# Who hunts Catahoula's



## Boar Buster Line (Sep 15, 2010)

Who hunts cats on here? Why do you hunt this breed? What are your pro and cons about the breed? 

No need for negative talk just gathering info. on cats as that is my breed of choice


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## JohnE (Sep 15, 2010)

I do, but I am getting away from them. The one that I own will be the last purebred that I will EVER have.

I think you have a better chance of dogs being mouth on trail or while running a hog with the cats, hard headed, shy/skiddish in alot of them. 

When you get a good one you get a GOOD one, but you have to cull through 20 of them before you find that right one that you like. The breed is in sereous need of an overhaul with about 90% of the breed needing to be culled out.


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## Boar Buster Line (Sep 15, 2010)

i agree i have a old gyp from gyp in louisanna and i have 4 generations off her havent culled any yet but i have all thats left outa this blood and i am VERY picky with what i breed to tryin to keep it going. everything is getting bred tight right now i am gonn breed something from the outside in this time around


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## hansonw (Sep 15, 2010)

JohnE said:


> I do, but I am getting away from them. The one that I own will be the last purebred that I will EVER have.
> 
> I think you have a better chance of dogs being mouth on trail or while running a hog with the cats, hard headed, shy/skiddish in alot of them.
> 
> When you get a good one you get a GOOD one, but you have to cull through 20 of them before you find that right one that you like. The breed is in sereous need of an overhaul with about 90% of the breed needing to be culled out.


 what are u switching to???????????


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## koyote76 (Sep 15, 2010)

When you get a good one you get a GOOD one, but you have to cull through 20 of them before you find that right one that you like. The breed is in sereous need of an overhaul with about 90% of the breed needing to be culled out.[/QUOTE]

i couldnt have said it better myself. if you get a great one it will spoil you. than when u goto find another or one to breed to it becomes such a huge headache. so many people today who breed catahoulas are in fact the catahoulas worst enemy. alot of those breeders are in florida and texas and i wont say any names. 

now if u find some old lines or you find some old man whos had catahoulas his whole life and still wonders why someone started registering the catahoula instead of just calling them cur dogs....than you have found yourself a good line lol.

if mule sees this he can tell you more than i can. dont buy one from someone who claims they have show and go dogs. never ever buy a catahoula from someone breeding for looks, they are puppy mills who sell dogs as the novelty pet so people can brag about how rare and special thier dog is becasue its a catahoula and what all its bred for but they never use the dog for anything and dont ever exercise it physically and mentally and then that dog becomes to much to handle and sell it than the next thing you know its on baydogonline as a jam up hog dog or it gets breed and the pups sell becasue they are registred nalc., people need to cull more and be honest of what they have in their kennels. and another thing that has ruined the breed is bay pens. but atleast they get worked on hogs.

if you could go back 50 years you could find yourself some catahoulas they would look nothing like the ones today.....they looked alot more "boring" back then. and they would flat out be some working fools. because they got culled and worked.  and nobody was making money of dogs back then.


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## HOGDOG76 (Sep 15, 2010)

HUNTED THEM FOR THE LAST TEN YEARS AND HAVE YET TO HAVE ONE BARK ON TRAIL.HAD ONE THAT WAS SKIDDISH BUT CAME AROUND AS HE GOT OLDER AND TURNED INTO A GREAT DOG. SEEMS TO BE DIFFERENCES IN RANGE AND GRIT ACCORDING THE STRAINS BUT I BELEIVE THAT IS TAUGHT TO A DEGREE BY THE PACK YOU TRAIN THEM WITH. AS FAR AS TRAINABILITY MINE ARE ALL TRAINED IN SIT,LOAD UP,STAY,AND ONLY EAT ON COMMAND.SOME I HAVE EVEN TRAINED TO SILENT COMMANDS BUT I DO HAVE ONE WHO DOES NOT BREAK ON COMMAND


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## Cur'n Plott Man (Sep 16, 2010)

I really do like the Leopard strain which is originally from the north west. And yes ! there is definitly a difference in the dogs.


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## wildhogs2000 (Sep 16, 2010)

I have tried different breeds of currs from black mouths, and others and have keep going back to the Catahoulas.  I have gotten very lucky off of the few that I have.  They have a lot of hunt, drive, bottom end and enough gritt to stop them old running hogs. When you get a good one, man they are hard to beat.


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## WolfPack (Sep 16, 2010)

I only have one catahoula female....and yes i will admit, it was looks that got me......if the dog can hunt hogs and look good while doing it, why not!  LOL  She does not make a sound now.......when she was under a year....she would bay real tight, real gritty which is what I wanted.  Now she is 2 yrs old......she skips the baying and catches on her own, she might let out a bark or two if it is a fighter but will latch on.  I like the cats.....BUT......I like the silent cats until they are looking at the hog, then bay tight or catch.  So you do have to work at it to find the cat you like.  

BTW.....I just recently found this out after talking with some folks about my dog.  It turns out that Daisy Dukes grandfather was likely a rednose pit on her fathers side.  That means her father was a cat/pit cross.  It would not suprise me.......it is just hard these days to know what your really getting unless u keep it within your tight little circle of business.


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## Lured In (Sep 16, 2010)

I agree with what JohnE said.

I will never have a purebred in my yard. You need to bred dogs to turn out the way you hunt not get someone elses purebred to try to learn your style of hunting. How do you think these hunting lines of dogs started. Like kemmer, campbell, parton, peeples, bmc(weatherfordbend) and many more. Sounds like people's last names that bred a dog to there standards.


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## REDMOND1858 (Sep 16, 2010)

I have hunted with 1 jam up catahoula. He was 12 years old and had 2 or 3 teeth, but if there was a hog there he was gone find it. And when he foud it, that was your hog cause it sure wasnt goin anywhere. 

I have also had 1 litter of cat/pits, off of the dog i was talking about at first and a red female pit i had, and kept one(stonewall). He was possibly the best dog I ever owned. Good nose, good drive, smart (but dang if he didnt make us think he was stupid sometimes) adn would catch like a freight train. Hopefully ill be able to get another female pit soon and breed to a jam up catahoula, if i can find one.........


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## Chris Horsman (Sep 16, 2010)

I might not have the best hog dogs, but my cats find, bay and catch hogs. Their as pretty as a bucket of puppies, loyal as all getout, protective of my girls and yard. They don`t open on trail, ride the boat, load up in their right holes when told to.
I don`t care about papers and breed my 2 dogs, at 2yrs old she birthed 9 puppies and raised them all. No I don`t like cat`s at all.
The one huge mistake I did was, cos I didn`t know and it never entered my mind, was breed a merle dog with recessive genes for blue eyes with a female that had them. I got 2 blind pure white pups. Will NEVER make that mistake again, broke my heart.


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## WolfPack (Sep 16, 2010)

horsman......any pics of your cats?


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## MULE (Sep 16, 2010)

ahhh, the old breed question. I'm sure there are great ones in all the breeds out there you've just got to work hard and find them. Switching from bred to bred just leaves you empty handed in the end. I've been there done that.  

I've hunted them for years and years. I have a line that is breeding very true, but I CULL very hard. They have all been tested since 1958. The man I got mine from started raising them then, and looked for long range hunt in his stock. He was a great mentor to me and I was very lucky, in that he taught me a great deal about breeding.

JohnE the reason your getting or finding dogs open on track is someone is trying to cut corners on their breeding and adding hound in the lines somewhere. I've seen it over and over where guys want a dog to get out and hunt so they add a touch of hound in there. A 1/16th percentage or even less hound in there and they will still open. I was asked last night why I don't breed a plott/cat, and my reply was its a double negative. I'm going have pups that will not tree and will open on track. My Catahoulas are silent on track hunt out in the 1000+ range and have the stay to be there for hours. If I didn't bear hunt and wanted some dogs that would tree I would just stay with my Catahoula's, but I enjoy bear hunting and Catahoula's are just not bred to tree. 

I've owned and bred several great Catahoula's, and also bought quite a bit of junk too over the years. I've said it before. I don't breed dogs to sell, I breed them for me. You will NEVER see me selling pups. I raise the ENTIRE litter and cull through that for my dogs. The best ones get bred back to the best ones. I want great dogs, not good dogs. Got several good friends in other states that we agree on what we hunt and we use each others dogs for our outcrosses.


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## catch-n-tie (Sep 16, 2010)

MULE said:


> ahhh, the old breed question. I'm sure there are great ones in all the breeds out there you've just got to work hard and find them. Switching from bred to bred just leaves you empty handed in the end. I've been there done that.
> 
> I've hunted them for years and years. I have a line that is breeding very true, but I CULL very hard. They have all been tested since 1958. The man I got mine from started raising them then, and looked for long range hunt in his stock. He was a great mentor to me and I was very lucky, in that he taught me a great deal about breeding.
> 
> ...


you doing it right,when you know ,you know


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## Florida Curdog (Sep 16, 2010)

hansonw said:


> what are u switching to???????????



I think he's switching to Florida dogs.


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## bertdawg (Sep 16, 2010)

I have a silent male, skittish at home but all business in the woods. Medium range, hunts well with my other dogs. Got him cheap thats why I hunt him.


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## vestmaker (Sep 16, 2010)

Wow, alot of good posts on here about the cats.  Alot of things I have read on here really hit home...  I really agree with Mule when it comes to breeding.  The old timers knew what they were doing.  I have seen how effective responsible breeding can produce great dogs and I have also seen how irresponsible breeding causes us to cull 20 cats to get one good one...  People don't like to hear it but the three rules to breeding great dogs that I was taught in Hawaii and reinforced here in Georgia is....  CULL, CULL, and CULL...


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## jparrott (Sep 17, 2010)

*Catahoula*

i think they take a little longer to mature mine has realy started to take off.


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## crackercurr21 (Sep 17, 2010)

cats where to start with them 
1. if you can find a hog dog breeder who has old lines they are the best
2. John is right they are a crap breed no if you dont get old lines the reason being the breeders are breeding for the colors and such for show dogs
3. they take alomst two years if not three to fully mature where as a curr might be a year and a half 
4. they hunt extremely slow a curr is 90 miles an hr most but cats use their nose on the ground better trail dog meaning nose to the ground rather than throwing it up every 20-30 yrds like currs they wind alot

my dad used to hunt cats alot but that was in the 70's and early 80's since then he says you cant find a good cat the show world has ruined them i believe that too 

I have had a couple liek other people said skiddish, take a while to mature but i will tell you give them the time and they will produce havent had any like my old man but i got a 6 month old black and tan that is not shy and will go 8-900 yards with my older dog but only been twice


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## koyote76 (Sep 17, 2010)

crackercur im with you 100 percent on 1.2. 

3. the ones i have had/have that wernt culled would show me hogs at a year and half. they were crazy hunting fools. now as they got older they calmed down and developed more handle. but i think thats alot in the training/exposure. notice how i said those were the ones i had/have that i didnt cull.

4. my cats or cats that i was impressed by. never would be called slow hunters. and they trailed with nose on the ground and winded just as good. 

i have had pups that were skiddish but i culled them if they didnt grow out of it as they are supposed to be culled. i cant stand a coyote/shy acting dog. 

im trying other breeds of dogs right now just for my own learning/expierence. got that advice from mule. but i will always be a catahoula man.

im heart broken when i see alot of these breeders ruining the catahoulas and i hope they read this. it makes it very hard for a man to find a good one. and to be honest ive seen more bad than good catahoulas. but like everyone else is saying the good ones were GOOD if not GREAT.


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## Boar Buster Line (Sep 18, 2010)

im heart broken when i see alot of these breeders ruining the catahoulas and i hope they read this. it makes it very hard for a man to find a good one. and to be honest ive seen more bad than good catahoulas. but like everyone else is saying the good ones were GOOD if not GREAT.[/QUOTE]

I agree 100% i like my dogs to hunt our 1000 yards or more a dog that wont stay gone over 30 minute(minuimum) in no hog sign is a cull in my eyes but. Can be a finished dog in alot of people eyes with diffrent hunting styles. All that comes with the hunter. Sounds like me and mule are on the same page we want our dogs to hunt and once u get a good line and cull right u will find the great dogs in the breed but it ALL TAKES TIME!!!!! and with people breeding out show dogs and dont hunt and breed for looks, With everybreed out there then the dog start rin.

All this started when the world got Grocery stores and a man didnt have to hunt for food. everything in the dog world has been down hill sence!!!


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## ts3600 (Sep 18, 2010)

*How about these*

Cat/pit crossed


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## JohnE (Sep 18, 2010)

Florida Curdog said:


> I think he's switching to Florida dogs.



I'm not saying I am switching to 100% florida dogs, but as long as they have the build and hunting style I like then I will give them a try.


Also, a few people on here have said they start later. In the ones that I have you will know if they are a cull or not by a year old. All mine out of the lines that I hunt are very early starting dogs, should be hunting pretty good on their own by 6 months.


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## bigdaddyrebel (Sep 19, 2010)

i am looking to breed my american bulldog male to a catahoula female. you get catahoula bulldog. great hog dogs.


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