how old of a track can a good dog trail

[dhostetler]

i think big game huntin is more about knowing which track to run and which not to run. i dont want to try and run a bear track more than 12 hours old i think 6hours is even better i think if i ran lion it would be the same
seems like you are better off spendin 3 or four days lookin for the right track to run than tryin to run a cold track
you only have sun up to sun down to catch the cat
i would rather have a few people scoutin or scout hard than a cold trail or cold trailin dog as you know shit happens on a jumped animal li freediver[/quote]

If you only turn on 6 hour old tracks you will run very few lions unless you are in lion infested country. 6 hour old tracks are smoking hot under good conditions.

I have also seen numerous times where lions stepped into the same tracks as a previous lions, which might explain some of the week old runable tracks. In deeper snow lions take the easiest route and if they don't have to break a trail they won't. I sure most of you snow hunters have found cougar tracks following your tracks stepping into your boot tracks.

The conditions I consider ideal is 1 to 2 feet of powder and 10 degrees, in those conditions you have no way of knowing how old the track is, you have to test it with your start dog.

[chancemarquette]

ya i havent found to many lion tracks that were under six hours old.

[007pennpal]

Just want to share my recent experience with my strike pup daisy. Born 4/27/10. Only dog I have that will rig. When she strikes from the back of my cab covered truck bed I leash her because she is only half broke off of deer. She leads me until I can find tracks. She has struck week old bobcat pee stations that were frozen and then thawing. Couple days ago, I found a three or more day old bob track in melting snow up high. Daisy didn't strike it. I leashed her and followed the track in snow just to see how it would go. She obviously could follow it. We'd go through spots without snow and she'd be nose to ground when it turned back to snow right on track. But, I could tell she didn't see the point. She knew the track was too old. I thought I'd see what would happen if I let her go and she'd follow it a while and come back to me. I had the GPS, so I'd take her to where she let off, on leash again, she would make up the loss and be right on track again. It seemed it just wasn't exciting enough to follow. But she could do it. Anyway, the cat went where I was not willing to go off a cliff so we went home. Just enjoyed the slow trail. We found an eaten rabbit kill, so cool. Daisy eat the large intestines the cat left, yuck. Anyway, I'm impressed with the nose power.
Sean
it just started to snow, gone hunting, bye

[Catman]

007Pennpal
How bout we let Daisy live in Utah for say 6-7 yrs?

[HoundDawg]

I don't know how old a track a good dog can trail, but I've seen some "internet" dogs on this site and some other sites that seemingly could trail a track older than my kid, and he's on his way to pre-school today. They always have some wild stories about legendary feats of trailing...

But funny thing, the only video you ever see is just like what all the rest of us have, a foot of fresh snow on the ground, or basically jumping a lion off a kill on the dirt.

I heard of a guy that once claimed he had a cur dog that would trail a 3 day old lion track in the sand in July down in Arizona. He didn't have any pictures of lions in trees, but he sure had some good stories!!

The post that said it all is the one about how hunting is about knowing which track to run and which one to pass up!

Kevin, how old was the track on that big tom that you trailed and caught from the bar stool last Sat. night? That sucker was a week old if I remember the story, and that old drunk you were telling it to and seems like he said a buddy of his had trailed a two week old track out to the Basin.

How old a track can a good dog trail? Just depends who is telling the story amigo!!

[dwalton]

Each to there own. Lion hunting is a totally different thing than it was 50 + years ago. They did not have the tools that we have today, tracking collars,mobility and communication that we have today. You either hunted with horses or you had a back pack and laid out at night. There was a lot less lions when you found a track you stayed with it until you caught it. Sometimes several days, if you lost it you cut a head and found it again. Taking two or three day old tracks and trailing them several days was not unusual. Today we drive all night to find a fresh track camp on it and hope we do not get cut off. What would you guys do if you had no track collars, no shock collars no roads to run and was totally by your shelf. The difference was that when you caught a lion the bounty was a months wage. Think about it were those the good old days? Catching the tail end of that time the ones to listen to and learn from were the ones that did not talk. Dewey

[catdog360]

Exactly how do you guys tell if a track is 2 or 3 days old? I can tell how fresh it is from the last time it snowed but I couldn't tell you how old it is. If you saw the track three days earlier why didn't you run it then. And why would you try a track three days later if you couldn't run it 3 days earlier. This is a question I have always had when I hear people say the track was days old. How can you tell.

[007pennpal]

Aging a track. Snow conditions can tell you. Deep powder holds track one way. Next day partial melt changes new tracks. Next day hard freeze will make crust. Next half inch power over crust. If no snow then condition of rain can give clues also. Knowing when tire tracks are laid and if tracks are over or under. Endless clues if you spend time studying tracks. Water levels in creek crossings washing away tracks. Go back and watch tracks you found fresh age and see if you can start to notice signs. Just some thoughts.
Sean

[luckylqh]

im not sure,but logic tells me if a dog can cold trail a 3 day old track and move it he should put his head in the air and flat ass run a night old track,but this seldom happens, just food for thought

[nait hadya]

im not sure,but logic tells me if a dog can cold trail a 3 day old track and move it he should put his head in the air and flat ass run a night old track,but this seldom happens, just food for thought

it happens, probably never read about it here though.

[George Streepy]

Just like a lot of the people are saying it is all about scenting conditions. I caught a lion on a Saturday and the tracks in the road were wiped out by the groomer sometime Wednesday night. So the track was positively at least 2 1/2 days old. I cut a lion track on a Tuesday while bobcat hunting. I put my dogs on it Friday morning just to see if they could move the track. They trailed it about a mile at a fairly good pace untill they ran out of snow.

Same dogs put down on a track that I knew was only a few hours and they couldn't do anything with it. Could hardly tell a cat was ever there. One night after dark we found a red hot track. It is illegal to run big game at night so we came back about 12 hours later. Even the pups could run that track with their heads up. It all depends on conditions.

I am fairly confident I have never hunted with a dog that could consitstantly move week old tracks step for step and catch the lion. A couple days in good conditions is about the best a guy can hope for. JMO

[007pennpal]

I pretty much straight agree with George. One thing to add. I've seen dogs work an area. Not really cold trailing because its not on track. They pick up scent, beds and pee and slight scent trails. Some dogs "follow" the critter this way until it freshens for tracking. Lions and bobcats pee scent lingers longer than other critters it seems making this possible. You'll hear the hound sound as he moves but its not a line. Bobs are harder to catch because bobcat track laid scent seems harder for the hounds to pick up, but the pee is detectable. That's my way of understanding it from walking the track.
Sean

[Caincando1]

Interesting reading! I’ve asked this same question in a round about way on coyote hunting forums and was amazed at the different answers. I was surprised how some guy’s thing that a cold track is a couple minutes old and a 2 hour old track in impossible. While others consistently run day or even 2 day old tracks. It sure is eye opening to see how different people and area’s run dogs. It also was and eye opener when it comes to reading dog for sale ads. Some of those guys bragging about their cold nose coyote hounds had a completely different idea of cold nose than mine.

[Nolte]

A good trail dog can take tracks that other dogs can't. Pretty simple. That might be 2 hours old or 2 days, which is all dependent on conditions.

In our country, I've seen dogs move/take a 2 day old cat track and once in a great while a bear track that is older than a day. I can't say they ever lit the world on fire with these tracks, but they were grinding. Any time you get an old track you've to to hope that the critter laid up for a good spell and you can cut the corner to catch up to him. On old tracks you've got to expect a long drawn out process that might take all day and hope for the best. Sometimes it turns up jackpot and others it blows up, and my money is that the latter happens more often. But if the jackpot happens it makes for a helluva story, some that have been around longer than I've been alive.

Put the best you've got down and see what happens. If it can't take it, find another good one and give it a whirl. If nothing can take it, it's too old. If one dog can take it while the others can't, he's got a better nose. You'll never be able to compare dogs unless you put them on the SAME track and one goes away with it while the other is wondering what all the commotion is about.

[007pennpal]

Yep!

A good trail dog can take tracks that other dogs can't. Pretty simple. That might be 2 hours old or 2 days, which is all dependent on conditions.

In our country, I've seen dogs move/take a 2 day old cat track and once in a great while a bear track that is older than a day. I can't say they ever lit the world on fire with these tracks, but they were grinding. Any time you get an old track you've to to hope that the critter laid up for a good spell and you can cut the corner to catch up to him. On old tracks you've got to expect a long drawn out process that might take all day and hope for the best. Sometimes it turns up jackpot and others it blows up, and my money is that the latter happens more often. But if the jackpot happens it makes for a helluva story, some that have been around longer than I've been alive.

Put the best you've got down and see what happens. If it can't take it, find another good one and give it a whirl. If nothing can take it, it's too old. If one dog can take it while the others can't, he's got a better nose. You'll never be able to compare dogs unless you put them on the SAME track and one goes away with it while the other is wondering what all the commotion is about.