Zip7
UKC Forum Member
Registered: Oct 2007
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Posts: 26 |

This gyp is half walker half cur. She is about 18-19 months old now.
I started her at about 10 months hunting with an older cur I had, and after she go the hang of it, she was a much better coon dog than the older cur.
I hunted her on squirrel too, and she will tree them, but since she got going on coon pretty well I only coon hunt her.
When she started, I didn't think she would make much of a dog. She did really well last september, but then went in her first heat during october, and when she came out of it, she was completely retarded for about three weeks. Toward the end of that, I hunted her with a couple of good hounds one night, and she went along with them, but didn't do much but watch. I tied her back and wouldn't let her have any of the coon.
From that night on, she has been lights out - great dog. Before that she was looking for a tree with a coon in it, and since then she looks for a track to run. In thick coon, she has smoked every cur dog I have hunted her with and she treed over 50 coon on her own in December / January.
Now, she does hunt close on her own, but she doesn't handle like a cur. When she has a nose full of something, she won't come back. When she trees, there ain't no calling her off the tree, I have to leash her and drag her away. She doesn't leave the country, but if she hits a hot track, she will go wherever it goes. I have only had her lose a hot track twice, both times on water.
She doesn't do well with cold tracks. Hot tracks she runs wide open like a hound would run a deer. Really fast. But no grubbing up cold tracks and working them out. She is open on track, but in thick coon and short easy tracks she is quiet. She doesn't have a big mouth, and she is chop/squall mouth on track, but she does bawl locate and chop tree.
She roads really well in front of the truck. She really is pretty much half like a hound and half like a cur. She has the bad traits of both as well though... hotter nosed than a hound and more hard headed than a cur. She is a tree minded dog who had to learn to track. I think this coming season will tell the tale on her, but I think she is going to be fine. Everyone who has hunted with her has been pretty impressed.
I have an English pup to start this season who is going to be the opposite - track minded and we need to work on her treeing. I think they will make a good pair.



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