cold nosed bobcat dogs

[Old dog]

with snow, you know there is a cat track because you can see it. in the dirt, the dog has to tell you there is a cat track. snow has its draw backs and pluses. so does dirt. scent conditions play a big part no matter how you hunt. perfect snow is hard to come by but when you have it,,,,the oods are stacked way in you're favor and you will always be whishing you had more. jmo

[GCLeps]

Thanks for all the comments and posts I really enjoy reading yalls perspective on this. Like I said I'm not a cat hunter but have treed several. One of my older dogs treed 5 bobcats 4 of these five was asleep in the tree when I got to it. I always felt that this dog cold trailed them but didn't know how old of a track it was there was no snow on any of them. I did find gut piles from deer hunters and figured the cats were feeding on them then go and take a nap. Lol! All these cats were treed at night because I was coon hunting.

[merlo_105]

GCLeps, Where are you Located in West Virginia and where are you chasing them Bobcats? Done a lot of hunting in WV hunted mostly the Wild life Management are's around stonewall Jackson and Stone Coal. Some hunting around rock cave and Cheat mountain. Just curious...

[GCLeps]

They was treed in Bluestone WMA and New River Gorge. I've hunted these areas most my life we don't have an abundance of cats. I also have hunted Greenbrier County on private land.

[GCLeps]

Most of these areas have access by foot only. You can drive into them but then have to walk Bluestone WMA I think is 10 mile from one end to the other. Treed a bobcat on the gorge about three weeks ago while coon hunting. I've been rigging one of my dogs on coon he struck cut him loose on what I thought was a coon he trailed for about 120yds then jumped it. I knew then I wasn't chasing a coon they run about 700yds and put it on a cliff took me 2 1/2 hrs to get to them it was rough going but enjoyed every minute of it. These dogs I have seem to have a knack for it but I don't have time to cat hunt because I have to work. Again thanks for the posts I really enjoy reading them.

[easttntrapper]

Been through the New River Gorge area a lot. Rough country for sure.

[Nolte]

I'm kinda late to the party and agree with most that's been said. Got just a couple things to add.

Sometimes in snow having that visual track is a hinderance. A dog that uses his eyes will spot out any and all tracks and go check them all out. Really slows down the process when a cat has been round and round in an area. Dogs just seem to find the out quicker with no snow.

As for age of tracks, seen some day plus jumped and some hours old not depending on conditions. I just put a dog I think can take it or not and roll the dice. I think a better factor for success would be the distance after that track was made. The closer the better. Every step that cat makes is one that let's it get away. Lots of stuff can happen on a track and derail any success.

[Cowboyvon]

The sense of smell is modulated somewhat by environmental factors, including pressure, humidity and temperature, but it is tricky to separate a direct effect on the sensitivity of olfactory nerves, for example, from the effects these same factors can have on the particulates and gasses that are being detected by the nose.

There does seem to be evidence that the sense of smell is better under higher pressure rather than lower, at warmer rather than colder temperatures, and at higher rather than lower humidity levels. Whether a pressure of 30.00 inches of mercury is a common threshold for noticing an improvement in hunting dog sensitivity, I don't know, but 30 inches is at least a little ways on the high side of "standard" sea level pressure of 29.92.

Just the same, it may be ancillary effects. I would guess most of the hunting you do is fairly early in the morning. If that's right, it is worth considering that pressures on the high end are often associated with light winds, fair skies and morning temperature inversions that inhibit vertical as well as horizontal mixing and dilution of gasses and particulates being emitted by a source of interest. So the concentration of an odor being sought/tracked by your dogs might remain higher over a given period of time than it would when pressures are lower and there may be a storm system nearby with clouds, some wind and and a more mixed atmosphere boundary layer.
Barometric pressure is the force per unit area exerted in all directions by the air at any given point. For example, the average sea level pressure amounts to about 14.7 pounds per square inch (equivalently expressed as 29.92 inches Hg or 1013.25 millibars). It is proportional to the "weight" of all the air in a vertical column above that location up to the top of the atmosphere. The amount of air in the column depends on the elevation of the observer (lower for someone in a plane 5000 feet above your head than at the ground, for example), the balance of air flowing into and out of that column through the depth of the atmosphere, and the temperature and humidity of the air through the depth of that column. It is measured with a barometer.

So here you go... this means on a good day we can trail an overnight track on a bad day we can't hardly trail at all ... but most of the time we fall somewhere in between

I need to get out on the mountain again

[1bludawg]

Cowboyvon ,that's good information but who were you quoting there?

[Cowboyvon]

Mike Moss some weather guy.... You know I'm no expert but conditions are everything here.. and I'm not always sure what makes the best conditions.. But what I do know is my hounds can't trail anything while I'm here on the computer and they are in there pens.. and I have had to be here a lot more then I want to lately

[merlo_105]

So what make's a cold nosed dog? Is it his nose or the drive to make something happen with little scent?

[catdog360]

Merlo, its the dogs ability to use his nose and his desire to drive his track.
IMO its the dogs desire and heart along with a ton of experience.

Not real sure if that makes sense.

Mic O'Brien

[merlo_105]

Catdog360, That's my exact thought's as well. Was just wondering what other's thought.

[al baldwin]

Experience & desire play an important part for sure, but I believe some dogs are born colder nosed than others. I have owned some dogs with a ton of desire, however, they had to wait for the colder nosed dog to advance the track before that desire could be used. I believe a good cold nose with the brains to match that nose, makes for a good cat dog. Just my opinion. Al

[catdog360]

In my opinion, I believe all dogs can smell the same. Some have a genetic trait to want to work out a tough track. Some have more desire to work a tough track. And some are lazy and want to piggyback on other dogs until their overwhelming desire to catch the game takes over. I think a dog can have the heart to catch every critter its turned lose on but not have the heart to work hard at it.
Let's say there's a big 6 point bull out there and you and a buddy both want it. You both can't stop thinking about it. Now you know he's in this canyon so you are gonna look everywhere for him, leaving no bush over looked. You buddy knows you are pushing the brush but feels the bull will feed out into a clearing, so he sets up and waits for you to push him out. You both have the heart and desire for the animal, but one works harder for him. Who gets the bull, well that's hunting, sometimes the guy putting all the miles on doesn't get him and the guy setting up does.

This all made sense in my head, I hope you can see how I look at things.

Mic O'Brien