We headed back out to spike camp on Tuesday night to find 10 inches of snow and temps in the low 20s. We had been looking for a big tom for the boy to harvest so he could have it mounted. I had seen a track a week or so ago in a patch of snow that would make any cat hunter proud. The cat Gods must have blessed us as we cut it first thing. It was so cold that it was hard for me to judge the track so I did the next best thing and put them out on it. My ol red dog took it right out. They trailed on it for an hour before they got it jumped and treed it in an old growth. The oldest boy made a great shot and the hunt for his mount was over. We all placed our bets as to what it weighed before we hung it on a scale that I keep in the truck. I guessed it at about 27 pounds but was off by a few. It weighed 30lbs everytime I weighed it (3 times). It really didn't look that big but it is a deep, wide built cat.
The kids were not done after this one. We hunted a a drainage off the the east and cut another track. This rascal was a runner.
We tried for a third but it managed to give us the slip......
This morning we decided to do a quick hunt so we could get to town to meet family/xmas obligations. We caught this little sow and headed home for the night. We will be headin back out on Christmas afternoon for 2 more days of "harassing bobcats with coon dogs".
Cold cat camp.....
The whole bunch.....
. Keep us posted on those coon dogs. 
