My first bobcat season

[spruce mountain]

Great story,keep up the good work.Good luck

[treedogtodd]

Great job Noah and Nick!!

[andrew beggs]

Nice pictures and good story

[Dads dogboy]

Noah,

Great Pics but the Story really makes the tale come to life for us.

Please keep us posted on how these nice Leopard Hounds are doing. we have a friend in Alpine, TX who uses These type Hounds on bobs and Lions!

CJC

PS Be sure to send the Pics and story to Mike @ Ultimate Predator Magazine to share with even more Hunters!

[jeff]

Great hunting story Noah, I bet that was a great moment with Dad and the dogs by your side when you took your first bobtail, I enjoyed the pics and thanks for sharing that cold December morning .

[Noah Riley]

Thanks everyone for the nice and encouraging replies ~Noah

[Noah Riley]

Here is another story of this years season. Enjoy! ~Noah



The Monster Tom
by Noah Riley

It had been almost a year since we had treed him last. It had been a nice day last January when it happened. He had given a good chase but the dogs put him in a tree in the bottom of a thick valley. It was my dad, my sister Rose, and I that day. When we got to the tree we saw the biggest bobcat we had ever seen. We guessed he was about 35+ pounds. Unfortunately, it was right after the harvest season had closed so we had to leave the tree in disgust. We were very happy with the dogs, though. All of last summer we talked about how much we would like to tree him again during next season so we could harvest this gigantic beast. Finally, this season we treed him again, and this is how the story goes: On December 23, 2010 dad and I were on our way to our favorite spot. It was two days before Christmas and three days before our short season closed here in Montana. The snow conditions were just okay for there was only about a half an inch of new snow. We decided to snowmobile one of our favorite roads, but didn't find a single track. Then we drove up the road and decided to try another road. This road was approximately 12 miles long so this would be it for the rest of the day. We were willing to try it though so we loaded up the dogs in their sled, hopped on the snowmobile and we were off. The first half of the road was good snowmobiling, but the second half was terrible. There were deep tire ruts coming from another road and the road was icy. The snowmobile kept tipping and it was very frustrating for us, especially dad. All we were finding were older bobcat and deer tracks, nothing looked good enough to run. Finally we found what we were looking for! Crossing the road in front of us were the tracks of a huge bobcat. We could just see its pads in the new thin blanket of snow so we knew it was from the night before. Quickly, we turned loose our male and female Leopards hounds, Bolt and Cammy on the track. After about fifty yards Bolt got stuck, but Cammy kept going. We waited a few minutes, but nothing changed. Then Bolt came back to us and Cammy got stuck. This was very strange and we thought there must be a kill down there. We put Bolt back in the sled and drove down the road to see if we could get closer to her. On our way down the road, we found the track crossing the road again going up the mountain. So we drove down the road, got Cammy and put her back on the track. She was very interested and took off up the mountain. Within minutes she had gone over the top of the mountain and we lost communication with her on our GPS tracking system. So we drove around the mountain and she came back into communication. She was in the next valley on her way over another ridge. Wow, this bobcat was putting up a good chase! But nothing can stop Cammy when she's on a bobcat track. Up over the next ridge she went bawling away! We then drove around the next ridge and there she was on the GPS again running this time like mad. Then, suddenly she stopped. Then on the GPS, the words that I love so much appeared ''Cammy has treed quarry''. Yes, she had treed the big tom! With smiles on our faces we were off on the snowmobile on our way to her. We turned on a road that we thought would take us right to her. After a while we realized we were on the wrong road. Dang It! We turned around and tried another road. That was the wrong road, too. Now we were both very annoyed. I kept looking at the GPS to see if she was still there, but every time I looked she was faithfully treeing away. Thankfully, we got to the road we were looking for and drove within a quarter mile of her. Dad, Bolt and I started to hike to her. She was at the very top of a rock outcrop and it took us a while to get there. When we got there the cat was sitting there not ten feet up looking at us and the dogs. I looked at Cammy proudly. She had done it for us again! This was the 24th time she had treed a bobcat for us with such magnificent talent in only her third year of hunting. I then shot the big cat and let her chew on it as much as she wanted. When we got home we weighed it in at 38 pounds. It was the biggest bobcat we had ever treed! I'll never forget that tiring, frustrating and exiting day, the day we treed the Monster tom!

This is a picture of when we treed the tom last year.

This is him after we treed in December
CJC- Did your friend in Texas get a dog from a guy by the name of John Cox?

[spruce mountain]

Great story,Good Job.

[Dads dogboy]

Noah,

Another great Tale. You truly have the Talent to tell a Great Story! Keep them coming!

As to a Mr. Cox selling a Hound to our friend in TX, not to my knowledge has this happened. Where is Mr. Cox from?

CJC

[david]

Noah, great story again. If you would take the time to write those after every hunt or day on the trap line, you could keep them in a collection and eventually put them in a book. It would be fun to publish, but even if you did not, it would be something you could look back on or read to your grandkids someday. "The Outdoor Adventures of Noah Riley"

Noah, Jed called me to say you have a pup out of his recent cross. That is the cross that almost pulled me out of retirement. From my perspective, it is THE cross to watch in the Leopard breed right now. OF course, my perspective is sooo limited, and I dont know about every cross that has been made.

I owned a dog named Rachel who is full aunt to your pup on the bottom side, and half related on the top side. I sure want to hear how that pup turns out and what ways it is different than Cammy 's pups or Cammy or if they are the same or what. If the dog just seems like it wont fit in to the program, contact me. The most extremely gifted dogs in that line look that way for a while. They got more gift than they can handle and it makes them look like idiots at times until they get lots of practice. It is like handing a kid a sub machine gun to teach him how to shoot a tin can. It would be a little overwhelming at first, until he figures out it only takes one bullet shot skilfully to hit it. Might not be the best illustration, but just saying some of those dogs take a little time to harness their gift and learn how to use the power tools in their toolbox. If you can wait that long, you might see some magic you never saw before. I know I did.
If the dog goes to screaming 700 yards from the other dogs, for example, dont just assume it is trashing. Better wait and see where those other dogs end up.

How 'bout some pictures of your pups and young dogs?

God bless, and keep up the good work.

[Noah Riley]

CJC- John Lives in Oklahoma

David- The pup we got from Jed is doing great! We named her ''Iris Pearl''. Maybe I will make a book. That would be cool!
Rachel is also a full aunt to Cammy on bottom, but she is Laker bred on top. Cammy's mother is ''Abbott's Mountain State Sadie''.
I hope Pearly is as good of a hunter as Cammy. Thanks for the nice post and I will post pictures as soon as I can.
God Bless ~Noah

[Noah Riley]

Here are some pictures of our dogs. Enjoy! ~Noah

Here is Pearl on Left (Little Jug x Coco) and Bones on right (Bolt x Cammy)

This is Daisy, (Bolt x Cammy)

This is me and Pearl again.
Pearl, Bones, and Daisy are all doing well. Bones and Daisy have been to three lion and three bobcat trees. They treed some and seem to really like hunting.
Pearl has been hanging out with the other dogs and thinks she is one of the pack. later, ~Noah

[david]

Thanks for the pictures Noah. I was anxiously waiting to see that shot of pearl. I hope she carries her mommas magic and her daddys drive. If she does, I cant immagine finding a dog that would be much better. I hope they all do real well for you. You are blessed.

[david]

Rachel is also a full aunt to Cammy on bottom, but she is Laker bred on top. Cammy's mother is ''Abbott's Mountain State Sadie. God Bless ~Noah

Is Abbott's Mountain State Sadie out of Shultz' sparkling Susie ? And top side, does Cammy have the Speed X Kate cross somewhere ?

If you get the time, I was wondering how Bolt is bred? Thx

[dan kluthe]

Noah - You've definitely got a gift to tell a story. Tell us please about raising and training your Leopards. Have you always used Leopards? Dan