scent.

[alimac 882]

was sitting last night contemplating things after a day out with the hounds, generally mulling over how they went through the day etc, and i came across a thought that im stumped by..(easy i know) so heres a question, after hounds have broken up several times through a day, how the feck do they still manage to hunt up a freshly lifted fox when the whole pack are stinking to high heaven.. id dare say theres only a small handfull on here that have enough knowledge of scent to answer but heyho worth a go and all that

[thee undertaker 78]

should be a intresting topic . . . .

[hedz31 1,308]

Ive wondered this before and i think every animal even of the same specie's still has it's own different scent pattern with the particle's and oil's they drop as a trail and the hound's recognise a fresh scent and different 1 from the 1s they have hunted earlier in the day,there is 2 theorie's how they follow scent 1 is the particle vibration's are what cause a paticular scent i think when you put a question up like that the other theory fit's and that is that the molecule's and partical's shape's and how those shape's fit with the scent sensor's in a hound's olfactory lobe's are how they work it out,there is load's of different theorie's and load's have folk's have tried to work it out

[hedz31 1,308]

I wish ye hadnt put this up ye have my brain working now maybe when hound's are stinking and covered in scent of fox maybe the hound can detect there own scent oil's and particle's mixed in with the foxes and can distinguish a fresh scent trail from a litfed fox and know to ignore the previous because of the mixture of the 2

[Malt 379]

Interesting thread. Maybe distinguishing individual scents is as simple for a dog like a hound as it is for humans to visually distinguish individual humans.

[alimac 882]

hedz, tell me about it, its played on my mind so much i even had to ask on here,lol.. As you say there will be alot of folk that have spent alot of time trying to figure it out, and id dare say there will be even more theories about the subject..

A hound knowing (or hopefully) that the pack has already hunted a certain line over a fresh virgin drag is more understandable, as the foil from 15 couple should make even the daftest of hounds know somethings not right with the line its thinking of taking on. im getting a lend of a book soley on scent thats bigger than the bible, im sure my answer will be in there, somewhere, il let you know my conclusions from my death bed in 40 years time, as mes thinks its gona be a long long read..

Edited February 24, 2012 by alimac

[alimac 882]

Interesting thread. Maybe distinguishing individual scents is as simple for a dog like a hound as it is for humans to visually distinguish individual humans.

Thats what i think but it seams to easy a answer, lol. and is probably only a part of how/why they manage to distinguish the differences..

i cant really argue with any theories that arise as the subject has me stumped..

[hedz31 1,308]

hedz, tell me about it, its played on my mind so much i even had to ask on here,lol.. As you say there will be alot of folk that have spent alot of time trying to figure it out, and id dare say there will be even more theories about the subject..

A hound knowing (or hopefully) that the pack has already hunted a certain line over a fresh virgin drag is more understandable, as the foil from 15 couple should make even the daftest of hounds know somethings not right with the line its thinking of taking on. im getting a lend of a book soley on scent thats bigger than the bible, im sure my answer will be in there, somewhere, il let you know my conclusions from my death bed in 40 years time, as mes thinks its gona be a long long read..

your brain is going to get fried mate honest ive tried reading on it and letting it digest

[wilbur foxhound 480]

scent is a thing that we will never understand completely,the late lawton evans once told me that he reckoned when his hounds got unboxed within a few minutes his hounds new if there were more than one fox in the wood as sometimes when they caught a fox they didnt spend much time with the carcuss before moving on to another fox almost immediatly

[hedz31 1,308]

scent is a thing that we will never understand completely,the late lawton evans once told me that he reckoned when his hounds got unboxed within a few minutes his hounds new if there were more than one fox in the wood as sometimes when they caught a fox they didnt spend much time with the carcuss before moving on to another fox almost immediatly

Your right mate load's have tried to work it out i dont know if anybody has fully,i think the only one's that do understand it are the hound's did ye find that dog hound that hunted on mate or is he still missing ??

[Bootsha 1,306]

Bloody good question allimac, never even occured to me either to be honest, just always took it for granted i suppose. Other than that, that head shot of a terrier in your avatar is outstanding, is it yours ?

[alimac 882]

bootsha it should get some minds ticking over and bring some decent replies with a bit of luck. ... yep she graced my kennels/house all her days.

hedz, your right the only ones that will ever know are the hounds, iv told ours there getting left in kennels tomorrow if they dont let me in on the craic by dawn.,

[hedz31 1,308]

bootsha it should get some minds ticking over and bring some decent replies with a bit of luck. ... yep she graced my kennels/house all her days.

hedz, your right the only ones that will ever know are the hounds, iv told ours there getting left in kennels tomorrow if they dont let me in on the craic by dawn.,

[paulus 26]

maybe a scent within a scent one distinguishing the animal type and the other distinguishing the individual animal,hence teritorial scent marking.

[weasle 1,119]

I would say its a totaly different smell after breaking up compared to the smell left behind from a hunted fox. You can often tell scenting conditions at the meet or at least see when scent is poor just by watching hounds.Then a fox also seems to know when theres scent and fly out of covers or when they can duck around.Interesting is scent.