Most hounds share the common ancestral trait of being used for hunting. Some have excdllent smelling powers to follow a scent. Others have stamina as they relentlessly run down the catch. Beyond this, however, generalizations about hounds are hard to come by, since the all encompasses quite a diverse lot. There are Bloodounds, Deerhounds, Afghans and Beagles, among others. Some hounds share the distinct ability to create a sound known as baying. You might want to test your hearing to make sure a hound is for you, it can be ..... irritating.
The age-old sport of using hounds to follow the scent left by game animals in order to run them down and dispatch them or hold them at bay until the arrival of the hunter is as popular today as when it was an essential practice for furnishing the table. Sportsmen continue to breed and develop hounds that excel in trailing the various types of game and enjoy this game on the table as well, when a day in the field has been successful.
Terminology
Babble is the superfluous barking of a hound that is making a lot of noise over little or nothing.
Back Tracking is running the line back after reaching a check rather than locating and running the new line.
Bawler is a hound that has a drawn out crying, or bawling type of voice.
Check is a temporary or permanent loss of the correct line by hounds, either because of scenting difficulties such as presented by the terrain or other factors, or possibly because the quarry has deliberately established a break in the line.
Chopper is a hound with a short staccato voice on line.
Cold Nose refers to the excellent scenting ability of a hound able to work an old or cold trail. A "cold nosed" hound has superior scenting ability.
Couple is a brace or pair of hounds. The number of hounds in a pack is traditionally enumerated in couples. A thirteen hound pack is six and a half couples.
Drag is the trail left by an animal in transit; scent left as it drags its body and tail through grass, brush, sand or whatever the terrain. Drag also refers to a bag or sack of material strong with the scent of the game in question, which is used to lay down a trail for trials, or, in this day of scarcer game and more frequently encountered high speed highways, for a fox hound hunt wherein the trail is laid with a drag in the most interesting manner possible for a safe but sporting ride by the field.
Drag hunt is a hunt (Foxhounds, pack master of hounds, whippers-in, field master, field) which depends upon a drag rather than live fox for the line.
Straight refers to a hound running only one kind of game such as a hound that is "straight on raccoon."
Strike is to come upon the scent left by an animal in passing.
Tree Bark is the bark a hound uses when it has the quarry treed or bayed. It is usually quite different from the voice on line to one familiar with the hound. Most tree barks are shorter and more insistent. They are more regular than voices on line, which vary with the scenting conditions.
Voice is the bark or cry of a hound.
Wash is the trail of bubbles left by an animal, such as an otter, when swimming under water. Such bubbles are rich in scent particles.
Afghan Hound Basset Hound Bloodhound Borzoi Beagles Dachshund Deerhound Greyhound