bobcats or lions in the evening

[Drytrail]

Do any of you have experience hunting at night or rigging for cats in the late afternoon or dark.I run or exercise my hounds in the evening this time of year do to the heat.After we are finisined I always put my rig dog up top for the ride out and often get a rig or two on the way out when darkness is getting close. Thier exercise sessions are always done on moutain rodes just in case somthing may have crossed.Also runnable tracks are getting a little hard to find this summer and I would like to know if any of you dirt hunters think it mite be productive to wate until after a good rain to hunt and find tracks.I am still new to this dirt stuff but experienced such success this spring and am not ready to give them a rest yet.Not looking to put up any record numbers just more tips on keepin them out a little longer,no body hunts the dirt up here and I have the hills to myself.I gues thats wy I made the switch in the first place.Mind you all that summer coditions are very arid in my part of NV and the rains are few.But it seems when there is sum moisture we do as good as in the snow.I know look forward to a lite drizzle of rain just as I used to for a few inches of fresh powder.All of your thoughts will be much looked foward to.

[larry]

I hunt snow, but have been told that the dryer and hotter, the better the scent, Greg Anderson is the one who gave me that piece of advice, and he would know

[bency]

maybe because any track your going to be able to trail, is going to have to be with in the hour for those kind of conditions...jmo

[PIGLET]

ok drytail don't tell anyone but i'll let you in on a secret. The more you hunt the better your dogs will be and if your in the woods u have a chance of catching something.. I guarantee you will not catch anything sitting on the couch. In certain conditions your odds go down but if you keep unhooking them, there is always a chance things may go your way.. I am a sissy and only hunt when conditions are in my favor, and i can live with that. The legends try all the time and one in bad conditions is like 90% in good conditions, you will be one of the few to do it but the hours you put in will be many but the satisfaction great..

[Drytrail]

Goddamn gump thanks for the news flash piglet.My hounds get hunted a least 5 to 6 times a month and exercise a four mile loop twice a week so my ass is'nt in the couch that often but thanks for that info.Nore am I concerned about thier ability in favorable conditions as they have put up many under conditions were most hounds are still in the pen. I hunt off my feet with my dogs with me every step of the way so being a sissy is not one of my options.I am simply looking for some opinions on hunting hot and arid country not the rain forests in Washington.My dogs have been put down on many blind riggs and produced just not at night.The hot conditions here take one hell of a toll on the dogs used and I am wondering what tips someone with experience has.We caught a good tom lion just two weeks ago the morning after a good rain but by the time he was caught the temps were in the 80's and the white foam he had coming from his mouth was a good indicator of how hot it was.Just wondering how some combat the heat and still hunt productivly.I know of many good houndsmen in Wash but comparing the hunting conditions of that country and the high desert that I have to hunt may have very differnt results.

[Dan Edwards]

drytail, does your puss hurt

I think you took the gents comment way the wrong way.

[Mike Leonard]

The evening can be a very productive time for either bobs or lions. I have found as a general rule unless it is really hot like it is here now,about an hour before dark they really start to stir. Problem is in this country trying to run them at night is a dang good way to break your neck. there is very little level ground and with the wash outs, cuts holes canyons and such.

Greg has a point in the dry message. I wouldn't say the drier the better because there has to be some moisture to help absorb scent molecules or they will disapate very quickly, unless distributed on a porous or abrasive surface such as rock or log. STABLE is the key word.Sure scenting will be better after a rain, but if it warms up quickly or the sun comes out on it quickly the scent will lift off just like steam rising and in a little bit you will have no track at all. the very best dry ground conditions excist when there is some ground moisture below the surface, but the surface of the ground is stable enough to support long lasting scent. Then if you have moderate swings in temperature that also help. If it gets down nearly to freezing at night but then warms way up in the day that is really hard on a track the later the day gets.

We have had days in the high 90's here lately but being high in elevation we still get pretty cool night 50-60's. Although I don't care to hunt in this heat I do seem to get some livestock problem calls each year around this time. It is extreemly important to get a good start on these tracks, and capitalize on every minute you can with the temperature as low as possible. Dehydration in dogs is eminant in this type of hunting and you must pack water. Camel back hydration systems, canteens, and a mister bottle where you can spray the mist on the dog's underside. Even take a rag and wet it and cool the dogs paws. Dogs carry a lot of heat in their feet and you will notice when it is really hot they like to get there feet into a bucket or anything with water or cool dirt to bring their body temperature down a little. Dogs normal temperature runs over 100 degrees so they can flat burn up if you don't watch out it.

[PIGLET]

drytail you took my comments the wrong way, I live in eastern washington which if you have been to alot of arid landscape not the rain forest of the western part of the state.. all I was saying is wether its morning or evening or night, turn them loose you never know, I have caught game when i thought conditions would be horrible and couldn't catch some when i thought it was a perferct. I would bet you have great dogs and I'm not knocking you. I just think the dogs are the only ones able to tell you with great honesty if they can run it in those conditions.

[Drytrail]

Piglet your second post sounds alot better and I apolagize for my snap back.My point is my dogs spend a ton of time in the hills and are for sure better for it.I will trail just about anything anywere,my biggest concern is my hounds getting in a run succesful or not.I love putting up a good tom in the dirt and that is about the only condition I care to hunt now,but it those long bawls of my dogs working a tuff track that keeps me coming back not the cats.Dan I think you should concentrate on your own puss and not worry about mine.This was between me and piglet and it got resolved.No need to stick your nose in it.Mike thank you for your insight your advice has always helped.Do you thik you could touch alittle more on the dirt conditions you mentioned and how long you think a track can stay runnable.Right now it is getting in the high 80's low 90's then tappering off to around high 50's low 60's at night.Temps in the late afternoon or just before dark usally low 70's.I have dummep out in the late after noon before on dirt and caught game but never had to go mutch into the evening.Although I did use the late afternoon tactic a couple of years ago in the snow to catch a trick tom.We had chased this tom three times previous to this in the early moring hours but when it warmed up the dogs would quit it.Finally I Decided to run the canyon he kept crossing every couple hours.Around 4:30 that evening he finally did it and was treed a short hour later along with a yearling female that took one of my hounds much deeper into the timber.I tagged the tom and got what dogs were left back to the rig.Bought 2:30 in the moring I finally reached the tree of the second lion in a total white out.Man that was one hell of a run but I was still proud of that hard headed b&t bitch that caught the second lion.My hunting partener on the other had figured I was slightly obsesed with the game and said never again.

[Ike]

Drytrail,

I've ran down a few bears in the evening hours, some of those trees I made before dark, some after dark, some were still treed in the morning, and others the dogs quit and came to the road. A guy always thinks hot rig, quick jump and if you're lucky a close tree. But as you can well imagine things don't always go your way......

Lions can and do move different times of the day, as many have been seen in the middle of the day crossing a road. However, I always figured most start their travels in the late afternoon or evening when the temperature starts to fall. Those kind of tracks can be hard to push at daylight, and many of the easy, quick catches are probably accomplished because the track that was started or caught was most likely in the middle of the night or early morning hours.

But you're right, a guy could and can rig a moving, fresh tom lion track two or three hours before dark and jump that cat in no time flat....just gotta have some luck is all.

I had a bear hunter in a few years back and we got one hell of a hard rig probably two hours before dark one evening. So we pondered over whether to dump or not. I told my hunting partner, "if it's a sow we'll tree her right here in the bottom of this canyon somewhere up the river, but it's a boar we're in for a long night." A lion (as you know) isn't gonna run far after the jump and a track like that is caught in no time.

It sounds like you and those dogs are having fun, so keep them working and in the field.......

I went out today and bumped a lion about an hour after daylight, then put a couple dogs down and moved it down the road severl hundred yards before I quit the track. After returning to the truck, I drove on down the road and the dogs roared where that lion left. I put them down and let'em trail a mile or so but the track wasn't very good so I called them off. It's too hot here to enjoy a cold lion trail and I can't imagine how it would be there. But what it gets back to is the age of the track, had that been a morning track the dogs would have burned it down like a fresh bear run.

Best Regard,
ike

[Drytrail]

Ike the dogs are much better than I ever could have hoped for.As you know I dumped a ton of money on the two of them and that did not sit well with my loving and mostly understanding wife.So I did it any ways and hoped for the best and that is what has happened.It is damn hot here right now and I think the dogs are looking forward to the up coming bow hunt for a big muley when they will finally get a rest.Your reconmendation on the tri tronics trash breaker has improved my hunting and enjoyment ten full.So as long as there are now hoove prints around or claw marks in the tracks they get turned loose cause I know if shit goes south I can get them back.Tracks can be very difficult to make out around here and sometimes hardly visible if at all.So the trash breaker is a god sent to me.It has turned my hounds into well mannered and easy to handle pack.I have been working with my walker dog Kate on her bobcat obsession and I think she is strarting to get the point.Thow I think she will help out my gas bill this next season with fur prices still on the rise.

[Ike]

Glad to hear it Drytrail, congrats!

I had a buddy of mine at a bear tree with me this past spring and six dogs under that bear. When we got ready to go, I walked down to my camera pack and put it on then called all six dogs off that tree. They fell in line and made a bee line for the old man.


Well, my buddy ran hounds for over twenty-five years and probably killed more than his share of tom lions for clients. So he says, darn I would have liked to video that scene for you of those dogs coming off the tree after you called them. I said no problem, and told them to go get back on the wood and they did. My buddy got the camera rolling and I called them to me again and he bout died.....then said, why wasn't I that smart when I was running hounds?

There isn't any doubt that tri-troncis has made a product that will and has helped a lot of hounddoggers get their dogs handling. Anytime a guy can call his dogs off the wood on a bear tree and have them follow him out ain't nothing wrong with that.

Gonna hit the hay, later..........

ike