A friend of mine (on the N.C./Tennessee border) raises Plotts, from the original George Plott line. These are some fine hounds, and she sells/ships them worldwide.
I know others that swear by black and tans, and a Walker enthusiast cannot be swayed.
My friends hunt both bear and 'coons with their hounds.
I have a great photo of some hounds running halfway up a tree after a coon in a field trial. If someone can tell me how I'll post these.
I heard Plotts were best for boar, bear and mountain lions.
Its also my understanding that coonhound breeders and huunters really aren't too eager for AKC registration.
The breed standards for workinig dogs are more concerned with performance in the field than with conformity in appearance - which appears to be the case with AKC breeds.
I'll give you the German Shepherd as an example.
Years ago when I was a kid, German Shepherd dogs were long in the body, but their hips were more like a normal dog's. American show Shepherds look deformed. From the side the hips on the animal look much lower than the withers and it appears like its running in a freakish way.
Check out the breed "Shiloh Shepherd" in the net. Aside from their really gigantic size, they DO look more like German Shepherds did decades ago than modern show Shepherds.
The last thing coonhunters want is for their breed to deteriorate into something that follows a model's type recipe for appearance but couldn't run a coon or a bear.
By the way, where can you get a good Plott? I do a lot of hiking in the woods, like to hunt and think a Plott would be just right for me.
Besides its really an AMERICAN dog - like most Coonhounds - not some foreign import.
Check this out. The Hack Smithdeal mentioned in the story shot Roy Faircloth (big car dealership) in the early fifties in Johnson City. Was acquitted on self defense.
There is a book, written by his daughter and she mentions a good deal about bear hunts that her daddy would lead. There's a picture of Roy Acuff eating a can of pork and beans and, iirc, one of about 8 bears they got.