Cameron Blueticks

We were having some coon problems at our Deer feeders. This guy brought some Cameron Blueticks and were some of the best hounds I have ever seen and a coons worse nightmare.

www.callofthehounds.com

yes sir Dale Cameron bred up some real nice blueticks.

Always a pleasure to watch and listen to good dogs work. Where is the gentleman from? I hunt blueticks as well but not the Cameron lineage.
Adios,
Gary

Del Cameron is from MT and his friend that hunts twice a year on our lease is from Magnolia, Texas. Hunted Bobcats in the mornings and coons at night with the same dogs. My dad had coon dogs while I was growing up and I have seen nothing like these Hounds.
Andrew

Blackrain
I know the gentleman that you are talking about. Where did you hunt with him? Did you catch any bobcats? I have visited with him and he seems like a nice guy. I have thought about breeding one of my females to a Cameron bred blue but have never taken that step.
Thanks and Adios,
Gary

Aren't Camerons one of the "large bred" blueticks? If so they were never my favorite, but I can see where they would be useful. But to answer your question, I've never heard anything bad about Camerons.

never mind went to the website, They are considered Med sized at 60-70 lbs. I still prefer the smaller of the small sized, but I don't suspect the terrain of TX is as demanding as what I'm used to seeing in TN. Also Unless they have awesome kill instincts the small ones that I like can get interesting in a bad way when up against a bear or big cat.

Gary, the first day the older dog treed three bobcats with some younger hounds. He put the older dog up in a stock trailor and just hunted the younger dogs for the next few days and treed about the same amount but it took them much longer.
Big Joe no they were med size and hunted all day and night and are awesome coon dogs. The male would bring coons back like a bird dog, wagging there tail, catching several on the ground. Texas is very hard and rough country on dogs in South Texas.
A word of warning the pups start at $1000 if you can get one. I tried to buy one of the younger hounds and he would not take $2500 plus a rifle.
Andrew

Unless it is a Big World contender, that's too much money for a hound. Even if it was, it's still tough to warrant. TX is definately different than TN or anywhere else coonhounds are used. Those bigger hounds would probably have trouble getting up to a coon in the thickets I was in. Sounds like good dogs for the area and the purpose. Hound retreiving coons might be a tough to find, but still I think you could find some that could track and kill for a fraction of that price, and pups for half that from great lines. I preferred Uchtman, Smoky River, and Jet lines, but my last hound I never put in the woods was a Rambo bred. Good Dog, but as I said I prefer smaller dogs. Never met a real coonhound that had a stop button. My old female would go till she collapsed, and did a couple times...

If you get one congrats. Sounds like they are good hounds, but no hound is worth that much to me... especially since hides ain't worth a day's worth of dog food any more (unless it came back up last year or so)

I prefer the smaller dogs as well. They just seem to handle the heat better down here and that is why our deer, livestock and most critters have smaller bodies than they do further north.
I agree that the price is too high for a hound or any breed for that matter. I rarely sell any of my pups as I want them to go to hunters that I know will put them in the woods and give them every opportunity to make a good dog. I don't hunt and raise blueticks to supplement my income, heck I would have gone broke a long time ago.
Adios,
Gary

Blackrain, sounds like I want to go cat hunting with you. If you can catch three bobcats a day, you have a lot of kittys. Where in the world were you hunting?
Thanks and Adios,
Gary

I did not catch the bobcats the guys hounds the came to our lease did and I do not want to buy a pup.
I would have like to have bought one of those young hounds but he would not sell them to me. Heck the rancher would not give me his phone number. There is lots of cats, a few years ago we saw three mountain lions walking in single file.
The rancher said all cats are off limits you shoot one your gone.

I know John from Magnolia and I have Blueticks for 45 years and I can tell you without a doubt there's none better for cats and big game. You may be able to buy one of those other hounds for less but they are coon dogs not cat hounds which are one of the hardest of all dogs to find. I say buy because I am not sure if John would sell a pup if a gun was pointed at his head and he is VERY loyal to Del.In respect to them being bigger dogs, they were 45 years ago when Del bought out Sugar creek but he culled or got rid of all of them. The other thing is there has not been in outcross in 40 or 50 years of the current line. If you look at those you mention there are several different breeders mixing the pot...I know as I had all of them.
Pete

What I attempted to say was many breeders of quality hunting dogs do not sell pups to the public. They want their dogs in the hands of folks that they know to be good hunters. I am sure that John is the same way.
Adios,
Gary

I agree that there is a difference in coon/cat hounds. Although I have seen them used interchangably when the situation presented itself. I've never been anywhere to have big cats, and the couple Bobcats I've seen taken did a number on a dog or 2. maybe one day I'll have a place that warrants getting another hound. Till then, I'll still contend that no hound is worth $1000 as a pup. and only a few finished dogs in my opinion would warrant a $3000+ pricetag. I know I'm a cheapo, but ROI is just never gonna happen.

There is also a difference between lion hounds and bobcat dogs. I feel the coon breeds excel at lion but there may be better breeds for bobcat depending on where you are hunting. I know a lot of bobcat hunters in South Texas where there are a lot of cats and most all of them favor the running dogs or crosses thereof.
You would be shocked to hear what some hunters have paid for grade cat hounds...I know of several that sold for over $5,000 and a few over $10,000. Ouch!!
Adios,
Gary

I just can't justify it... How is it worth it to pay that much for a hound? I understand time and effort of training/breaking should return some money but... mmm... I just can't... To each his own... as I said I don't doub the information, or down anyone for it, but that much money has to have a return. And it would take a lot of cats of any type to return $5,000 + vet bills/ medication and care, and food

The hunters I know that pay the large sums for the hounds are not looking for any return, just want a top cat dog. This is what they do for recreation instead of golf, team roping or fishing.
Adios,
Gary

That's right just for fun and fellowship with like minded people. Deer hunting got boring to me years ago and there's nothing quite like hearing a good pack of hounds on the trail.

Talking about the price of hounds, I seen on another forum yesterday where a hound is priced at $14,000. Whether or not he will get it idk, but I do know another guy that paid that same amount for a different hound. These are all competition dogs of course and they expect to see some return. I guess some people think its worth it but I could never see myself spending this type of money on a hound and I coon hunt regularly. I've seen to many dogs that look great and look like top hounds take a turn for the south and act like they've never been messed with before. When you mess with an animal nothing is ever as consistent as you'd like which is why I don't understand how some dogs go for so much money.

well said smith.

When I was a kid it took a coon dog to tree a coon because unlike now coons were scarce. Bobcats are a different story back then and now and to find a good Bobcat dog that will tree Bobcats on a regular basis is very hard to find, let alone breed and keep them going for 40 or 50 years. Del did nothing but breed dogs and guide for his whole life. Coondogs are Coondogs but a good Bobcat dog is rare indeed and to breed and keep them going is something very few people are willing to take on.
Show me one good bobcat dog and I will show you 1000 coondogs.

I wish I had enough bobcats around here to be able to break my dogs off coon but that is not the case. It has been nearly a year since I saw a bobcat track on the ranches I am hunting around Menard. A couple years ago, I was catching a few cats here but don't know if my dogs got too good or some disease knocked them down or a combination of the two.
I still go to South Texas and run cats from time to time, just to keep dogs liking them. I agree that a good bobcat dog is tougher to find than a coondog and that is why I continue to strive to breed blueticks that have the smarts and speed to catch bobcats. If they can catch a cat, coons are easy.
Adios,
Gary

Bluedog56 where are you from? Sounds like you might be in an area where there are a few cats. The recent moisture has helped trailing conditions out here but wind has been tough.
Adios,
Gary

Gary,I am from Willis Texas. There are a few Bobcats but I have coondogs.
I have gone with John a couple of times. He did give me a nice male bluetick pup but I coon hunt with him.

I have been to Willis a few years ago so I am familiar with the country.
I was raised in South Texas and still hunt down there quite often. Not wild about hunting there as much in the summers as the rattlers can be a little tough and heat and humidity even tougher. I hunt at least every other morning here in Menard County, trying to hunt when it is a little cooler and less wind. Wind is a bigger problem here than your country or south as the country is more open and scent gets blown around more; also windier here. I tell folks I can take dry and catch critters or I can take wind and catch critters, if I have moisture but I can't do much when there is wind and extreme dry conditions. We did finally get rains in May which increased ground cover and improved trailing conditions as well.
If you ever get out here, give me a holler.
Adios,
Gary

I'm glad I don't have to worry about rattle snakes in my country. Just copperheads and cotton mouths, but I'm still yet to see one this year thankfully.

Smith, those copperheads are a pain, thank God no cotton mouths. I carry liquid Benadryl all of my have been bit at least once.
Gary,we had a bunch of rain in the begining of the year but now it's very dry. I try to hunt when it's cool too.

Trailing conditions just improved received a half inch this morning.
Copperheads are generally not too tough on dogs. When I was a youngster, used to hunt some around Seguin in the sand hills where there was a pretty good population of copperheads.
Adios,
Gary