Registered: Feb 2015
Location: NW Arkansas
Posts: 1186

I read a lot about whether dogs are better now than then and I'm sure it matters what you got now and what you had then but one thing I'm sure of (at least for me) hunting is a lot easier now than then. With the introduction of quality track, train and tone devices we have been able to get rid of the things I disliked most in the past. Wondering where the dog was, driving around trying to hear him somewhere, Having to go home without him, treed on the other side of the river and can't get him back, dog's that didn't handle, running deer for hours. I didn't enjoy any of that. Now I have two dogs that tree coon consistently, I know where they are all the time and they come back when I tone them. A deep hunting dog is fine when I can bring him back when I want. Just wonder how many of you agree with this. By the way I have been doing this for 60 years.

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Tom Wood

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Registered: Apr 2014
Location: batsville ark
Posts: 1110

back then i really didnt mind the deer races .dogs had brains enough to come back where they were released at or come back to 5 miles or more to the house and be laying on the front porch when you got home . didnt have to worry some idiot was going to shoot them cause they crossed a property line 20 years ago. yea i love my narmin and high powered light that ways nothing like the small car batteries back then .heck a good deer race even now days anit that hard to take either .lol even with the e collar on then i can see where on the garmin that good broke hound is still running them but has brains enough to keep quiet about it .lol i dont even mess with breaking them anymore the good ones will turn it into a coon most of the time and in a hunt strike points come in handy.lo still wearing the wick coat i got many moons ago. my grand dad use to tell me a hound to sorry to run a deer anit worth fooling with .he used a ax to get the coons and didnt walk to slick trees like folks are satisfied with now days ..22 bullets cost to much money and were used sparingly .

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Registered: Oct 2013
Location: Fulton county AR
Posts: 64

Tom or both of your dogs track dogs ? I think that is what is missing in these coon hounds of today . I mean can they take a older feeder track and work it out get him up and running and have enough track speed to make him climb .
The other thing that i believe is missing is coon dog sense like Thomas was talking about. they will hunt out of the country , they dont now how to strike a coon they just run like a wild bird dog, wired up all the time .
I do not miss the trash runner of the old days . This new generation of hounds is lot easier to train but you had better be very careful how you train them or they will turn into a slick treeing fools .

Brad from Ar

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Registered: Feb 2015
Location: NW Arkansas
Posts: 1186

Brad, I agree that dogs don't generally show the tracking ability they need. My 2 year old dog will work a bad track but can't always move it or finish it. He's done a lot better this Jan and Feb. My 12 month old is a lot stronger on the tree part. Yes I would like to have a real track dog but these 2 tree coon consistently.

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Tom Wood

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Registered: Jan 2013
Location: Marietta
Posts: 10790

Give me a young dog that will run long game to catch when they get older they will run a cold coon track the same way !!


Tar

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Registered: Oct 2013
Location: Fulton county AR
Posts: 64

Tom i have a 12 month old pup that has treed 20 coons by his self . That is the most a pup has ever treed for me by a year old . I dont think he is any better than some the other pups i have had. There is just a lot more coons these day than there was in 1980. But on the flip side of that you dont need to wear out a pair of gloves patting trees .lol

Good question you ask ,food for thought .

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Registered: Dec 2013
Location: Nichols Ny
Posts: 1566

Since track dogs got brought up....
Which did guys prefer back then? Which do guys prefer now? I know what I like but I'm not a big time competition hunter. I like to hit a few hunts a year. Nothing I prefer more than a track dog. And I think it has a lot to do with the area you live in and the coin population you normally hunt. We don't have the coin population that there was back in the 60-90's. Most of the farms are shut down, and divided up in smaller parcels. Without farm crops around here the coin ppopulation has went in the dumpster. There's still a lot of trappers though.

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Registered: Nov 2011
Location: north ala.
Posts: 937

quote:

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Originally posted by yadkintar
Give me a young dog that will run long game to catch when they get older they will run a cold coon track the same way !!


Tar

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Registered: Dec 2013
Location:
Posts: 1520

As you older hunters have mentioned is the nose. I agree, another thing is the accuracy of dogs back in the day. Saying that they were also slower to locate in comparison to the new age dogs. We had 3 hr hunts and you lost more hunts in the 3rd hr than the first 2, colder tracks more nose needed. JMO

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Registered: Jan 2013
Location: Marietta
Posts: 10790

Ok I will ask you a question are dogs that can work a track more accurate ?


Does it make sense to you if a good beagle don't run that rabbit with a good amount of speed and determination it won't circle for you to have a shot.


The best dogs I have ever followed were gamey when young.




Tar

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Registered: Feb 2015
Location: NW Arkansas
Posts: 1186

I also don't mind a young dog running deer, especially now that I have the means to stop it. Kind of wish all young dogs ran deer for 2 months and then quit. I don't know wether it teaches them to move a track or if those dogs just know how to move one. Best young dog I ever had would run a deer and then fall of on a coon. Should never have let her go. The two I have now have never run a deer and the deer are thick.

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Tom Wood

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Registered: Dec 2013
Location:
Posts: 1520

Deer dogs don't last around here there is a black top rd every mile. If the car don't get them I will.

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Registered: Dec 2013
Location:
Posts: 1520

Deer dogs don't last around here there is a black top rd every mile. If the car don't get them I will.

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Registered: Jan 2013
Location: Marietta
Posts: 10790

A lot of people think every track that is finished with a tree is a coon. Or that one mile race with a kitten coon up a bush is legit. A lot of dogs have a trait of jealous freeing today I got one now if he gets to getting behind on a running coon if he even smells where a coon even thought about being he wants to get wooded but I send him a message via satalight and he is getting better every time I take him hunted a long time I don't make excuses.


Ahh Roy poor a cup of coffee and enjoy a good race with that alpha you can stop it lol.


Tar

Last edited by yadkintar on 02-18-2018 at 09:20 PM

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Registered: Dec 2014
Location:
Posts: 34

quote:

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Originally posted by yadkintar
Ok I will ask you a question are dogs that can work a track more accurate ?


Does it make sense to you if a good beagle don't run that rabbit with a good amount of speed and determination it won't circle for you to have a shot.


The best dogs I have ever followed were gamey when young.




Tar

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Registered: Jul 2004
Location: Nova Scotia
Posts: 2768

quote:

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Originally posted by yadkintar



Ahh Roy poor a cup of coffee and enjoy a good race with that alpha you can stop it lol.


Tar

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Friends don't let friends hunt blueticks

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Registered: May 2006
Location: Pamplin Va.
Posts: 454

The only thing i would go back to would be 25-30 years ago i could get permission to hunt and hunt pretty much anywhere i wanted, i could hunt 30-45 days in a row and never cut loose in same spot twice. Hunting a lot easiernow with all the new tools. All the bad things discussed today i remmeber we had them, babbblers, rough dogs, slick treers etc. i think one of the biggest differences you see is people dont finish young dogs out like they used to. Once they are running and treeing we throw them in a hunt and a lot are done with by the time they are three years old and we have moved on to something else. I do like that pups seem to start earlier than the ones i got ahold to years ago. Got one jist turned 10 months old treed about 29 coons so far this year, littermate not treeing as consistantly but goes hunting and can fly on a track. Both are gamey but i would rather have that than standing around looking at me. Years ago we usually had a competition season and then a season you hide hunted, only a few big huntsbin winter, now a man can go to ahunt 5 and 6 days a week year round if he wanted to.

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Dean Jamerson

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Registered: Feb 2015
Location: Jacksonville NC
Posts: 149

Garmin has made coon hunting so much easier for the older hunters. When I was in my 20's I didn't need a garmin or a watch for that matter. I hunted all night quite often and sometimes on into the next morning. No that I am older and carrying an extra couple of pounds...(60). I can walk through the woods without ever touching my hound or leading my hound. I don't even carry a leash unless I'm hunting with another dog. My hounds and I hunt when I want to, where I want to, and how long I want to. What I say goes every single time I say it and when I say it...Last night made three trees and was curled up with my wife by 9:45pm...The only time I touched my hound was when I petted her up at the tree. Thank you Garmin. Your product is the best money I have ever spent in the hunting world...!

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Roy Jarman

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Registered: Feb 2015
Location: Jacksonville NC
Posts: 149

Garmin has made coon hunting so much easier for the older hunters. When I was in my 20's I didn't need a garmin or a watch for that matter. I hunted all night quite often and sometimes on into the next morning. No that I am older and carrying an extra couple of pounds...(60). I can walk through the woods without ever touching my hound or leading my hound. I don't even carry a leash unless I'm hunting with another dog. My hounds and I hunt when I want to, where I want to, and how long I want to. What I say goes every single time I say it and when I say it...Last night made three trees and was curled up with my wife by 9:45pm...The only time I touched my hound was when I petted her up at the tree. Thank you Garmin. Your product is the best money I have ever spent in the hunting world...!

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Roy Jarman

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