"SPEED", How you judge it.

[cs_tiedhog]

When I talk speed I am only talking the speed at which a dog can move a track. A fast track dog is one that runs a track with his head up and off to the side of it. There are dogs that can actually run a track a mile in 2 or 3 minutes and bay a hog but they are rare I have only owned 4 of them in my life. Half my dogs are a little open so I have to have fast dogs because if a dog opens on a track he has to be able to run it at least twice as fast as a silent dog because the hog is already running because he opened his mouth.

[Reuben]

When I talk speed I am only talking the speed at which a dog can move a track. A fast track dog is one that runs a track with his head up and off to the side of it. There are dogs that can actually run a track a mile in 2 or 3 minutes and bay a hog but they are rare I have only owned 4 of them in my life. Half my dogs are a little open so I have to have fast dogs because if a dog opens on a track he has to be able to run it at least twice as fast as a silent dog because the hog is already running because he opened his mouth.

With a good crosswind the dogs should be running a little behind the hog and to the downwind side maybe 20 to 25 yards and they are running with their heads up smelling the hog off the wind currents and looking for the hog. They do this in the thick woods where they can't see the hog nor keep up due to the vegetation.

[scdogman]

So i am going to buy a dog.  A man says he has one that I like, but track speed is important to me.  I want to see the dog hunt by himself and he is a silent dog.

We drop the dog in a block of woods and hear him bay and then the hog breaks.  He runs for 45 minuets and comes bayed.  How do I know how fast he is?  Is he faster than the dog I have at home.  Is he slower.

Should I ask the man to have his dog run behind my car until he is tired. 

How do I judge this dog's speed?  Hell how do I know he was running the whole time? He could have quit the track and came bayed while he was coming in?

Short story.  Guy from Georgia is selling sure enough, no bull, finish dogs.  Boys from SC want to buy dogs.  They meet in the woods.  SC boys bringing there C level dogs.  At the end of the hunt, boys from GA with sure enought no bull finish dogs want to buy the C-level dogs.  They have never seen a dog that good.  Guys from Georgia were not trying to pull anything.  They had just never seen better dogs.  The point, just because you think a dog is fast does not mean he is fast.  Just because he is the fastest in the area doesn't mean he is fast.  But if a you have a dog that usually runs a track at XX speed and my dogs usually run at XX speed then they are close if conditions are the same.

[Reuben]

If the dog is not built right and his top speed is 20 mph in open country and this dog tires quickly then this dog can not move a track any faster than 20 mph and he won't last long in the race. Much less in bad terrain... Even if the dog were to have stamina he still can only run 20 mph max...

I have been hunting with dogs about 45 years now but only been hog hunting them since the early 1980's.

Back then the majority of the good dogs I saw were crossed with walker, redbone, plott and I saw a few good 1/2 bloodhound 1/2 bmcs that were awesome hog dogs. The ones I thought were real good could burn a track and had good noses.

 I like a dog that can really move out on a track but he also needs to be exceptional at locating and figuring out and lining the track out. Locating and lining out a track is just as important and they go hand in hand.

[jhy]

Yall need to get some July's (If you can still find some good ones)  Then you will see some track speed.  I have never seen a dog get out of range of a Wildlife system in 10 minutes!

Joey

[scdogman]

Points to be taken from this. 

1.  Just because a dog can run fast Does Not mean it can move a track fast.  If that was the case, we all would be hunting greyhounds.

2.  "Everything is relative."  Fast in your book might be slow mine.  Or your slow dogs may lead my pack.  20 Mph was thrown out, well I have seen track at speeds of 25mph or more.

3.  Track speed is like everything else.  Mine is bigger, longer, prettier, cooler until we actually are able to measure .  Example All boars are 300 pounds plus until someone breaks out the scale then 300 lbs goes to 225 or 240 lbs.

4.  I;m not a garmin pusher.  I think they still have holes in them.  I still run my old collars, but they is no better tool to determine the track speed of a dog.

[Monteria]

Shear speed? A fast dog can catch rabbits pretty regularly.

[Reuben]

Points to be taken from this.  

1.  Just because a dog can run fast Does Not mean it can move a track fast.  If that was the case, we all would be hunting greyhounds.

2.  "Everything is relative."  Fast in your book might be slow mine.  Or your slow dogs may lead my pack.  20 Mph was thrown out, well I have seen track at speeds of 25mph or more.

3.  Track speed is like everything else.  Mine is bigger, longer, prettier, cooler until we actually are able to measure .  Example All boars are 300 pounds plus until someone breaks out the scale then 300 lbs goes to 225 or 240 lbs.

4.  I;m not a garmin pusher.  I think they still have holes in them.  I still run my old collars, but they is no better tool to determine the track speed of a dog.









The Garmin is a great modern tool but the old timers have been breeding and hunting fast track dogs from way back. Some field trial dogs were even bred so fast and long range that regular hunting folks steered away from these types. This was way before the company "Garmin" was invented.


 I have seen the Garmin in use. It is great but when the range  is at least doubled and the battery life is extended by a large margin then and only then will I buy one... The type of dogs I like to hunt will get out of range pretty quick with todays Garmin technology.

Well, I agree on pin pointing track speed with the Garmin and this will ultimately get us to find out exactly how a dog will run a track and this is a valuable tool especially if we are wanting to breed better dogs...

Speed on track is not the most important trait for a good hog dog. It goes hand in hand with quite a few other traits...

[scdogman]

Not sure what the other post was about. 

Information can be download straight for the collar.  So information is recorded even if the collar loses connection with the GPS.  Again I run both the Garmin and the regular.

Also,  I believe the person who wrote that poste now has a garmin.  I may be wrong, but I believe he owns one.

Again the post was not to debate the importance of track speed, but how to judge it.

[Rockin-P-Ranch]

This is my take on this speed thing yall are talking about. A hog is no different than any other pray, the faster and harder you push him the faster and harder he is going to run.Speed is good IF you have a dog that can shut him down, To me hunting hogs is not a timed event.I would much rather my dogs sneak in and circle him up like the indians use to do. And not give him a chance to run a all.If my dogs can shut one down quick good for them,if it takes 3 hours to shut one down the same good for them.

[Reuben]

This is my take on this speed thing yall are talking about. A hog is no different than any other pray, the faster and harder you push him the faster and harder he is going to run.Speed is good IF you have a dog that can shut him down, To me hunting hogs is not a timed event.I would much rather my dogs sneak in and circle him up like the indians use to do. And not give him a chance to run a all.If my dogs can shut one down quick good for them,if it takes 3 hours to shut one down the same good for them.

You be right...

[chainrated]

Speed is great and I wish all mine were super fast , but the main thing I look for in a dog is , Does that dog consistently bay hogs? I don't mean is he always there with the other dogs or will he run with the other dogs , I mean can the dog consistently bay hogs by himself? That to me is what counts if your goal is to catch hogs  when you go to the woods..

[scdogman]

I like my steak medium rare.

[scdogman]

Ribs are good too.


Just random thoughts.  They have nothing to do with how to judge a dogs track speed, well neither do the most of the others post. 

The question was how to judge track speed not which is more important or how to test for it. 

Shrimp is my favorite though

[Reuben]

I like my steak medium rare.

x2...and service with speed, as long as it doen't interfere with quality of my meal a plus

[scdogman]

So how do you judge the "speed" that they cook and serve you steak?

[Reuben]

So how do you judge the "speed" that they cook and serve you steak?

Well, that is a broad question. I don't think I can answer that one without generalizing.

But on a serious note, I have enjoyed this thread and all the view points as to what others think and like even if it was a little off subject at times...

Right now I'm watching the dog whisperer. Maybe I can come up with a new good thread like this one.