Good to hear commments from so many guys about the Fla curs. I like them, but I am be just a "little" partial to them...LOL
I actually managed ranches here in Fla for about 13 years, the last ranch we ran 500 cow/calf pairs. I used the same line of dogs to pen and work the cattle as we did to hog hunt.
My dogs started from a yellow ringneck female with about a 4" long tail. She was a cow and hog dog that came off K-Bar ranch. Just a cur dog, no papers, no "brand" name. I bred her to a red male cur a buddy had that they used on cattle, kept two females and here 6 generations later, still have the same dogs. I have bred to some good male dogs from several ranches, mostly cowdogs, and have been fortunate to have had some good dogs. Any of you guys that go to Baydog.com have probably seen pics I posted over the years with my red Dixie female. If the pic is posted by Lefty, thats me.
My old line of dogs have pretty good noses, my Dixie female had the best nose I have ever seen on a cur dog. She could wind a hog farther than any dog I have ever hunted with. And would stay bayed for hours right by herself, even on a bad hog.
My yellow Monkey dog, that is Partin bred, doesn't have the nose my dogs have, but hustles all the time. We find a lot of hogs with him as he doesn't walk anywhere....he goes wide open and will bay many hogs in their bed during the day. Some of these cow bred curs have been bred for working cattle in pastures, so some guys have not always bred for good noses. Some like a dog with a good nose, some guys just want a little nose on them so they don't go to the neighbors cattle a mile away, but can wind a group of cattle in a pasture and go to them.
We will be in Abbeville, Ga on May 9, 2009 and will have most of our stuff with us. I don't normally carry the Garmin tracking units to the shows, due to chance of theft. We have had a few things "walk off" at some of the shows, even with us watching.
As far as pups, it seems I can't raise enough of them. I used to raise a litter every 2-3 years, only when I needed dogs. Now I have had two litters in two years and still have guys on a waiting list wanting pups. I normally get $200-$250 for an 8 week old pup and have had guys wait two years to get one.
But I hunt my females before I breed them. The last two litters my females have been 5 years old before I bred them the first time. I don't breed "started" dogs or dogs I "think" may make a hog dog. They have to prove what they can do over several years before I breed one. I think thats how I have been able to maintain good dogs over the years.
At this time I am "down" to about 9 head of grown dogs and a litter of pups. Here is a pic of the pups, only 4 pups in this litter. I bred my female to a good red male cur from south Fla I have hunted with and really like. He must have some leopard blood in him as one of the pups is spotted and I have never gotten a spotted pup from my dogs. Some of the old Fla dogs were spotted too. He hunts like I like one to, has a good nose, fairly rough but not suicidal, etc. This is his first and my females first litter, so am curious to see how the pups do. I would bet they may be a just a "little rough.... Here is a pic of the male dog too.
Some of you guys post pics if you have any Fla dogs, I would like to see what they look like.
