BigGameHoundsmen.com

My question is do curdogs make good bob cat dogs, and is it legal to hunt bob cats in TN, using dogs?

Yes they will. Its just like hounds you have to get the right bloodline for what you want to hunt.

The reason I ask is my cur dog has only been hunted on squirrell and coon, but anytime a house cat comes through the neighbor hood he goes wild, even more so than he does on coon and squirrell, I started to start shocking him off them but don't want to discourage him from treeing. I also have read a few articles where cat hunters start their pups by using domestic cats in roll cages a couole of times while they are young pups. Also back in the winter I had him out in the snow squirrell hunting in east ky, he started working a track in the snow and when I got up to him it was a bob cat track it crossed a leaning tree and jumped down in the snow I scolded him off it.

I use both my curs on bobcat here in PA. I have had good success with them.

hotshot630 wrote: he started working a track in the snow and when I got up to him it was a bob cat track it crossed a leaning tree and jumped down in the snow I scolded him off it.

Yikes!!!
That's funny. I spend all winter looking for Bob Cat tracks to encourage my Cur to trail..
Sounds like your pup's a very good candidate to make a Bob Cat dog out of if that's what you want to do.

One thing though. I could give a Rats Ass about "House Cats" (feral or not),, or some tree hugging puke that thinks it's his job to pass judgement on others,, but alot of hound hunters discourage the use of house cats for training because of the image .

Like I said, "I could give a rip one way or thye other".
Just throwing it out there.

Good Hunting
Charlie

Seen some really good things out of the Lep curs on bobs[that's all we run]one of the better bear hunters in these parts,runs the also and wouldn't have anything else.IMO they've got their place in a pack.
As far as house cats,drags and all the other mumbo jumbo in my experience it doesn't mean anything unlees you plan on making a field trial dog,otherwise hunt'em on real game in real situations and you'll have real dogs.
Tim 541-912-6464

As far as dogs that actually catch bobcats on the ground, I have seen a lot more curs that were natural at it than I have seen hounds. If you want to use full hounds, you better look for some that have long been bred for bobcat or grey fox. But there have been a lot of cur dogs that have just accidently made good bobcat catchers without one dog in their background that was ever hunted on bobcat.

I would bet money you got one of those curs there. I hope he gets the chance to prove it. Might be a little tough if he has to do it in-between whippins

david wrote: Might be a little tough if he has to do it in-between whippins

Wish I would have said that.