What breed of coondog should I get?
 

I am going to start hunting coons, but I have no idea what type of breed of dog I should get. I will be hunting mainly coons, I've had people tell me some coondogs hunt squirrels too so that would be good too. Just tell me what yall have had the best luck with or what breed you would think work the best, Thank ya.

Get a redbone! They look like Vizslas!

I own redbones but bluetick is the way to go!!!Utchman bloodlines in caufield missouri is the bomb best of the breed IMO!!

dog
 

Vizsla Vince, you have made some very intelligent and informative suggestions on this post since I have been a memeber, but this is not this one.

Backwoodsboy, do not let color of a dog infuence you. Color means nothing, pick a breed and color that fits your type of hunting that you do.

Go to Ukcdogs.com and read the forums there. Lots of good info. I coon hunted all my life till this summer. My old dog died and I decided to take a break for awhile. If your looking for a competition style dog that gets gone and gets treed no matter how far they have to go you might want to look at the Walker dogs. I am not saying all of them are like that but you will have the best chance of getting that style dog in the Walker breed. If you want something that will hunt closer and return to the truck if it can't find anything close I would look at the Blueticks or Black-n-Tans. The English dogs are luck of the draw on them it just depends on what bloodline your looking at as to what your most likely to end up with. There kind of all over the board. Plotts and Redbones I can't say alot about except I have never seen one I would feed in the woods. They win on the bench some but not very often in the woods.

Go to the coondawgs forum also. There are lots of pros/cons with every breed.

http://www.coondawgs.com/forum/

i am on that site vey helpful

I am ARKukRedbones on their whats your screen name on it?

I have had Walkers and English(redticks) and have enjoyed them both, like one of the posters said, its good to do some research and figure out what type/style of hunting you are going to be doing. I have had Walkers that needed MILES of woods to hunt because they would never come back to the truck, I would either catch them on a tree or crossing a road. I used the English dogs to hunt smaller woods. A few of the Walkers would "road hunt" also, I could put them out on a dirt road and follow them in my truck till they hit a track, then they would go off in the woods and hunt it down.

I wouldn't go with a hound at all. I'd get a Mountain Cur.

Some good suggestions here. It sounds as if this will be your first coon dog. I don't raise dogs and don't really have any biases one way or another. I've owned all of the hound breeds and have hunted with Curs. All have their pluses and minuses.

I wouldn't recommend a Walker unless it is already trained and it hunts close. Hunt with it before you buy, don't take someone's word on that. Night hunting is very popular and there is a reason Walker's win 90% of the hunts. They are fast, driven and good at what they do. That only becomes a problem if you don't have large areas to hunt and don't mind a dog that hunts until it finds a coon. Plan on spending a few all nighters looking for your dog. If you have a lot of coons they won't have a chance to get away on you but the potential is definately there. Most of the present Walker dogs are line bred to hunt this way.

I hunt with my brother and we don't night hunt anymore so got rid of the Walkers. He has a Bluetick and I a Black and Tan. Both good dogs that tree a lot of coons. They cast out and if they haven't hit a track within 15-20 minutes they come back to the truck. Some people don't like this type of dog either, they want them gone until they find something. Most of your English, Red Bone and Plotts would be this type of dog as well.

Both or our dogs have cold noses. They will hit an old track and sometimes they sort it out and will be on track for an hour and finally tree it. Other times the track is too old and we finally have to go get them off of the track. It is a trade off, they aren't fast but I always know where my dog is.

Have owned a really good Plott and have hunted with some good ones as well. One thing about the Plotts is they are gamey. If you are training the dog they are a little harder to keep on intended game than the other breeds. Cur dogs are this way as well.

Would recommend you buy the book "Walk With Wick" and also subscribe to Coonhound Bloodlines, Full Cry or one of the other hound magazines. There is a lot of good information for not a lot of money. I would also recommend you get a started or finished dog to start. It would be a tall order to just get a puppy and get it trained and make a good hound out of it by yourself. If you have someone you know with dogs that could help you then a puppy would be fine. It is much easier to train a puppy if you have an old dog to send them with.

start with the breed of dog you like the looks of,afterall you gotta look at it in the pen.then go from there,check out the ukc forums and look for a reputable breeder in your area or if you dont mind haveing one shipped across country look for a good breeder anywhere.i can tell ya if your looking for a broke dog its gonna cost ya.

i second mt. curs

I think it's Bryant1 there also. I don't go over there as much as I use to, but I like to keep up with the competition nite hunts:)

There are great dogs and culls in every breed. Take the one that looks best to you and then wear out 2-3 pair of boots and you will have a good dog.
I would choose one of the better cur breeds for the type of hunting you seem prepared to do.
If listening to the race is important, by all means stay with a hound. If killing is #1, then a cur or silent hound might have the edge.

Well I have found a 4 month old Bluetick that I have reserved till after Christmas. It is UKC'd, has shots, and I am buying it for $150. I am looking forward to getting it. Thank you guys for all the advice.

what bllodline is it?you just joy hunting or you doing competition to?

I dont know the bloodline yet, I havent even seen them yet, bad buyin choice I know but whats it really matter when their registered and all that stuff. I just plan on joy huntin for now but might look in to some competition hunting.

what state they out of...and i like your idea of joy hunting to start wanta make sure they know what they are doing before you spend money on the hunt huh

They are out of here in Ky, southern part. They are my cousins, buddies, uncles pups. Yeah, and I dont want him to be the worst dog out there and embarrass my self.

get a bluetick out of jet 8 he has won everything in ukc except the world and his pups are tearing up the hunts the pups r 3 way registered ukc,akc,pkc and super staked they start early like a 4 month old running and treeing and a nine monrth old winning hunts this is the best hound i have ever been in the woods with and i have traveled the circuit extensively. the owner of 8 is john teeters he is a fair buisness man and 8 can be found in the blue book or bloodlines if your really interested then i will give you his number but forget the squirrel part most good hounds are over nosed for them that is more of a cur thing. im an english hunter myself and im harping on a blue dog so take my word this hound is the winningest hound in ukc history call them and ask jet 8 gets it done.

I had 2 pups out of that Jet 8 bloodline that were crossed with running walker for deer. They were actually the easiest starting pups I have ever seen, both went the first time with the older dogs and barked good also (3.5 months). The male turned out to be a decent trail dog and was actually jumping deer and running them good his third time in the woods. Great bloodline IMO

i do have to say 8 is owned by my step dad and i have had alot of experience following him and his offspring we both hunted english until he moved to blue dogs. now im 22 and starting a family and with this economy there isnt room for running all over the country at night when i should be with my fiance and 18 month old soon to be step daughter but when the money comes back i wont be caught packing anything to town that isnt out of 8 he is the real deal and i used to own one of the historical top reproducing english females until she died at 13 years old so ive seen a nice hound or two in my relatively short time in the woods. i promise you all if you try an 8 pup you will be happy and john will see to that he is the best stud owner ive ever dealt with bar none and hell he is harder on me than anyone so take the shot i bet youll like the results