Hound bawl cur bark

[Reuben]

I have my opinion but because I don't have that much hound experience I will not comment... 

[barlow]

I like to hear a bawl mouth dog and don't believe they are, as a rule . . slower. However . . the bawl mouth sound originates in the lungs and diaphragm versus a chop mouth dog sounding from his throat. Think about this . . it's one thing to see someone talking while running a marathon . . but imagine singing opera while trying to run 26 miles. I prefer dogs who ONLY chop on track so as not to waste breath while running.

[Shotgun66]

JMO - Don't claim to right. If u put a gun to my head...................
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Genetic Reasoning - I would rationalize that old timers applied selective breeding practices to enhance the mouths of their dogs. Before technology, hunters needed to be able to hear a dog(s) from long distances. Probably bred loud bawl mouth to loud bawl mouth to get louder bawl mouth? I assume genetic variation is the reason for the different types of hound mouths. (scream, squall, yodel/horn, long pretty bawl etc)
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Anatomical Reasoning - Longer thicker diameter vocal cords - larger lung/diaphragm capacity- larger diameter trachea/esophagus?
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Probably prevalent in hounds since they open on scent rather than sight or hearing. No sight stimulus to stress on them to abbreviate the bark on colder trails. I would guess that the scent is so strong when the track heats up (and when they tree) that they feel they are about to catch the game they are pursuing. Maybe this is the reason you hear them elongate and intensify the changeover bawl and begin to chop on the tree.
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again - JMO. Don't claim to be right. I have spent many a night in the woods with many different hounds and curs. I am always fascinated by the variation in bark types. Great post!     

[Cajun]

The reason most bawl mouth dogs are slower is that they are Bluetics.hahah   Just kidding, I have seen slow chop mouth dogs & fast bawl mouth dogs.
  Big Cutters, Do you think Spud's bawl mouth has slowed him down any?

[Reuben]

Barlow...I never thought about that but it sure does make a lot of sense...chop mouth takes a lot less effort than a bawl mouth...wasted energy to bawl on track...I never did like a bawl mouth dog with droopy ears...  now chop mouth dogs that let out one long bawl when locating and then changing over to a loud chop I love... 

[halfbreed]

   it just depends on the individual dogs ability to track , we ran a whole pack of hounds together for coon and cat [ bobcat ]  and the bawl mouth dogs would be right in the pack with the chop mouth dogs . if they can bawl with their heads up and drift a track the black and tan bawl mouth dogs  would be right with them walker dogs and one ol bawl mouth gyp would usually be in front . and I'm not talking about boogy woogying around , that pack could flat push a track .

[barlow]

Doesn't matter much what type of mouth a coon dog has as unless he's crippled or retarded it isn't often gonna be a long enough race to run him out of breath. And bobcats? Nothing matters much besides accuracy. They backtrack. They tap trees. They walk in water and jump from rock to rock. Then tree and limb out, jump 50 feet to another tree, etc. I always thought scent-treeing, locating, squirrel dogs would produce better results than most hounds  . . . and WAY better than a dog who drifts tracks. Speed is important . . but not at the expense of accuracy. Long tailed cats have no lung capacity for running distances and tree easily when the dogs get close. Most of your run-to-catch fox hounds are of the chop mouth variety and the bawl mouthed dogs are more often the 'run behind and never catch uppers. But bears, in my opinion . . are the best test of necessary speed over great distances. And for that I prefer a chop mouthed dog.

I know this probably isn't a popular opinion . . but I THINK the best dog for any type of game is a specialist. Be it cow dog, hog dog, bear dog, cat dog or bomb detecting dog. Things that may propel a dog to the forefront on one game species might be completely counter productive on another. Strange coincidence maybe that most of the claims of multi-purpose, superstar dogs come from commercial dog sellers and the old school, Full Cry magazine self promoters. I put a lot of thought and effort into dogs and I haven't perfected any one type of nothing. Seems crazy that some of these fellows with 50 and 75 brood bitches and not enough time to hunt em have developed a dog that can do it all on bears, cats, coons, cows, hogs, police work and self taught, financial wizardry. I'd rather have their bank accounts than any of their puppies.

[halfbreed]

   lol   I know that's right !   our old black and tans were actually from the old gossett bred dogs that the  [ wolf ] hunters ran down here in the 60's  .

[Cajun]

Barlow, You are absolutely right when you say it is hard for a dog to be good on all kinds of different game. Most of my dogs run both bear & hogs but do have a couple who prefer bear over hogs. Of course my young dogs dont care what they are running.lol
  Some of my dogs cold trail with a bawl but when it is jumped, they start chopping.
  It is hard to breed for both hogs & bear. Right now, I have the right amount of grit for bear, but they tend to be to catchy on hogs.

[Hunt the Grunt]

I run birddogs, birddog crosses, and one mountain cur cross. All are silent but most of them let out a long locator bark when they find one and then chop. I have one that has a high pitch weird scream sounding bawl when bayed (birdXbull), and one that sounds like its being attached by an ax murderer when bayed. I love the sound of a good bay, but the last two dogs that I spoke of will make you think otherwise lol.

[barlow]

Cajun/ Mike Cauley . .

 . . on the subject of specialization or game preference . . I have dog hunted bears with lots of hunters and that has included precious little free casting. I'd say 95% or better was either from baits, from the road/rig or thru some form of track hunting and then turning dogs onto the track. With that comes some degree of expectation that when you turn out on the track of the million pound boar you don't end up at the base of a tree with a 60 pound cub in it. I'm of the opinion that most Plotts are hardwired that way.

But . . it's a different story when hog hunting. You may turn out into several hour old scent or on last night's track only to run thru a sounder of 40 hogs just over the hill. Do you want the dog to stick with what you started on or bay the hogs he's looking at?

[Cajun]

You are right in most bear hunters are turning loose on baits or rigging but alot of times you cannot find a track but as long as it is black, all is good.lol
  Hog hunting cannot even compare with bear hunting in regards that it is just two different ways of hunting & two different animals Dont know if you can use that analogy.
  I have had it happen both ways, where we have put out on a decent bear track & ended up on smaller bears. It does happen much more often on hogs tho.
  It does not matter what I prefer, the dogs always make up their own mind & will usually go with the hogs they can see or the hottest track. Naturally I would prefer them to always stay on the biggest hog that I put them on, but that is not a very realistic way of thinking.

[BigCutters4]

The reason most bawl mouth dogs are slower is that they are Bluetics.hahah   Just kidding, I have seen slow chop mouth dogs & fast bawl mouth dogs.
  Big Cutters, Do you think Spud's bawl mouth has slowed him down any?

lol none what so ever !!!!!

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