I'm a retired **** hunter. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. At least my knees and now my back are weak. I hunted **** for at least 40 years before my knees started complaining a lot about climbing those hills. It was more about going around the sides of the hills actually I guess but whatever I had to give it up. I hunted with my brothers and we liked blueticks. My brother had two different dogs out of Diamond Jim and that was all the **** hound any hunting party needed. One of those dogs would not be seen again after we turned him out until we found him sitting under a tree with a **** in it. Even if it took 3 days he would find a ****. He was a bit overboard really but man that dog could hunt. His reputation got around and some jerk beat us to a tree one night (after stalking us we found out later) and that was the last we saw of that dog. My brother was offered $10,000 for that dog and truth be told he could have gotten 10 times that much if he had hunted him in a pro hunt. But it was enough worry that someone would steal him as it was. And they did.
The second dog was a little more calm. If it didn't find a **** in 45 minutes or so it would actually check in. We would generally move to another location to hunt after that. We also were using tracking collars, not cheap by any standards, to protect my brother's investment because he was offered $10,000 for that dog too and again he could have won a Grand Night Champion hunt fairly easily. So he could have gotten $100,000 out of that dog too if he had won a pro hunt and became a GNC. He was a Night Champion which is of course the division for non-pro dogs. In fact he won multiple times with ease so I know he could have won a pro hunt. Both of my brother's dogs were Night Champions in fact. That's why they were worth so much money. For those that don't know you have to win a state hunt sponsored by the main **** hunting organization to be a Night Champion. The same organization holds pro hunts where dogs become Grand Night Champions.
Both dogs were out of Diamond Jim. They were something to see and especially something to hear. We could hear them 5 miles away and they would be down at the bottom of the hills and we'd be on top of the hills listening. Standing under a tree with one that was treed was something else. You couldn't scream and be heard by anyone. I mean you couldn't hear anybody even making a noise over the sound of those dogs. The ground would actually shake when they were barking up a tree.
I miss **** hunting. Both of those dogs are long gone now. The second one died of old age or maybe it was because my brother got to where he couldn't hunt either. And living in town, people didn't appreciate his dog barking at stray cats or whatever I can tell you what. That dog would wake up the whole neighborhood. Sometimes I think he died just because he couldn't get out and hunt any more although my brother treated that dog like a member of the family. Still a **** hound is born to hunt and especially one like that. Just regular living ain't enough for them it seems. But it is what it is. If you can't go you can't go and he didn't want to get rid of his dog.
BTW it was a former pro baseball player who offered my brother that money for each of those dogs. He was big into hunting but didn't have time to train a dog. He became a pitching coach for many years after being the ace of one of the best teams that ever played the game. I can't mention his name though. He wouldn't like that. But if he's reading this he knows who I'm talking about. And I'm guessing he still wishes he could have bought one of those dogs.