Hey yall,
I just bought a 6 yo Black and Tan for 250 bucks, his name is AMOS and he is about 27in tall 70 lbs. I didnt ask to see him hunt as the man selling the dog was the owners father and he could only attest that the dog could tree his own coon. I have never been coonhunting but once before now that was 12 years ago wit some good ol walkers my friend had. Well now I'm really ready to get into it!
Before our first hunt I got a coon tail and made a drag and hung from tree. He did pefect followed the 70 yd trail and treed hard just as he should, then tore tail to bits!
So tonight I took AMOS out and this is what happened...
I took him to a cornfield and let him loose, he took off and quickly found some thickets, where he let out one long bay and then continued to slowly and silently work the trail. He only worked it about 200 yds total before treeing at hickory that was in the thickest crap you ever seen and surrounded by overgrown cedars. I looked for the coon but could not see him but to be honest these woods were so thick, Im not sure if he was up there or not. Once on tree this dog is loud and hard tree dog, tries climbing the tree.
Next I was driving down the gravel roads and seen a opossum so I put Amos on a lead and had him go over the track to see if he would run trash. Well he had absolutely no interest what so ever in that track, so I was very thankful for that.
I then went looking for a coon. Once i found one near a creek bridge I put ol AMOS on the track and he went to working it. He was very thorough in his tracking and moved a lil slower than the Walkers i remembered. He was silent on track until he was on tree and started baying. This time it was on an ol half fallen log that was on the side of the creek bank and being held up by the trees on the other side. It became apparent to me that the coon went up the log and simply made his way to the other trees. I could not find any trace of him.
So what do yall think?
Could he be a slick tree dog?
Is there any way to fix him being silent on the track?
Is it normal for black and tans to hunt like this compared to Walkers?
It was very humid and hot with just a slight breeze and the woods here in MO are as thick as can be. Does humidity and heat affect tracking ability? Is it usually hard to spot a coon with all the greenery in summertime?
I just bought both Wick books and I am eagerly awaiting their arrival.
Any opinions or advice on this ol coonhound would be greatly appreciated as I really dont know what I should expect of him. I am planning on getting a pup in a year or so and would like to use Amos as a trainer if hes worth a dang.