I got a young dog I like and he puts up a hard running boar coon by himself it’s coming out and me and him will go to the truck happy.


Tar

Around here we got clubs having small & big coon contests per event about 6 or more times a year . All they’re doing is teaching these young kids is to shoot everything. But when it’s time to guide a cast they caint put one cast in the woods . I see it a lot at other clubs too . If I had to shoot a bunch of coons out to a hound he wouldn’t be worth keeping to me .

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Re: How often to shoot a coon out got me thinking

quote:

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Originally posted by Reuben

So what type of puppy will make a dog that won’t require many coon shot out to them? Let’s say you have well bred pups...and they are well socialized...you are a breeder that demands the best to maintain and improve the bloodline and you want to keep the best make for hunting and breeding if he turns out...if there are 4 males in the litter...how many would you keep and how would you cull and select so that in the end you have a dog that doesn’t need many coons shot out to him...and he is a bold full of confidence...

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Training dogs is not so much about quantity, it's more about timing, and the right situations...After that it's up to the dog....A hunting dog is born...

quote:

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Originally posted by Charles Pullen
Around here we got clubs having small & big coon contests per event about 6 or more times a year . All they’re doing is teaching these young kids is to shoot everything. But when it’s time to guide a cast they caint put one cast in the woods . I see it a lot at other clubs too . If I had to shoot a bunch of coons out to a hound he wouldn’t be worth keeping to me .

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