BIGGAME HOUND

[liontracker]

True story!!! He is a machine. I doubt that there is anyone alive that has caught more lions, and spent less days per kill, and made more money while doing it. I have a huge amount of respect for him. He was even one of the handful of guys that saved lion hunting in Colorado on top of it all. Here's a toast to Van....

[Mr.pacojack]

True story!!! He is a machine. I doubt that there is anyone alive that has caught more lions, and spent less days per kill, and made more money while doing it. I have a huge amount of respect for him. He was even one of the handful of guys that saved lion hunting in Colorado on top of it all. Here's a toast to Van....

Boy you can pedal backwards faster than you can forward

[tntoutfitting]

.....here's the deal with great hounds Paco,...... like sex or oxygen you only truly take notice when you dont have any........


Hey bro, I can find out tommorrow if I can get you one of Abbys' sweet sisters? Put a little touch of blue in ur two step?

[Mr.pacojack]

I am a waiting. Believe it or not I have 5 blue dogs

[liontracker]

Boy you can pedal backwards faster than you can forward

To the best of my knowledge, I don't ever remember saying anything negative about Van.

[Chaser]

.

WOW ...

Boy, alot could be said about these posts ... Ive just seen it and it took me awhile to wade thru it. Thanks for the entertainment though, Ive laughed so hard about some of it that Ive had tears in my eyes.

I know Van abit .. Been around him for along while and know his dogs well. He hunts bear and lion and bobcat with the same dogs, and Ive never seen him have game specific dogs. I do know that the dogs that he keeps have to be good combination dogs, and they have to have alot of ability or they dont stay around forever.

Vans loves a dog that will cold trail, wheather its on a lion or a bear. Ive seen him want to cold trail on bears that I would just as soon leave alone and go find a fresher track. He says , were just having fun Billy ... Itll make a better dog. Hes a tough act to follow.

The dogs that stay at his house for a long time will first and formost coldtrail. They will also get their head up and fly on the track as it heats up. They will interchange between game, cause hes going to use the same dogs on everything that he chases.

Van sells a few dogs every year. Ive seen him sell his best dogs at times. Sometimes I just shake my head at that but he always says, its ok Billy, Ill just go make another one.

On his dogs... they are dogs that he has bred over a lot of years... mostly bluetick colored dogs, but some walker crossed into them also. I dont own a dog anymore that doesnt have Vans bloodline in them. He has some fantastic dogs. Vans not colorblind when it comes to a good dog though ...

On Van himself ... Ive always told hunters that were looking to book a hunt, that the price of the hunt was worth it, to just be able to ride around with him for a few days. Hes an awsome story teller and his life experinces , with hounds and in general, are a thing that storys are made of. Weve been after him to write a book ... Id be first in line to buy it.

Funny story, I called him after I had read thru the second page of this thread, and asked him to look at this thread. He giggled abit over it and then told me that he never not hunted his dogs on all different game unless they were in heat, sick, or injured. One thing about him, I promise you he was smiling when he said it. Hes a great guy ... Ive been fortunate to call him my friend.

Billy

[Mr.pacojack]

Thanks Billy. Very, Very well said.
I guess thats what started me on this. Alot of talk on the only good dog is a dog that only runs one game. And then you hunt with someone like Van and Realize that you need to set your goals higher as far as dogs and being a better hunter like Van.

[Buddyw]

I understand that the Dog can be able to catch multiple Game, But you guys never answered my question?

This is the part I don't understand?
I think everyone agrees that consistancy is an important trait that makes a dog good.

So How do you get dogs that Strike and Run a bear to roll over a bear track to "consistantly" catch a Cat this time of year?

[Chaser]

Devon ...
Van says that yall were pretty hard on those sheep killing bears this year. He sure liked your Garmin trackers .... think I might try one out a little bit. Seems to me that a guy would need to run both systems on the dogs. Good luck with your hunting.


Buddy....

This is just my opinion, but here goes.

Your right on the fact that the dogs will cross over from game to game. Consider this though During the summer and fall, in the SOUTHWEST, we really dont run cats that much. Bobcats here in the west are generally caught with a fresh covering of new snow on the ground. Generally the bears are hibernating by that time of year. Your right in your point that most dogs will switch to a bear if theyve been hunted on both bear and cat, but usually the time of year takes care of that.

We seem to take our personal experinces in certain parts of the country and say that this is the way it is. For example .. the California and Oregon boys catch more cats without snow than a guy would think possible. They rig them and Yes the bears are out then too. If I was hunting cats and bears in Oregon and cared what I caught, then a guy would probably have to hunt two packs. one for cats and another for bear. I think where guys get crossways about stuff, is regional specific, and their way doesnt allways work in other areas.

Another thing ... for example the proposed get togeather in California to chase bobcats. I could take my two best dogs out there and they probably wouldnt look that good running aginst dogs there, that are used in that enviroment and been hunted in that specific way. To turn that around theirs might not look so good hunting here with me for week. Dogs can get used to both enviroments pretty quickly and then it could be different.

Best to you in hunting ...

Billy

[Mr.pacojack]

Buddy I did answer your question. Our cat season is not going right now and when it does start our bear are pretty much denned up. Works out perfect. It doesn't always work out but if you don't have a paying hunter dosen't really matter much does it if you get a bear lion or bobcat Bobcat hides are not worth squat right now so that throws that out. Most good hounds that are put on a track stay on that track, even lion hunting I have put a dog on a lion track and followed them to a tree and have seen a fresher lion track cross the one they are on and they stay on it. This does not happen all the time either But other than timmies dogs, what dogs do you know of that are perfect
I am thinking the same about these hard core Bobcat hunters, I read were Dadsdogboy tells how many bobcats there are in his area, how do you make sure the dogs stay on the bobcat you put them on? You can't and I am sure that 9 times out of 10 they will run the fresher track and here that is a problem because then you are just running around in circles and never get anything caught.
Come out and go for a hunt with me, I will put you and your family up, feed you and take you out, all you have to do is get here. I think you would notice a difference in the hunting even from the North west coast to Colorado. I don't think we are talking apples and oranges difference but maybe green and red apples.JMO

[Mr.pacojack]

Billy we were posting at the same time and it's kind of funny but we both pretty much said the same thing, you jsut said it better.
You should tag aride with Van next year I would love to go for a hunt with you, Van tells me you have one heck of a pack of dogs.
Yes the Garmins are nice when they work but they dont do that as often as they should. When they work they are great but when they dont' they don't at all.

[Liz ODell]

Buddy; personally I don't see how anyone could ever get a dog that you run cats and bear with - and that strikes both off the rig - to only strike one or the other but thats just my opinion and based on my experiences. For me if they strike I turn them loose, when I get to the tree it could be a bear, cat (of either species) or a fox or on the rare occasion I'll even catch a coon (but they are pretty rare in the woods around here). Usually I will have the game figured out by the race but sometimes I find a suprise in the tree. Sometimes when they strike I can kind of make a pretty good guess as to if its a varmint or a bear, most of the time I don't care unless I'm really wanting to catch a bear. Our bear, cat, fox and coon seasons all overlap in time. I guess if I was a guide it wouldn't be such a hot thing but for me I'd rather catch something than rig around all day looking for the right track. But if anyone ever figures out how to make a dog only strike what you're looking for that day please let me know and I'll sign up for the class

[Buddyw]

That's a Fair answer... I'm very interested in hunting cats in different parts of the country, We started to break off bears a couple years ago... mostly because I was having too much trash problems and I just couldn't get control of it.. and secondly because I was never going to make bear dogs. Even if we had a bear season.
so it was much easier to just focus on Cats. I'm just learning to watch the dogs and see when they are getting Catty even on old tracks. But it's been a couple years in the works just to get to this point... My dogs don't strike cats off the box, unless it's a hot track. so lately I've had to road to get a cat going.

The more Broke I get the dogs the better luck I have.

I was born and raised in CO.. It's definately on my list of things to do, besides I have to make a trip to visit family and show off the boy.. I Hope to make the Trip with dogs and slip off and hunt a couple days.

Buddy

[Huntintony]

Good post guys. Now that most of the funny bickering is over, there is some good information coming out. Keep it up. And were looking at Late Dec or Early Jan for the bobcat hunt. So with some snow on the ground, should make for a more even playing field. I'll have the date locked in soon. Thanks guys for the good read..

Tony

[liontracker]

Buddy and Liz, thanks for seeing through the smoke screen and bringing this back to it's original intention. I can not believe what I just read here. I only wish that I was at a real computer and not this wounded old lap top, otherwise I would do serious justice to this one. ...and Pacojackoff... when you are done puffing yourself up and strutting around like a little Banty rooster, start paying more attention to what you write. Ignorance is bliss, but not the world according to Devin.

Check this out:

Our cat season is not going right now and when it does start our bear are pretty much denned up. Works out perfect. It doesn't always work out but if you don't have a paying hunter dosen't really matter much does it if you get a bear lion or bobcat

The only season open right now is coon and coyote...not bear,lion or bobcat, unless of course you are one of the "chosen ones", a government hunter. What the heck does that statement of yours have to do with anything at all? Then there is the BS about the bears being denned up and it working out perfectly!LOL You should check with ""your man" Van and see if he tells you the same thing he told me in Jan of 2008. What he told me was that he had to send 3 out of 5 paying hunters home at the start of season without a lion because the hounds switched off of lion tracks and wouldn't leave the bears alone!LOL Perfect if you ask me! Then he said he wished he had one pack for bear and another for lion. ( If you think about it real hard, you'll notice you are not the only one talking to Van)

And then there is this nugget:

Most good hounds that are put on a track stay on that track, even lion hunting I have put a dog on a lion track and followed them to a tree and have seen a fresher lion track cross the one they are on and they stay on it.

And then just two sentences later:

I read were Dadsdogboy tells how many bobcats there are in his area, how do you make sure the dogs stay on the bobcat you put them on? You can't and I am sure that 9 times out of 10 they will run the fresher track and here that is a problem because then you are just running around in circles and never get anything caught.

So will your dogs stick to a track or not?

And then you have the gall to personally call out Mr. Clay:

Come out and go for a hunt with me, I will put you and your family up, feed you and take you out, all you have to do is get here.

For gods sakes little man, does your ego have no limit?
This man is over 70 years old and has been doing this his whole life. If anyone on planet earth can catch a bobcat, anytime and anyplace it would be he and his hounds.

And here in lies the true root of your problem:

But other than timmies dogs, what dogs do you know of that are perfect

Where in that sick and twisted feeble mind of yours did you ever get that idea?

And this is the iceing on the cake:

I don't think we are talking apples and oranges difference but maybe green and red apples.

It is plainly evident you are not talking apples and oranges, but it is for sure and certain that the color is definatley green and red... green with envy and red with jealousy!!!!


P.S. Van, when you read this, don't think I have anything at all agaisnt you. as you can see from a previous post, just the opposite is true. But I was wondering...could you trash break this guy?