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

Some of you in business have experienced change over time and have learned what you have experienced. Is a Paradigm Shift.

I think Coon Hunting and Coon Hounds have certainly went through this process over the past 50 years. The face of coon hunting doesn't look like it did 50 years ago.

I think two things have went hand in hand with what we have and are experiencing today. Please, I am not saying what we have today is BAD. I can be considered that by some. But the truth is. It is just different. Just like the price of Gas. I use to pay 50 cents a gallon and today these $3.00 a gallon prices make me think about how it use to be. My Grand Children who never experienced how it use to be. Think nothing about the gas prices today. What blows the old Timers mind is comparing yesterday to today. When the Youth in America. Only understand and are trying to digest what is happening today.

The same with Coon Hunting. Doesn't matter what Grand Pa did. The kids today see it all differently. They see the modern pup being born and they train the modern pup. They want the same results as Grand Pa did with a pup. But the are trying to achieve it with a genetically different pup and environmentally different conditions.

Lets look at a few unique things that Coon Hunting has to offer. Back 50 years ago. I honestly think it was easier to spot a sorry hound compared to a good hound. Yes sorry then is sorry now and good then is good now. But we have a lot more middle of the road dogs and I will even give credit and say the number and ability of the middle or the road hounds has increased some. This means the Hounds Man has to have a keener eye and be more selective with his hounds. This is where we start to fail. The old timer is still selective where he buys his gas because it is deeply ingrained in him to get the best deal. The youth just pull into a gas station and filler up. They are not as selective about their hounds either. Now I am not saying we are failing because of what anything any one person is doing. It is just part of the process of life for things to change. Change doesn't always mean the end result will be better. Just something that society at the time of the change can live with. There are people very happy today owning, showing, and hunting a dog. That Grand Pa would have shot. The reason is a person can be happy with todays gas prices or dogs ability. If they never saw how things were in the past. Or didn't live in a time what standards. Mostly for economic were higher. You couldn't afford to feed a sorry hound 50 years ago.
Look at the hunt rules or for that matter football or baseball rules and regulations. They are set up that one team or dog cannot dominate. That is why all the mediocre dogs are in the hunts. Those dogs on any give night can win with mediocre ability. In todays world. One dog cannot dominate. Yes there are some good ones out there. The right dog with the right handler. Can make a big splash. But can that dogs offsprings make the same big splash. As far as numbers of pups on the ground, number of pups being sold and number of pups being talked about. YES But the number of good dogs out of that dog will soon bring a settling affect to the hype. The old timers will see the gas prices are going up and not be happy. The new comers to the sport won't know any difference and pay the price. They will play the game and have fun doing it.

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Registered: Jan 2013
Location: Marietta
Posts: 10790

Bruce one difference that I have noticed in the last 5 years I am retired and I have other outdoor hobby’s I love just as much as coonhunting. But I come from a time when there were not as many hunts and the were tons of dogs at them. You prepared for months till in your mind your dog was ready to win those hunts. When I decide to compete I still prepare a dog the same way. What I noticed is when you prepare a dog to win ( a solid coon treeing dog ) and you go to these smaller hunts it’s like you have no problem winning !! I doubt many of those dogs are prepared to win most the only time they get hunted is in a hunt and it shows.


Tar

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Registered: Jan 2006
Location: WV
Posts: 821

That is a great way to look at the situation today and to compare them. I could never find the words to write down but you just about summed it up. With the new FB videos of every dog treeing, it would seem that every dog out there is a coon dog but that's far from the truth. Now, if they could make a video depicting how fast and deep dog hunts along with its track speed and independence and mannerism, that would narrow things down a bit. I've said this too many times in the past; too many people get caught up in the hype and glitz of things instead of coon dog! I am glad for the new gadgets we can use today but along with the new way comes a big change and to compare the old with the new is like comparing peaches to apples, IMO. That seems to be the case with most everything today; sports, cars, and yes, gas prices. Great post and good analogy!

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Registered: Aug 2011
Location: Emporia, Kansas
Posts: 372

I do not know about those 10 dollar words ( Paradigm Shift.)
but you are spot on about the changes over the years..60 of them for me in fact... paid 17 cents a gallon for gas in the 60's.. back then if I heard about a good hound I would make a drive to see it in the woods and take my old Dock dog to see how they stacked up.. a lot of them were not a bit better (some not worth hauling home too!) but there were some that were a bit better.
( Needless to say I lucked out on my second hound-- My first was a dud.)

after I sold Dock because I needed the $$$ It took a long time to find one that would even tree a coon for me... trust me there were plenty of junkers around!
I think that there are more that will run and tree a coon but there are still a bunch of Junkers being peddled to the unsuspecting public that should never be passed on.
the Cream of the Crop is probably still a shade less than 10%'

I do not hunt in competition due to profound hearing loss but still enjoy hearing the hounds work a track up get it running and tree that sucker!

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Registered: Jan 2016
Location:
Posts: 589

quote:

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Originally posted by Driftwoodblue
I do not hunt in competition due to profound hearing loss but still enjoy hearing the hounds work a track up get it running and tree that sucker!

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Dan

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

What we have as far as a dog working a rough track. Is a handler with his trigger finger in the button of a shocking outfit. To move the dog along and get it treed somewhere.
I will agree that a dog that wallers a track is not fun to hunt. Where coon is plentiful, moving the dog usually produces a coon somewhere. Noe this sorry track dogs learns to drift from bad track to find hot track and have a coon. Thus dog wins and is bred to because of his manmade tracking ability. What you get is track straddling pups. I think hard hunting and electronic equipment. Is starting to replace breeding and owning the genetically right kind. The shift here is from evaluating their ability and owning one that is bred to be a coondog and owning one that was made to tree coon no matter what it did from leash to tree. What side of the coin is correct will not be settled here. It will be settled in the future with the winning manmade dogs reproducing nothing the pleasure hunter can tree a coon with. There wont be enough nights in a week to train our future dogs. But with enough battery life in you training system. You still stand a chance.

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Registered: Dec 2003
Location: Mercer PA
Posts: 4821

I think a lot has changed. 50 years ago you hunted for 2 reasons, to catch game or because you enjoyed it as an activity with family and friends. Over time hunting shifted to an accomplishment game for bragging rights. Getting game,esp in coon hunting became less and less important to success, and as people were pulled more and more directions there was less and less time and land to hunt and your friends and family moved or quit and it became you and the dog and if it's not going well, that gets old quick.

I'm pretty positive dogs overall are better today, but there overall time in the woods is lower and for a shorter time as folks move on quickly to keep it interesting and keep up with what it "seems" like everyone else out there has. Very different world.

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Ron Ashbaugh
CROOKED FOOT KENNELS

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Registered: Aug 2011
Location: Emporia, Kansas
Posts: 372

there are still a bunch of Junkers being peddled to the unsuspecting public that should never be passed on.

will stick with this part too.. sad to say a lot of that junk gets bred instead of being sent to the happy hunting grounds--- you breed junk
to sell puppies you get more junk

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Registered: Jun 2015
Location: Cordele, Ga
Posts: 255

Mr. Bruce is definitely one of the deeper thinkers in our sport.

Very well said!

I miss the old days, the old hounds, and the old decent raising that most everyone you would draw at a hunt had.............

But as you said times change, and they aren't likely to go back to what we remember 30 years ago so let's just go enjoy our sport as it is and consider ourselves lucky that we are still able to freecast hounds all over this country as I guarantee you in 20 years that probably wont be the case.................

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Brad McDaniel
owner - Flint River Outdoors, Cordele Ga

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Registered: Nov 2011
Location: Freeport,TX
Posts: 1907

quote:

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Originally posted by DL NH
This I suspect says a mouthful! Seems as if most don't care anything at all about hearing good solid hound work on a track BEFORE the tree. Many only want hear the tree end of the hunt and couldn't care less how the hound gets to the tree. In my book without a good track dog you only got half a hound! The competition hunts as near as I can tell do little if anything to promote a good track dog.

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Registered: Feb 2015
Location: NW Arkansas
Posts: 1108

Started coonhunting in the 50's and still at it. One thing I do know there were a lot of sorry dogs in the 50's, 60's and 70's. Also a lot of guys who would climb a tree to tell you lies about a dog rather than stay on the ground and tell you the truth about one. Good dogs were rare and they still are. I am convinced that todays dogs are more tree minded but most are not as good at tracking as the dogs we had back then. Now this is a generalization, and there are some real track dogs out there. Don't know that we will ever figure out how to breed COONDOGS consistently.

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