bobcat dogs

[Dan Edwards]

I know this has probably been hashed over and rehashed a thousand times but do any of yall feel like maybe, just maybe you are using the wrong type of dog to catch these critters with? Has it ever crossed your mind that maybe you need to switch types and go with something maybe a little less conventional in order that you might increase your catch percentages? Let me know your thoughts, MY BROTHERS. HAHAHA!

[Arkansas Frog]

GO CUR

[Dan Edwards]

Are you being serious, Frog? If you is could you explainatiate and shit for me my brother.

[Mr.pacojack]

Dan I don't think that the dog is the biggest problem catching a bobcat. Most bobcat races I have seen from other houndsmen, I would say they messed it up not the dogs. Most hound hunters try and run a bobcat like a lion and it just doesn't work as well and nine times out of ten you wont catch one that way.
Another problem I have seen that I will blame on the dogs but the problem could be corrected by the owner, and that is dogs treeing loose at the tree. If there are dogs treeing loose at the tree and a bobcat can see an opening he will jump Just my oppinion I don't like to comment too often on these subjects because usually there is someone sitting at these coputers all day, everyday 24/7 that knows much more about hunting than I do. You know the ones....caught a 7 day old lion in 110 degree wheather and back drinking coffee by 7 in the morning.

[Hipshooter]

Dan,
There is a lot of difference in catching bobcats, its the part of the country u live in.
If u live in snow country it is a lot different hunting than say south tex.
The dry south country is high population cats, which makes training a lot
easier. Dogs have to be super fast on track to make a cat make a mistake. Every one knows what kind of dogs to use here. Some people say the fast dogs won,t tree, that is not right, some will tree very good.
When u can hunt cats 24/7 year around, that is a lot different than if u just get one bob cat permit a year like some states do.
If I had to go out & look for a bobcat track, & only find one once in a while I probably would,t own any dogs.
Bobcats are sometimes hard to start even in high population country.
I have roaded for hours sometimes & dogs could not find a track to open on. Some times u think the dogs are worthless, but they can,t run a track if the track is not there.
Some facts about bobcats that I have learned over the years.
I talked to a biologest that lived in south tex. He had spent a lifetime
studing bobcats.
He trapped them, hunted them with dogs, kept them in cages & collected the urion to sell to trappers & even collared some & tracked them.
He said the reason that bobcats are hard to find & start is, that a bobcat does not travel but 4 hours a day, he spends the other 20 hrs in one place sleeping & waiteing for a rabbit or mouse to come buy. He will be in a rabbit jungle just waiting for a meal. This does not leave much track for the dogs to find.
The only time this is not true is when they are starving or breeding season.
Another thing if the track is not 30 min or less the dogs cant run it in the dry country.
Cat hunting has become very popular where the CRP land that the gov
permoted in the late 1980,s There were very few cat in these places as it was all farm land, but it has been 25 years in tall grass & the cats have expanded to a huntable population now. The only thing want a be cat hunters can,t afford the high priced bobcat dogs to get started.
To get started u have to save some money & bite the bullet & buy a couple of good dogs to get started.
U just can,t run cats with cheap junk dogs, it just don,t work.
After u buy the 2 good dogs it will take 3 or 4 years to finally get a pack togeather & start catching some cats.
If I was a young guy & wanted to start cat hunting & stay in it my life time I would do this.
First u have to live in good cat population area.
I would not even look at a dog to buy untill I could learn to trap them.
This might take a year & go to an experinced trapper for a week & learn how it is done, trapping cats is easy, but u have to know how.
Use cage traps not leg hold traps. Leg holds hurts the cats foot & u want the let the cat free after u have used him for traing & the cage trap u can
move the cat easy, getting a cat out of a leg hold is not fun.
Do your trapping along highways & places u canot run your dogs & bring the cat back to your best hunting grounds to train & release the cat.
This will build up the cat population in your best hunting country.
To start traing with the cages do this if u have pups that have never seen a cat, let them bay him only once in the cage. After that spray the cat with cat pi$$ & let he go. in a few minutes road your dogs up to where u turned the cat loose just like u were normal hunting & dogs should start him there, of course u need a least one old dog to get track going. Most of the cats will get away which is ok as you got maybe a 1/2 mile or more of traing.
Some times cat will go up tree or get caught on the ground. all this is good traing.
With 10 cage traps u should at least catch one cat a week.
As time goes on your dogs will improve untill u finally will start catching cats on a regular basis.
After u learn how to trap cats u are ready to get some dogs.
U will be surprised how fast your dogs will learn how to start a track & run it.
If u try to train your dogs with out this method it takes for ever & u have to have some good dogs to start with.
Once u get a pack going u have to keep traing pups every year if u don,t u are soon out of dogs & can,t catch a cat any more.
One mistake a want a be cat hunter makes is he won,t bear down on the trash running. Break dogs off coon just like u would a deer
Good hunting uall

[montananative]

Most hound hunters try and run a bobcat like a lion and it just doesn't work as well and nine times out of ten you wont catch one that way.

how do you run bobcats then if ya dont hunt em like lions?

[whoflungdung]

Good read Hipshooter. Thanks

[BEARCLAW]

THATS A LOT OF GOOD ADVICE HIPSHOOTER. THANKYOU FOR YOUR TIME.

[Geno]

Thanks hipshooter for taking the time to sread some of your ideas and save some of us lots of mistakes!! Just a quick question what kind of bait do u most comanlly use catching cats and do u ever run house cats in the same way?

[Hipshooter]

Used ditch lions very little.
They won,t run, can train treeing a little on them.
Live bait is the best for cats in cages.
Coyotes won,t go in cage, but u will catch a few coons till u get the local population caught up. Which might take a while as thick as they are in some places. U can train your cat dogs on the coons, that coon are a no no. I like my dogs to when they smell a coon they start going the other way.

[Clyde Lawson]

Don't fail to look at the genetics of dogs when you are attempting to make a trained bobcat dog.

My experience has convinced me that some lines of coon dogs are darn near impossible to make leave the coons alone. These dogs will run and tree a bobcat with my cat dogs, but if and when you make a lose on a cat track, they will switch over and tree a coon! Oops! The cat race will be over, messed up by treeing a coon.

I tried several in 2007(7 actually) young dogs from Treeing Walkers, Blueticks, and one B&T----ended up selling back to coon hunters, where they made good coon dogs today. But, not cat dogs.

Two of these young dogs, after 5-6 jump races on bobcats, would not go or open on them. Just wanted to run/tree coon.

Convinced that there are genetic breed lines that actually prefer cats(lion or bobcat) over other game. I have some from other cat hunters, as 6&7 month old pups that prefer cats or seem to anyway. Giving lots of mouth on track and treeing hard. Time will tell, but sure am looking forward to this Winter & Spring when I'm starting them in the field.

We have to use ferel cats in training because of State law in OK. But, with wetting the cat down and then spraying bobcat scent from Boatmens, I get along fairly well. And, your correct in that they will not run far, but will tree or catch on ground. About 4-5 times of this and young dogs seem to figure out what they are looking for anyway.

Thanks for reading,

cwl

[Hipshooter]

Amen Clyde,

[Dan Edwards]

Don't fail to look at the genetics of dogs when you are attempting to make a trained bobcat dog.

My experience has convinced me that some lines of coon dogs are darn near impossible to make leave the coons alone. These dogs will run and tree a bobcat with my cat dogs, but if and when you make a lose on a cat track, they will switch over and tree a coon! Oops! The cat race will be over, messed up by treeing a coon.

I tried several in 2007(7 actually) young dogs from Treeing Walkers, Blueticks, and one B&T----ended up selling back to coon hunters, where they made good coon dogs today. But, not cat dogs.

Two of these young dogs, after 5-6 jump races on bobcats, would not go or open on them. Just wanted to run/tree coon.

Convinced that there are genetic breed lines that actually prefer cats(lion or bobcat) over other game. I have some from other cat hunters, as 6&7 month old pups that prefer cats or seem to anyway. Giving lots of mouth on track and treeing hard. Time will tell, but sure am looking forward to this Winter & Spring when I'm starting them in the field.

We have to use ferel cats in training because of State law in OK. But, with wetting the cat down and then spraying bobcat scent from Boatmens, I get along fairly well. And, your correct in that they will not run far, but will tree or catch on ground. About 4-5 times of this and young dogs seem to figure out what they are looking for anyway.

Thanks for reading,

cwl

I agree. I can damn near guarantee that the line of coon dogs that my father has raised for the last 30 years would absolutley without a doubt never make a real cat dog. Reason being, they would rather tree coon than anything else. They dont like deer, yotes, fox or anything of the sort. They were bred to be coon dogs and thats what they are. Funny thing though, I have bred some females to a male dog or two in that line and they were as trashy as they get. I have also had some cur blood and cur type cross dogs that were trashy as hell on just about anything. I aint sayin thats what makes cat dogs but I do believe that good honest coon dog blood is not the answer to treeing cats. I think it might be a hell of a foundation but in my opinion there is an answer but nobody seems to want to look for it.

[Rockcreek]

Don't fail to look at the genetics of dogs when you are attempting to make a trained bobcat dog.

My experience has convinced me that some lines of coon dogs are darn near impossible to make leave the coons alone. These dogs will run and tree a bobcat with my cat dogs, but if and when you make a lose on a cat track, they will switch over and tree a coon! Oops! The cat race will be over, messed up by treeing a coon.

I tried several in 2007(7 actually) young dogs from Treeing Walkers, Blueticks, and one B&T----ended up selling back to coon hunters, where they made good coon dogs today. But, not cat dogs.

Two of these young dogs, after 5-6 jump races on bobcats, would not go or open on them. Just wanted to run/tree coon.

Convinced that there are genetic breed lines that actually prefer cats(lion or bobcat) over other game. I have some from other cat hunters, as 6&7 month old pups that prefer cats or seem to anyway. Giving lots of mouth on track and treeing hard. Time will tell, but sure am looking forward to this Winter & Spring when I'm starting them in the field.

We have to use ferel cats in training because of State law in OK. But, with wetting the cat down and then spraying bobcat scent from Boatmens, I get along fairly well. And, your correct in that they will not run far, but will tree or catch on ground. About 4-5 times of this and young dogs seem to figure out what they are looking for anyway.

Thanks for reading,

cwl

I agree. I can damn near guarantee that the line of coon dogs that my father has raised for the last 30 years would absolutley without a doubt never make a real cat dog. Reason being, they would rather tree coon than anything else. They dont like deer, yotes, fox or anything of the sort. They were bred to be coon dogs and thats what they are. Funny thing though, I have bred some females to a male dog or two in that line and they were as trashy as they get. I have also had some cur blood and cur type cross dogs that were trashy as hell on just about anything. I aint sayin thats what makes cat dogs but I do believe that good honest coon dog blood is not the answer to treeing cats. I think it might be a hell of a foundation but in my opinion there is an answer but nobody seems to want to look for it.

Dan- Some people may have found it... and they just don't want to share the secret. I damn sure haven't, but I'm dumb enough to keep looking! LMAO! But you already know that!

[Dan Edwards]

I know you are dumb thats for sure. I also "believe" that you are alot closer to finding it than alot of folks cause while you may be dumb, you are not blind.