RE: First dog.Need deer tracker and bird dog
Which would be my point entirely. If hounds followed old trails they would backtrack, but they don't (unless you inadvertently train them to). A hound will follow the freshest trail available, so why should it be any slower than a pointer? Tracking dogs will take you footstep for footstep along the original path. A trailing dog (ie a hound) can air scent, ground scent or use any other means to get from point "A" to point "B" the quickest and most efficient way possible. It's going to take you to what it's looking for as quickly as it can, hounds aren't notorious for overworking themselves.