Registered: Aug 2004
Location: Chattanooga, Tn
Posts: 22462

I have seen a lot of topics comparing comp coondogs to pleasure hounds but I have never seen one comparing the hunters. What is the difference between the two? Can you be both? When I talk about pleasure hunters, I am not talking about comp hunters who hunt their dogs through the week to train them or get them ready for a comp hunt. How many coonhunters would there be if there were no more comp hunts? How many hunters would still hunt in the summer if there were no more comp hunts?

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Registered: Jan 2013
Location: Marietta
Posts: 10790

I like the dry months of the summer here because you can get around better. Pleasure hunt I go just when I want to. Getting one ready for hunts I hunt hard.


Tar

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Registered: Jun 2014
Location: Louisiana
Posts: 958

I really enjoy comp hunting, but pleasure hunting I love. So much more enjoyable, and relaxing.

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Tommy Gayle
985-233-1016

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Registered: Sep 2010
Location: New Paris, Indiana
Posts: 7076

I think they are mostly the same person.

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Registered: Dec 2017
Location: Kentucky
Posts: 105

Pleasure hunting is keeping one tuned up for me. Take away the competition hunts and my dogs toenails would probably get pretty long...

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Registered: Sep 2004
Location: ohio
Posts: 772

I liken the diehard competition hunter to a liberal democrat. Nuff said!!

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Registered: Jan 2008
Location: Macon Ga.
Posts: 832

I enjoy pleasure hunting but I wouldn't hunt as hard if the comp hunts went away. Kind of like people building a race car, what's the point in building one if you never race it.

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Registered: Jan 2007
Location: monroeville OH
Posts: 2685

I hunted for 55+ yrs and competition hunted for 40 + I will continue if there is never another comp hunt. yr round !!doesn't matter to a die hard coonhunter who does it for the sport of hunting..

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C.JONES

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Registered: Apr 2005
Location: Barnesville, Ga.
Posts: 409

Pleasure hunting only! I like seeing young dogs progress and very rarely go in the woods without a young dog along. A piece of paper means absolutely nothing to me.

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If It Climbs, It Ain't Trash

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Registered: Feb 2016
Location:
Posts: 99

The main difference I've seen is when a comp guy turns his dog lose he gets back in the truck waching the garmin waits for him to tree then drives around to get him...when I turn mine lose I walk the dog makes circles around me...not saying one way is better thats just the way I see it

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Registered: Dec 2017
Location:
Posts: 340

I say their both the same. It’ what you want to get out of it . It depends on the dog for me. If I see a dog that has the potential to be something I will hunt him just as hard pleasure hunting as I would getting one ready for a competition hunt. It never has been how many coon I knock out , its seeing the dog look as good as it can.

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Registered: May 2012
Location: Amerika land of the free?
Posts: 1237

quote:

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Originally posted by CHEWBACH
I hunted for 55+ yrs and competition hunted for 40 + I will continue if there is never another comp hunt. yr round !!doesn't matter to a die hard coonhunter who does it for the sport of hunting..

---

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Registered: Feb 2015
Location: NW Arkansas
Posts: 1110

Though I have been in a few competition hunts, I am really a total pleasure hunter. What I have noticed is that some, certainly not all, competition hunters really don't enjoy the dog. They enjoy winning. I think most true pleasure hunters just love to hear the dog work honestly and correctly with very few mistakes. Will soon be 70 and been doing this since I was 8. It still makes my blood run fast to hear a bawl mouth dog strike, work, locate and tree a coon. In some ways pleasure hunters require more of a dog but in some ways less. I can be very happy with a dog that doesn't hunt as hard or as fast as long as he makes very few mistakes. Saying that last night I really think my dog went the wrong way and treed in an empty tree. Now this dog has treed a lot of coon and actually treed 26 in a row that I saw and finished every track he started, but last night he wasn't worth $500.

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Tom Wood

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Registered: May 2008
Location: Kentucky
Posts: 3145

I would coon hunt if I had to use a carbide light,grass string for a leash, and walk to my hunting spots. Aside from the carbide light I used a grass string for a leash and walked many miles to hunt as a kid. I would do it again

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Get a Good One

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Registered: Jan 2018
Location:
Posts: 17

For me it's about the dog!once u involve money or a title or points some people don't care about the dog and they just want to win even if they have to cheat.for me a true compition hunt would be the best dog winning.pleasure hunter here but I'm not against compition hunting its just not 4 me.I run my dogs year round and I don't have to kill every coon.

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Registered: Jul 2003
Location: Columbus, Ks
Posts: 5398

I sure enjoyed the competition hunts in the 70s, 80s, 90s, 00 but at 61 yrs old i enjoy a good pleasure hunt the most. I enjoy hounds that tree raccoon when cut loose not slick trees. Hounds that catch raccoons that dont want to climb. I enjoy hunting a young hound that keeps improving. I'm still looking for one hound with all the bells and whistles of three or four hounds I've had all wrapped up into one.

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The Hounds I Enjoyed Hunting:
Dual Gr Natural Smokey River Rebel, A buddy of mine
Gr. Nt Natural Blue Echo ( Gr Nt Quail Ck Jimmy X Nt Ch Natural Blue Bell)
Gr Nt Smokey River Chief's Joe (JBS Chief X Gr Nt Jeans Ruby)
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And Many More

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Registered: May 2012
Location: Amerika land of the free?
Posts: 1237

TOM I'll give you 500 and 10 cent for Preacher LOL , don't get 2 upset , Preacher is a top hound and you and I have treed Coon every time we have went since October about 15 times I think. Daisy and Elijah treed 2 tonight in the hills looked pretty good on the 1st track the 2nd one was real cold I think they went backwards a hundred yards or so before turning it around and lining it out I walked out of my boots tonight sole came off one you talk about uncomfortable on rocks. I will call you tomorrow when I get up.

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Registered: May 2017
Location: West Plains Mo
Posts: 471

I like goin to comp hunts. And I'm super competitive. But also do a lot pleasure hunting with keeping or getting my dog comp ready. But it's almost impossible to find a dog that fits both pleasure and comp style dog. So I sometime think I would enjoy hunting lot more by just goin back to my roots of just pleasure hunting and finding dog that fits the pleasure dog bill. And could just hunt and enjoy some simple things I miss because I'm so competition minded while pleasure hunting. So in short I would hunt just as much if I just pleasure hunted and would prob enjoy it more.

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Registered: May 2016
Location: Palatka, FL
Posts: 5106

When we get into these discussions it seems to fall on the back on the dog. I feel it is about the competitive nature of the Man hunting the dog. Some Men no matter what they do are competitive doing it. Some choose to be competitive at times and others really could care less. Those Men just enjoy the time in the woods with their dog for what it is.

Myself. I hunted probably 7 years before I went to my first competition event. Mainly because there were not many close. But then I got the urge to see if the dog I caught coon with on a regular basis could do well against other dogs. More of a comparison thing to see how mine stacked up. Maybe the Lord Blessed me with not having a winner so my efforts and thoughts went into making the event fun for others and not about winning. That is where I focused my efforts early on. We started a club so others could come and win and dogs in our location had a chance at earning titles without driving 3 hours to a hunt.
What I am looking to gain or prove anytime I have a hound entered in a hunt is "Not that it is better than the other hounds". But is it as good at treeing coon as I think it is and meets my standards. Also that the Bloodline I have chooe to hunt stacks up against other dogs in competition and can win because of its genetic characteristics. Not on anything I do.

As most on here age they find the competitive fire gets dimmer. Mostly because of physical limitations. Some choose to find a young person to handle their dogs. It is very hard to find someone that is an extension of your personality and values that you will be happy with hunting your dog.

I have some very competitive dogs sitting in my pen because I have aged into a total pleasure hunter. So for the rest of their life they are pleasure dogs.

I think we could label this the Coon Hunters Curse. You have a mind that allows you to think all day about going hunting that night like you use to. You have a mind that checks for upcoming events and you see a hunt you would like to go too. You see your Friends making plans to go off and hunt and you think about going. But as the time for any of these events draw near. The desire or excitement you had during the planning stages seem to get less and less. The end result is a night in your easy chair with your Bloodlines magazine beside you that you haven't even read and probably won't. And your dog in the back yard wondering where you are at. But there is always tomorrow to start planning for that next hunt. I know you will just at I will. Just don't know either of us will make it to the woods.

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Registered: Aug 2004
Location: Chattanooga, Tn
Posts: 22462

Mr Conkey, according to the TV old men get low Testosterone levels just like dogs get low Thyroid levels. Maybe you should get your T level checked.

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Registered: Jun 2003
Location: Oakdale, Pennsylvania
Posts: 3753

It is about the hunter more than the hound to me. I only hunt for pleasure, my hounds over the years could have certainly held their own in a scorecard hunt, fast and hard treeing. But as a teen / early 20's I got schooled by some real characters in scorecard hunts and decided I just didn't like what I was seeing so never went back. I support those who like it, I just don't.. I want my hounds to hunt hard track fast and tree hard and have the proper balance of independance to get the job done. Seems it is me not my dogs....and I'm all good with that !!

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Fan of the of the Bragg and Vaughn Blues !! TREE OLD HUSSLER in Memory of DOC Householder... Rest in Peace Rev. Kenneth Adkins my dear friend !! Home Will's Creek Savage Sioux-Zee!!
Yeah, I competition hunt !! All Fall and Winter long.. My Blues compete with the local coon.. My Blues win a ton !!! We use and recommend MOONSHINER LIGHTS, Peggs , Ok.

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Registered: Jun 2003
Location: Oakdale, Pennsylvania
Posts: 3753

It is about the hunter more than the hound to me. I only hunt for pleasure, my hounds over the years could have certainly held their own in a scorecard hunt, fast and hard treeing. But as a teen / early 20's I got schooled by some real characters in scorecard hunts and decided I just didn't like what I was seeing so never went back. I support those who like it, I just don't.. I want my hounds to hunt hard track fast and tree hard and have the proper balance of independance to get the job done. Seems it is me not my dogs....and I'm all good with that !!

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Fan of the of the Bragg and Vaughn Blues !! TREE OLD HUSSLER in Memory of DOC Householder... Rest in Peace Rev. Kenneth Adkins my dear friend !! Home Will's Creek Savage Sioux-Zee!!
Yeah, I competition hunt !! All Fall and Winter long.. My Blues compete with the local coon.. My Blues win a ton !!! We use and recommend MOONSHINER LIGHTS, Peggs , Ok.

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Registered: Aug 2011
Location: Perrinton, Michigan
Posts: 632

I read a lot of the above post I love both the comp and pleasure, but all the post was about or seemed about hunting by your self. Growing up we would get together and hunt with friends as a group tons of fun. Now a days if you take 1 or two of your buddies hunting and they have lets say the new style of dog , go get by them selves, It's not much pleasure walking 3 different directions to see 3 different trees. Our hounds were always meant to be pack hounds and not talking about "me too's" I am getting up in age and I love listening to a pack of hounds work together and telling tall tales or talking about the good old days or dogs. It's the bond we have as houndsmen that makes it great.

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Perrinton, Mi
(989) 763-4725
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Registered: Sep 2003
Location: indiana
Posts: 560

Used to enjoy competition hunts, but it got to where it mattered more about twisting rules arguing mine mine mine etc, just got belly full of it. Now just pleasure hunt by myself since its getting harder to find people to go. Dog I hunt know hunts good, but if things not going well hes really easy to call back and move. I d rather call him in and move locations than walk miles from one spot LOL

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Registered: May 2016
Location: Palatka, FL
Posts: 5106

Tony you're exactly right. We use to go hunting and a few friends turned our dogs out together and we went to ONE tree together. It was fun and enjoyable to see the dogs work and see which one did the best job on the track and putting the coon up. Knowing the one that didn't do as good would be there shortly.

It is a whole different ball game today. Probably one of the biggest things to hurt competition with the older generation is how the dogs scatter and you have to go 3 or 4 different directions. It just isn't yards either. It's miles.

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