Bruce m. Conkey
UKC Forum Member
Registered: May 2016
Location: Palatka, FL
Posts: 5106 |
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After reading, watching video and talking to some friends about hunt results from this weekend. I was thinking about what this poster asked as I made coffee this morning.
Some of the men involved in a big win this weekend. Have been around for quite some time. Actually were involved with perhaps one of the most famous winning hound of all time. So how did they get from where they were several years ago. Then slowing down and almost non existent in the winners circle to now coming back and being on top again. Some men know what it takes to win.
The question that was asked by bluetikman. Was how do you make a hound a top winner? First you have to find a pup or young dog making a very nice hound. That takes a determined person to hunt that young dog. Then the dog has to be discovered. Not discovered as a top hound but discovered as having something extra. Lots of good pups out there that are solid coondogs. But they never get discovered. Just like movie stars and great singers. There are people singing in Church every Sunday that bless thousands with their voices over their lifetime while there are people out there making millions with their voices. The quality of both voices are the same.
So your hound has to go through discovery process, which cost money. Then it has to be pushed and exposed which also cost money. Thousands of coon hunters feel they have top hounds because they perform in their neck of the woods and tree a bunch of coon. Thats great. But it is different when hauling one to different areas. You will never know until you expose a dog to different conditions at different times of the year. This cost money.
So to get a good hound in your backyard to the top. It has to have money spent on it to get discovered, tested and proven. The more experienced and determined the handler is through this experience the better chance the dog has. So to answer your question in one sentence. The dog has to have a foundation of ability with money, desire, opportunity and some good breaks stacked on it. The owner also has to know when to fold his cards and move on to another dog. That is where most fail or cry sour grapes and quit. One thing many fail to see is the difference between a top competition hound and a top coonhound. Years past the difference was a good pleasure hound could make a good competition hound. Today it is different. There are quality hounds that won't never make a top completion hound. Because how the game is played at the top is different than how the game is played on the mountain or swamp you hunt. You would not buy your daughter a race horse as her first horse to ride. The division in dogs is becoming the same as it is in horses. A clam gentle nag can be a great horse loved by the family and but never win a race. On a side note. I asked a man yesterday if he saw any dog he really liked at a larger hunt this weekend. He said one. He said it was a Sunrise/Wipeout bred hound. So you take a man that knows dogs. They only see one dog they like out of a bunch of winners. That tells you the quality isn't what it should be at the top as it has become a game of winning. A game played with race horse caliber dogs and not those dogs everyone can ride. I think there will be a shift in the tide of where our "top comp" dogs are heading. As they are becoming to hard to ride. It will come back to a quality hound most of us remember that can win and be enjoyed at the same time. But if it doesn't and you have one that wins some and you enjoy all the time. Perhaps you are the real winner in the coonhound game. You just have to take your own picture and enjoy it.
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Last edited by Bruce m. Conkey on 08-10-2020 at 01:14 PM
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08-09-2020 11:37 PM
