I totally agree with your line of reasoning, I won't feed a dog unless it performs a job, a pet only dog is not on my radar.  I got bird dogs and plotts, they gotta be good with my boys and hunt hard.  I too am looking for a good cur.

@YBM if you have another litter, count me in! I would happily pay to have one shipped up here to get a reg ridgie out of hunting stock.

How do you think these dogs would work on coyotes?  How much do you want for a pup?

I think a clarification needs to be made here.  Culling a dog for dog-dog aggression or dog-human aggression vs. not performing.  Aggression to any thing other than the desired game is not to be tolerated at all, period, end of story, cull that dog now!  A dog that is not performing to standard should never be sold as something it is not, that is ethics.  A non performer can make a pet for someone else,  an aggressive dog cannot under any circumstances be placed in the hands of another person unless that person is doing your culling (pulling the trigger) for you.   

The comment on not vocalizing at the time of correction and the reason why are spot on.  The idea of using maximum stimulation right out of the box is off the mark in my opinion.  I want the dog to learn with as little trauma as possible.  I have a dog 'Bully' (plott) that is quite sensitive, a four or five is all I have needed with him.  He has a litter mate that 15 (max) is not enough.  Excessive punishment is just that.  In addition to trash breaking I also ensure my dogs are not going to tree fight. The excitement at a bay is often enough to trigger game possessiveness, I will look for face barking at the youngest ages, usually on a 'trainer' in a rolling cage, and light em up with out saying a word.  Again, you want them to behave when you are not around, not just when they can hear you.  I too set them up to learn, I take them to where some deer are, and if they act as if they know the deer are there, they will get zapped, always without verbal correction.  If they feel they will be corrected at any time by the boogeyman if they misbehave, then that is as good as you can hope for.  Once they are trash broke and will come to their name, an annual refresher is all they have ever needed.  That Bully dog is always off the lead when I am walking and he will range out about 100 yds and then come around and check in with me and he's off again, all from his early training with the e-collar.  My collar also has a 'tone' function, and Bully comes to that as well as he does to my voice.

I use the Innotek ADV-1000, they have been awesome on the warranty.  The battery was all that was bad and they took really good care of me, and had history of the previous calls I had made to them.

Up here in Montana, a red tick is an English hound, not a cross bred dog.  A gator is a dog that fights with other dogs at a bay or tree, usually started by face barking and the offender quickly becomes a cull if it survives the fight he caused.  All breeds have a tendancy to it and it is easily broke, walkers are notorious for it. 

wow! let me start by saying how humbled I am by the amount of responses and the obvious care/compassion you all have for my son, a person you have obviously never heard of.  Thank you all. 

Hello everyone, I am from Montana and my 14y/o son has been battling bone cancer since june '10 and should be finished with chemo in April of this year.  I was hoping to take him down to Texas to do some hog dogging as a celebration hunt.  He had his left leg amputated above the knee in October, he shot a 5x5 whitetail and a 5x5 bull elk in November, before he got his prosthetic leg.  I was hoping to find someone we could hunt with or if that isn't going to happen, then I would be willing to pay for guided hunts.  We would like to hunt hogs, javelina and gators if possible.  I would love to hunt with someone who has bmc's and/or plotts, I have plotts and run cats here in MT and bear in Idaho with them, but I am not above hunting any breed!  I am interested in getting a bmc and would like to see them work.  The reason for the San Antonio area is 1) open javelina season that time of year 2) cheap airline flights southwest airlines would save us about $1500 3) I was at Lackland AFB back '90 and would like to go back and see it.  There would be the three of us hunting, me, Tyler 14, and Troy 11. 

Thank you and God bless
Josh