Reputable finished hound seller?

[Coldtrail]

Hunt what you have, paws on the ground is what you need, develop your own skills as a tracker and handler, you honestly can't buy your way into being an overnight sensation with treeing game. I seriously think you need a hunting buddy with some respectable dogs to get you some experience and knowledge in all this before you start investing.....that way you yourself will know what meets your individual expectations. Hounds are like girlfriends, the reason they end up at your place is usually because they had a issue that drove somebody else nuts that you are okay with. For some guys it might be the wrong color hair, for others it could be cocaine addiction and bipolar tendencies. A "good" dog to me might not even be worth feeding by somebody else's standards & I've hunted with high octane finished hounds that my 1yr old pups were out-hunting. Just because you bought it doesn't mean it will stay that way either, that goes for good dogs and bad ones. There is way more to the hound lifestyle than could possibly be discussed over a forum like this, having the good dog helps but there is a lot more to tracking and keeping a good dog motivated and polished up...it's a big commitment.

There are good comments in this thread, but ultimately we are giving you a Rokslide version of tough love, welcome to the sport, but it will be near impossible for you to just jump in with both feet. You WILL screw up dogs, we all have to some extent & you'd rather not be doing that with a $4k investment

 

[ADKHTR]

Amazon.com

The easiest advice I can give is right there in that link, buy that book and read it, I have no idea why it now costs $400 it probably used to be $30 but you should find one somewhere cheaper, any advice I could offer on how to get your pup started shouldn’t be on an open forum, I wish you the best this season whichever route you take!!

 

[displacedtexan]

Amazon.com

The easiest advice I can give is right there in that link, buy that book and read it, I have no idea why it now costs $400 it probably used to be $30 but you should find one somewhere cheaper, any advice I could offer on how to get your pup started shouldn’t be on an open forum, I wish you the best this season whichever route you take!!

The Bible of pointing dog training is now out of print and frequently super expensive too.

I was excited to get a copy for $50!

 

[OpenCountry]

Take this with a grain of salt, I'm a Pointer guy, not a houndsman.

Sounds like he has the training he needs. Hunt him.

Even if he doesn't tree anything he'll be leaning.

Birds make bird dogs, and running tracks makes hounds, but there's no replacement for cutting a dog loose and hunting.

This.

Hunt him and he’ll learn little by little.

I started out with two pups and zero experience myself. You’ll have just as much, if not more, to learn than the dogs. It was a long first few years without running with older dogs. When it clicks and they catch their first ones solo you’ll be more proud than ever. Walk them in on tracks and get some scent in their nose. You don’t have to tree it for them to start gathering the pieces in their mind. The more runs you can do with coons the better. It’ll click and when it does it feels great knowing you started from scratch, on your own.

Edited: missed the bear part of your post and not lion.

 

[kickemall]

What state are you in?

 

[Preston]

I have a lot of learning to do myself, but I’m a firm believer in starting out with one pup from proven parents in a similar region as you hunt. I would soon have one or two really good dogs as compared to 5-7 windjammers that chase off game and Jack up a track

 

[IDspud]

How about that! Finally something real. It may only be a raccoon and not a lion but I am happy to see I’m at least on the right track with her!

Setting up a drive to see Pathfinder and maybe get a dog or two from him.

 

[IDspud]

What state are you in?

Idaho

 

[kickemall]

You should have hound hunters all around you. Find one who catches game and will let you tag along. Most guys will if you only have one dog and listen to them when to let it loose. Good luck!

 

[IDspud]

You should have hound hunters all around you. Find one who catches game and will let you tag along. Most guys will if you only have one dog and listen to them when to let it loose. Good luck!

You would think. So far the most they've been willing to give me is a tip or two.

 

[IDspud]

Well at this point I'm going to have to say I was taken for nearly $5,000 by Pathfinder(Hunter). I drove all the way to Colorado and bought two dogs from him that were supposed to be finished cat/bear dogs.

Soon after getting home the $3000 lion dog had a seizure. I thought ok maybe she's just stressed from relocating or something. I took her to the vet and they checked everything outside of a CT for a brain tumor. The vet said wait and see if it happens again. At least once per month she continued having them. When I asked Hunter if he knew she had seizures. He said he never saw one and left it at that. I hunted my ass off for 9 months unsuccessfully, buying a snowmobile/dogbox and putting in an ungodly amount of miles on foot, sled, and truck. The more time went by the more I realized the "finished" epileptic lion dog was running trash the majority of the time.

The other dog straight up ran away after only a few hunts, showing no interest in being a part of it. I recovered him the next day and put him up for the winter. I pulled him back out for bear season and he again continually either fled from the hunt, ran back to the truck, or would not leave my side even when the other dogs were trailing. The dog seemed terrified of everything.

I finally found a group of experienced houndsmen to learn from, and got a $500 dog from one of them. After 9 months of busting my ass and getting absolutely nothing, this dog was on a bear in 1.5 hours. He put the $4500 worth of dogs to absolute shame.

I just went out with a group on a weekend hunt and the epileptic dog had a seizure while on a treed bear, fell in a creek, and almost drowned. I had to carry her up the steep draw while she seized continually for over 30 minutes. She is now a cuddly, but useless house dog. Hunter insists this dog was just fine when she left. I guess she magically developed epilepsy as soon as I took her and both dogs immediately forgot how to hunt. I know that hounds can have it "rough" but these dogs immediately acted like they had the living shit kicked out of them. The epileptic dog would scream every time I tried to pet her like she was in physical pain to the point I took her to the vet thinking she was injured. She was fine and it was all psychological, and eventually went away. None of the other dogs I have been around have acted even remotely close to how these two dogs did from the start.


I reread this thread and you guys were absolutely right. Buyer beware, I screwed up and trusted a stranger. Now not am I only out far more than $5000, but I have to care for an epileptic dog. I wish it didn't take me a year and a half to find a good group of guys to take me in and show me the ropes. Hindsight 20/20. Now I either need to get a puppy to train and run with my other two dogs down the line, or buy yet another "finished" dog to run bear.


All that time, money, and energy, and I feel like I'm just now able to kind of get started. Almost.

 

[Rich M]

Thanks for the update. Interesting hobby.

 

[WiscoHoundsman]

I would probably go the route of another puppy unless you can buy a hound from one of the experienced hounds men you know and have seen hunt. That’s a bad deal with the other dogs. It sounds like it’s best to move on from them. Culling is a big part of owning hounds as they don’t all turn out and you don’t want to feed them for years to come.

 

[Preston]

I really hate that for you. There are a lot of shady individuals involved in hounds and some great people. I’m not a big fan of pure breed or inbred hounds. I personally like the Leopard hounds or an English cross with some terrrier thrown in. I had a dog that had seizures from about 3 on and he lived until 12. You are honestly better off starting with one pup from proven parents that are good hunters. A lot of guys don’t know what a good dog is, just because they bark and run a lot doesn’t result in a lot of treed game. Best of luck and you are on the right track, stick with it and keep looking up.

 

[Mturney]

This is a very good thread. Tuition is always expensive. Trading horses is no different. You can read all the books in the world and have all the advise that will be offered but there is no substitute for you jumping in yourself and doing the work to know why a good animal is good and a bad animal is bad. I ruined good horses while learning and made horses after I learned. I was told it takes 10 years to make a hand with a horse doing it every day and as much as I didnt like that it proved pretty true for me. I wonder how long it takes with hounds.

 

[IDspud]

The only guys I have dealt that were more dishonest than folks selling “broke“ horses are hound guys and my brothers were into coon hounds for years. Be very careful on this purchase.

I would probably go the route of another puppy unless you can buy a hound from one of the experienced hounds men you know and have seen hunt. That’s a bad deal with the other dogs. It sounds like it’s best to move on from them. Culling is a big part of owning hounds as they don’t all turn out and you don’t want to feed them for years to come.

I would waaaayyy rather get a puppy and start fresh, but I guess that would take at least another year before I could run them on bear.
The one I originally started with is doing well and has been on cat and bear tracks.

I trust the guy I got the newer one from. He actually let me take two of them out to hunt before purchasing. I may just buy the another from him so I can get to hunting idk.

 

[Coldtrail]

As I said in previous posts, you are trying to be an overnight sensation as a Houndsmen, that rarely happens. I only know one guy who pulled it off who was a crook and a millionaire who preyed on less fortunate hunters to make a name for himself and what became "his line" of dogs.

Take the decent dog you have and work the hell out of him every chance you get. You'll be surprised the amount of fun you can have with just a dog or two. Once that dog is polished up and trustworthy, add another, train that one with the more experienced dog etc etc. You don't want to be learning the lifestyle with a full pack. Don't fall into the Houndsmen trap of thinking more dogs = more successful hunter and you need a big pack of dogs....you are way better off for a variety of reasons with a small pack of the "right" dogs. For some that's only one exceptional hound that has a good handle & a friend or two with the same.

The best advice I heard on being a Houndsmen is to compare it to having a drug addiction, if you let it, it will rob your time, money, family, and force you to rub shoulders with some unsavory characters from time to time.

 

[Preston]

As I said in previous posts, you are trying to be an overnight sensation as a Houndsmen, that rarely happens. I only know one guy who pulled it off who was a crook and a millionaire who preyed on less fortunate hunters to make a name for himself and what became "his line" of dogs.

Take the decent dog you have and work the hell out of him every chance you get. You'll be surprised the amount of fun you can have with just a dog or two. Once that dog is polished up and trustworthy, add another, train that one with the more experienced dog etc etc. You don't want to be learning the lifestyle with a full pack. Don't fall into the Houndsmen trap of thinking more dogs = more successful hunter and you need a big pack of dogs....you are way better off for a variety of reasons with a small pack of the "right" dogs. For some that's only one exceptional hound that has a good handle & a friend or two with the same.

The best advice I heard on being a Houndsmen is to compare it to having a drug addiction, if you let it, it will rob your time, money, family, and force you to rub shoulders with some unsavory characters from time to time.

I have only hunted with one or two dogs most of my life. I would rather have one good dog as compared to a whole pack of deer chasers. The two lions, handful of bobcats and numerous coons and the one bear were are treed with one or two dos.

 

[Jon Boy]

Hunter Keating. HK hounds. One of the best houndsmen I've ever seen. His finished dog's are likely double your budget though.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

 

[MarlinMark]

Wow. Interesting thread. Good luck. I hope you find a good pup and start making real progress on your "pack."