Montana dry grounding (bobcat)

[twist]

I have just heard over the years of my hunting bobcats in this area as to why arent you out catching bobcats when there is no snow. A couple guys on the form have called and told me about thier great success on catching in dry conditions in Montana but like I said its all been talk I have asked to just ride along and watch and maybe learn a thing or two but never have had anyone say come on over and see for your self. Still waiting for these gentleman to chim in Not trying to say if my dogs cant do it it cant be done but until someone has me ride along and watch I have a hard time believing it. I do hunt only bobcat and there are few that will out do my dogs in this area (snow) not tooting my horn I have had many guys from this area and this forum ride along and witness not just me saying I do it I backup my statements anyone is welcome to ride along on a hunt with me. So all I am asking is please invite me and a couple of my hunting partners along to observe what some are claiming and I will be the first to shake hands and say I am wrong. As for someone say I road or free cast my dogs that is false never have I said this or hunted my hounds this way. A person would run the pads off a dog here trying to get a track going like that I hunt strictly snow. Yes I have walked my dogs in to area that hold bobcats and have had a good hot race but this is not what I am talking about it is striking bobcats from the vehicle and catching them consistantly. I have had some great rig dogs from the west come here to hunt and have been hauled many miles here without a strike or runnable track. So the guys that have these dogs are for sure great hunters and the dogs work in thier area very well but I have yet to (see) it done in this area and until I do I will just have to hunt the easy stuff called snow. So what some are thinking I am say is that striking bobcats and running them cant be done is wrong as I have seen it done with great sucsess out west so I know it can be done in certain areas just need to see it done here in this area during our season. (coastcathunter) you say yes it does get done, where were you at in this area that you wittnessed it done just curious? What kind of dogs were used and what were the conditions and time of year? thanks, Andy

[coastcathunter]

i am not going to post where i was hunting or where i have witnessed hunts on the world wide web. that is just not going to happen. all i will say is i live in north east wyoming. most of the cat season is to cold to box a dog in my opinion i will not put my dogs thru that. but there are times when it is warm enough and the dogs do just fine. the dogs i hunt are from the coast. they are from guys that have hunted strictly bobcats from even before ban on lion and bear in oregon. i am not going to type up the whole history but there is running dog and tree dog in them.i agree with cobalt and what he is saying is the only reason i posted. i have never hunted with him but i have met him and he has a good reputation for catching game from where he is from in oregon. it did take time for the dogs to adjust to this climate and altitude.

[twist]

coastcathunter , thanks for the info do you have any contact info for this mr. Dunlap as would like to see if he is in this area and could maybe go for a hunt with him. thanks, Andy

[coastcathunter]

i will let him know you want to talk with him. i forgot to mentionhe has an older dog that contrary to what mr. walton posted is a lion dog that can flat put the heat on a bobcat. i have seen it personally. i have not hunted with mr. walton but i have hunted with a dog he bought and continued to hunt after he bought it so i know the caliber of dogs he hunts and they are really good dogs this walker of coltons is all of that.

[twist]

I sure would like to hear from the guys that are rigging in Montana as have had some say they know of guys doing it here in central and eastern Mt. but know one wants to come forward and share thier experiances on this subject as i would sure like to ride along and just watch. Andy

[BlazeNBrat]

i have not hunted with mr. walton but i have hunted with a dog he bought and continued to hunt after he bought it so i know the caliber of dogs he hunts and they are really good dogs this walker of coltons is all of that.

Thats great line of Walker dogs, they seem to age like wine! I've been dinking around with some other dogs over the years but that line is what works good for me. It was neat to find out Coltons old dog came from the same sire and dam as my females dam, quite a few proven dogs out of that stuff. It sure is a small world.

We had to make due with our conditions this season. We came to find out the dogs are totaly capable of bare ground bobcat hunting. Biggest thing for us was learning how to get one going of course. Try letting a good strait dog down by a kill, or road them down a good stretch of well known cat crossings.
Altho we did get some killer bare ground runs we still didnt rigg any of them, thats another story. I think a guy needs to be lucky or have a real high cat population to be effective at rigging around here. When we drive around for 3 hours in the morning, in the snow for instance, and find maybe two tracks that are 5-12 hours old, tell me now, take away the snow, are those good rigging opportunities? I tend to think anything (cat Bear coon, what ever) a guy riggs is pretty damn hot, would you agree? It might be able to be done here, but your going to put alot of miles on trying it. I would much rather just start a cold one in this country

[coastrangecathunting]

not trying to start any kind of pissing match what so ever . my dogs and some other guys on here i know rig cat tracks that the dogs cant run . i went out last month and had one of my dogs strike off the box . she jumped down and started getting catty going up the road. the temp. was below freezing and there was patches of snow here and there . as she ran up the road there was a patch of snow and cat tracks walking up the road. the tracks were almost as bis as female lion from being melted and froze again . this was 9:30 at night . i would guess from the time it was made to be at least around 4:00 pm. because it started freezing around 5. the dogs never did get the cat jumped but did rig it and trail it for awhile. the rigging part of hunting in different country i think my dogs would do fine . i think the cold trailing is where they would look foolish. jmo but that is what i believe.
there was plenty of days this year i hunted in the snow and never found a cat track , the cat population is not as good as it once was in some spots around here.
jc

[Liz ODell]

Mine will rig tracks too old to run also, I guess it is good in that at least you know where the cats are using and sometimes if they swing wide enough on those old strikes they will bump into the cat that hasn't gone far from that spot.
At other times striking those type of tracks can almost be a test of patience as it's a lot more stopping and checking and those that are not used to rigging for cats will start to think you and the dogs are full of it (and sometimes you might start to doubt it yourself until the dogs show you just that little bit of sign you need to be convinced)
I did alot more striking and checking and trying to start than getting a race off of my strikes in the conditions this year, I mainly hunt the transitional area between the mountains and the east side desert. We are really only getting weather now, although it would snow and then freeze up rock hard off and on during the winter, the humidity at some points this season was comparable to July and August. One weeked it was SO dry, dusty and windy I made a comment to my friend that we had about a snowball's chance in hell of getting after a cat, had a couple weak strikes and worked a track that went no where, saw a sow and cub track that looked good and didn't hear a peep off the box (bear season was closed anyway) the next day the south end of Reno Nevada almost burned to the ground so thats what we were mostly hunting in here this season.
I also watched a cat walk away from my dogs on the lava sand a weekend before that...rather humbling experience!
I do really like rigging and hunting bare ground better, we can actually get snowed out here fairly frequently so being able to drive all this season was awesome...I hate snow but I do take advantage of it when it's there and not too deep.

[dwalton]

One needs the right type of dog to be a good rig dog and a lot of cat to teach him. I hunt Eastern Oregon and desert type country in California. I have rigged cats in July in hot dry conditions in sage brush country. I am not able to complete those tracks but can start them. It is hard in windy freezing condition anywhere. In May and June before it gets to hot and dry I have treed several cats in sage brush country. As far as what they start it is easier to start a cold track from the rig then it is on the ground. It is a waste of time to road a dog unless they get to cold. Until you see it done it is hard to believe. I have hunted on the east side with old time cat hunters that do not hunt without snow in May and June that have seen my dogs strike and tree cats that time of year. Because one has not seen something does not mean it can't happen. I have hunted all over the west but not Montana, there is FOLK lore as to what can or can't be done where every I have gone. Anything can be done once you have seen it done. Dewey

[newby]

For all you Oregon hunters, say you got a dog that'll start a cat track off the road, how would you go about teaching that dog to rig? I personally have driven right over the top of cat tracks that look fairly fresh in the late fall with patchy snow and the dogs on the box and not even had a wimper. When I take the dog off the rig, he'll stick his nose in and strike it like it was red hot. How do I get that dog to rig those tracks?

[dwalton]

Rig dogs are born not trained. I have started with young dogs that have not been around box dogs and made rig dogs by just putting them up there and drive the roads when they bark or show excitement let them down. It is up to you to know if it is good or not. I never shock a dog on the box not even for striking trash. If they strike trash they can learn to strike good game. Dewey

[George Streepy]

Rig dogs are born not trained. I have started with young dogs that have not been around box dogs and made rig dogs by just putting them up there and drive the roads when they bark or show excitement let them down. It is up to you to know if it is good or not. I never shock a dog on the box not even for striking trash. If they strike trash they can learn to strike good game. Dewey

What he said!!!!


I used to claim that getting a dog to strike was the easiest thing to teach. Until I had a few dogs that weren't born with that ability/desire.

[BlazeNBrat]

How old do you guys think the tracks are that you strike and CATCH?

I gotta say, I sure like them bare ground races! Would be pretty damn neat to have a bobcat rigg dog, still would be pretty damn hard to make one here though, just not the ideal place to make a good cat rigg dog I dont think. We get the dogs on plenty of cats here but I dont think theres enough to train a rigg dog.....

I gotta see a bobcat rigg dog in action some time, its on mybucket list! I sure like rigging bears so bobcats gotta be a hoot as well!!

[catdogs]

I think tracks you start roading are more likely too end in a catch than tracks you rig, but thats just my opinion. BnB - You can't rig whats not there. Your area sounds a lot like mine. You could drive in fresh snow for a week and maybe a cut a track or two a day. There are more bobcats in Oregon. Harvest for Oregon in '10-11 was 3051 and 1925 in Montana that is proabably twice the size. There are not as many cats here. There is no doubt that rigging bare ground bobcats can be done anywhere, there are people doing it. I just don't think it is an effecient, effective way to hunt them in certain places. Oregon has more brush, more humidity and I think they can hunt at night when the cats are moving. I know Montana guys that catch 20 a year here and have gone to Oregon and caught that many in a week. I know a guy that saw 7 bobcats in one night. So I think it is easier to do in Oregon than other places. Again just my opinion. I also know that here, looking for confirmation of a bobcat strike would be pretty futile. At least the country I run. i guy could spend hours looking for a track in the hard gravel or pine duff. A couple more quesions for you Oregon guys: How much cold trailing are you really doing? If running dogs or crossed up running dogs are the dog of choice, I didn't think they had really good noses, do they?

As far as what they start it is easier to start a cold track from the rig then it is on the ground.

Could you explain your reasoning Dewey? Thanks

[coastrangecathunting]

3051 to 1925. if u guys would rig on bare ground than your numbers would go up. yes we do get to hunt day and night so that means we are in the woods twice as much. as far as telling if u rig a cat or not u dont need to see the track . just watch the dog it will tell u if its a cat.

jc