KevinN I assume you have lots of experience with hounds. What did you run?
As far as open dogs go, no, not lots of experience. Ive hunted behind silent Plotts and semi-open Walker Crosses and a Red Tick cross. The silent plotts and semi-open dogs would locate and then were silent until they saw the hog. They were all good dogs. As far as open dogs go I've had limited experience with Walkers and Red Bones/Crosses. I didn't enjoy the open dogs that much (but I don't think they were quality hounds).
I hope no one misinterprets what I'm trying to say. I may have not communicated my thoughts clearly. I was not in any way bashing hounds. I was simply stating that the "experience" of hunting behind open dogs is different than hunting behind silent dogs.
