thinking about training my dog to hunt bobcats

[tsarns]

i own a 8 month old bloodhound and i have been thinking about starting to train him to hunt bobcats before he turns into a big lumbering carpet fold.

although i know the breed is the best scent hound and i know the breeder i got him from trains their bloodhounds to hunt bear i was just curious about bobcat because that is what we have alot of here in michigan. and is most abundantly availible. as far as predator hunting goes.

so are their any considerations i should think about before getting to deep into this idea of mine?

[twist]

You will have issues when it comes to speed and treeing ability. later, Andy

[tedsmith]

you already own the dog, so go out and have some fun.

[david]

you already own the dog, so go out and have some fun.

I agree with both ted and andy. Go out and have some fun in the snow with your dog. put him on a leash for awhile and walk out a bobcat track with him. Teach him deer and other things are off limits. When he becomes a good reliable cold tracker, all you will need will be a good cur to close the deal. You can add that second dog after you spend some time trying this and decide it is something you want to devote yourself to fully. Until then, enjoy your dog out in the swamps this winter!

[tsarns]

you already own the dog, so go out and have some fun.

I agree with both ted and andy. Go out and have some fun in the snow with your dog. put him on a leash for awhile and walk out a bobcat track with him. Teach him deer and other things are off limits. When he becomes a good reliable cold tracker, all you will need will be a good cur to close the deal. You can add that second dog after you spend some time trying this and decide it is something you want to devote yourself to fully. Until then, enjoy your dog out in the swamps this winter!

well he isn't the fastest by a long shot but he is smart. i already have him trained in basic tracking i point at something interesting and he will follow it (until he becomes distracted by something puppy mind...) however down here where i live their are no bob's just ferals but i know where i can go up north but i do have some land within walkin distance that i can use to train him on with scents...

why would treeing be a problem? i havnt taught him how to do it yet but its on the list.

and would i need a 2nd dog to be effective?

[Rossco]

give it a little time and you will laugh about wondering about a second dog. Owning dogs is addicting, you will never have enough to be happy. Your blood hound may very well tree just fine, but the breed is not known for being very tree minded. Scents will help train and you will find some great information on here on how to use them, but you can't beat the real thing.

[rockringwalker]

not trying to be mean but i would either think about getting him doing something that he was made for. Not bobs. It's never going to work, he could never hold enough speed, pressure, and tree to get one. No matter how good he or anyone else thinks he is, he'll never keep up with something like a bluetick, walker, black and tan or a plott. the make up isnt there for this JMHO

[david]

not trying to be mean but i would either think about getting him doing something that he was made for. Not bobs. It's never going to work, he could never hold enough speed, pressure, and tree to get one. No matter how good he or anyone else thinks he is, he'll never keep up with something like a bluetick, walker, black and tan or a plott. the make up isnt there for this JMHO

Rockringwalker, I appreciate you being up front and trying to save the man some heartache. But the point I am making about his dog is this: If you cant get a bobcat jumped, you cant get him caught. There are a lot of dogs that can catch a jumped bobcat but cant cold trail one to the jump. There is a man on this board that catches them with his Austrailian Shepherd, for example. I am pretty sure the blood hound could take a cold bobcat track and get the cat jumped. I am just assuming, because I have never hunted with a bloodhound. But since I myself can get a snow bobcat jumped without any dog, I think a bloodhound should be able to also, and a lot better and faster than I could.

I wish we all had the connections and background and money to be able to get lined up with the best, most complete bobcat hounds available. Few of us will ever get to that point for many reasons. I have struggled through that reality and learned something that I should have already known. I should have known it because I had heard it many times. What I learned was this: "There is more than one way to skin a cat".

The people that have and guard those bobcat dogs have them at great great cost. They, or someone before them, was either a millionare or gave up their whole life to developing them.

In Europe, it was the very rich that had the good hounds. But there were still poor people who hunted and caught game. They did not have the good hounds, but they had game catching dogs. And they used whatever they could to catch game with. I think that if they had access to the dog pounds that we have they would have went hog wild. There are dogs in our dog pounds that can learn to catch a bobcat. I doubt if there are many, if any, that could both cold trail and catch a bobcat. But there are dogs that could learn to catch a fresh jumped cat.

And I guess that is my point. Tsarns likes his dog and wants to have some fun with bobcat. If he came from bear catching blood hounds, he can get a bobcat jumped. If he gets good at that, then go looking for that second dog for the catch.

If his goal in life is to be a serious bobcat hunter, then, I agree, should probably get a dog from one of the proven strains. If the goal is to get outdoors and have some fun with his dog... I say "Go for it." You will learn a lot more than you could watching TV. And you will find out if bobcat hunting is something you want to do.

Another aspect is this: In the bobcat hunting of the great lakes areas, there are at least as many bobcats shot moving way out ahead of the dogs as those that are bayed or treed. It is just part of the hunting culture there and not looked at as a negative thing (It is not the culture I come from, but I have learned to accept it). A bloodhound could keep a bobcat moving for that style hunting. This was traditionally a Northern style of fox hunting also, and a slow dog was prefered over a fast one.

[walkersrule]

good post david,
another thing is that just because it may not work for one person, doesnt mean that it wont work for another. the owner is the one that has to decide that. not anyone else. to that i say have fun doing what you like to do. why not try?
jimmy

[tsarns]

not trying to be mean but i would either think about getting him doing something that he was made for. Not bobs. It's never going to work, he could never hold enough speed, pressure, and tree to get one. No matter how good he or anyone else thinks he is, he'll never keep up with something like a bluetick, walker, black and tan or a plott. the make up isnt there for this JMHO

And I guess that is my point. Tsarns likes his dog and wants to have some fun with bobcat. If he came from bear catching blood hounds, he can get a bobcat jumped. If he gets good at that, then go looking for that second dog for the catch.

Another aspect is this: In the bobcat hunting of the great lakes areas, there are at least as many bobcats shot moving way out ahead of the dogs as those that are bayed or treed. It is just part of the hunting culture there and not looked at as a negative thing (It is not the culture I come from, but I have learned to accept it). A bloodhound could keep a bobcat moving for that style hunting. This was traditionally a Northern style of fox hunting also, and a slow dog was prefered over a fast one.

thank you both! i do appreciate your input
my dog's heritage is of bear hunting... both his mother and father were bear hunters so i know he has the genes i just gotta provide him the opportunity to find his sack! he's kind of a baby but he is also 8 monthes old and the breeder told me it takes bloods a good year+ for him to mature and 3 years to stud

but i think i'll give it a try... atleast he'll get outa the house for more than a piss and shit

i got one more question though my wife has a domestic cat... that lives with us... will that impact his training or will he just ignore it?

[david]

Dont worry about the cat at all. A lot of good bobcat dogs are completely broke off house cats: wont rig them, wont trail them, wont bark at them. Also, he is smart enough to know the difference between YOUR house cat and any other house cat.

[tsarns]

ok cool
lately i have been focusing alot of time on "offleash" training walking him through the woods off leash with a bell on. he's pretty funny and runs up and down right to left and generally stays within 50-75 yrd radius we walk about 1 mile or so and generally he only gives me a scare once... but he always remembers me eventually and listens for my whistle.

i think this coming week i'm going to somehow attach a hotdog to his squirrel toy and than attach a thin rope to that and try and get him to "tree"
ive also made a scent stick so when firearm deer season ends i'll go and make some scent trails for him for our off leash walks through the woods

Gussy 6 months & 60lbs
he's now 8 months and 80 lbs =)