will dogs strike a lion off the truck or a sled ?

[Josh Hill]

Really again , I thought the previous 50 pages on this topic thoroughly beat it to death!

[Tim Pittman]

Nobody take this the wrong way[I'm just asking].How many critters are you guys missing,by not useing the dog to strike,if the game is not crossing the road[walking the road]but say walking parallell.Some of our bobcat strikes[tracks,not the cat itself]are upwards of 3-400 yards.In the desert[eastern Oregon,California,Nevada]snow and dry ground alike the dogs strike tracks way out there,alot like right here at home.Alot of these are not hot tracks either,it's not untypical to cold trail along ways before the track heats up,much less jumped.
Tim

[catch em]

lions can be struck pretty easy, it seamed to me when i lived in washington you would have a good chance of startin a rack after it had rained the previous night in fact the first lion i ever caught i struck the last day of a cougar permit in whatcom county. It was just after daylight on a misty day and we struck it so hard we thought it was a bunch of coons. But after a half mile run the dogs had a nice 13pounder on the wood.

[Sackett]

I heard a good dry ground hound can strke and run an 8 day old track. Why wouldn't rig one?

[Sackett]

A good seasoned rig dog will strike lions, lion tracks, scratches and just about anything left behind by a lion. Sometimes the tracks wont hardly move sometimes they roll out good. I saw a couple dogs that even knew where the track was and which direction it was going before they ever left the truck.

[dhostetler]

Nobody take this the wrong way[I'm just asking].How many critters are you guys missing,by not useing the dog to strike,if the game is not crossing the road[walking the road]but say walking parallell.Some of our bobcat strikes[tracks,not the cat itself]are upwards of 3-400 yards.In the desert[eastern Oregon,California,Nevada]snow and dry ground alike the dogs strike tracks way out there,alot like right here at home.Alot of these are not hot tracks either,it's not untypical to cold trail along ways before the track heats up,much less jumped.
Tim

I would have to see it to believe a 300 yard strike on a cat. Can you turn loose from the truck and have the dogs go 300 yards to a track and then catch it???

Typically where I hunt it is to cold to rig dogs however I catch an average of one cougar a season by striking out of the box and turning loose without a track. In hard snow or no snow, I road the dogs through known crossings and have caught cougars like that. These guys that are always striking cats out of the box, I believe are finding a lot of imaginery scrapes and striking trash. How many guys on here actually strike a cat and catch it on a regular basis?

An old timer from Washington told me that bobcat hunters in western Washington used to put there strike hounds on the hood with a long enough leash so the dog can lean out over the radiator which helps pull the scent up off the road.

[Marshall]

I am curious why Not one person questions people that rig bobcats. Rigging a lion shouldnt be any different and actually easier because of more scent. There are guys (most all) in the valley that hunt bare ground and would never like to see snow (and i dont blame them) that catch over 100 cats a year by striking them, so why would a guy question if a dog can strike a lion that puts off more scent then a bob?

[Tim Pittman]

You're welcome to come over and hunt,I slop into one once in awhile on these long strikes.I think Jeff Allen can vouch for me.
Thanks Tim 541-912-6464

Nobody take this the wrong way[I'm just asking].How many critters are you guys missing,by not useing the dog to strike,if the game is not crossing the road[walking the road]but say walking parallell.Some of our bobcat strikes[tracks,not the cat itself]are upwards of 3-400 yards.In the desert[eastern Oregon,California,Nevada]snow and dry ground alike the dogs strike tracks way out there,alot like right here at home.Alot of these are not hot tracks either,it's not untypical to cold trail along ways before the track heats up,much less jumped.
Tim

I would have to see it to believe a 300 yard strike on a cat. Can you turn loose from the truck and have the dogs go 300 yards to a track and then catch it???

Typically where I hunt it is to cold to rig dogs however I catch an average of one cougar a season by striking out of the box and turning loose without a track. In hard snow or no snow, I road the dogs through known crossings and have caught cougars like that. These guys that are always striking cats out of the box, I believe are finding a lot of imaginery scrapes and striking trash. How many guys on here actually strike a cat and catch it on a regular basis?

An old timer from Washington told me that bobcat hunters in western Washington used to put there strike hounds on the hood with a long enough leash so the dog can lean out over the radiator which helps pull the scent up off the road.

[George Streepy]

I think when the dogs strike and head out that far they are smelling the cat itself. They may hit the track on there way out and start to trail but usually they are going to be jumped in no time. Dogs will strike tracks that haven't even crossed the road, head out and cold trail. At that time they either struck the track or something that has more scent to it like a scratch, piss spot, kill or whatever. Either way they get a race going that otherwise wouldn't have happened if a guy is just looking to cut tracks. I think 300 yards is quite a ways to strike an old track, I have had my dogs do it a few hundred feet but it doesn't happen everyday. Most time when they wind that far off the road it is going to get good real fast.

Everyone can look for ways to discredit dogs striking from the truck, sled, or four wheeler but it works. It can be done and I believe it can be done anywhere, but different conditions will effect how good the tracks are. I know when it comes to bobcat if my dogs won't strike the track, odds are they are going to be trailing longer than I want them to anyway. Occasionally you can put dogs on a track they wouldn't strike and it freshens up real fast, but most the time they are going to trail longer than it takes to find a track that is a little better. JMO!

[Tim Pittman]

I'm not claiming this for the hell of it or just my own dogs[there's quite afew bob hunters dogs who do it]but the one yesterday was 287 yds from rig down thru the unit to a lower road where a scratch/turd was and they started opening and cold trailed for an hour and a half,the jumped part lasted just over 6 minutes till they treed.When I skinned him,Iwas curious so I gutted him,full of venison and blatter/piss bag was full.
Later Tim

[George Streepy]

Most time when they wind that far off the road it is going to get good real fast.

Easy now, I am not saying your full of it by any means. I believe they can smell something a long ways away. I personally believe if they strike that far off the road and the track is old, there is something other than the track that gets the dogs out to the point where they start opening. I image the animal you are referring to was a bobcat. There usually isn't an abundance of scent lingering around from a bobcat track alone that takes an hour and a half to trail. And as you mentioned there was a scratch and a turd left there, and I would wager it was in an area that cat would frequent.

I have hunted with some top notch strike dogs over the years. And I am well aware the best ones didn't live at my house. But if dogs are heading out several hundred yards there has to be something more than just the scent left after the cat simply strolled through.

By the way I am in complete agreement that dogs need to be in a position to help find tracks to run. My dogs are on the box whether I am hunting snow or not. I don't care if they strike a track, a piss, a turd or whatever, if the dogs weren't on the box the track may never get started.

[Tim Pittman]

No big deal George,I shouldn't come across like that.I've talked to you on the phone before,about Dewey's dogs.Hope everything is going good-----later Tim

[dhostetler]

I'm not claiming this for the hell of it or just my own dogs[there's quite afew bob hunters dogs who do it]but the one yesterday was 287 yds from rig down thru the unit to a lower road where a scratch/turd was and they started opening and cold trailed for an hour and a half,the jumped part lasted just over 6 minutes till they treed.When I skinned him,Iwas curious so I gutted him,full of venison and blatter/piss bag was full.
Later Tim

Well I stand to be corrected, only a fool is never wrong. Thanks for the invite I will save your name and if I ever get over there I will look you up. I have hunted with some top notch strike dogs but never any that good.

[Lil Joes BigGame hounds]

So now everyone can rig lions. Next thing you know everyone will be spotting lion tracks from two miles away

Just kiddin guys this is a pretty good read.

[BLACK RHINO]

Think I did spot one from two miles away.... And really my dogs might rig one... Can't say that they ever had. But it is generally too damn cold for me to leave the box open let alone think of letting one of my poor dogs ride out in the open as I am ranging around in the cold. Have had hunters up from the south country. and ones with friends that have dogs. and sounds like in Arizona the only real dog runnners for the few they get yes might have some dry ground. But they typically run when they have snow. We have dry grounded some lions for SRD up here in the summer but you are gonna have deep pockets to rig one. Course if the country was tighter then it becomes more feasible.

Rhino.