Cold Trailing

[merlo_105]

Mark, Beside's that 12 hour here say. Why do you think your dogs lack at cold trailing. I know you have fine dog's and I know when you say lack your over exaggerating but you think they could do something different or better. Or different dogs could fix that void what's the void that makes them lack. Are you seeing dogs doing what yours ain't or are you just hearing of dog's doing stuff with no proof. I'm really interested in this topic cause I was in that spot earlier this year.

[dhostetler]

I think to really know what kinda dogs a guy has he has to run with his hounds with other hounds. Everything else is opinions and hearsay.

[Gary Roberson]

I know that my dogs can "write a check their butts can't cash" when hunting the mountain country. In other words, they can smell a lion or bobcat track that is way too old to catch or have any chance of getting it jumped. I don't seem to have that problem when hunting the Big Bend region of Texas where it is generally warm, windy and dry with little ground cover. A lion track that is five hours old may be too old for the dogs to work. I think that where you are hunting and conditions have so much to do with how well a dog can work an old track.
I do agree that you can take a pup out of dogs that are extremely cold nosed and if you hunt it with only dogs that want to work hotter tracks, that pup will do the same. If you take the same pup and hunt it with dogs that have the patience to work an old track with little scent, the pup will generally want to cold trail like the old dogs and will learn to do so.
Adios,
Gary

[Dan Edwards]

David, my mind wanders. Dan Edwards posted recently somewhere that he had a dog that didnt do much cold trailing "he just goes to where they live and jumps em" i know he was talking coyotes but it is the same for cats. I know at times in my life it has been tough to find cats and and then a dog comes along that just finds em, whether its from the box or on the ground. I think the right dog can eliminate a lot of cold trailing by being able to go to where the cat is not where it has been JMO

I only say that cuz I got dogs that are pretty good track dogs but they don't ever jump coyotes for me. Well they do but not what I consider good. Then I got a few dogs that for whatever reason they jump coyotes. And its not necessarily cuz they are slow and methodical or cold trailing or whatever. They are just good that's all. I got a young male dog that is starting to jump good and he is trying to track ok but he aint never gonna be good. He is not athlete enough. Takes a lot of dogs to get a good one. Too damn many actually.

[pegleg]

Well maybe if everyone who breeds a litter would go through a bunch of dogs before letting them tie it wouldn't take so many dogs for the average guy to find good hounds. Sometimes it seems dogs get bred cause ones male the others female?

[al baldwin]

Mark you did not offend me. Have a good day & thanks for asking some blunt questions. Al

[twist]

A DOG CANT SMELL WHATS NOT THERE! ITS THAT SIMPLE! Andy

[merlo_105]

I agree pegleg, But then again one could be breeding good hounds but they seem sorry to me. Also lets say I got pups from you but I had sorry dogs most likely them pups wouldn't amount to anything. That's whats so funny about hound hunting so many opinions and that's all they are, are opinions. One mans junk another mans treasure.... If your really Cold Trailing you'r not going to finish every track you start but always looking for that dog who can stretch them out further or possible get that track to running.

[mike martell]

Only 155 more days before I get to test these opinions and theories out!

Mike

[merlo_105]

I hear yuh Mike I got 185 days before I get to so maybe you can fill us in on your findings haha. Chime in on all this cold trailing talk we would like to hear your Opinions.

[al baldwin]

Have seen some crosses that produced way better pups than the parents. seen good parents produce sorry pups. So I don/t like to tell others how to breed. I think there are few real good reproducer/s. Al

[scrubrunner]

All I know about cold trailing mostly has to do with combination dogs used to run deer, fox and an occasional bobcat when one can be found. The sand roads are dragged every day about dark in my deer hunting area. My hunting party varies from 10 to 30 dogs according to who shows up. Been that way my whole life. Only about 10 to 20 % of the dogs can trail and jump just about any deer track found the next morning up until noon or so. Some of those tracks I'm sure are 12 hrs old. A lot of them can trail most of the tracks but are not in the same class as the 10-20%.
Have always bred the best to the best along the same family lines, line bred, out crossed, think I've tried it all and trained the pups with their parents but usually wind up with 10-20% of the pups that can trail like their parents.
I go out a lot of nights and find fox or cat tracks that can't be more than 2 hrs old on these dragged roads and sometimes don't even get a tail wag with the same dog that can trail a known 12 hr old deer track and will turn a deer race into a fox race if it crosses one.
On the subject of a dog just going where the game is at and starting it, I had one of those back in the 70s. We could free cast 15 head and wait an hour without a bark, turn ole rowdy out and he'd be running a fox shortly. Folks around here said he could make a fox. A lot of bitchs were brought and bred to him but he never produced his equal. For you running dog guys, he was Yazoo bred on the top and Liquor on the bottom.
And Al, running dogs don't get tired. Haha! Anything with flesh and blood will get tired but it takes a LOT to get a running dog that's in shape tired. They have been bred for over 150 years with endurance one of the more focused on desired traits.

[Tanner Peyton]

Mike Martell and merlo_105, if you two can't wait all them days till season starts you could come stay at my house this summer and show a Nebraska rookie a thing or two about what a bobcat looks like sitting in a tree. I promise I won't tell everyone all your secretes. Haha

[merlo_105]

Tanner I would Love to. But I'll be in Alaska the only reason the Cull's will be laid up. Good thing there actual lay up is only 47 days or so. Rest of the time they'll be in the woods just not at home

[South Texan]

mark also thanks for the invite,but i have no interest in traveling at all.it just seems there is no room on this site sometimes for someone to talk without being talked down to instead of talked with ,and i think others would agree it gets a little old.i like reading experiences ,and hearing about cat hunting in other places .this site makes it possible.there is some good reads ,and information when you can get by some of the attitude.lol.my point is that the top bobcat hunter in the state of maine who travels all over the state to find cats caught about 26 cats with most all cats caught on the ground for the 6 week season this year hunting everyday ,but sundays.if we had a bigger population of cats you can guarantee this guy would be the one catching big numbers as thats what he lives for.i know from guys who talk on here that 26 is nothing for some of numbers there getting in areas they are hunting.when guys are killing 300 a year down in texas it doesnt take a rocket scientist to figure out there is more cat there then in maine.it would be neat to see how you guys that rig bobcats regurly would do rigging them here in maine ,as noone i know does it.my guess would be you would ride for nothing alot here because of the population,but i could be wrong.

Kordog, if there is anyone here in Texas catching 300 cats a year please let me know who it is. I'd like to go visit with them and see if I could get a pup from them.

I'm sure not saying we don't have a good cat population but sometimes it blows my mind what I read on here about all the cats in Texas. If your baseing our cat population here in Texas on numbers caught per year you forget that there is no closed season here in Texas. You can hunt year round. So....if y'all could hunt year round in your state wouldn't your cat catch numbers go up?

Just got back yesterday at noon. Went hunting on 10,000 acres of private land that had never been hunted as for as I know. Good cat country. We started hunting Monday evening around 7:00 pm (an hour before dark) and hunted till 2:15am. Dogs smelt about 7 cats. Flagged on 4 with no opening but know it was a cat. Another cat got 2 or 3 barks on. The other 2 we got jumped & put to running. First one run about 4 or 5 minutes & made a loose and never got another bark. Second one run 15 or 20 minutes and treed. Dogs caught him on ground out of 3rd tree.

Now this is bare ground in most places with some weed cover in the bottom land. Weeds are starting to mature and stinking. This makes a big difference in my opinion.

Took a nap from 2:30am till 6:30am. Got up and started again. Smelt 3 cats from 6:45am till 11:00am. Flagged on one with no barking. Got 3 or 4 barks on another one. Hit one pretty good trail and got cat trailed up and put to running. Wound up treeing twice & caught out of second tree.

This place is under deer management program. They know they have to many cats. Purpose of hunt was to take some cats out. That's the reason for knocking cats out of tree until caught. Eliminating some cats and dog training. Both cats caught were big toms. One cat exceptionally big and was weighted on fishing scale. It showed 29 pounds. Sure don't know anything about accuracy of the scales but if it was anywhere close that is a big south Texas cat.

Told about that hunt just to kinda give you an idea how it is here in Texas. Not a cat under every bush here either. You still have to hunt for'em. The farther we get into the summer months with hotter and dryer conditions the tuffer it gets. Catch rates on cats smelt by dogs go way down. Just the way it is in Texas.
Robbie