Hunting hounds

Hounds hunt with their nose and report with their voice. Where a bird dog reads today's scent on the wind, these eight breeds - from the Beagle to the Plott Hound - unravel a track laid on the ground hours earlier, then bawl steadily so you can follow the chase without seeing it. They suit rabbit hunters, night-time coon hunters and, where the law allows, hunters running bear and boar in big timber. The trade-off is independence: a hound is bred to make its own decisions half a mile from you, so recall and yard manners take real work, and the carrying voice that makes it valuable on a track makes it a hard fit for close neighbors.