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I am new to cat hunting with dogs and need some advise. My dogs run a track out real well but it seems that if the cat trees high or in a tree that is very brushy and the dogs cant see the cat the dogs continue to search for a track and wander away from that spot. The dogs will sound like they are very hot, show treed for a short time on the gps, then continue making cirles up and down the area for a couple hundred yards and by the time I get there dog tracks are going everywhere and cat tracks are smashed and gone. Any good advise? I am having a great time with this, just wish I could finish more of these chases with a cat in a tree that i could find.

when you say cats are talking lion or bobcat as there is a big difference in locating lions rather than bobcat I have seen alot of older hounds look like a million dollars on a lion from truck to tree but that same dog when it comes to locating and treeing a bobcat just isnt the same dog. Alot of it could be the age of your dogs and also with more game exposed too they start catching on. If they are older dogs all I can say is some have the natural ability to locate and tree and some dont.

twist wrote:when you say cats are talking lion or bobcat as there is a big difference in locating lions rather than bobcat I have seen alot of older hounds look like a million dollars on a lion from truck to tree but that same dog when it comes to locating and treeing a bobcat just isnt the same dog. Alot of it could be the age of your dogs and also with more game exposed too they start catching on. If they are older dogs all I can say is some have the natural ability to locate and tree and some dont.

mountain lion

by looking at your gps if your not there or if you already have an idea which hound maybe dragging the rest off , try leaving that hound out of the race. just a suggestion not knowing anything about your pack.it only takes couple barks from a hound running to drag the rest off a tree if there a little weak in that department.doesnt mean they cant locate if their treeing then leaving cause one of your dogs at least knows he is up there.you may need to add a strong treedog to your pack .

Find that lion if he is really up and hiss those dogs on it. Climb up in there if you need to just to show it to them. Jump it out. Shoot it or something. It would be worth looking for that cat that they put up all day. The way I look at everything is if something aint workin try something else. So if they aint locating it. Help them out. They will figure it out with help!

This year I sold my best locate and tree dog and crossed my fingers the other dogs would take up the slack. They would tree for a few minutes and begin to wander. Stay as close to the dogs as possible, when the jumped race ends mark the location with your GPS if you have one. Haul butt in there and find that cat. It won't take long to get them to realize what is expected. Lions are easy to find in the trees, bobcats are a lot tougher but it can be done. Praise and reward them as much as possible when they start treeing, mine came around really quick, so should yours. Good luck.

I would refrain from shocking them back to the tree, exciting them and praising the heck out of them at the tree seems to work much better in my opinion.

your input is much appreciated. Ill spend more time with these guys and more time trying to find the cat in the tree and get them into it as well, Ill pack a step ladder in there if i have to! I do think I will run without one specific dog next track and see if she is the one pulling the other off. Thanks again

I had them into a place where there were a family of cats and that may have been what has started some of this. On one of the first hunts there were at least three cats all in one spot and tracks everywhere. They treed one and then were off chasing another and then crossed another fresh track before chasing that one. None the less this is about as much fun as anything

Looks like you got some good info. Not much to add other than get them or atleast one of them tied up close to the tree that you think the cat is in. As soon as you find what tree the cat is in let one of them tree while the other one is tied back. Then switch. Don't jump a cat to much that will make dogs loose also.

Be carefull you will have hounds tied up everywhere, dirt poor and single before you know it.

Outside of the great advise you've been given; maybe you need different dogs............

ALL GOOD SOUND ADVISE. RUN LESS DOGS AND FIGURE OUT WHO IS THE PROBLEM. FIND THE CAT AND FOLLOW THE SUGGESTIONS. GET THEM REVED UP. IF THAT DOES NOT WORK YOU NEED TO GET A SOLID TREE DOG. I SUSPECT YOU ARE TRYING TO RUN TOO MANY YOUNG OR IN EXPERIENCED DOGS AT ONCE. IT IS KIND OF LIKE THE OLD STORY "SEND ONE BOY TO DO A JOB AND YOU HAVE ONE BOY. SEND TWO BOYS OUT TO DO A JOB AND YOU HAVE LESS THAN ONE". "THE BLIND LEADING THE BLIND"

Only other advice i could think of and i didn't read all the commets left. but maybe try doin drags rubbin that cat sent all over the trunk of the tree but not puttin the cat in the tree and make em tree on it. U'll have to pack a few garbage sacks and maybe a garbage can to the tree but just try makin the tree on sent alone. first few times encougar the shit out of them the sect they start to tree, the then start leavin treed longer and longer on there own. I did that with two pups i had. worked good for me.