BigGameHoundsmen.com

Just wondering what your percentage from catch to loss is on each species for the guys that have multi game dogs? Andy

Andy,
I expect to tree 85% of black bears, the other 15 % is made up of pulling the dogs off for various reasons(small bear, darkness) or not being able to intercept a walking bear. ( this is real wilderness in places)

If my dogs start a lynx track I expect to catch at least 90% of them this has really only been the last 4 years as these cats have a bit of a learning curve.
Day old lion track i expect 100% catch rate if enough daylight allows. These dogs run heads up start to finish on a 24 hr old lion track in snow. thanks god for Garmin I have seen them trail 16 miles in two hours on a frozen out track, My old style trail hounds would have made 3 or 4 miles in the same time frame.

When the hunters are paying the big bucks, they don't except excuses.

I should add most of the different breeds i have learn to run like my best dogs. Every shape and size fights for the lead on every track.
When a track is found or struck from the box I dump each and everyone of them at the same time. this speed up the learning curve for the pups. You have to smile when you hear a pup locate a track out on its own a head of the most seasoned vets. When i choose pups from my own litters i choose the ones that try the hardest to win the race and be a little better then the rest of the pack. Competition is a big factor in having successful dogs.

I am not an outfitter and have a non hunting related job, so I hunt when I can, not when conditions are good, so my success rate is not the greatest if you divide it by total attemps. Good conditions an overnight lion track close to 100%. Bobcat if I can move the track a 1/2 mile 90%. Fresh Dogs on bear 80%. By the third day of non stop bear hunting my success rate is probably closer to 10% on bear.

must admit I have not read all the post on this topic. that being said I believe u can have a very high success rate on catching all species with the same dog or dogs. but I think u need to start them off on bobcat first then go on to the others. when I say others im talking bear fox lion.
a dog needs to be able to slow down on a bobcat. so if u start dumping a bunch of 2 year old bear dogs down on cat track they are going to blow it up . but if they have been on cats first then u have already culled the ones that wouldn't make a cat dog anyways. and they already know how to slow down and pick through the bad spots and not just run around looking for a red hot bear track.
fox hunting is like 10 jumped cat races in one race. teaches the dogs to pickup there head and drift a track more than your typical cat dog. running roads for a half mile is not uncommon .
the right style of dog make them all look easy to catch with good conditions.
I don't like the cat dog that rigs old tracks and cold trails for hours . if they pull that on a fox u can be 5 miles away from the fox when u start trailing it. I would rather drive around at 15 to 20 mph and have the box explode on a hotter track. but im in this lifestyle for the jumped race. to each there own.


jc