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hunt your hound

I'm located in south east MO in the Ozark hills. The hunting is hard with many challenges for a dog. If it can tree coon here it can do it anywhere. I have a 6yo hound and a house full of kids eager to help train and hunt your hound. I have room for 2 more right now if anyone is interested. call or text 573-712-8173

update

So I have been hunting a couple young dogs. 1 female 2 yo named May that the owner has been pleased with just doesn't have time to hunt her and wants to keep tuned up. The other I started hunting at 10 months old a male named Luke. I had started hunting them 1 at a time with my 6 yo male named Smokey, then progressed to hunting all three together and, occasionally the 2 young dogs with each other and completely solo. 1 certain night when I began to see good progress was the 2 young dogs together. Luke and May both fell off into a hollow whileLuike struck on the track according to my garmin they are together but nothing from May. After trailing 60 yards May falls treed but Luke trails on. After he trails a ways May catches up but is silent, then she falls treed again at 210 yards. Luke is around the tree trying to take the track on. After we started walking in it began to rain slightly, and we were jumping deer up from there beds as we crossed from 1 hollow to the next. When we reached the tree Luke was 50 yards away trying to start another track, May was still on her tree. We shined the tree and found the coon, then began working the dog on the tree. That's when Luke came in and we tied him to begin his tree work as well. After both dogs treed awhile and excitement was up it began to pour rain. We then proceeded to shoot the coon out with a fight for the dogs to end the night.

Progress

The next night we hunted we took all 3 dogs, and we saw some more nice progress. We cut loose at the same time but Smokey struck first, Luke second, and May running silent. They trailed about 250 yards then circled back near the road and sat down treed. At this time we could hear all 3 dogs treeing. Knowing that Smokey would hold the tree, we walked back to the truck and drove closer to them. Both younger dogs held solid too! We then walked in to the tree and found the 2 males on 1 tree together with the top going to another tree which May was on, and she was under the coon.

The very next night we took all 3 dogs out again. The wind picked up pretty good after we cut the dogs loose, but I don't usually mind it with my Garmin. Luke struck first, then Smokey, and May was near by. Luke and Smokey headed out in opposite directions, then May caught up with Smokey but stayed silent. Luke went over the ridge and out of hearing as his tracking collar stopped working, then May fell in treed and Smokey trailed in and treed for a moment before trailing on. The 2 dogs proceeded on out of hearing as we watched them on the Garmin, then it indicated they had treed at 475 yds. We drove around with in 200 yds and walked in there to find only May and Smokey. We found the coon and worked the dogs, hoping that Luke was coming in soon. When he didn't we shot the coon in hopes that might help him come in. Afterwards we went back to the truck and loaded the dogs then drove back to look for Luke. He came to us almost immediately after we called for him. We showed him the dead coon and he began to get excited, so we decided to let out 1 more time. We went to another place to cast them and they all stayed together this time. Smokey struck first and seemed to lead the track , but as they trailed up the creek and then over the ridge we could only hear Luke occasionally. Finally they showed treed at 625 yds but we couldn't hear any of the dogs. After a while we were able to drive closer with in 150 yds and walked in to them. May and Smokey were treed and Luke met us about 40-50 yds from the tree, then returned to tree. We shined the tree and found the coon. We spent a short time working the tree before shooting the coon out, and giving the dogs a fight to end the night.

After a couple nights of rest Luke went solo on a hunt so I could better see what he was doing. I cast him out at the edge of a cow pasture where it met timber land and an old clear cut. He took off in the clear cut and struck about 50yds, then he trailed around and crossed the road into the timber. I shined my light out there to see a deer looking back at me just before it slipped off into the dark headed up the hill. Quickly Luke trailed right up to where the deer had been standing then trailed on the way it went. I scolded him as he trailed on up the hill. Then he fell silent and began milling around out at 275yds. His straight path on the Garmin began to take turns and small loops as he began opening again. He then started treeing and trailing on as his pace was slower than before. After about 45 minutes he trailed off the ridge, out into the pasture to a pond where he half heartedly treed on a persimmon tree at the edge of the water. I waited not to rush him but he just couldn't take it any farther. I looked it over good but it was slick. This ended our night.

The next night was very busy with life's responsibilities as a family man that gave me a late start. Luckily I have enough acreage and cooperative neighbors that I can hunt right out my back yard. With everything done and all kids in bed, I left the house at 11:30 pm. Taking Luke alone, I walked him to a spot where an old stump holds water and all the wild life use it in the dry seasons. Luke got ahead of me about 200 yards and struck at the watering hole. Knowing it could be a coon or trash I walked on up to do my best to evaluate which one before he got too far. It was dry and he was trailing kind of slow but at about 125 yards and 5 mins later, his bark changed over. I checked my Garmin to see if it indicated him treed, but it didn't nor did it show him moving. As I waited, his bark developed into a solid tree bark and I headed to him. When I arrived at the tree he was on the tree, clearly showing me which one he selected. I shined the tree and found the coon. Now I don't usually like killing coon right here around my house but this dog, just under a year old, treed his own coon. If it helps him to know we are proud of him, I went ahead and killed it for him. We ended the night with fur in his mouth.

After a nights rest we took all 3 dogs. Luke, May and Smokey. We went to some good public land, which is very plentiful around here, but we had some pleasure riders come along whooping at our dogs right after we cut them loose and messed up our start. It scared the boys and seemed to have scared May as she took off running down the road away from the whooping and Luke pursued her while Smokey chased after the car. I saw on my Garmin Smokey hit the woods after about 300yds. We jumped in the truck and drove back down the road to catch May and Luke, then we drove up the road to get closer to Smokey. By this time Smokey had started a track so we took the 2 young dogs out of the box, and when they heard him open they went to join him. May and Smokey fell in treed together but Luke went on, and it didn't seem to affect the 2 dogs treed. We walked in to the tree to find it slick, and Luke was still working his track on the other side of the ridge. We leashed the 2 dogs at the tree and let Luke try to move his track, but after he struggled with it awhile we turned Smokey in to see if he could help. Smokey didn't seem as interested or as able to smell it good, because after about 30 minutes and only a few barks he came back. Luke covered about 750 yds trailing for about an hour and a half. We headed him off crossing the road where we saw a coon cross on our way in to hunt, but it is too busy of a road to risk hunting there.

I currently have an opening to take 1 dog if anyone has a hound they need hunted or given the chance to get started

On another hunt the next week we took all 3 dogs again, May, Luke, and Smokey. We went to a small patch of public land which we have hunted quite a bit with all the dogs. Something odd happened this night. We cast the dogs from the usual spot and the dogs went in the usual direction. Watching on the Garmin I could see Smokey turn up in the same hollow where he usually strikes, but May and Luke circled around back towards the road. Just as Smokey opened and began trailing May and Luke reached the road. I thought they might join Smokey when they heard him open, but instead they headed down the road in the direction of a house that joined the land I was hunting. Smokey was pulling to the top of the ridge when I heard a dog fight break out at the house. We jumped in the truck and drove down there to find the home owners blocking the entrance to their porch and holding their dog out of reach of our dogs. I grabbed up the 2 hounds and checked on the well being of their dog. Then we went back to get Smokey as he was treed on a big den. We took all the dogs home and that's when I noticed that Luke was smelling May alot, so I kept her penned up for a week to watch her. In the meantime I hunted Luke and Smokey together.

The next time we went hunting we took Luke and Smokey to the cow pasture where Luke had slick treed previously in a persimmon tree next to a pond. We turned both dogs loose together and they both went to the clear cut. Luke struck first but Smokey opened just after. The track ran straight and moved fast on the hillside following up the ridge, and I expected them to turn and go over the ridge anytime. We drove up the road where we could hear them good, and if they treed we would be in a good position to go to them if they stayed on our side of the ridge. They grubbed around just a little bit then turned and ran the track back down the ridge just a few yards up the hill from where they had already trailed. This time they went past the start of the track about 50-75 yards, then came off the hill, crossed the road, then crossed the valley to trail up the other side of the valley at the edge of where the timber meets the pasture. They quickly turned up in a big wide hollow and trailed up it .75 miles when we lost them on the Garmin and could no longer hear them. We drove around in the pasture to the mouth of the hollow when we picked them up again on the Garmin and it showed them treed at 1.05 miles. We took off up the hollow to them, even though we couldn't hear them yet, then lost them again on the Garmin. We walked about 400-450 yards when Luke showed up on the Garmin but was moving away again. We still couldn't hear them or see Smokey on the Garmin. We agreed to walk back to the truck and drive around about 3 miles to the other side of the ridge to try to pick up both collars on the Garmin. As we were leaving the pasture in the truck we stopped to close the gate when we picked up their collars again and they were coming our way. They trailed on out to the mouth of the hollow and treed at the edge of the pasture, Smokey settled in a bit but Luke went on. Smokey quickly got down to join Luke as they trailed up the valley just in the timber line and over the end of a point to tree again. Smokey let out a locate so clear that my 13 yo son said" He's gonna tree!" Both dogs treed but Luke went on again. The track became tough here, Smokey came off the tree to help Luke but went back to the tree two more times before finally going on to tree together and stay for good. 475 yards up a hollow at the top of the ridge they held their tree til we got there. My teenage sons and their teenage cousin out walked me and my 5 yo son to the tree. Before he and I got there the older boys were already telling us that it was a den tree with a big hole. When I arrived at the tree I saw the big hole in the side of the tree but I decided to shine it more thoroughly only to find on the end of one long limb a little coon laying as flat as it could, refusing to look at us trying to stay hid.

female

just dropped off a 2 year old that is needing time in the woods hopefully this will turn a good pup into a GREAT PUP

Now Luke is showing a lot of development and May is clearly coming in heat, so we took Luke on a solo hunt again. We turned him loose near an old pond, that had just about dried up, where he struck a track. He trailed over to a paved road and really struggled crossing it but finally figured out where it crossed, then he trailed on down into a steep hollow and moved the track like he was going to bring it up on top of the next ridge. Instead the track took a turn and ended up back down in the side of the hollow. Now Luke wasn't treeing real good but he wasn't leaving that general area, so we walked in to him to see for ourselves what was going on. When we got to him he was near a nice white oak, nose in the air but not chopping good, then he would put his nose to the ground and trail up to an old dead log, then go back up the hill to put his nose in the air again while setting next to that big white oak. If there was a coon on that hillside we couldn't find it and Luke couldn't pin point where we should look. We leashed the dog and crawled back up out of the hole we had walked in to, then loaded the dog and headed home. Just as we turned on to our gravel road My 5 yo boy said "lets turn Luke out at the neighbor's", so we did. We dumped him out and let him road hunt in front of the truck for about an 1/8 mile. We came to a place where a spring will trickle across the road, but due to lack of rain it was reduced to nothing more than a fading mud hole. It must have been enough for 1 coon because Luke struck right there and trailed off the road up the hillside 75-85 yards and treed with a loud ringing chop. When we got to him he was treed on an old dead tree that had fallen in to a big woolly black oak that was covered in grape vines that hung down from almost every extended limb. Now we looked this tree over every where we could but some places we just couldn't see, and there were many places the coon could have climbed down that this young dog might have missed to check. Finally with enough persistence we found it laying up on a big limb, his tail and legs tucked in tight but his fat sides stuck out just enough to give him away. When we starting working Luke around the tree and the excitement started getting built up the coon then looked at us.

Some nights later we took Luke alone again and cast him out in some public land that doesn't get hunted much due to its extreme terrain. It has been loaded with acorns this year which has made it a reliable place to strike a coon. We cast him out and he didn't take long to strike a track going off to the left side of the road. He trailed only about 50 yards and began treeing, but I have heard him do a better job than this. My 5 yo son told me "Luke has treed, lets go!" I informed him that Luke would have to do a better job than that for me to walk in there. We sat there for about 5 mins when Luke got down off the tree and began trailing back to the road, then he trailed down the road 25-30 yards and fell off to the right of the road in to a big hollow. He treed again but only for a moment then went on further. Luke made a half circle which put him only about 175 yards away and fell treed. This time with that ringing chop mouth echoing out the hollow so that you couldn't tell when 1 chop ended and the other began. I told my son "this time we'll go to him!", but first I wanted to drive up the road a little closer to see how he would handle the pressure. It was a very short distance up the road but it was a lot of pressure for Luke, he left the tree and started to us as we parked the truck. I could see on the Garmin he was coming toward us at a straight line. He came within 75 yards of us and I gave him the same whooping call I do at the tree, he immediately went back to the tree and picked up his steady chop. He stayed that time til we got there and looked the tree all over. We couldn't see anything in the top or on the limbs, then finally we came around the back side of the tree and about 25 feet up we could see a ring tail hanging out of a squirrel nest in a fork. The tree work began again building up excitement in the young dog, then we shot the coon out for his reward.

We decided to take a couple nights off to rest while some weather moved in, then we took Luke and Smokey together. We stopped at the same place we had struck coons the last few times we had come here. We followed our usual routine, we tied the dogs to the tailgate, turned on the Garmin and collars, mount the collars on the dogs, then we prayed for blessing and safety during our hunt. While we were praying both dogs became stirred up and vocal, which wasn't usual. When we turned them loose they opened almost immediately and started trailing off down in to a big steep hollow with Smokey leading the track, then he switched over to his tree bark only about 120 yards in. Luke came in right behind Smokey and trailed on down the hollow then up on the other hillside. Smokey stayed treed longer than I expected but came off the tree to join Luke. They trailed .85 miles away from us then began to circle back towards us, a place or 2 got tough and I thought they were going to tree but Smokey lined it out. They ended up back in the same hollow where Smokey had treed at first but they were about 50 yards on the other side, and they both locked down treed. We found the coon easily and knocked it out to them. Now Luke has met the goal we had set for him, he has led the pup trainer.

With Luke gone and May is going to be kept up until she's ready to breed to Smokey we have taken on another one to hunt. This was a 19 month old female named Lucy that needed to be introduced to people and given more time in the woods. It took several days to get her used to us, but once she did she became very easy to handle. On 1 night we took Lucy hunting with Smokey and a 6 year old female named Ruby. We turned all 3 out together and they hit the woods real good. They went about a hundred yards or less and struck. Ruby struck first, then Lucy and Smokey threw in with her. Smokey took the lead with Ruby and Lucy right with one another, then Ruby split off and Lucy caught up with Smokey, and she even pulled ahead of him from time to time. Ruby trailed as it circled back with in 250 yards while Lucy and Smokey went as far as .75 miles away. Ruby treed in a hole in a bluff, Lucy left Smokey to come back and check Ruby, then Smokey treed at .73 miles. Lucy didn't tree with Ruby when she came back and we weren't able to find anything in the bluff. We then walked in to Smokey to find him treed on a forked tree with 1 side of the fork being a hollow snag, we looked inside to find it empty.

I went out to resupply my corn piles so I let Lucy and Smokey come along. I turned them out at the house to let them follow along while I took the side by side. They got out front and took off real good, then they struck just before the first corn pile. They ran in it the hollow then over the ridge down to the other valley. When I got up high to hear and shut the motor off I could hear deer running everywhere. Coyotes were howling in the hollow where the two dogs just trailed out of and I could hear armadillos digging all around me. So after they ran that track across a count road they shut up and headed back to me. They were just under 75 yards when Lucy opened and started trailing up the ridge then right after her Smokey picked it up and they lit out. They trailed up a ridge to a low gap then fell off into the valley. There they crossed the county road, the creek, the fields, and the valley floor. Then they trailed up into a big side hollow that went 750 yards to the head. By now I couldn't hear them anymore but could still pick them up on the Garmin. Smokey showed treed for just a minute or two before I lost communication. Lucy was trailing away from him and was still showing on the Garmin. To hear the dogs better, I left my spot and circled around to the valley they were in. When I got to the mouth of the hollow they were 575-600 yards up in there. While I drove to where the dogs were, they weren't treeing even though the Garmin showed Smokey had been treed for the last 5 minutes. I heard Lucy open, she showed to be on the ground but wasn't moving fast or going very far. Smokey began to tree and I could hear it clear enough to know he was unsure. I crossed the creek then the field and stopped at the mouth of the hollow when Smokey stopped treeing. He was 425 yards away at that time. Smokey and Lucy trailed some more then he treed long enough I started to him. He quit again to trail on some more. They never left that hollow, just kept trailing and treeing in one place then another. Finally I took off walking in without my light on Incase it was causing the trees game to jump. When I got within 150 yards I walked into a fresh clear cut. Tree tops were on the ground and den trees standing with bare ground all around them. Smokey was on a den tree, Lucy was in a tree top within 30 yards of him. I caught Smokey and Lucy and came home.

The next time we took Lucy hunting we brought Smokey along again. We went back in to some rough country where we had been treeing coons regularly. We cast them out and they went 329yds in a hollow to strike a track. Then they trailed it about 250yds and treed. Smokey wasn't treeing his best, but Lucy was doing pretty good. When we arrived at the tree we found they had split treed about 50ft apart. We didn't see a coon in either tree. The tops did connect with each other through other trees, and Smokey's tree had a small hole, but he usually does a better job than that when he knows that it's there. After we came back to the truck Smokey couldn't leave Lucy alone, and acted as though she was coming in. The owner didn't want to chance getting her bred so she went back home.

Now that Lucy has gone back I brought in a 7 month old named Tuck, who had been occasionally turned out of the pen to run around the owner's yard. We had him here for about 3 days when we took him out with Smokey. Smokey struck a track and trailed it about 260 yards then treed, meanwhile Tuck just stayed by our side seemingly unaware anything was going on. Smokey got down then went on another 50 yards and treed again, this time settling in to stay. Tuck followed us as we went to Smokey. Then when we were about 75 yards away it was as if Tuck woke up and realized what was happening! He began jumping and bouncing around, then when we arrived at the tree Tuck just got right up on the tree and began treeing. If season hadn't been out it would have been a good opportunity to knock 1 out to the pup. Instead we spent extra time working them at the tree before leading them back, to go home.

Now on another night we took May since she had completed her heat cycle and is bred. May and Smokey struck a track quick and trailed it fast. May doesn't usually open much on track but this time she was more vocal. They ran it off the side of the hill,then crossed the draw, over the next point then they started barking treed in the next bottom. We could hear 1 tree, then both, then just 1 again. We drove around where we could walk in to them quickly but about half way in they went silent. We had their location marked on the Garmin and could see they were coming to us. When they met us we continued to the location marked as treed. We noticed May had some red in the white of her coat. When we arrived at the tree location there wasn't a treed within 20 feet but May went straight to a hole in the rocks and began baying and trying to dig. I don't know how deep in to the rocks that hole went but we couldn't see all the way in to the coon. I think they might have caught it close to the hole but it got away and made it into safety before the 2 could get the best of it.

Later on I had another little female brought in, for me to hunt ,by the name Vixie. This female was very nervous at first around us and the other dogs, but I attribute it from her long trip here. After a few nights of hunting she warmed up to me. On one night l took her out and turned a coon loose to let her watch it run away and climb a tree about 30 feet further. I turned her loose to let her go after it as it climbed just out of her reach and she went pretty nuts on the tree. I spent some extra time working with her at the tree, she became extra excited and a little hot. So I led her off from the tree and took her down to the creek for a drink of water. At the creek she struck a track and crossed to the other side trailing up on the hillside. She trailed up the hill 85 yards and began treeing, where she stayed for 2-3 minutes, then she got down to trail on up near the top of the hill. About then a truck comes up the road on the other side of the valley and as it passes Vixie quits her track to come down. I turned my light on and start to her, I waded the creek and started up the hill when she came to me. I encouraged her to go back to the track and she did. When she picked it back up I turned my light off and let her work. She trailed over the hill then circled back to my side and fell treed 118 yards from me. As I walked in to the tree I spotted the coon sitting in a fork looking at me. I worked her some more on this tree then called it a night.

I took Vixie out on another night to an old barn near a small farm pond. Coon seem to den up in the barn and of course use the pond to feed around. I cast her out and she checked around some before going to the pond bank. There she struck and treed in nearly the same place but she wasn't treeing like I have seen her best. I waited almost 3 minutes letting her tree, when she got down and began to trail on but this time she went 85-95 yards and treed with much more confidence. I gave her time as she checked herself 2 or 3 times, then I went on in to her. She was treed on one that had limbs going in to 2 other trees and had a half of a dozen grape Vines going out in different places. When I looked the tree over I found 2 coon curled up together in a big fork.

I took my old male dog Smokey out with a young male dog named Tuck. Smokey struck a track and began working it while Tuck tried to join in opening every now and then, but it seemed to be too old for Tuck. As Smokey trailed on, the track slowed down but instead of Tuck keeping up better, he finally got left out. After 2 1/2 hours of trailing Smokey treed over 800 yards away. I drove with in 475 yards and walked in to him, where I found a big coon sitting in the tree. I worked at the tree, then loaded both dogs and came home to get Vixie. I took her out to where I had parked to walk in earlier and cast her from there. I could see on the Garmin that she was covering some of the same tracks that Smokey had been on, but she opened very few times. As she hunted I made the 475 yard walk back to the tree. Vixie continued to hunt as well as work her way on my same course. When I topped the ridge she met me and we were only 20 yards from the tree we had left the coon sitting in. I sat down with my light off and watched her on the Garmin,check all around, even once she stood up on the tree but didn't open. She then left to go on checking more around the point, so I shined the tree to be sure the coon was still there. It hadn't climbed down but apparently the track was too cold for her either. I then caught her and called it a night.

I took Vixie out where we had started the last coon we treed. I took her out of the box and while I was getting things ready she already seemed to be winding 1. I stayed with my usual routine of putting on her tracking collar, then taking a minute to pray before turning loose. After she was loose she ran straight over near the pond and struck! She trailed around the edge of the pond then stood up on a small tree at the water's edge. The nearly full moon was so bright I could see with out my light that nothing was up there. I waited just a few seconds and Vixie got down to trail on. When she figured out the course of the track, the race was on! She trailed down an old dry creek bank, then crossed it before moving on to the county road and crossing it. Then she began climbing the tallest, steepest hillside in the whole valley, clear to the peak. She went 625 yards up to the top and began to locate. I know she likes to check herself so I gave her time before going to her. Sure enough she got down and went to tree again. This time I got in the truck to drive around closer to her and by the time I parked the truck she was down checking herself again. I started up the hill with my light off so not to rush her any, it was still almost 400 yards to her. Half way in to her she had gone over the hill and fell treed, so I slowly walked on giving her time. She had been nearly 10 minutes treeing by the time I got to her and had settled in to her confident tree bark. I turned my light on and walked up to her and the tree to check it over. It was a den tree on a hillside of den trees, with nothing on the outside. I pet her up good and we called it a night.

All spots are filled right now, I will post when we have openings again. I will try to keep posting progress on my hunts, but the internet hardly works here in the tourist season.

Fall Roundup this week! I will be heading there Saturday to meet people and put some faces to names. I will also be bringing copies of "Big Boy The Story of a Dog" for those of you that enjoy a good read. $7.00 each