catching on the ground

[coastrangecathunting]

I run over a hundred cats a year. I only catch 2 or 3 a year on the ground. So why ? Are my dogs to mouthy? Are they over running the track to much ? Maybe they are to slow. Is it the terrain i hunt ? Is it the cats i run?
My dogs are finishing the tracks , by treeing or putting them in a hole . I will give u the race update from dec. 1st untill now. total races 26 . treed and found 14. treed and not found 5. holed 4. lost 3. caught on the ground 0000000000000000000000.

jc

[Unreal_tk]

In our country, it is rare to hear. I've heard of one, the dogs just bayed the cat.(granted the dogs I hear aren't the most pressured type) that's what I've heard. I don't think I have experience on my side to say its not possible. So I have to go by hear say!

I did however watch a video from Maine where it seemed like alot of the cats bayed up. Interesting to think about to say the least.

[Jeff Eberle]

JC, sounds like you hunt the same place I hunt ( in the woods!!! ) Maybe you just read one to many computer cat hunters stories. ( LOL) Your biggest problem I see is you tell the truth ! For a working man sounds like to me your doing just fine keep it up. HAPPY NEW YEAR Jeff.

[Dads dogboy]

JC,

Only A Bobcat knows why some Tree some do not. In some areas more Tree than others. As posted previously Dad used to catch 90+ % on the ground. Now we Tree or Hole most.

My theory (remember that I am just a Dogboy) is that the sooner in a Race REAL pressure is placed on a Bobcat the more apt to Tree the Cat is....they still are able to think and are not "Adled".

Now when Real pressure, what I refer to as Tactical Pressure, is applied after the Cat has been run for a while, the Cat is more confused and less apt to remember that Altitude could be it's salvation.

Tried to post while the others where posting. Rememberd that the Maine boys used to tree more and now catch more....just the opposite from us.

JMT

[twist]

It sure doesnt happen in this part of the country either, tree or hole up. Andy

[Warner5]

The place's we hunt have more tree's, branches, briars, bush's and brush than anyone could ever shake a stick at. Cat can damn near jump in any direction at any time or place and get above the forest floor and out of hounds reach. That sounds way to simple, their must be a more complicated reason. John.

[cbug]

I am no cat hunter. I have only had my own dogs for about a year now. They came from Al Baldwin. Were raised hunted in Jc and Warners country. I live and hunt in north west Oregon. In the last three months they have caught and killed two cats on the ground. I dont know what that means just wanted to add it to the conversation. Thanks, Chris.

[coastrangecathunting]

I am glad they are up there and not around here anymore . just kidding al. I know the 2 areas are different. Maybe Al can share his point of veiw. Did they catch cats on the ground around here Al. I mean more than 2 or 3 a year.

jc

[mondomuttruner]

There's probably over 25% of the cats caught on the ground here with 6 in. or more snow on the ground. A good number of them I've seen caught at the base of a 50 ft spruce or the like. With less snow, very few are caught on the ground in my experience. Culverts account for half of my catches, there's culverts everywhere. Probably no different than bear baying at the base of a tree. They all have a little bit different personality, maybe we should taint some meat with some A.D.D. meds..lol.
Keep in mind, I'm talking overall cat numbers in the teens, not the triple digit numbers you guys are used to..we take whats given to us....

[al baldwin]

JC I will say I don/t think it/s speed that catches a cat on the ground. As you know most my hunting was done close to home and for years these cats have been forced to get dog wise to survive. About a dozen or so local cat hunters & you know them all have pretty much hunted the same cats. A couple year ago partner & I caught seven cat on the ground &think we only caught about 15 cat. We were hunting about 10 dog pack most of the time & I suspect we had ran most of those ground catches several times before catching them. It is a sad feeling I got when one was caught on the ground, just one less cat race to enjoy. I suspect some of those cat just got too confident they could elude the dogs and made the mistake of letting a dog get to close. Ground catches have seem to happen certain years & than maybe have a long spell with few ground catches. I have talked to the master cat hunter 60 south of us and he shares this same theory. He told me about a hound that got smart with age and when a cat was running back and forth near a road that old dog would run the road & wind up catching when it got near the road. I know for sure he spent a ton of money on that dog because it got numerous infections from cat encounters. And it was one of those encounters that killed the dog. Those two dogs that Chris bought from me were on those seven catches. Both those dogs are very open one is 9 years old and in his day could drive a track and he is heavy nance bred. The other is about 3 years old & out of the last litter skinner sired & the female i sold to Buzz. A few years ago Jim Clausen told me about watching a big tom on Coldirons that was sneaking ahead of my dogs. He got a big kick out of it he said the cat had about a quarter mile on the dogs and was just slipping alone and would stop and listen when a dog barked and then just tip toe down the road. I am sure some will laught at this but you have hunted that area and can see how Jim could have wittnessed that. I had trailed that cat off of Blanton/s and it was just a very poor track that never got any better. I always enjoyed those type challenges and just let the dogs work. Don/t know if this makes sense? But it is the honest truth and just something I have experienced. Werner & JC when you see Jimbo ask him about that sneaking tom he wittnessed. Al

[mark]

I kinda kept a record last year on just the cats i caught with my dogs alone. Never counted holed cats or trees where i couldn't find a cat or culverts. 49 cats with 9 caught on the ground makes it 18% caught on the ground. A good share of these cats i had ran numerous times, very dog wise to say the least. Only ran in the snow when it came down to valley floor and wasn't able to get out of it. I truly believe that there are days when a dog cant get its head up enough to really run a cat and apply the necessary pressure to tree it or catch it on the ground. My experiences with cats on the ground seem to be either when they get to ducking and dodging in a small area or when they line out straight down hill and get caught in the creek. Most of the cats i have caught on the ground have rigimortis set in very quickly after death, so i think that they run to a point where they aren't physically able to climb. I ran a cat into a creek one time and the dogs couldn't figure out where it left out at after looking for some time i found it washed up against a log in the middle of the water, not a bite mark on it. I think it seized up when it hit the cold water??????? I hunted up in washington one year and about 50% were caught on the ground, real close to the same kind of terrain as i hunt here. This year i have only caught 2 on the ground and pulled the dogs off of one that could barely stagger down the road about 40 yards in front of the dogs. Im with the dogboy on this one though, only a car knows why it wont climb.

[mondomuttruner]

Many yrs ago I was running a cat in a large section (for us) 3 miles by 4 miles. Nobody could hear them except for one person, he said they were barking good on track then turned to baying. They bayed for 5 min and all went quiet. I started to walk in to see what went on ( I figured a mile or so, no garmin then) About half way there I tracked and both dogs were close coming at me. The dogs came to me, the face on one of them was so mangled, there was more meat showing than hair, can't believe he still had eye's, the other dog didn't have a scratch. A friend of mine walked a couple dogs in from a different spot and found where they had the cat caught on the river and let his dogs work the area. They jumped the cat 20 ft away in the grass and it treed about 50 ft from where it was caught on the river. When I got in there the cat was still soaking wet and matted in the tree. Turned out to be a 35 lb. tom. All I can figure is the cat played dead on the bank of the river and the dogs left. I could maybe see the beat up dog leaving but not the other if that cat was still kicking. I've seen this happen 2 times when I was with the dogs (play dead tactic), anyone else ever see this. I mean they would just lay there looking dead but come back an hour later and their gone.

[al baldwin]

Mondomuttrunner could those cats have been total winded? I suspect maybe that 35 lb. tom just was more than that unstratched hound wanted to deal with? I sure don/t blame the dogs. Jc those catches since Dec. 1 very impressive. No would not expect those two dogs Chris has to catch more than two or three ground catches a year here. Mark always enjoy your post. Al

[slowandeasy]

JC, sounds like you hunt the same place I hunt ( in the woods!!! ) Maybe you just read one to many computer cat hunters stories. ( LOL) Your biggest problem I see is you tell the truth ! For a working man sounds like to me your doing just fine keep it up. HAPPY NEW YEAR Jeff.

[Rimrock]

[quote="mark"] Most of the cats i have caught on the ground have rigimortis set in very quickly after death,

Mark, that is interesting. (I don't mean to hack this thread) My father was trapping in New Mexico in the 30's when he caught a house cat. He threw a coat over it to release it alive. He said it died and went stiff as a board immediately. I had never heard of this anywhere else.