What would be a good breed of dog to start coon and squirrel hunting with?

I have a Feist. They make great squirrel dogs and will tree coons as well. They top out at about 30lbs. If you would like a larger breed I have heard alot about mountain curs. I think they mature at a little over 30 lbs and get up to 45 or 50 lbs. Even larger than that is the Black mouth cur. These are all great treeing dogs. These are just a few of the many other great dogs out there. Some more geared toward coon hunting. Some more for squirrel hunting. These have also been known to be great Hog dogs if that is your interest

if you are wanting to do both i would go with a cur dog(mt. cur, blackmouth cur. lepord cur all all great breeds.). if i was just coon hunting i would go with walker or blue tick. i breed and train both breeds and for compition hunting i use mostly walkers because of their speed butblueticks also amazing track dogs.
before decideing
goto ukcdogs.com and go to their message board. they can answer any question you have andmost know their stuff!!!

can't beat a redbone coonhound. Amazing dogs, just look them up.

Curs are hard to beat, Much faster than most hounds and there is no comparing the handling of curs to hounds. Most hounds will take a colder track that most curs and will run the track much longer than the curs. If you want to hunt the dogs, get a hound. If you want the dogs to hunt for you, get a cur.

hunt the dogs? dog hunt you?lol
i will agree with the above post that curs tend to be hotter nosed than hounds. also a cur is more of a pet type dog where as a hound tends to be more independent. as far as cursrunning a track anyfaster than a hound on the same track?!? i dont know about that.

The curs that I have owned, Kenner, OMCBA, Stephens, Leopards, Have all been faster than the average hound, The only reason I don't have all curs is they want stay on a track more than 45 minutes or so and they come back. That just doesn't put many bears and lion in the tree.
Most field trials bar curs from competing because of their track speed. Itwill make most hounds to go home without a win.

Curs and fiests. I have Laikas and they are awesome for squirrels during the day and coons at night. We killed 17 squirrels last Sat afternoon and 7 coons that night with the same dog.

Hint: females are easier to handle and tend to work closer to the hunter. Males range farther, but sometimes that is necessary.

I've had good luck with a Kemmer/OMCBAmountain cur gyp on squirrels. I don't really coon hunt, but we've treed them in the daylight with my mountain cur. I like these dogs.