Pops
UKC Forum Member
Registered: Jan 2004
Location: Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point NC
Posts: 126 |
MR
you might want to take another look at the history of the plotts. it was Jonathon Plott that brought them over. Montraville Plott took GREAT offense to his family's dog being called hounds and would readily & rudely inform the offender that they were curs. Jonathon & Mont (and probably many in between) used the same dogs they hunted bear with to work stock.
everyone who thinks we Americans invented treedogs & big game hounds are only fooling themselves. our european relatives used hounds on quite a few big game animals & small game (some of which treed). our less prosperous relatives used curs & cur style dogs to poach big & small game (again some of which treed). there is NOTHING being done w/ dogs that hasn't been done before and in many cases for thousands of years.
for THOUSANDS of years before the advent of firearms, hunting w/ scenthounds, sighthounds, terriers, curs, pointers (& setters), waterdogs & molossers (mastiffs & bulldogs collectively) was the norm, contrary to popular misinformation archery was a minority method generally used by lower classes to poach. then (as now) what a dog ran was up to the guy that owned it, and individual lines were bred for big game.
initially the sighthound & molosser were the types used for big game, the sighthound for faster game like deer, stag & wolf and the molosser for dangerous big game like auroch (wild ancestor to cattle), wisent (european bison), bear (european browns not exactly tree game), boar, lion and wolf.
scenthounds came later when the noblemen turned to small game or desired to make the hunting of big game an extended social event. the vocal nature of scenthounds gave the game early warning and gave a longer run. it also allowed even the least capable riders to maintain contact with the hunt and so partake of the social nature of sport hunting.
by the time scenthounds were developed im the dark ages, the lion, the auroch & the wisent were extinct or nearly so. the primary game of the noblemen using scenthounds was stag, boar, & bear. it was the paid huntsman that used them for wildcats (like lynx), otter, sable, badger & fox to provide furs for his employer. for various reasons some of the noblemens scenthounds were eventually made available to the rising middle class of merchants & tradesmen who used them for game that stayed on smaller parcels like rabbit as they emulated the powerful nobles they envied.
eventually as most big game became less common & hunting took on a social purpose the nobles switched to previously less interesting smaller game like fox, hare & otter. the old big game scenthounds were bred w/ a focus on the smaller game. but then as now not everyone made the switch some continued to focus their individual lines on big game. fox hunting was never as big on the continent as in britain so hounds brought from france by the american colonist were at least as likely to have been run on stag & boar as fox. the germans OTH didn't start getting heavily into scenthounds until the 1700's, they continued primarily w/ hunting molossers. in fact the boar dog of choice until the 1800s was the working dane (more like a dogo argentino than the modern dane).
so M R hounds originated for big game, were switched over then here were switched back.
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08-16-2007 04:54 AM
The NGA dogs have no skin...a thorn is Big Game and requires hosp. visit LOL... My old guy would love to hunt...but he'd have died way long ago! The BnT is an AKC....showdog variety and my blue is retired. I own half a Blue female in WI who is turning out to be a nice coondog and I looke forward to following her sometime if health allows. I have a dream to go big game hunting at least once... and I would LOVE to see sighthounds at work one time! It would be a real dream come true! 
In other countries the Coonhounds and other dogs are still used for big game and raccoons dont even exist.... fascinating stuff.
