A judge is supposed to "judge" the hounds, you must be thinking of a "score taker". A good judge will know what he is doin and what a hound is doin. That's why we trust them to judge and pick the best hound in the field. Not just the one that crosses the roAd first.

Gorock- Once you've had one, and know what one is really capable of doing , you will cull 1000 looking for another like it.

You got that right hank. Ive had about 4 of them kind since i was 14 years old. They arent born everyday my friend. Lord if i knew where one was id own it somehow buddy

Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool than open your mouth and remove all doubt. Its good that this is a majority anonymous post.

My question in this totally ignorant discussion about pen dogs/trials is directed to Hunter and Judge...If you decided to pass judgement on the hound in question by quiting scoring it on the crossings that it had the front on, what did you do on those crossings with the second,third and subsequent hounds on the crossings? Surely you didn't score them as if the front hound wasn't there! I don't like cutty hounds but in a trial you can't become the sole judge and jury and just make out like the hound no longer desired scoring because you think he cut the pack 100 yards off the road. Obviously you should have just joined the gallery cause you don't know how any of the hounds got their position in the pack before any crossing. Hounds are constantly coming into races from all directions and as a judge one can only hope to score the front hounds at the point that he or she is looking at them and try to reward the points to the hounds(on game that you have actually seen) in the order you see them at that point of time (on roads,the woods , pastures, pipelines or whatever),not what you think happened!

A real hunter or judge would know what dogs was really running the game if they hear a pack coming you know what them dogs sound like.. Then when you all of a sudden hear a new mouth just" fall out a tree" then you know that that is the snatch and grab dogs... Bc the real dogs would still be running with the same mouths and never miss a beat even if the one that falls "out of the tree" crosses first.. U score the pack not the snatcher... That's how you know what dogs are doing there job. A track running dog will be running barking every breath, and the snatchers will just "fall out of a tree" and start barking....

The real good hounds will shut up and cover that cutter before he or she knows what happened. If they don't then what are they really running dog tracks or real game???? Common sense prevails when judging over making assumptions or guess work in my opinion.

If you don't score the hound that you assume cut the pack then how in all honesty. could you even score any hounds on that particular crossing.The next hound behind the accused hound should not be awarded a first place crossing because he/she just might be trying to catch the front runner at that crossing. If you are trying to pick the best hound on the ground then it isn't an opinion poll in the judges room, the winning hound is the one with the highest score.

I agree Solomon was a VERY Wise man

MOST SHATCH AND GRAB DOGS CANT RUN THIER GAME BY THEIR SELF ON THE OUTSIDE AND PUT PRESSURE ON IT. AS FOR CUTTING IN THE PENS IF THERE WAS LESS GAME THE DOGS WOULD HAVE TO PACK UP. MOST PENS HAVE ENOUGH GAME THAT THERE IS A RACE COMING TO THE SNATCH AND GRAB DOGS MOST OF THE TIME. LESS GAME FEWER CHANCES FOR THEM TO GRAB IT. HOW CAN YOU REALLY FIND THE FASTEST DOG THAT DAY WHEN YOU HAVE 10 PLUS RACES GOING ON AT ONCE. I RUN ON THE OUTSIDE AND EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE IN A PEN. I BOUGHT A GYP THAT HAD WON MANY PUPPY HUNTS THAT COULDNT GET IN A RACE ON THE OUTSIDE. FEED WHAT YOU LIKE AND DONT WORRY ABOUT EVERYONE ELSE.

Looking Back, first you should post your name. If you hear a pack of hounds coming & a hound is going to the race when he gets there he's got to cut to get in the race, he's not going to let every hound go by then get in the race. So some point & time in a field trial every dog has cut.

Darren Robertson said it best, feed what suits you best.

Look at the hounds that win the National or the USO. These are not the same blood lines you see in pen hunts. There is a reason for that.

At the end of the day, if you run only in a pen and trial only in a pen then that is what makes you happy. If you run on the outside, same thing.

Most of us I believe are looking for the best all around hound, not just the fastest or the best nose.

Feed the hounds that make you happy and don't worry about what anyone else thinks.

Every dog at some point will gain position, it's what they are bred to do. You cannot just ignore a dog because u heard them put in ahead. If you feel they dont deserve the 35 pts for first, score it as 2 crossings where as the " cutter" receives a 20 pt running alone score and the rest of the pack scored according to order in which they crossed. This ain't rocket science, a foxhound in a field trial should be hunting, trailing, speeding and driving or harking. They also can be scratched for actions deemed unbecoming a field champion. Those hounds who CONSTANTLY stay in the road ambushing races are in fact loafing. It's much harder to stay in a race and run it than staying in the road. Elimination is the key. Most folks don't want a hound scratched at all, that's the problem they should've never been entered. Some of the great ones have a bad day or an off time and are eliminated from time to time. Hunt hard, cull harder!!

I want one of those speeding and driving dogs Chip. Never had one scored for speeding might get a ticket! Just kidding would be nice though.

A good set of ears will teach you nore about your dogs than 4 sets of eyes. Usually the best field trial dogs arent your best dogs. They are the smarter dogs. How many times have yall seen a dog dominate 20 head but cant buy s top ten finish. Most of the strongest running hounds mentally cant take the big crowd. They wanta dominate! Most exceptional field trial dogs dont pay it no attention. The best trial dogs i ever saw was slide and howards maggie. Both would be in a pack if 8-10 dogs just running it like a clock. The other dogs killing themselves teying to work them big packs didnt score much and could hardly cast the next day. Brains beat athleticism everytime. Maggie would not let dogs cut all over her and fight with them. She got sonething she could handle and just cruised to victory. But pleasure hunting she was just an average dog. Paint a number in her and she came alive! I ran with her a many times. Just call norman howard he will yell u. You got field trial dogs and pleasure dogs and rarely is one both!