Squatting

[pegleg]

Ok. I have seen two cats do this recently. First was on the side of a narrow two lane paved road. Hunkered down next to the weeds my tires couldnt have been more then ten inches from him when i went by. The truck behind me was as close. I figured it had been hit so turned around and went back. Opened the door and he suddenly decided whatever he was watching in the weeds wasnt so important.
The next one jumped out of the brush into a two track and hunkered down in front of the truck next to the brush on the drivers side. I got out and my cowdog came along. I believe he thought we couldnt see him. Until the dog was almost on him. He then dived into the bushes. He did this same maneuver several times. Now it was daylight and the dog couldnt smell him it seemed but had to see him first. They were both young adults and clearly believed cats are invisible. I have had cats squat in front of dogs and then sneak off. But this makes me wonder how many cats that pull this get away from hounds that arent running the line fairly tight? Or if sometimes the real reason old reliable rejumps the cat so often after a loss is because they didnt stop looking right there? Knowing it was probably squatted down.

[Jeff Eberle]

I've never seen it, but do remember old Louie Peck telling me he had it happen to him one time while running the cat and he watched the dogs go right on by.

[LarryBeggs]

I saw a cat take this to an extreme one day. We had started a cold cat that the dogs quickly jumped out of a brush pile right beside the road. The cat crossed the road not far from the truck with the dogs maybe 15 ft behind it. It was a young cat. There was a rocky cut bank not very high màbe 15-20 ft. And maybe 80 yards long above the road with sparse young fir tree's growing on it. The cat made three passes up and down that cut bank squatting 3 or 4 times each pass. It was like he was watching the dogs and as soon as all there heads were turned he would jump up run a little ways and squat again. After the third pass the dogs were about to figure it out ( sorry dogs should have figured it out quicker they nearly stepped on the cat several times) the cat lined out for a bluffy draw where it sounded like he was doing the same thing but in a spot the dogs couldn't reach him. Two times the cat lined out from the bluff back to the cut bank and back till they finally lost him for good. It would have been an excellent video. Embarrassing but good. Another time I wasn't there to see it (wish I was) but some friends had lost a cat in the road. One of them spotted the cat squatting in the ditch and ran over there to call the dogs to it. When he ran up on the cat the cat jumped straight up in the air with paw and claws extended and would have hooked my friend on the end of the nose had he not jumped back. The dogs saw this however and had the cat before he hit the ground.

[Nicole Stark]

I started to comment on this thread earlier because I found it funnily amusing. I couldn't exactly figure out why but finally did when I read the post above about videoing it: "embarrassing but good". I guess it doesn't take much to amuse me because I am still chuckling over the stories each of you told.

The descriptions remind me of a cartoon or something along those lines.

[Mike Leonard]

I have seen it numerous times, and dang it will frustrate you to no end. I have seen good dogs really pushing on a track not jumped but pushing and I get up high and I see the cat walking out ahead of them, as they get close instead of bolting into a jump run the cat just squats in the grass. the dogs get up there casting around and almost run over the cat and still can't find him. the dogs drift off the cat gets up and walks off in another direction. I have had guys tell me the cat is so smart he is doubling back on his tracks and such. this does happen but a lot of times he just goes away from the dogs and they can't seem to find him.

Guys that run big packs on cats sort of like a wolf or fox hunt probably don't encounter this as much with all those dogs sweeping the ground but it does happen more than a person would like to admit with just a few trail hounds on them.

You see this a few times and you really begin to realize how weird cats are!!!!!


A couple of cat funny stories.

So I am driving pulling a horse trailer with a few horses and a bunch of hounds in it. Me and two other guys headed out lion hunting. We had just caught a big lion the day before and we were all pumped up about how great the dogs did and sort of beating our chests and telling each other what great big cat hunters we were.

So we come around a curve in the road and there is a bobcat in the middle of the road eating on a road killed porcupine. Well well! what have we here? lets just have a quick cat catch to warm up the dogs. I pull over and the cat just walks down in the road ditch and squats down.
I run back to the trailer and dump 4 good lion hounds that have plenty of experience. Over here! over Here! I holler and they follow me and by this time the cat has crossed the fence and is just trotting off. Well they go down in the ditch and smell nothing, I climbed thru the bob wire fence. Over Here! Over Here! they come still nothing.

I look back at Larry and ask him can you still see the cat? Yep he says he is up under that cedar bush just squatting there about 100 yards away. I take off after the cat and these hounds can't smell a thing. We get up to the bush and still nothing. I can't see the cat and the dogs act like nothing at all is out there. Holy smokes! what is going on? I holler back to Larry where is the damn cat? he said oh he just walked over that little point a minute ago when you came up to the bush. so away I go yelling at the dogs. Long story short those dogs could never do a thing with that and I know that cat was right there and never really even got scared. When I got back in the truck there was no more chest beating, in fact I was about to turn around and go home sell the dogs and take up golf..... CATS????

Trapper friend of mine calls and says you are not going to believe what a crazy bobcat did to me today. I said try me..

He said I went to one of my sets and had a small female bobcat in it. I didn't want to kill her so I did my usual and threw an old carhart coat over her and then released the trap from her foot. I usually just walk back to the truck and they will lay there a minute and then crawl out from under the coat and slip off. Well I just got up and was walking back to my truck and I looked and that cat was coming right after me. So I run and jumped in, and that cat ran right under my pickup. Well I sat there a minute and I never saw it come out but figured it did so I got out grabbed my coat jumped back in the truck and headed for my next set. I went down the road a mile, and then turned onto a two track trail with some high grass grown up in it. As I started down it that grass sweeping the bottom of my old truck I heard a noise and looked in the mirror to see this cat come flying out from under my truck and take off. Evidently the cat had run under the truck jumped up in a place it could hitch a ride and then road down the road a mile and he said he was going 25-30 down that road until he turned off and then it bailed when the grass started sweeping the bottom of the truck.
TELL ME BOBCATS AIN'T WEIRD!!!!!!!

[macedonia mule man]

It happens in the southeast where cat are run by large packs. Had a fellow tell me he and his cousins were the squat patrol for his daddy when he went cat hunting.each kid was given a persimmon sprout about 5 ft long to beat the briars when the dogs had a loose they couldn't get moving. He said he noticed his dad caught a lot less cats when the squat patrol wasn't there. They must squat everywhere, large or small packs.

[pegleg]

Ive had them squat and run in small areas. But the fact i could have booted either of these before they moved got me to wondering how tight they might hold for dogs. It seems they might try holding til the last second more often then we think.

[Nicole Stark]

Are you guys talking about all kinds of cats or just specific types? As someone who finds zen in watching dogs work scent, I think I'd find this interesting to observe.

[lionhunter78]

I suppose it happens more then a person thinks, that's what makes them so much fun to hunt, slippery little sons of guns

[Nicole Stark]

ha ha, I bet it does.

The amusement factor alone is enough to make me interested in explore this a bit more. It's kind of a ridiculous notion to me to think that there's cats out there hunkered down watching a drain swirl of commotion going on nearby and probably no one even knows that the cat is there.

[pegleg]

Bobcats in particular. I havent seen a lion take it to that extreme but they do deflate and slip off given the chance. Other cat species seem more excitable.

[Nicole Stark]

How do Lynx fit into this discussion, if at all? Same? I'm obviously expressing my ignorance and lack of familiarity with hunting them as I don't even know if they are legal to hunt and if so, can you use dogs on them. Just curious.

[al baldwin]

Over the years I have had numerous bobcat squat on my dogs, chalk it up to sorry cat hounds. One cat always stands out in my memory, that bob had eluded my dogs a few previous times. However that day the dogs had a check near a decent size rock, as I sat & watched the dogs searching for the cat I saw that cat sitting very still, dogs had searched very near cat did not move. I walked very near the cat before it moved from that spot. By then the dogs had extended the search area giving the cat a good lead before I could call them to the cats exit trail. Long story short, five dogs cold trailed out of hearing. After a drive into another drainage my best two dogs had the cat bayed on a huckleberry bush in a very steep rocky ravine. Never seen anything quite like it, bobcat laying on top of that short bush looking very content, both dogs standing back a few feet giving a weak baye job. I walked within a few feet of the cat, was a bit spooked when I spotted the cat looking so unnerved that close to the dogs & I. After observing the unique situation, told the dogs lets go, As the dogs & I slowly walked away, kept looking back at the cat laying on that bush, just like our house cat resting on her chair. Al

[Ndigs]

This is great, thanks to each of you guys for some GOOD stories.What a good laugh Mike, love your stories, my dogs are so useless at times, have had the same thing happen on lynx and even bear. Not too many of us chasing lynx on this board, but watched lynx twice last winter standing there watching my bozo coon dogs on a lose. Sure pretty, and sure is fun.

[Bon Plott]

Long story short, dogs holed at the bottom of big rock slide. I come in from the top, make my way down and around almost to hole look up prolly 60 feet 38 pounder sitting there like a gargoyle . Pretty sure he was snickering at my dogs. Last laugh came from rim fire mag

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