Lee,
Thank you very much for your question. A lot of new and even established hog hunters, especially ones who only run cur type dogs ask the same question to plott dog hunters.
Your question basically is “WHY SHOULD A PERSON CONSIDER USING PLOTT HOUNDS FOR HOG HUNTING?”
I assure you, I don’t know everything, there’s alot of folks out there that know a heck of alot more than I ever thought about, but here’s what I think about plotts and using them on hogs. I apologize for being so wordy. But it’s a question dear to my heart. Especially since I’ve had plotts as a part of my pack for so many years. Im down to 1 plott male now due to the others getting killed or me screwing up and selling some I should have kept.
Maybe the title of your question should have simply said "hounds". But I see your from Australia, and I don’t imagine many are over there (I"m just guessing)
First, I want to say this. In any hound breed there are dogs people consider as outstanding, good, mediocre, and culls, but that same statement follows any full bloodlined type dog, no matter wither it be hound or cur, cold or hot nosed.
I would imagine the reason you’re questioning about Plotts is because in my opinion, of the hound breeds, they seem to be the one mentioned the most in regards to hunting hogs. But there are some hog dogs and big game used dogs that are Treeing Walkers, Red Ticks (sometimes called English), Blueticks, Redbones, and Black & Tans also. Some other hound breeds use by some that people don’t mention very often are the American Walker (also called Running Walker) which is the dog you think about British chasing after fox with, Trigg and July Hounds
The reason I feel plotts are mentioned and hunted on hogs alot is because most are bred to be BIG GAME dogs rather than coon dogs. Bears, and Wild hogs is basically what the breed started out as.
I could sit here and write a 10,000 word response to your question, but, the bottom line in deciding to use a plott is this--- YOU NEED TO DECIDE WHAT TYPE PLOTT YOUR LOOKING FOR.
Will I be able to handle it if he/Or does he ==
1. Does he bark on track or does he need to run quiet like a cur
2. Does he need to have a cold, medium, or hot nose?
3. Does he need to have a chop bark like a cur or bawl voice like a hound?
4. Does he need to hunt short, medium, or long range and not quit until he finds a hog, he dies trying or the fat lady sings
5. Do you want him to cast, rig, and hunt in front of you while walking or hunt in front of a vehicle or run a track
6. When he runs a track, would you rather him run with his head up winding the scent trail so he can get to the hog quicker, or put his nose in each step and "mop" the track like a bloodhound.
7. Will it bother you if your hunting buddies give you a hard time about running a hound and other hunters simply forbid you to hunt with them if you run a hound? This is a strange statement for some to understand, But, some people have a prejudice against hounds in general and have never even seen the dog work. They hate them simply for being a hound.
8. Are you a cur dog man in your heart, or are you a dog man in your heart?
9. Does the dog need to be rough, catch, or help catch when the catch dog gets there or simply stand back and bay 20 feet away
10. Do you mind that the pups don’t start paying any attention to a hog or mature out of their “puppyness” months later than cur breeds as a whole. (not all, but my experience is more than 50% majority)
11. Do you want a dog that will only pick up a scent that is an hour old and can be possibly have a hog caught quick if there is one in the area to find or do you want a dog that can pick up a scent if it was 20 hours old and take hours to finally bay up that particular hog. On this one, a lot of times folks think a open mouth dog makes a hog run and move out of the county (and they do sometime) but most of the time, its simply the dog running a cold track and its taking longer and farther to get there.
12. Will you be able to handle it when the hound opens up, your curs go to him only to find he is cold tracking and the curs come back the first couple of times, but when the open hound finally does finds the hog, the curs feel like he has "cried wolf" to many times and wont honor his bay bark? Which means the way to hunt the open dog with curs would be for you hold the curs back till the hound finally gives you his bay bark/locate bark before you turn them loose.
I’m sure I could come up with some other types of plotts traits or styles to come up with, but these 12 listed above are pretty major.
For me, its not real hard finding a cur dog breed to fit my hunting style to be a hog dog. Now, don’t take that as me saying good cur dogs for hogs are easy to find because they aren’t. But what I mean by that is that lets say you buy a black mouth or Catahoula, MOST OF THE TIME he’s going to have a hot to maybe medium nose, cast out and make a circle for about 15-20 minutes and check back in, He’s going to run silent, and the majority of hogs you will catch will be boars because of the hot to maybe medium nose because he cant pick up the scent unless its real strong like a boar has and fresh. And that’s about it. I’m speaking of the majority not the rule on curs. I’ve had some long range barking on the track curs too, just not very often So, IF I DO FIND A CUR THAT WILL PLEASE ME, he will most likely hunt like I listed above WHICH IS LIKE A CUR.
Now comes the Plott. Their are so many different plott hunting styles out there similar to the ones I listed above, it will drive you to drink to find one that you like.
This is why, I like line bred plotts, if I find a line that I like, I will usually stick with it. The reason is because what ever that line is, the chances of me finding or breeding for one that will hunt like I want are a lot higher. The problem is most people try or want to breed good dog to good dog and hope to get one like they like. I’m not saying that doesn’t work, because it does, but I’ve experienced a much higher "dog produced like I want one to be" by Line breeding.
Dang, I got to wordy like always.
Plotts, a high majority of them make dang good hog dogs. But finding one YOU LIKE TO FIT YOUR HUNTING STYLE, IS WHERE THE PROBLEM LIES.
Above, I wrote this statement "For me, its not real hard finding a cur dog breed to fit my hunting style to be a hog dog" I can not make that statement using the word Plott. For me, it’s REAL HARD to find a plott that will suite me.
What’s not hard about them is to find one that will run, find and bay a hog. Most will! Like Forrest Gump said "its like opening up a box of chocolates, you never know what your gonna get” Well, a plott is those chocolates, some are cherry filled like I like, the others are coconut filled and I throw up.
In my opinion where a plott hound being used on hogs gets a bad rap/ get cussed or banned from hunting trips is because that particular plott didn’t fit the owner that wanted to knock him in the head for barking on track, or not stopping a hog, or not quitting a hog after an hour and having to hunt the dog only on large plotts of land with tracking collars because he would bay the hog 4 miles away. If that same person would have bought or trained a plott that was medium nosed, a medium hunter, and rough-rough on a hog, had a chop voice and didn’t say a single word on track, he might have thought he was the best hog dog God ever created.
I can truly say, I’ve had some plotts that I felt that way about. As far as what I wanted a hog dog to do and be like, I didnt feel it was possible to have a better hog dog than that particular dog. I have also owned some curs and cur crosses I felt the same about. But, I have opened up a lot of 22 rimfire boxes to cull down to find those particular dogs also no matter the breed or cross. Not everyone has it in them to do that. Breeding, a huge amount of patience and a strict culling practice and listening to other people that know a heck of alot more than I do about dogs and learning from them is what it takes to have a pack of hunting dogs you can be proud of no matter if their hounds, curs, bulldogs or Heinz 57's.
Some times people ask me “Mr. Crainer, What type of dog do you like?”
My ideal dog FOR ME is a dog that is versatile. He can be hunted by casting, rig hunting, or being able to put on a track that is up to 5-6 hours old. The dog has to run a track quiet, and not bark till he gets to the hog. A dog that will try and stop a hog if hes running and step back and bay while hes there not pressuring the hog. A dog that will grab hold when the catch dog gets there. A dog that is medium to long range with a lot of bottom, which means wont quit. That’s what type of dog I personally like. And luckily I have had the pleasure of having some Plott hounds that fit everyone of those criteria. And the truth be known, I’ve had more plott hounds fit that criteria than any other breed or cross I have ever used or bred. But understand Im not saying the plott is the ultimate dog. Because it’s the dog and what he/she does not the breed that counts.
I have people ask me or call me for pups that say “Do you have any silent running started plotts for sale? Or Will the pups run silent?” The answer is, if I raise a silent running plott, hes not for sale. And you never know if a pup is going to be silent even if the sire and dam were silent. But some can be trained to run silent which I have answered on other questions people have written me.
If anyone ever has an interest in trying to find one that is already grown that is silent on track and already runs hogs, heres a suggestion---
1. either find a local coon hunting club
2. find coon hunting message boards
3. bear hunting message boards
4. or simply put an add in a coon or bear magazine or even local paper that basically says
"ATTENTION COON HUNTERS Are you fed up with having a plott hound that runs silent on track, or fed up with having a plott that you positively cant break off running those horrible trash Hogs? If so, please contact me before you cull"
You will be amazed how many will contact you. Ive gotten several this way over the years. Coon and bear hunters WANT their dogs to bark on track and coon hunters absolutely cant stand a dog that wont break off THEIR TRASH which is mainly hogs.
Anytime I talk to a coon hunter, I ask him about who might have a silent or hog trashing dog.
And the best thing of all, most of the time, they will simply give the dog to you or sell it to you for a price a lot lower than normal for saving them a 22 shell.
Ive also gotten some good cur dogs over the years from cattle dog people that had dogs they absolutely couldnt break off hogs too. Ive gotten good dogs by trading. You might have a good dog but he barks on track, where as another hunter in another area might have one that runs quiet. He likes open dogs, you like quiet, so you just trade. Both dogs get past the culling block and both hunters are usually a lot happier. Theres an old saying that goes something like this "Whats one mans trash, is another mans treasure" I'll take a silent running hog trashing gritty plott, ANY DAY, especially if its free One last thought about hounds and then I will shut up I’ve always said this, if a man starts out with cur breeds to hunt hogs with, it will be hard for him to make the conversion over to a hound. Because most likely that hound will not hunt like a cur dog, because he’s not a cur dog, he’s a hound
If you ever have the opportunity to go hunting with someone that strictly hunts plotts hounds on hog and he is a well known hog dog man, go. I really think you will be impressed because your seeing that dog being hunted like hes suppose to be hunted. I don’t know if that is the answer you were looking for, but I tried
Thanks again for letting me print a question that means a lot to me.
Good Hunting,
Jim