Closed Mouth Curs vs Open Mouth Hounds

[jpuckett]

Good information thank you so much. That is definitely something that will do be some good. Yeah the acreage that we hunt is 10,000+ acres. But during the summer it makes it tough on us because we are having a hard time pinning down their bed during these hot months that they aren't moving. Great Info again and I'll be sure to use it.

[jpuckett]

I think you should go and get you a hound and try it.  Understanding others opinion is good, but I think you should go with your own gut feeling.  If you don't want to invest a lot in a good hound, invite someone with some hounds and see how your dog reacts and interacts.    I don't know where you are located, but I've got some hounds and would be willing to hunt with you.  You may see something you like and a whole lot you don't like.

I hunt all over Oklahoma and I have one plott that is pretty rangy but mostly hunt cur dogs. I have a buddy who has some closed on trail walker dogs that are very rangy and pretty gritty. I like hunting with them and would love to hunt with you. What kind of hounds do YOU hunt? I am not opposed to hunting open hounds either. My allegiances lie in what will help me and my catch dogs get on the most hogs.

[hoghunter71409]

I hunt 5 plotts (one is silent, 4 are semi-open) and one cur dog.

[jpuckett]

All you plott guys out there, I have one from Joe Burkett of White Deer Kennel and I am pretty happy with him. I have heard that a lot of plotts aren't very gritty, mine isn't. He bays back pretty far, but he has enough back up with my cur dogs that he really doesn't need to be. I wonder if anyone has some lines that are super gritty? I am fascinated by the plott breed and would like to hunt more.

[hoghunter71409]

One of mine is a Joe Burkett dog, he is just like the dog you mentioned.  I had another Joe Burkett dogs years ago and he was the same way.  There are gritty plotts all over the country, some are used on hogs and a lot on bear.  Bear hunters typically want gritty dogs that will make a dog tree; a bear will walk on dogs that are not gritty, thus you end up with a untreed bear.  The guy most known for gritty, gritty plotts being used for hog is Mike Cauley.  His line is most commonly known as the Bayou Cajun Plotts.  He goes by Cajun on here or you can look him up on Facebook.  I've had several dogs from Mike.  I only have one plott that I would consider gritty, but that is what I want.  I don't want all of my plotts to be real gritty.  I like hunting one or two and I like them to bay.  If the hogs breaks and runs, I'll turn some more in after a couple of hours and eventually he will stop.  When he does, he is usually caught.  There are a lot of other gritty plots on the east coast and in the Wisconsin/Michigan area; they aren't known of because a lot of those kind don spend time advertising dogs or bosting about them on websites.  They are serious bear hunters that like their dogs and could care less what others think.

[jpuckett]

Wow, great info!! I really appreciate you guys being as honest as you all are!! Thats cool that your burkett plott and mine have similar temperaments! I am definitely enamored with the breed and every plott I have seen seems to have a lot of the characteristics that I want to hunt with!

[TexasHogDogs]

Some of it is going to depend on how open mouth your new hounds are.  If they are open mouth from the time they leave your pickup your cur dogs that you have always ran are going to be cornfused as hell LOL.   All that barking they are going to be running around like what the hell is going on trying to go to the barking dogs.

Another thing , if you have never ran with truly open mouth hounds you may be shocked at how loud they can really be.  Also if you run those hounds with your curs I have seen cur dogs go to being opened mouth and once that happens there is no going back to like they were closed are tight mouthed its over .  So I would be real careful and study on what I really wanted to do before I went and bought open dogs  .

I went with a man one time he had a hound and from the time he turned him loose till the time he put him up he never stopped barking .  My dogs were going crazy running trying to figure out what was going on as a matter of fact he was down at the river on a very high river bank and he was barking so loud that my dogs were crossing the river going to his echo and that aint no BS buddy .  I like to never got my dogs back but when I did I went to loading dogs and  just told him either we are running your hound by himself are we are running mine .  It was crazy man those closed mouth dogs look like somebody plugged them in to a 220 outlet all my dogs were rattled as hell.

That was the end of it for me .  I have never ever ran my dogs with any kind of open mouth dog again. Everybody is different but I just could not stand all the racket while I was hunting hogs now coons is a different story but I just could not take it with hog hunting .

[Reuben]

I have hunted with a few hounds like Jimmy is talking about and they were colder nosed dogs...the dogs I had back then were hot nosed dogs and after a while they quit running and checking him...even when that one dog bayed a hog...

but then you have those fast tracking hounds that open some on a smoking track...those I like...reminds me quite a bit of the certain strains of mt curs that hunt that way...

[jpuckett]

Ok, thanks! Yeah most of the plotts that I have talked about adding to my pack are mostly quiet but sound off as the trail heats up. I don't know if I could handle a dog that bawled every step, but a dog that was kind of letting you know what they were smelling would be pretty cool especially once you got to know the dog!

[Cajun]

There are hounds out there that babble & I am talking about dogs that are barking & they have no track. These are culls. Any dog that is open should not be barking, unless they are running a track.
  I have hunted curs with hounds for thirty years. Up until the last seven years & since then I have gone all plotts. I have said it before & this is my experience, running curs with hounds will not make them open on track anymore then making my plotts shut up, running with silent cur dogs. Gentics, whether curs or hounds is what dictates if a dog is open or not.
  The plotts seem to make curs run longer & especially when the track is heated up, they run better. There are a lot of curs that just do not have the nose hounds do & that is why they are not interested in colder tracks. To me, these are culls. All the curs I had in the past had really good noses & they were silent. JMO

[Reuben]

X2 on what Cajun said...I like a cold nosed cur that can move a track...one that can find hogs quickly if they are there...a couple of gritty plotts of the same type...

[Plainhorseman]

Most of my curs have about a 1/4 running walk in them for range and bottom. This has worked for us in are hogdogs and cow dogs.

[easttexasoutlaw33]

I say area don't matter they have curs that will go as far and run tracks as cold as any hound it is all about what you want to feed I like curs but most of all I like hog dogs!!!!

You got one? Because ive sure never seen a cur dog take a day old track like a Blood hound. hell ive never seen a cur take a 8 hr track

[Cajun]

I say area don't matter they have curs that will go as far and run tracks as cold as any hound it is all about what you want to feed I like curs but most of all I like hog dogs!!!!

You got one? Because ive sure never seen a cur dog take a day old track like a Blood hound. hell ive never seen a cur take a 8 hr track

They do have them out there. Of course conditions play a role in that too but that is another topic.

[BIG BEN]

I say area don't matter they have curs that will go as far and run tracks as cold as any hound it is all about what you want to feed I like curs but most of all I like hog dogs!!!!

You got one? Because ive sure never seen a cur dog take a day old track like a Blood hound. hell ive never seen a cur take a 8 hr track

Lol!!!!!!!  That's funny.

[easttexasoutlaw33]

I say area don't matter they have curs that will go as far and run tracks as cold as any hound it is all about what you want to feed I like curs but most of all I like hog dogs!!!!

You got one? Because ive sure never seen a cur dog take a day old track like a Blood hound. hell ive never seen a cur take a 8 hr track

Lol!!!!!!!  That's funny.

Just curious id like to hunt behind him if he has one wasn't trying to be a smart A just never seen one EVER

[BA-IV]

The world is a big place out there...the cur dogs exist and I've hunted behind a few.  It's hard for people to consider a cur dog cold, when all they've ever seen is a cur dog take 30-45 min old sign or has never really tried track hunting. 

[BIG BEN]

The world is a big place out there...the cur dogs exist and I've hunted behind a few.  It's hard for people to consider a cur dog cold, when all they've ever seen is a cur dog take 30-45 min old sign or has never really tried track hunting. 

X2 they are out there just gotta know who has them

[halfbreed]

   I quit testing my cat's noses at around two hours but I know they have taken colder  . and there are several that are used for blood trailing on day old tracks  . most are capable of it and with work can be taught to grub out tracks .. working on drags , so you can know how old the track is , is the best way to do it . it takes some coaxing on the older dogs but if worked from pups they will take to it easier . there is one Catahoula I heard of that was used exclusively for downed deer had no trouble working 12 and 15 hour old tracks   .

[T-Bob Parker]

I seen a pound puppy shetzoo looking dog on the discovery channel one time who was trained to sniff out cancer cells. It ain't a matter of nose folks, it's a matter of what's in their brain to do with what they smell.