Well LilRed, let me introduce myself, since I've only been registered on this site since 2000, so being new here I think it would be a good idea!
I'm 71 yrs old, retired, married to my second wife for 46 yrs, and have four kids, the youngest is 44 yrs old, and the oldest is 51 yrs old, and all shoot. I hunt mostly in New Mexico, Arizona, Alaska, Canada,and Africa, and mostly for dangerous game. I've been hunting on my own since the age of six yrs, with slingshot, bow, rifle, shotgun, muzzleloaders, and on bait, spot and stalk, and behind a pack of hounds, for everything from ground sqirrels, to Hippo. I'm a gun collector, and a history buff.
I doubt that anyone here gives a rats ..s about any of that, but at least you know I'm not talking from an armchaire background, though at this age, and poor health, more and more the easy chaire looks comfortable! It is true I don't post here much, since my main interest is in African hunting, and double rifles, and there isn't a lot of that here.
As you, and I both say, I haven't seen the catalog, and can't say one way or the other on the pictures you were talking about, but I didn't need the picture to know that,what seemed to be your preception of dog hunting in the desert, was wrong intirely. To top that off, many lion hunters use 22 mag pistols, and rifles, to shoot treed lions, and the use of horses, and mules to chase hounds in New Mexico, and Arizona, is quite common. I, in fact, use a short barreled side by side double rifle with 18 1/2" barrels chambered for 41 Rem Mag, for treed lion, and bear.
LilRed, I meant no disrespect, by the word "HOSS" that just happens to be common slang in the west, meaning "GROWN MAN", instead of a kid, which here is "SON" !
Like everyone else here, I found your post to be funny as heck, except for the comment on dog hunting in the desert! So if anyone books a lion, or black bear hunt out here with dogs, it is a good idea to get some horseback rideing in before hand, because you will likely be riding an old jug-head!
The runs can easily go twenty miles, in some rough country!
.....................Peace Brother!
BYE!