Why Running and Running dog X are the best cat dogs

[Unreal_tk]

How many times has Sandy done that and has she ever come up alone with it ? Curiosity is getting me.

[Tim Pittman]

'' Following the cat around''! As Carey called it, perfect phrase. Have heard that from some dedicated, tough cathunters. A top catdog of any breed does not do this, they run to catch!! Have to catch before they need to locate or tree, hopefully we all agree on this??? The desire and ability to run[ not pound out--follow] the scent/track is what a lot of us westerners find what the running dog blood brings to the table. This is the track style, its not running wild, overshooting, barking to hear their head rattle, or going track for track when they don't have to, but the ability to put their head when needed but advancing as quick as possible!!

[al baldwin]

Tim a dog has to have scent enough to allow them to get their head up and run before they can do that. There are cats who make that very hard to do, not always impossible, but very hard. Any time cats are treed and shot out with a paint gun as example, some are going to become dog wise and learn to keep a distance between them and the hounds, especially if one likes open trailing hounds. And as regular as some of the cats in this area are dogged they better become dog wise or they are going to have a short life span. Just my experience. Al

[Dads dogboy]

Thomas,

You ask "How many times has Sandy done that and has she ever come up alone with it."

We hunted her for 5 years before she was stolen last Fall, to my knowledge she Split on the Strike only two times....the time in Florida I just wrote about and the time I was wanting CRA to tell about.

By "come up alone with it". I assume you mean did she Catch a Cat by herself....the answer for her and every other Hound Dad has raised is NO....not in this Country. In the Western Oklahoma Country, yes, one or two Hounds will get her done....the Country is that much easier! From East Texas to the Atlantic Ocean the Cat has too many Tools at its disposal to allow ONE Hound to close the distance on it. Therefor at each check the Cat is getting a bigger lead on the One Hound....soon a Running Track is a Trailing Track....then NO Track at all!

I see Mr. Al Posted while I was typing.....Mr. Al, those Spoiled Cats were the Kind Dad lived to run. I did not Know that you guys were Paint balling Cats out in Oregon...I thought your Trees were too Tall....just shows what I don't know!


Mr. Dan, you are right in an area of High Bobcat populations, a Squirrel type Cur or Fiest will Tree you a Hot Bobcat......even Coon Dogs Tree Cat occasionally in our Country......Consistently..... well, not so much!

[david]

'' Following the cat around''!... A top catdog of any breed does not do this, they run to catch!! Have to catch before they need to locate or tree, hopefully we all agree on this???

Tim it is interesting how terms take on different meanings in different areas. In Great Lakes areas I hunted "run to catch had nothing to do with the tree. It meant literally run to Catch. If we did not have a dog trying to stop the cat on the ground we never saw the cat. There are many good cat dogs in the west that run to tree. Those type dogs will not show you many cats where cats seldom tree.

[al baldwin]

Cary, I too have always loved the challenge of treeing a spoiled cat, as you folks call it. No we do not have paintball spoiled cats here to my knowledge, but there are other ways of spoiling them. I know of a cat here that has swam a roaring south fork of the Coquille River more than once to save his skin. When I used to hunt more regular, knew very soon after starting a track if it was one the hounds could run or one they would have to grind on and hope the cat made a mistake. Can/t recall anyone in this area who have not experienced those type cats. I do not relieve there are very many dogs that don/t turn the speed up when scent allows & if they don/t they will for sure not catch many cats. I respect all breeds of hounds and believe all should hunt what they enjoy. For me a hound that is tight mouthed is not fun to hunt by themself, one or two in the pack helps to gauge the track. Al

[kickemall]

828 wrote,

As has been Stated by Houndsmen such as the Lee's, and Mr. Roy McBride..."It is Easy to Catch a Lion or Bear with Bobcat Hounds; but not so easy to catch a Bobcat with Lion or Bear Hounds".

JMO!

Thats definitely not my experience. If you truly believe this I welcome you to come out and put your cat dogs on a few bear and see how many get caught. I've seen a lot of dogs that can catch either bear or bobcat equally well but to say its "easy" to catch bear with bobcat dogs is foolish.

[Dads dogboy]

Kickemall,

I am pretty sure it is against the Law to Run Bear in CA.

Just repeating what was stated by them who should KNOW!

[kickemall]

Kickemall,

I am pretty sure it is against the Law to Run Bear in CA.

Just repeating what was stated by them who should KNOW!

Theres that "put up or shut up" thing you were talking about in another post. I'm well aware of the laws in California but just because I live here doesn't mean its the only place I hunt. I'm sure there are a lot closer places for you to put your cat dogs on bear and see for yourself.

[al baldwin]

zzz

[pistol]

This subject could go on FOREVER without anybody agreeing on anything haha. There are just to many variables in it plan and simple. In my opion you can't compare a running dog or hound from oregon to one from texas or utah or montana etc.... Even the game your chasing is different. Oregon has some of the best cat hunting in the world. They catch 50-70 cats a season. Any dog that has that much exposer to catching that many cats is going to be good. You take that pack of dogs to the dry and hot state of texas and you ain't going to catch that many i guarantee it. I bought a finshed b/t from Tennessee and i had to practically retrain her. Same with hunting cats in montana. Hell you got to find a track first and when u do You usally have to look in a tree for hours before u even see the cat. Are trees are tall and brushy. You go hunt over the mountain in eastern montana and they tree in brush and 10ft pines. A guy would be stupid to challenge a guy from another state. The master cat hunters of Northwest montana only catch 10-15 bobcats a year. There egos are even bigger than the guys in oregon that catch that many in a week lol. Of coarce there going to put there hound up against your running dog...cause there's none here! Guess the moral to my babbling is that every state holds different situations in treeing game. The climate is different, the dogs are different and the cats/bears are different. Running dog or hound, each will succeed in there own climate and can't be compared from one state to another in my opion.

[Dads dogboy]

Pistol,

VERY WELL SAID!

Hope to read more Posts from you in the Future!

[Spot]

I dont believe dogs know what state they are born in or what climates they are suppose to excel or fail in. I believe people and their theory's put limitations on dogs and they never see what a dog is really capable of.

[oneguy828]

Bears. Wow that's a touchy subject on here. What I think is bears are a wonderful evaluator of a dogs toughness. You can run two bears a day for weeks on end if you want. There availability makes them a wonderful tool to evaluate feet, physical toughness, mental toughness and a few other things that contribute very well to a bobcat bred hound. Look what mike kemp did... Locating, cold trailing, lose pickups are evaluators from bobcat races. Use all these as tools to help breed a better hound. If you emphasize bobcat traits and dedicate yourself this seems a good way to breed BETTER hounds. There is no single way to evaluate toughness better than on a bear in my opinion. Like mike kemp did. Worked wonderfully for him. Seems that you guys are fond of them too. Wonder how he measured there toughness?

[Tim Pittman]

'' Following the cat around''!... A top catdog of any breed does not do this, they run to catch!! Have to catch before they need to locate or tree, hopefully we all agree on this???

Tim it is interesting how terms take on different meanings in different areas. In Great Lakes areas I hunted "run to catch had nothing to do with the tree. It meant literally run to Catch. If we did not have a dog trying to stop the cat on the ground we never saw the cat. There are many good cat dogs in the west that run to tree. Those type dogs will not show you many cats where cats seldom tree.

Exactly David-- we're talking the same lingo.

Tim a dog has to have scent enough to allow them to get their head up and run before they can do that. There are cats who make that very hard to do, not always impossible, but very hard. Any time cats are treed and shot out with a paint gun as example, some are going to become dog wise and learn to keep a distance between them and the hounds, especially if one likes open trailing hounds. And as regular as some of the cats in this area are dogged they better become dog wise or they are going to have a short life span. Just my experience. Al

Al, we are talking the same thing, what I'm saying is there's differences in how long and how much they need/have to keep the head down, and how fast they're moving.