silent bobcat dogs

[spruce mountain]

There is alot of talk about bobcat dogs but not much said about dogs that run silent or tight mouthed.I would just like to hear your opinions.THANKS

[Mike Leonard]

Although I don't like a silent dog, I must admit that dogs that are tight mouthed generally work a bit better on bobs especially if the cat has been run before. I have seen a few bobcat dogs that got smart to this and even though they were pretty open dogs on a lion or bear, they would cut back on the mouth working a cat track. some say they are cutting back because the bobcat gives off a lot less scent. That may be in some caases, but some of those dogs seem to figure it out.

[U.R.E.]

I had a dog that was silent on a cat track but was a bang up tree dog. I like Mike, didn't like him because he would get out on the other dogs, make a loose and would be there by himself trying to work it out. The rest of the pack wouldn't know he got out on them. I would always say he "stold the track". The advantage was he would get up on a cat before the cat would start walking, surprising the cat.

[R Severe]

The late bronc rider Kent Cooper told me he liked silent dogs on the track for the lava feilds in Idaho. He thought they were the only ones that could catch bobs in the lava.

[Gary Roberson]

I can see where a silent mouth dog might be pretty productive on cats but I will be dang if I want one. The reason that I go, is to hear the dogs work a track.
Years ago, Phil Lyne told me that a bawl mouth dog would not spook game like an excited, yacky chop mouth dogs. I guess his Dad and some of the other Old Timers shared this with him and observing dogs with different types of mouths, agree. The same is true with cow dogs, a heavy chop mouth dog does not spook or excite these old wild brahman cattle like a yacky mouth dog. We had an old Leopard cowdog that must have had a hound not too far back there for he had a bawl mouth. I can remember the different way that cattle responded to him than they did to some of the other yacky mouth dogs.
As Mike knows, there are a ton of whitetail deer in this area. All of my hounds have bawl mouths and the deer simply do not spook from them when they are trailing. I have watched these dogs trail within 50 yards of deer that are feeding and the deer will simply pick up their heads and prick their ears toward the racket.

[Mike Leonard]

Robin,

I have hunted them in those lava rock piles or malpais field like we have here in New Mexico and they will drive you nuts. I can see whre a silent dog that could slip in on them and thern blow them real hard and knock the wind out of them might sure help.

Gary,
Like Phil said I have noticed the same think a low droning bawl type dog doesn't really rattle game much, but you get one of them coyotee mouthed screamers and holy smokes it will fire everything up including the other dogs if they are not use to it. I have seen some hell roaring trash races started by throwing old screamer in there as a new comer. LOL!


Bobcats have 37 different muscles in their ears, and their hearing is unbleivable . The literally can hear a mouse pissing in a cottonball a football field away. So they usually know a dog is coming even by the footbeats and the vibration on the ground it is just how it sets them off that matters I guess.

A friend of mine was in a ground blind in
Africa setting by a bait tree. Just before dark a huge tom leapard came in. Jim said they didn't make a sound and they had the wind right and he was all set to go with his model 70 on a bi-pod. He carefully reached up and moved the three postion winchester safety to the fire position. It hardly could be hear in the blind but instantly that cat snapped his head around and looked directly at that rifle, 110 yard away. Lucky for Jim the cat couldn't outrun a 180 gr. Barnes X out of the 06 so he has him mounted today in his living room, but those cats have got amazing hearing!

[three rivers catahoulas]

I'm kinda new into bobcat huntin (just started trying to make a bobcat dog) What do ya think about a Catahoula runnin Bob's. On a hot track in the snow I think they'd do fairly well. I think the main battle would be trying to get'em to look up. But I have a young gyp that is 3/4 Catahoula & 1/4 Plott I'm gonna try her on bobs this year.

[Mike Leonard]

I don't think the tree should be a problem with the cathoulas Ihave been around. I know this old widow woman that had brought a strain of them up here from east Texas. Now let me tell you them was that craziest dogs you can imagine. She had one glass eyed bitch that was so bench legged and sway back she didn't look like she could move fast enough to scatter her own crap, but she killed every wild cat on the place. And she would stayed treed for hours and had a very annoying voice too boot. Well she was always wanting me to take one of those pups and throw it in there with my lion and cat dog and see how it would do . We hunt pretty dry country and it never really had the nose to do much of it's own trailing on anything but a jumped track but it would go with them and it would run, tree and fight a buzz saw. I sold it to a bear hunter and he did real good with the dog on bear and really liked him but he messed him up by letting a guy shoot a bear right over him with a great big high powered rifle and it gun shied him for life. He never did like loud noises and he would run in his house and hide when a thunderstorm came up. But he would darn sure tree on a cat.

[three rivers catahoulas]

I'm gonna try her, I have only had one Catahoula that would tree, and shed stay treed for a little while then would just lay down under it, she never went no were, but I'll tell ya what she would eat the ass out of a bear if it tryed to come out. But shes the only one I have ever had that showed any tree, but I haven't ran that much game with'em that tree's either, she was a dog I would cut in if we had one that didn't want to tree, cause like ya said, she'd fight a buzz saw, I also have a pup here out of my Dan dog, she's 1/2 Plott 1/2 Catahoula, now she tree's like a mad dog, I might try her on Bobcat to, she runs Lion just fine. The problem I had last year was the Bobcat out smartin my dogs LOL

[Mike Leonard]

Well the plott will only help them. Like my old friend Dale Bradenburger use to say, you don't have to teach a duck to swim and you don't have to teach a plott to tree.

[spruce mountain]

Thanks for the input guys,the reason i asked is because last year my father bought a cat dog that was doing a good job on trailing them but wasnt much of a tree dog. So i decided to run one of my bear dogs with her that is a real good tree dog but doesent open until you jump them.I ran them on two cats together and we treed them both, which is kind of rare up here, he seemed to be even tighter mouthed on cats.The other dog gives about as much mouth as the track is worth.It seemed like the silent dog would get ahead of her as they were running and he has a booming mouth and when he opened the cats would tree right up like he surprised them.We new this because it happened right in front of us.I agree that it is no fun to listen to a silent dog trail,but it is fun to walk in to a bobcat in a tree.

[Gary Roberson]

Between my Great Uncle, Everett Outlaw and myself, we always had 8 or 10 Catahoulas or Cur dogs that we used to work cattle. I did not like them for coon and cats even though they would run and tree with my hounds and fight a circle saw. They could not work an old track and would go find something that they could run and were not very particular...any deer, javelina or wild hog. Next thing I would know, I would have my young dogs pulling out and going with the hot race. I know that there are no doubt strains of Catahoulas that would tree cats but mine were much better suited as cow dogs. They were also the "hard headedest" bunch I ever saw. We all carried bull whips, not so much for the brahman cattle, more to make the dogs mind. One good cowdog was worth three good men horseback.

[three rivers catahoulas]

I have never had a problem with any of my Catahoulas not being able to work a track, and in my experance they havent been real bad trashy dogs, come to think of it I have only had a few deer races(cyote is a nother story LOL) but they never really paid that much attention to deer, and like I said only had one that would ever tree, I love the breed and I will say one thing for'em you cant beat'em if the game is on the ground, I dont think there is another breed out there that can do what they do, as far as keeping game stoped on the ground, I have found them easy to work with and handle, if I had to put them in a catagory of intelagence, they would be right up there with a Border Collie and the Heeler's. And your right they are some of the best cow dogs alive, as long as you have cattle as rough as they are. I run cattle on a bunch of state land and gather for a few ranchers every year and you cant beat them for pullin yearlins out of the manzanita and the scrubs around here.

[sdred]

I have a catahula that i hunt with once in a while and your absolutly right she is intellegent, sometimes to a fault if i take her alone she will use her nose and track if I take her with my redbone she will wait and let her use her nose track jump and then she will join in. She does tree and will keep better eye contact with what is treed then my hounds she barks really not a bay but there again if she is buy herself you have to find her treed if she is with the other dogs she might just find you and think she neads to lead you to the tree. It's funny she will come out of the trees look at you bark wag her tail and take back off kind of reminds me of Lazzie. She does hunt a little close for me but that is just what type of dog she is, not what breed she is.