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TomJr,

Got a buddy that lives in southwest MO and he had an old lab cur cross that could damn sure tree a cat or two. Last I knew he was running a german short hair hound cross that was really workin out for him also. I had a chance to breed a damn find Walker gyp that was a sure enough coon dog her whole life and of course was a tree dog beyond what any man really needs in a tree dogs, to a National Champion Field Trial English Pointer a few years back. I am so pissed at myself for not doing that. I cant even imagine what the possibilities might have been. Mixin and matchin has always been fun for me for some reason. Hunted alot of crossbred dogs and really enjoyed them. Had a crossbred male dog that got killed last year at just over two years old that had a jag of greyhound stag type dog in him and some Walker/Cur in him. That sumbitch used to piss me off for about 2 minutes and then my heart would smile cause that bastard would come out the end right on a coyotes ass almost every damn time. Them friggin running dogs or whatever would be honkin and blowin comin through the timber and I would see the crossbreds dumb ass come slippin out the woods and run over to a fence row and man would I be pissed and then bam right out of nowhere here would come the yote haulin ass with that pup right behind him. Dont know how he did it but he always knew where that coyote was somehow. Pretty dog gone neat if you ask me.

TomJr wrote:. He does great on bears but the last 10 fox races he only caught 2. Last year his catch rate was around 70%. I think he has it in him to catch bobcats just needs to put it together maybe .

Put it BACK together, maybe.

TomJr, I have been wrong a lot in my life and this could be another one of those times, but in my mind, your mystery is solved by the information in your post.

I hate to sound like a broken record, but the old timers around me as I was learning to bobcat hunt had a saying that was often repeated:

"The best way to ruin a good bobcat dog is to hunt it on bear"

It is the reason I have stayed away from bear hunting all these years.

I can only guess there would be truth to it relating to grey fox as well.
Yes, I know, I have heard of dogs that can excel at both. Never seen it myself yet, but I am sure it can happen. The only thing I have seen is that the most legendary and excellent bear dogs I have ever hunted bobcat with, I would have culled as bobcat dogs.

Your dog is less than two years old so I am guessing his first game was the fox/ bobcat deal, and then hunted on bear this summer, and now, not doing so good on fox/bobcat. It's pretty clear in my highly opinionated (and often wrong) mind.

I hope he does put it back together. Keep us posted on him. Sounds like an interesting dog.

Actually, a 70% dog as a one year old on bobcat (and I am guessing grey fox also) is pretty unheard of. If He never comes back to that, Man, you should try to get that cross made again and see what you get. Even if you had to make that cross every year because they only do it as one year olds, Phew, you would have more time with 70% bobcat dogs than most of us can even dream of.

I have seen a young crossbreed that absolutely excelled when young, and got worse with age. She was a little too intelegent, and didn't feel like meeting big bobs all alone all the time, so she slowed down to pick up that downfeild block. Result is her catch dropped off because the downfeild blockers are too slow.

Amen David.The fastest way to sucsess on this game is really simpler than what most of want to hear.
1] goto your best bobcat hunters in the area,learn all you can
2] go gety the best catdog or breeding you can as close to your own backdoor as possiple.
3] set yourself up for a win instead of a loose
4] when in doubt shock or pull them off[if you're not sure]
5] don't expect bobcat catching to be easy
Thanks Tim