Hunts I remember. Al Baldwin.

[lawdawgharris]

That’s a real good story. Tree or not, Oak was having a blast. I’m real disappointed you couldn’t remember those other two dogs names though, lol.


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[al baldwin]

After thinking on those other two dogs Dave had on that hunt one was a mostly white walker looking female named queen, queen was very coon footed but a very hard tree dog. The other was a male named hammer, hammer was a litter mate to tiny and split. Their damn was Dave/s pride & joy a female named banjo. We had a cougar tag and harvested the cougar, and was very lucky, were a long distance from where dogs started that cougar, but were treed on a ridge with a down hill pull to a another road. Dave and I pulled the cougar to the road then walked back to the rig to get Oak. Recall Oak saying now boys that is a real Tom. Oak caught a greyhound bus a few days later and returned to Indiana, with a bunch of pictures he was very proud of. Another interesting part of that hunt, Dave said that was the third tree, the cougar had been in, the cougar was very low in a short tree, the dogs were standing back a ways, cougar was very irritated and letting the dogs know it. Dave only had a 22 single action pistol and was sure glad when I arrived at the tree, Dave & I enjoyed a lot of good hunts and some not so good over the years. Al

[lawdawgharris]

Those old hunting buddies are the best! I have one that I guarantee I can call from anywhere anytime and he’ll be there to help me out.

I was kidding about you not remembering those dogs names lol. I should’ve known you knew them. It’s pretty neat that you had three litter mates on that hunt.

Those down hill drags are nice. I remember years and years ago before we hunted off of 4 wheelers or side by sides, when we tied hogs we would put a large stick through their legs and two of us would pack them out on our shoulder. We only did this with the larger hogs that were worth getting out. Me being taller than most everyone else was nice. The hogs would swing back and forth and of course work their way down hill towards the other person so that they were actually carrying most of the load. It took a while for them to figure that one out lol.


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[al baldwin]

This hunt took place in the mid eighties, traveled about 12 mile out to an area where knew there was a hard running bobcat that had eluded my dogs a few times more than like to admit. Dog hunt that day was a female named tiny who ran a bobcat about as good as anything I had ever hunted, her littermate male split and a young male I bought as a pup out of Dohoney/s Boone. The Boone male had started a little slower than expected but had treed a nice tom bobcat cat on his own when he split off from the pack a few day before this hunt. Did not take long to get this bobcat going and has usual was staying out in front of the dogs making it difficult to get a tight jump. After an half hour or so the Boone male that I called Jake, got a tight jump jump on the cat and was really pushing that track. Those dogs crossed very near me and went straight down to the river, Jake was in front and sounding like he was looking at the cat. Then Jake locate and was treeing hard, made my way to the tree, found dogs treed on a large Alder that leaned over the river. Plain to see no bobcat in that alder, has I pondered the situation noticed a large alder on the opposite side of the river leaned within several feet of the alder those dogs were treeing on. There was a bridge near that put the dogs and I on the opposite side of the river in a matter of minutes. Dogs & I make our way to that alder on the opposite side of the river, dogs took a trailing track away from that alder and trailed it for about an hour but were never able to get the cat jumped again. Do believe those dogs caught that cat in a culvert a few weeks later. Al

[Beebout-it]

Those educated cats are so fun at times but also absolutely hair pulling frustrating as well!

[lawdawgharris]

Smart quarry makes smart dogs smarter. The dumb ones never learn, lol.


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[al baldwin]

A friend & I had spent about six hours roading & boxing the hounds, had gotten a few smells but hounds were unable to work those into a jump. Decided to check one last high point crossing before calling it a day. Had roaded the dogs up a very steep mile long dirt road to the crossing where the hounds exploded and charged out a ridge for a couple hundred yards or so, the track seem to end and some of the dogs came charging back to where they had started the track. With no real locator in this pack of young dogs, friend said, Shoot all of these sorry sobs and start over. Then said going out here and tree that cougar for these dog. I was a little shocked, when he did just that, not only was it a cougar, but, also I believe it to be the largest one I ever saw. After admiring we walk away leaving that big cat to keep eating deer. If we were looking for a cougar, could spend weeks and never find one & if you don/t have a legal damage complaint permit wise thing to do.

[lawdawgharris]

Lol, Al I understand his frustrations. I think we all can. He knew what he was seeing though. I don’t know what caliber dog man he was, but it sure sounds like he was a good hunter.


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[al baldwin]

He is a very good hunter and has a big heart. Those young dogs were in no danger of being shot. My thoughts were they had treed a bobcat, as we had never started a cougar at that crossing.

[sheba]

Al, what type of dog have you found best for where you hunt?

[al baldwin]

Sheba, that is a good question. Have seen good dogs in several different breeds, never saw a perfect one. I like dogs that are open mouth, however dogs that are tight mouthed will sure make catching some bobcats easier. If a dog has a good nose, moves a cold scent, runs to catch when jumped, locates and trees, those worked best for me.

[Beebout-it]

My best bobcat dog is getting so very old(12 I believe) and runs completely silent until she is breathing the same air as the cat, when she was young I only ran her alone on bobcats and thought it was the coolest thing because I was out to shoot bobcats. Now I’d rather listen to a great race and all the dogs get to go even if we get whipped at least the dogs are getting exposed to running both feline species I hunt. I definitely think a dog running silent shortens a bobcat race.

[lawdawgharris]

I have a question for you hound guys. Al you have lots of years of experience obviously. Do y’all think that the colder track working dogs are slower than the hotter nosed dogs? I realize a cold track is a slower go, but once it’s worked up where the hotter nosed dogs are working it too, do you think there is any correlation between the nose and track driving speed? Or do you think the colder nosed dogs are faster on that warmer track?

Back in the day, the old long eared, real lippy, track straddlers had a reputation for being stuck in second gear. I know hounds have evolved, I just wondered if that stigma was still attached to them or if there was ever any real merit to it in the first place.


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[al baldwin]

I do not believe a dog being cold nosed has any thing to do with track speed once the critter is jumped. That has just been my experience.

[Beebout-it]

I agree with Al , I believe it’s about the desire to catch the game. Some dogs just never learn to pick their head up and run that hot track to catch instead of being content to keep track straddling and plugging along never actually gaining any ground on the critter. It’s not a huge deal if your chasing lions but bobcats and bears those dogs gotta switch from grinding to flat getn after it constantly tree the hard running game. Most of the time when I see a dog someone deems “hot nosed” I disagree that the dogs nose is insufficient but usually find it’s just it’s determination to put in the extra work it takes to grind that cold track, instead they move out to find a hotter easier track instead.