Answering Sonorabobcat regarding jtschofield10 needing help

[Dads dogboy]

Folks,

jtschofield10 wrote asking about help in getting some Bobcat and Coon Hounds to hunt the N. Texas area.

I wrote him the following:

jtschofield10

If you are in the Ft. Worth area, before you waste LOTS of TIME and MONEY, PM DerekE here on BGH!

For anyone wanting to run Bobcat, the 1st order of buisness should be to find a Consistantly Successful Hunter in your area. Then introduce yourself and spend time learning what works in your new area.

The difference from Hunting Bobcat in ID and now trying N. Texas would be like dating Roseanne Barr or Jennifer Aniston. Both would make interesting conversation, however the techniques of dealing with each would be VERY different.

Hounds needed to be sucessful on N. Texas would be very different from what will work in South or West Texas!

Then remember over 95% of the land in Texas is PRIVATE and permission to hunt is getting harder and harder to get!

Good Luck!

C. John Clay
Dads dogboy

Sonorabobcat has sent me two PMs ref the above answer…I hope no one else took what I said wrong. The below answers, I felt should be over here to handle anyone else’s angst as to what the purpose of my post was!

Sonorabobcat,

Here are the answers to your PMs. Thanks for sending them if you thought that they were sensitive, however the Forum would be where to handle this.

#1 Subject: need help in texas...
a year or so ago you were telling my freind how undependable derek is and you were picking his brain for info on derek and if he knew anything about dogs or hunting.now you are recmending him?wow i should of posted this but im happy with the fact that you and i know its true

I have NO Idea who either you or your “Friend” is. We have known of and talked with Derek for several years, as he is now the 6th person to get to have some of Dads Hounds (and three of those are as good as he has ever raised) speaks of what we think of Derek. Knowing who your “Friend” is could aid in the veracity of your description of a possible conversation.

#2 Subject: need help in texas...
the fact is you dicourage more peaple from wanting to run cats than help,you say how hard it is to catch cats and all the bull, the fact is if a guy picks up a good bobcat dog from a state where they hunt cats without the aid of snow and bring them south they will do fine after getting aclumetd, then pick up some young running dogs and get to it.i did it and anyone else can

I am sorry that you feel that I/We discourage people from wanting to run Bobcat! This is far from the truth.

Your quote in #2 shows a decided lack of experience with “Successful Bobcat Hunting” in the varied terrain and types of cover in the many regions where Bobcat are found.

We are not in the business to sell Hounds, conduct Seminars or in anyway capitalize on any of the lessons that Dad has learned from 52 years Bobcat hunting and many thousands of Cat caught or treed! The knowledge that we try to share is intended not to discourage Would be Bobcat hunters but to give them some information as to how to be successful!

The invitation is always out for anyone to either come to AR or FL and bring one or a Pack of those Hounds you talk about above…..then lets where the discourse will go!

I had not posted in quite awhile…along with some other VERY GOOD Real Deal Hunters….only started back after more than a few Folks asked that I start back sharing mostly Dad’s hard earned wisdom. I might be rethinking that decision!

Good Luck to anyone wanting to pursue the elusive Bobcat…..dealing with want-to-be’s is probably why the Very Good Bobcat Hunters are mostly as elusive as their quarry!

C. John Clay

[Hagerman]

Very well done C. John Clay and thank you.
I have one of Dereks dogs and though she's a hard headed thing, she's a worker.
John Ketzler

[pegleg]

Hagerman what area of new mexico do you hunt? pm me if your not comfortable sharing the info publicly or just say go to hell if you don't want to share. I don't need your most productive ridge line or even specifics just a comparison in terrain. I'd like to see a running hound work here but not sure how they would do in the mixed terrain with the cactus and heat. even hounds raised here are forced to slow down in those conditions. I really wonder if a running dog would be happy working here. or if it would be like pacing a Thoroughbred in this area. those are real issues running bobcats here. the cat leads them in the brush and they come out covered in stickers if they are running hard. mtn lions don't seem to go through the same shit.
I had a black and tan pup that helped his own trash breaking. was riding back to the trailer and stopped to rest and a buck was laying under some brush down the hill and guess his nerves couldn't take it and this pup flung himself off the ledge he was standing on into the biggest damn prickly pear bed in the county. was stuck so well I had to pull the little guy out he only ever showed interest in one other deer. had to be the easiest hound i ever had to trash break.

[cat and bear]

Dads dog boy, you spent way more time and thought and kindness on this guy then deserved. I highly doubt his wisdom is going to teach the clay boys much about catching cats, or dogs to do it. Anyone which has been around a while knows it takes different dogs and terrain is a big difference. Example, a buddy killed 17 cats with his dogs last bobcat season in Dec. We teamed up one day and killed four cats, one day, supporting that number, the smallest was 31.lbs, the biggest44lbs. Good hunters, dogs, and terrain. He has come an hour west, run nine times, and yet to see a cat in the tree or ground, Heck thats an hours drive let alone a different state.

As far as Derek, or asking about him, who wouldnt, i wont be affiliated with trailer trash, unetical hunters, or poor houndsmen or dogs. As in my personal experience with the clay folks. I was in Ok. hunting hogs, I wanted to meet them, and it happened to be easter. I gave them a call,them folks never met me, but invited me to share easter dinner with their family. I was with van and Ernie, and we wanted to hunt a few days yet, and after that, I went and met them folks, stayed a few days, seen the clay hounds work. Mr. Finney clay, a wealth of wisdom, shared his dogs, background, and said son, i will try and answer any question you may have about hounds and hunting, breeding etc. I tried for two days to ask a question he couldnt answer Still one of my personal goals, to stump him or at least make him pause in a question Im honored to have met such a man and family, and which now i call my friends. And to gain repect from Finney, as he said,while i was leaving, for a dam yankee, you aint to bad

Last summer dads dog boy came and stayed a week, and checked me out, these mutts i run, and we treed some bear, and even trashed a dam big bobcat. And somehow got it up a tree He seen my way of life, hunting, conditions terrain, etc. Also how i lived, values, etc. And i can honestly say, i think an unwritten agreement, we became friends. We checked each other out in detail. I also know they check about anyone out before they are invited, to accompany their time, it seems they have been very generous to Derek, passing a few top clay hounds to him, as he could use them to put into his mix, My hats off to them folks, in so many ways. Fools come and go, but I sure hope they continue their wisdom and knowledge which has helped all of us on this form. I doubt i'm going to teach Finney clay much But i dam sure love to learn from him, and his wisdom, as dads dog boy expresses it, and his own, through this form.

[DerekE]

As far as Derek, or asking about him, who wouldnt, i wont be affiliated with trailer trash, unetical hunters, or poor houndsmen or dogs.

And I do not fit in these categories.. The best way to get to know someone is to talk to them yourself. The Clay's did just that. They know more about me now than they did a couple of years ago. I hunt because I love it, not to sell dogs and certainly not to try and impress anyone.
We will learn more by listening to our own dogs than we will talking about someone elses.
Sonorabobcat...you're welcome to call if you care to. Most likely any information you have originated around Victoria and is made up just to make a handful of south TX guys jealous for no reason. Some people like to stir the pot just to stir it.
Derek
817-597-1150

[Bigfoot]

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