Wounded Warriors-FRTHC Bobcat Hunt

[mike martell]

This hunt was very special to all of us at FRTHC. We endured miserable hunting conditions, from excessive amounts of snow to freezing rain that made walking, driving and jumping cats very difficult for the hounds. I want to thank all of our U.S. service members for their sacrifice to our great Nation and thank all of the members and supporters of FRTHC, without each and everyone of you? This hunt would not be possible! I posted this in the International bobcat competition section as well because several of our club members are entered and the bobcats treed all were around 20# each, none were large enough to win the copmpetition, but that's irrelevent! The memories made will last a lifetime and we are so proud to do this hunt as United Houndsmen giving back to those Men and Women who have sacrificed so much for the freedoms we so cherish! Our vets were Chris Belcher from Oregon- Ramiro Flores from Idaho-Joe Liddell from Oregon and Associate Guide Derek VanBuren from Michigan. What a great bunch of men to hunt with!

Currently FRTHC is woorking on our next club event. I will post more as the hunt information comes available, we are looking at pushing the winter bobcat hunting as much as possible.

[mike martell]

We had a great time hunting four Purple Heart Veterans with Wounded Warriors in Action foundation. The mix of veterans was superb and absolute class acts!
We had terrible conditions with excessive snow that turned to freezing rain that made getting around difficult at best, once the temperatures dropped below freezing, the snow crusted making it hard on dogs feet. We had just three hunting days and had to get it done regardless!

Saturday evening we all took a break for Prime rib dinner to reflect on this outdoor adventure at the lodge. After meal it was determined the snow quit falling giving us the false impression we were game on....It was great until the rain hit hard washing tracks out as quickly as a bobcat laid them down.

My rider for the evening was Derek VanBuren who is the guide associate under WWIAF. Derek lives in the UP of Michigan, like all the others, Derek is a true gentleman. We all had riders and looking at road coverage we all set out, it wasn't long before I cut a nice track and thinking I would smoke this bobcat, soon realized the snow had absorbed all the scent. I was thinking about driving around looking for the outbound end when I cut another bobcat track that looked real good, it would be under normal conditions a smoker track. I tail gate my hounds on all tracks, I don't keep me too hounds. The dogs went out trailing but soon it was apparent this track was going to be tough to jump.

My dogs trailed for over an hour and moved this track in as difficult fashion as I have ever seen, I drove around and ended up sitting under a huge fir tree that exemplified the conditions best, it was pouring rain, wind blowing and ice falling from the limbs. By this time it was 6:30 pm. I told Derek we were sticking this track out for reasons the conditions were only deteriorating fast! Once the hounds cleared the next road, they began to pick up some speed and within fifteen more minutes jumped the bobcat, it went across a creek that would later prove disastrous for reaching the treed hounds. Finally I could barely hear every one of my hounds tree.

We spent the next five and one half hours back tracking to find a crossing over the swollen creeks, we finally found the blow down log Derek was on with his bobcat in the picture above. Derek finally was able to harvest his bobcat at 1:30 am. We were soaking wet, cold but absolutely going on sheer adrenaline.
This was my only solo bobcat hunt away from the group that had just my dogs present. We had covered some serious ground and hopefully next year, we will do a better job of documenting these hunts.

Mike

[catdog360]

That's awesome Mike. I hope this is something your club can continue to do for our service men and women.

Mic

[brian j cerelli]

[david]

X3
Thank you for the photos and congratulations to the guys who pressed on through adversity. I think maybe That is just what heroes do.

[chilcotin hillbilly]

That is great Mike. Sounds like the hounds earned that one for sure.

[undertheradar]

I dont know what those cats weigh in these pics but if they looked like that here on Va/Nc line theyd weigh 45 lbs. Which by the way is unheard of. A huge cat here is 32 to 35 lbs.
Very nice hunt for a very good cause!

[mike martell]