Bear hounds are revered not just for their physical attributes, but for the indomitable spirit that drives them. True legends emerge from a combination of heart, grit, and unwavering determination. This exploration delves into the foundational breeds that have shaped these extraordinary hunting companions, revealing the distinct characteristics that elevate them beyond the ordinary pack.
My extensive career within purebred dog registries, spanning from 1978 with the United Kennel Club to 2010 with the American Kennel Club, and including a seven-year tenure with the Professional Kennel Club, provided an intimate understanding of various coonhound breeds. I oversaw registry-related activities for six distinct breeds: the American Black and Tan Coonhound, Bluetick Coonhound, American English Coonhound, Plott Hound, Redbone Coonhound, and Treeing Walker Coonhound, with the American Leopard Hound added later. This involvement included governance of shows, field trials, and nite hunt competitions, as well as the oversight of breed standards. Consequently, I gained deep familiarity with the origins and evolution of each breed over the decades.
The lineage of most bear hound breeds, including the recently recognized American Leopard Hound, can be traced back to the foxhound roots cultivated by raccoon hunters. The pursuit of game with scent hounds dates back to ancient Greece, where mastiff-type dogs were brought to the British Isles. The Celtic people harnessed the scent-trailing abilities of these dogs, potentially crossing them with sighthounds to develop breeds capable of hunting fox and stag. When Robert Brooke imported his foxhound pack from England to the New World in 1659, he inadvertently laid the groundwork for what would become America’s most beloved canine pursuit: raccoon and big game hunting with hounds.
In North America, raccoons and other native furbearing species presented a new challenge for hunting dogs. While European royalty had long enjoyed hound hunting, the settlers’ need for food, trade, and recreation on the frontier spurred innovation. This led to the development of a sport accessible to all, from the gentry to the common man. As colonial foxhounds aged and found the pursuit of faster game physically demanding, they began to track the slower-moving raccoons. The raccoon’s complex scent trails, leading through woodlands, clearings, and streams, proved more challenging than those of the fox. Beyond meticulous trail work, these adapted foxhounds needed the crucial ability to locate raccoons in trees, alerting their human companions until the game could be dispatched. This “treeing” instinct became paramount in establishing successful raccoon hunting hounds and remains a benchmark for breeding in all recognized coonhound breeds. Since bear hunting demands a similar skill set, coonhound breeds naturally became the preferred choice for developing bear hunting packs. Coonhounds and bear hounds alike possess inherent abilities in striking cold trails, pursuing game, and either treeing it or baying at its ground location.
While it’s easy for the untrained eye to group coonhound breeds into a single type, distinguished primarily by color, subtle yet significant differences exist. Breed standards, as defined by registries, detail how each breed has been refined to excel in game-catching in unique ways. To effectively hunt formidable game like the American black bear, poorly conformed, out-of-shape hounds are insufficient. A bear hound must be an elite athlete, capable of striking, trailing, pursuing, and baying or treeing quarry. This demands the ability to traverse challenging terrain for extended periods, culminating in a potentially life-threatening confrontation at the trail’s end.
Drawing from breed standards, the Redbone is known for its surefootedness and speed. The Black and Tan is characterized by its steady perseverance regardless of climate or terrain, while the Bluetick is recognized as a deliberate worker of intricate scent trails. The English Coonhound is described as a strongly built dog with considerable speed and endurance. The Plott Hound is a powerfully built yet moderate hound with a distinctive brindle coat, suggesting capacity for speed, stamina, and endurance. The American Leopard Hound is an all-purpose tree dog, noted for its stamina and ability to withstand extreme temperatures. Finally, the Treeing Walker is a well-balanced, symmetrical, and graceful hound, renowned for its ability to pursue and tree various game across diverse terrains. These descriptions, originally intended for show judges, serve to educate hunters unfamiliar with the fundamental characteristics of these breeds.
Let’s examine each breed alphabetically.
BLACK AND TAN COONHOUND
The American Black and Tan Coonhound holds the distinction of being the earliest bear or coonhound breed formally recognized by a purebred registry, with its stud file established at the United Kennel Club in 1900. While their ancestry traces back to Talbot and St. Hubert hounds from France, these dogs were introduced to England following the Norman invasion in the eleventh century. As foxhounds were imported to the American colonies by figures like Robert Brooke and George Washington, it became apparent that these dogs were not ideally suited for raccoon hunting, necessitating the development of a new American breed possessing a keen nose, unwavering determination, and the essential treeing instinct. Early Black and Tans, sometimes called Old Glory hounds, accompanied settlers across the Midwest and plains states. Bloodhounds likely played a role in their creation.
Although not the most prevalent breed for bear hunting, dedicated hunters who champion the Black and Tan and maintain consistent breeding programs, such as Merold Mohni of Wisconsin, rarely consider other breeds. Mohni’s hound, Trackdown Jake, was a celebrated Legendary Bear Hound. In a tribute, it was noted that “Merold Mohni believes that two dogs can tree any bear that six dogs can tree. Jake took that idea to the extreme by treeing many bears by himself. Despite his early sins, the redeemed Jake became a legendary bear dog, a hound truly worthy of the name. In bear dogs as in diamonds, the best ones have rough edges. Trackdown Jake was indeed a diamond in the rough that shines clear and bright in the memories of those fortunate enough to hunt with him.”
BLUETICK COONHOUND
The Bluetick Coonhound has significantly influenced the hounds used by Western bear and lion hunters more than any other coonhound breed. According to the United Kennel Club breed standard, the Bluetick is “most likely principally descended from the quick foxhounds of England with some introduction of the blood of various French hounds which were used for hunting big game. The French dogs were known as being very cold nosed. George Washington received five such French hounds from General Lafayette. Blueticks were originally registered with the UKC as English. In 1946, at the request of the Bluetick fanciers, the UKC began registering Blueticks as a separate breed.”
Whether the Bluetick’s capacity for cold trailing is linked to French ancestry remains uncertain, but its reputation and my personal experience confirm an undeniable connection to this trait. The term “blueticking” is often associated with hounds that meticulously work tracks that other hounds cannot detect or find uninteresting. Dry-land lion hunters frequently employ Blueticks for their exceptional trailing abilities. The late Warren Haslouer of Kansas, a notable Bluetick Coonhound breeder, developed the Smokey River Bluetick strain, which was favored by bear hunters nationwide. Famed hunter and author Del Cameron also selected the Bluetick as his preferred bear hunting breed. Furthermore, Bluetick Thunder, owned by Jared Higgins of Utah, was honored in a previous Legendary Bear Hound feature.
ENGLISH COONHOUND
The authors of the United Kennel Club breed standard for the English Coonhound have eloquently captured the breed’s history. The standard states, “The English Coonhound was first registered by the UKC in 1905 under the name of English Fox & Coonhound. In those days, the dogs were used much more on foxes than they are today. The name also reflected the similarity that the breed had to the American Foxhound and the English Foxhound.”
English hounds exhibit a more liberal color standard compared to other coonhound breeds. The UKC standard further elaborates: “The variation in color is another aspect of English Coonhound history. Both the Treeing Walker and the Bluetick Coonhound were originally registered with the UKC as English. The Walker was recognized as a separate breed in 1945, and the Bluetick a year later. There are still tri-colored and blueticked English hounds, though redticked dogs dominate in the breed today.” It is plausible that this inclusive color standard, coupled with a concerted effort to incorporate outstanding individual hounds into the studbook through single registration, propelled the English Coonhound to a level of popularity among tree-dog enthusiasts surpassed only by the Treeing Walker breed. English fanciers have historically prioritized performance over strict adherence to color.
The redticked hound presents one of the most striking colorations among all breeds. My early experiences hunting bears with hounds in the southern Appalachians consistently featured redticked hounds in nearly all the bear packs I encountered. Often, an exceptional hound within a pack would be redticked, or in some cases, lemon-spotted. I previously wrote about such a hound in the Legendary Bear Dog series: Old Trey, whelped March 5, 1948, was white with lemon-colored body patches and ears. Weighing between 60-65 pounds, he pursued his game with a coarse “chop” voice. He possessed all the attributes required of a bear hound by his owner, Allegheny Mountain region bear hunter Buck Armstrong. Trey’s keen nose, vocalization, stamina, speed, and treeing ability led Armstrong to describe the hound as “an all ’round bear dog, being a tremendous strike dog and cold trailer.”
PLOTT HOUND
The German Plott Hound is unique among the bear hunting breeds discussed, as it does not trace its origins to English, Irish, or French lineages. Believed to have originated with the Plott family, renowned bear hunters from Haywood County, North Carolina, the breed gained significant popularity among bear hunters after World War II. However, it was coonhound fanciers like Dale Brandenburger of Illinois who propelled the breed into prominence through decades of advertising in coonhound publications.
The Plott family of hunters exemplified the typical clannish and territorial nature of many hound hunters of their region. Their dogs remained obscure until discovered by coon hunters who purchased them and subsequently extolled the breed’s virtues nationwide. Descended from hounds brought to America by Johannes Plott in 1750 from Heidelberg, Germany, the breed proved exceptionally capable of hunting the abundant black bear and Russian boar populations in their new homeland. A quote from the United Kennel Club standard best describes the breed to those unfamiliar with what many consider the quintessential bear hunting dog: “This breed is active, fast, bright, kind, confident, and courageous. They are vicious fighters on game, have a super treeing instinct, and take readily to water. They are alert and quick to learn. Voice is open trailing, bawl and chop.”
REDBONE COONHOUND
Many enthusiasts of hunting hounds were introduced to this lifestyle through the beloved book and subsequent film, Where The Red Fern Grows. The hounds featured in this poignant story of Depression-era life in the Ozarks were Redbones. The Redbone Coonhound’s origins lie in the foxhound packs of the South. Initially, Redbones were “saddleback” in color, gradually evolving to the striking solid red color preferred by breeders and fanciers today. First registered in 1902, the Redbone was the second coonhound breed to be enrolled in the UKC studbook. The foundation stock for the modern Redbone came from the foxhound kennel of George F.L. Birdsong of Georgia, who acquired a pack of saddleback hounds from Dr. Thomas Henry in the 1840s.
Bill Dereszewski, a professional guide in Maine, hunted with a Redbone hound named McDonnell’s Rooster Cogburn, owned by Matt McDonnell. Dereszewski shared, “Matt McDonnell is a client of mine. He comes up to Maine bear hunting every season. I was pretty impressed with Rooster, so impressed that I now have three of his pups. Every man has a handful of hounds that he’s pretty proud to own. Every once in a while, you get one that’s special. Rooster was that kind. Multiple times he would go out and cold trail a track that no other dog could smell and he was the only dog under the tree multiple times as well. The thing I liked the most about him was that he was so well-behaved. He knew the difference between hanging around the yard and when he was going hunting. He had a head full of brains. He was one of those dogs you knew was special the minute you laid eyes on him, and he didn’t disappoint. Rooster sired a lot of pups and I don’t know of any of them that didn’t make bear dogs.”
TREEING WALKER COONHOUND
When discussing the Treeing Walker Coonhound, it’s often referred to as the “people’s choice” due to its immense popularity; more raccoon hunters pursue the tri-colored Treeing Walker than all other breeds combined. The history of the Treeing Walker is intricately linked with that of the Walker Foxhound, a breed developed by the Walker family of Kentucky, renowned fox hunters. After exhausting efforts to breed a hound capable of running imported red foxes to ground, their pursuit was finally rewarded with the introduction of a black and tan hound, reportedly stolen from a deer chase in Tennessee. This hound, named Tennessee Lead, proved instrumental in producing the type of hound the Walkers had been seeking. Due to their speed, endurance, and eventually, their treeing ability, Treeing Walkers excelled in field trial competitions known as Nite Hunts, which simulated actual raccoon hunts with hounds. Initial attempts to utilize the breed on big game yielded mixed results, but an increasing number of contemporary bear hunters are now turning to this popular coonhound breed to assemble their packs for hunting America’s most formidable game animal: the black bear.
Kirk Rogers, a professional guide in Maine, has successfully built a bear pack based on the capabilities of an early Treeing Walker breeder, Joe House of Kentucky. Rogers’ Treeing Walker, Bear River Tazz (featured in a previous Legendary Bear Hounds tribute), was instrumental in treeing 127 bears by the time the male hound reached four years of age, demonstrating the exceptional ability of individuals within the breed when hunting black bears.
AMERICAN LEOPARD HOUND
During the 1970s and mid-1980s, while actively hunting bears with hounds, I worked with two Leopard Curs from Richard McDuffie’s kennel in North Carolina. These dogs were robust and significantly contributed to our otherwise all-hound pack. Leopard Hounds are distinguished from other hound breeds by their mottled, or “merle,” color pattern. Due to this unusual coloration, mountaineers in the southern regions referred to these dogs as rattlesnakes. The dogs I hunted with were named Stub (for his natural bobtail) and Rattler (for his blue merle coloration). Stub also displayed a mottled pattern but with a reddish hue.
A quote from the United Kennel Club standard states: “American Leopard Hounds are believed to be the descendants of dogs that were brought to the new world by Spanish conquistadors and crossed with native Mexican dogs. Early American settlers brought Leopard dogs from Mexico to hunt bears. The Leopard Cur was recognized by the UKC on November 1, 1998. The breed’s name was changed to American Leopard Hound on May 1, 2008.”
CROSSBRED HOUNDS
Many bear hound breeders prioritize ability over registry affiliations and the accompanying paperwork, opting instead to breed based solely on performance. Recognizing the popularity of crossbred dogs, the United Kennel Club established the X-Bred program, which allows for the inclusion of two or more breeds in a hound’s ancestry. If these hounds are bred back to a single breed for multiple generations, the crossbred hound will be recognized as that particular breed. Western hunters have long favored this breeding approach, and some Eastern hunters, including those I’ve encountered, also embrace this practice.
The legendary status of bear hounds is forged not just by their lineage but by the fire within. Each breed, from the steady Black and Tan to the agile Treeing Walker, brings a unique set of skills honed over generations. Understanding these foundations allows hunters to better appreciate the specialized capabilities of each hound, ultimately leading to more successful and rewarding expeditions in pursuit of North America’s most formidable game.
