How Many Cats/Cat Tracks Did it Take?

[BuckNAze]

I know there is a lot that it depends on, but how long did it take for you to get your dog(s) started on running lions or bobcats? Did your dog take its first track? Did it take awhile till you got a hotter track (hotter nosed dog)? Want to hear how long it took some people. I know a lot of times its not automatic but Im sure people have had some cases where their dog just took the first track it was on. Would like to hear everyones input, thanks!

[BWTB]

I think most dogs will take the first hot Lion track they see, If they are old enough. mine took the first coon, fox, squirel, skunk, bobcat, deer, lion, coyote, and feral cat that they saw.

[BuckNAze]

Wish I could find a hot track for my dogs since they are just starting out. She helped take an older track a little but couldnt quite take it like my buddies dog did thats been doing it awhile

[The Vise]

yeah i am curious to see the responses to this too. I got a dog thats seems to only open and chase with other dogs. He will chase if he sees game but cant line out a scent thus far. Last night i took him out by himself for some private lessons and didnt get a peep for hours. I finally got impatient and shined some coons in the tree and walked that direction. I dint point out the tree or nothing and stayed away from it and when he went by it he he treed for a second with a couple bawls and then kept noisin around. He went back to it a couple times and let abawl or two out then left again. I decided to show him he was right and encouraged him and slapped on the tree. Then i shot one down so he would know he was right. The darn thing dropped 3 feet from him and ran off. he looked around a minute and then just kept running around on his noise like he did the whole night. To add to my frustration i saw a cat in the high grass in between the dog and i. I called the dog and he jumped over the cat on his way to me. He has probably been on like 15-20 coon hunts but i am hoping someone will say sometimes they just take some time. the dog was my spoiled house dog for almost four years before i ever took him out but he does come from good stock.

[BuckNAze]

Well I got all dogs that hate cats, neighbors cats harass them all the time. Put my older female who is my best dog on an older lion track, she opened some but only went about 1/2 mile maybe and left the track, my buddies experienced dog stayed on it. Its usually not like her to leave like that unless its like bear season and she's tired after miles of running or we pick her up. Guess I should just give her more time and quit being impatient, hahaha. Got a couple pups I want to get under some cats so they know whats going on. Got them started on bear ok.

[The Vise]

yeah my dog hates cats too. got out and killed two in the neighborhood and i have pryed my wifes cats from his jaws 3 times but he flat out jumped right over this one out in the brush. Vexed me horribly........

[BuckNAze]

Its because he probably was more concentrated on you then anything else. Did he figure out the cat was there after he got to you and you showed him where it was?

[The Vise]

yeah i took him back to the spot and then he started sniffin in a bush but i thought he was in the wrong area. I was wrong cuz i saw the cat bolt out of there. He didnt see it but he tracked down its direction and made some noise but got in thick dead fall after just about 15 yards and nothin from there on. I am hopoin he just needs some more practice learnin the game

[PIGLET]

Young bucks have you been reading this board at all! There is a reason pup trainers are still worth some money! You still have another step to go even after you get them young dogs to run a track and that is treeing and staying treed especially on a lion or bobcat! your going to say my young dogs tree well on bear or ferals so they will tree on a lion. Probably with a older dog that stays treed but younger dogs even good ones tend to not believe their noses, and what i mean is they will trail a lion even a hot one, and tree the lion, but until they have enough experience most young dogs will tree for a few minutes then they start looking around for the track and usually end up running around aimlessly! Most young dogs follow other dogs more than run the track, they do run the track its just when they lose it they are more likely to run to the other dogs other than follow their noses and work the track out themselves. My best advice keep hunting them if you can hunt them with a older experienced dog your dog will become better faster as you will get game with em. If you don't have an older dog turn your dog loose and start following the tracks yourself and help the dogs locate and trail, I'm not man enough to do that but those are your options. Or buy a 10 year old experience dog and its money well spent!

[twist]

hey guys listen to piglet what he is saying about the young dogs running with older broke dogs sure works not saying all the time as some pups just dont make the grade but this is the easiest way to train them. later, Andy

[Kevin Jackson]

I got lucky because the first two pups I owned were naturauls. I treed the first lion and the first bobcat I ever turned loose on. I didn't have anyone with good dogs to run with or any dogs to run with for that matter. I did a whole lot of training with those pups before they ever went hunting and I believe that helped. Now that I have good dogs I make crosses when myself or friends need a pup and just hunt the pups behind the finished dogs. It's far easier to start a pup behind a good dog than it is to start one from scratch. The biggest mistake a lot of people make is running a good pup behind junk dogs. They learn bad habits quicker than they learn the good ones in that situation.

[BuckNAze]

I got a couple buddies with good dogs, just need to keep putting the dogs behind them and keep doing more training I suppose. Ill keep with it, we only had one snow so there wasnt much to go off of, Ill put them on a lot of game this winter if I can. Pups and older dogs, they are all new to cat hunting but all started pretty good on bear.

[nvlion_hunter]

I fully agree with try to find an experienced dog to run the pups with. As for how long it takes for them to become solid dogs my average has been about two years and 10 lions.

[Anchor Red]

When i got my first hound I was about 9 years old I was not into hound hunting at the time so she was just a pet we live out of town so she was never on chain or in kennel she just romed free she was always chasen tracken deer skunks coon foxes bobcats squrels just about enything she could smell and she always had the meat she would always drag home skunks rabbits squrels and even house cats.She was always out huntin by herself a copple times I found her 3 or 4 miles from home.I am 16 years old now and have been hunting her a lot.It was not hard to trash break her she broke real easy I have been coon huntin her a lot latly and she trees or catches coon on the ground evry night I have been running my young dogs behind her and they are learning real fast I am going to try to find I lion track this whinter and put my Her and my young redbone on it but I only have 2 dogs old enough to run a lion track do I kneed more hounds on lion than 2 dogs

[BuckNAze]

Probably a good idea not to have more then that, especially if you are training a pup. You want the pup to be using its nose and not chasing ass, plus you wont run all over the track like you would with lots of dogs. Dry ground from what I hear is a different story. It would probably do your pup good with one and one time anyways. Good luck