New to Bobcat Hunting help?

[scrubrunner]

I'd hate to think I had to hunt without either collar again. Running fox/cat and deer hounds for 50 plus years there is no telling how many hours I've spent looking for lost dogs. Trips back to the woods after school or work trying to find hounds you know something must have happened too but I had to go try to find them even though I didn't know where to look because if something wasn't wrong they would have been back to where I turned them out at. The ones I never found I now know gators ate them because that's what has happened to the only dogs I've lost since I've had tracking collars. The training collars, I didn't know how good of a handle you could have on a dog until I got one of them in my hands.the older man that schooled me on its use stressed that less is more with using them so that's how I started. It's worked out great for me, I can hunt places I couldn't hunt before and I can go during the week at dark, run a few hours, call em in, go home go to bed and go to work the next morning and do it again tomorrow night. All because I know where they are and I know I can call em off and catch them. I know a lot of y'all can do that without training with the collars but I didn't know it could be done even with them.

[tomtom]

Something not really pushed in this thread, at least I didnt catch it, is they have to like to run bobcats. Being game as hell isnt good enough. I was always told my grandpa could catch bobcats with collies. I thought I could do the same. Just get some good game hounds, keep em in the woods, and nature will take its course. Nope. Slowly, I am swallowing my ego.

[tradslam]

This is one of the best threads I've seen in a long long time. I really like reading the different in hunting styles.

The only thing I would add is, I'd buy two pups. The main reason is you have a little wiggle room if ones not up to par. If both are good great, but plan on one. The other reason I don't see many planned, good pups around often.

Then again, I'm ok running just at about anything that climbs. I love bobcats but I like the dogs working more.

[dwalton]

Something for a young guy looking for good pups to think about. Ask the breeder why he is raising pups out of this cross, is he keeping 1 or 2 for himself or all of all of them for sale. Most top hunters that I know only breed when they need a pup and think it could be a better dog then they already have. The problem with this is that most of the pups will be spoken for long before the hunter breeds them. My advice is to hunt with as many known good hunters as you can and see what might work for you. Just ride along, don't expect to take a dog, just ride a long and keep your eyes, ears and mind open. Remember that we all might prefer different types of dogs for what we hunt, dogs will work different in different localities and all pups don't make it as good dogs no matter how good of a chance they have had to make it. Good hunting Dewey

[tomtom]

I got two littermate sisters on order. Maybe one will fire on bobcat. Maybe both. I have spent some money on pups, only to have them quit a hot bobcat. Like run across the road in front of us hot. They gotta want to catch that little bastard. Wanting to maybe chase it cause somebody else is wont get it done. Maybe two years from this post I will have three dogs that will at least TRY to catch it.

[scrubrunner]

Sometimes a young man or a poor man has to hunt with what he's got. Keep putting them on cats they may figure it out, if you are trailing cats and getting them jumped you are half way there. I think most bobcat hunters don't catch a high percentage of jumped Bobcats.Get you a bobcat bred pup if you can and put it on cats with the dogs you've got.
I'm not saying don't strive for perfection, and settle for mediocrity but your goal right now is to catch 1 cat, worry about the 2nd one after that.
To catch it you've got to run it, just like, you've got to run it to catch it.

[eskinner45]

Thanks guys this thread has helped me quite a bit. I think it will help a lot and hopefully I'll get my first one caught here in the next couple of years that would be great. From what I understand i just have to be persistent and keep the goal in mind.

[Redbarntrailhounds]

This will be my second season of running my own coon hounds on Bobcats here in MN. My first year was fun and educational. I never caught one. I had a few good races and several that never warmed up. I might have treed the first one my dogs jumped last year but I was to stupid to look up. They ran it a good ways after the jump and then shut down in a large jack pine stand. They would open on track occasionally at that point. I thought they lost it and the snow conditions were not the best for me to aid them. You can bet next time that happens I will check the area to see if the bugger is hiding in a tree and my tree bark licking dogs couldn't locate.
Anyway I say this because I wanted new pups too but decided to learn along with the two I have and make all my own handling mistakes with them.
Plus the scouting and scouting and more scouting. I don't have any sure thing places to find tracks. But my list of places to look is growing. While that list grows I don't mind toting a couple of coon dogs around north central Mn while learning to find the elusive cats stomping grounds.

Allen
Sauk Rapids