Looking for the right coonhound

[WAG416]

I live in town

I have a black lab.

No family, but want a friendly dog.

Im looking to hunt racoons.

I know nothing about coonhounds.

I like the looks of the treeing walker the best, or the redbone.

Do they howl all day?

Should I even consider getting one since I live in town?

Cost?

Thanks in advance

[wishing for walleyes]

I was a coonhunter for 22 years.Having coonhounds in town does not work very well.They can be very noisy dogs.The first hound i bought cost me $800.After that all the dogs i owned i trained from the trained dogs i had.Always buy purebred pups as you will get better results.You can end up with great dogs of any of the breeds.But you have to put the time in the woods with them.Decide if you want long ranging dogs or shallow hunting dogs.Long ranging dogs will cover MILES and can be very hard to find on windy nights.I had shallow hunting dogs that did not range out as far,but would chase the coon from 1 grove to the next if the coon decide to run.Coon dogs work very well in packs.My buddy and i always had 4-6 dogs that we hunted with.Coon hunting is a blast.It will keep you in good shape following the dogs through the woods.I would recomend finding a hunting buddy because being out in the woods by yourself at night you never know when you may get injured.I had one buddy get bit on his knees and hand getting to close trying to shoot a coon while the dogs were fighting with it.Coon are very nasty fighters when you corner them.When traing pups one or 2 fights where the pup gets bit is what makes the dogs want to get the coon.A nice coon light is a wheat light with a gel battery.They lasted all night for me.Be very carefull if you limit feed or only feed your dogs once daily.After a hard night of hunting you can have problems feeding the dog when they have an unsettled stomach.I always kept my dogs on atomatic feeders and had good results with that.If you have any more questions i will gladly answer them based on my experiences.

[fisher]

I know a guy that has a kennel full of blue ticks they are great dogs and have vary good lines. Its north star kennels in summer set wi.

[Sandmannd]

Isn't there a coon hound down in the free stuff section looking for a good home?

[Greg T]

I have a 10 month old Redbone and I live in town. I think he barks and bays a normal amount for a dog I guess. He is quite active, I throw the dummy for him probably about an hour a day. With a training collar on he sticks around pretty good, although he eyes up the rabbits and squirrels.

Oh yeah, got our pup for $75. Saw an ad in local shopper. According to his paperwork he's just as pure as they get. I guess papers can be "fixed" but everything looks legit to me.

[Johnny_Namakan]

My Mom's side of the family used to be avid coon hunters, back when prices were good, maybe 20 years ago. I remember as a kid, Grandpa had 4 coon dogs in kennels in the back yard. We weren't allowed to go and play with them. one of them was Ok to pet through the ccage but we were supposed to stay away fromt he rest. Not sure if they were mean, or just not good around little kids or what. I remember one of his top dogs he paid over $2000 for and this was 15+ years ago. That dog had gotten stolen once, but they got him back somehow. I don't know anything else about them, except that they were expensive and used only for hunting. It does sound like a fun time though!

[icehousebob]

Twenty some years ago I ran hounds. Mine were all Blueticks and they were great cold nose dogs. I hunted with a guy who had a mixed pack of Redbones and Walkers that were more hot nosed. Mine would find the cold trails and follow them until the hot noses could smell them and take over. The hot noses were fast on the trail and would sometimes over-run the trails. The cold noses could pick up old trails that sometimes ran you for half the night. As for keeping them kenneled outside, I kept mine as house pets and they were great. When I brought my new babies home from the hospital I laid them on the floor and let my dogs smell them and they adopted them. My oldest hound would sleep under the crib and protect the baby. If I went into the bedroom at night, I would hear a growl and would have to let her know that it was me checking on the baby. Keeping them as house dogs make them better hunters in my opinion.