Back down the track

[Tim Cook]

We know that one of a bobcats favorite tricks is to run back down there own track. whats the farthest you've seen a jumped cat go back down there own track before turning off and go out a differant direction.
Tim Cook.

[coastrangecathunting]

i ran one about 10 days ago that went back on its own track 5 different times. trailed it over an hour before they jumped it once it was jumped it went maybe 400 yrds before it started running its back trail. it was a great race and the dogs did good. after about 30 min they caught it.

jc

[George Streepy]

I am not saying this to be a smart mouth or sound like I have an ego because I don't. If the cat tried that maneuver it usually got caught. I haven't seen many that run like that. They either ran circles, climbed, or got bit. Running back on its same track didn't work out very well for them.

So my answer to your question would be not very far.

[coastrangecathunting]

sometimes they make tight circles and head back the way they came in. i guess some might sqought then go back the way they come in . i have seen them run in some tight brush about the size of 1 acre for about 3 circles. see the cat , a dog , the cat heading the other way, a different dog goes by the wrong way the cat back the other way, a nother dog goes the right way . pretty confusing just tring to type it much less get them caught. the particular race i just explained did hide in a bush and got stretched.

jc

[dwalton]

Running down there back track is one of the ways a cat will mess up a race. It happens usually when a cat is jumped and the dogs over run it. I have seen cats squat down in tall grass and the hounds over run it, them the cat got up and went down it's own track. This is usually the last place a dog will look for the track. If you follow the dogs long enough you will see that most looses are when a cat changes direction. I had a bear dog that we ran some cats with, if the cat ran it's on track in a circle she would go around and a round all night on the same track. We did not cat hunt her much but she could catch a cat once in a while. She was one of the top bear dogs this country ever seen. Good cat dogs need to be able to tell when a cat has covered his own track and when it has left it. I had a race last fall in hot dry conditions that lasted 4 hours jumped. The cat ran it's own track for 400 to 500 hundred yards 5 times.It would make a loop on the hill and them come down and run the flat along the bottom and then a loop again. When they treed it only one dog out of 4 was treeing and he would only bark once in a while. When I got to them they were all laying down trying to catch there wind and cool out. Red would raise his head off the ground and tree every three or four minutes with one or two chops. They give there all on that cat. Dewey

[George Streepy]

I had a cat a couple years ago cross the same road 15 times within about 50 yards of the same spot. We saw it cross 11 times. I never caught it. A month later we started it again about a mile from where I started it the first time. It ran a straight line right back to the same spot. I can't remember how many times we saw it cross the road that time but I think it was 9 times. On the same short straight section of the road. It got away that time too. It was a tough cat to catch and beat some very nice dogs, not just mine but the dogs of a very good hunter. I don't think he believed me when I told him I saw the cat 11 times on the same straight away until he was there to see it the second time. I never got a shot at it again but I think he caught it on the ground a month or so later. It was probably the hardest running cat I ever ran. It didn't run its back track, it was doing loops and figure eights.

I am not stranger to cats that will cross close to the same spot. But I have been lucky enough to have dogs that some what stuck to the track and could still move fast enough to put pressure on the cat. If a cat laid down it didn't work out so good. The biggest problem I had with dogs over running a track was with the dogs that had feet faster than their nose.

[al baldwin]

Interesting reading all post. Guess I,ve had some simular experiences . George never had as good luck catching those cats who double back as fast as you. But if dogs got enough chances some got caught. Makes sense that close track dogs with enough experience to realize cat running back on it,s on track would do well at catching. Most cats I/ve observed just sneaked back down it/s track. Were you running a large or small pack? Thanks for the reading to all. Al Baldwin

[twist]

A cat back tracking here has never been to much of an issue if it is done they only do this for maybe up to 20-40 yards at the most and a good seasond dog handles this well the biggest problem I have yet to over come is having a cat run down a vehicle track and the dogs not be able to figure it out they have hit a vehicle track and will run it for a 1/4 mile and dogs just wont cast out far enough to get it started again until it is figured out by me. Andy

[Tim Pittman]

I had a young tom this year leave the country on the first part of the track,when they jumped him they headed for a major heavy travelled road.The cat ran back and fourth 3times on a 350-500 yd.stretch just above the road.I grabbed the young dogs, left my lead dog Suzie to finish the task,he tried it one last time,it was thick blackberry and scotch broom brush chokeing the 10-15' tall reprod.She pushed him to the edge of the pavement he treed with her right on his tail as he was climbing,as i'd been running back and fourth trying to keep him hazed from crossing the pavement and watching for traffic,I was prbobaly 25' from them when it ended--the small tree was not enough security as she drug him back down and finished it off.

[George Streepy]

Al,

I never had more than a few dogs at a time that were worth owning. I usually hunt three "main" dogs and a pup or two.

My dogs have never been anything real special but I had a couple that were good on a jumped track. Once jumped it would take a pretty good cat at the top of its game to beat them.

Cats going back on there own tracks was just pretty rare for me where I hunt. Not really what Tim Cook asked, sorry for the distraction.

[Tim Cook]

The reason I ask is I had a race a this season that the dogs were driving pretty good, it ran into a blowdown patch and the dogs made a tight little circle in there and it went back down the track it came in on, I watched the garmin and it went back down it's track for over 400 yards before it turned off. I'm running two dogs and they were 24 months and 11 months so I thought they were screwing up by doing this. I was just about to bump them with the tri-tronics when they made the turn and got off the "back track".

[al baldwin]

Took me alot longer than it should have Andy, but, I finally figured out to stay way back with my vehicle when dogs running cat in roaded area. But I sure blew up a bunch of cat races before I figured that out. And was disgusted with the dogs for loosing the track. But one can/t stop others from driving. You guys who read those garmin well sure have advanage us old timers didn,t have. But remember still don/t have a garmin on the cat, so short of seeing the cat or snow, still some guess work. Roads have made hunting a lot more enjoyable. But can sure make cats harder to catch. JMO Glad to hear suzie is doing well Tim. Thanks Al

[Dads dogboy]

Well Fellows, Bobcat in Florida and AR travel down their back trails a lot farther than you all are experiencing.

Having a Cat come out to a road and then duck right back in on its back track happens pretty often. Most of the time the Hounds go 50 to a couple of hundred yards out before they open to make sure that they are not Speaking on a Covered Track.

We have seen on the Garmin where a Cat will go several hundred yards right back up their Track before deviating from that onto a new Track. Generally only the Older Hounds will be Speaking on this as the Younger Hounds are not comfortable as to it being a Covered Track or Not.

The longest that we can be sure a Cat went was in 2009 when we were running Old Ruby and Queen with 5 Seven month old Pups. We had jumped a “Well Trained” old Tom and had run him over an hour when he hit a Cypress Pond.

In just a short time Ruby opened going right back down the Back Track. Queen and the Pups were with her but she was the only Hound opening. I watched on the Garmin and asked Dad if she could be backtracking, he said anything is possible with an Old Hound (she was 8 years old) but that she never had in her life. I watched as she took the Cat over ¾ of a mile before the Cat turned north, as soon as it left the original trail Queen and the Pups opened and the Race was back on we ran him another 45 minutes before baying him in another Cypress Pond.

We left him to run again. We did and he uses the Back Tracking trick every time! We continue to save him s he is one of those "PuppyTrainers".

[al baldwin]

Good reading C. John glad to read some of those toms can take that long to catch. Thats what I meant by the garmin being so helpful to those that can read them. In the old days, would be tough to know if dogs were going right down the same trail or 50 yards off in this brushy country. My hunting partner reads the garmin like you. I/m learning to use mine some, but, difficult for me. At 3/4 mile dogs would be way out of ear shot in most places here. Thanks Al Baldwin

[Marshall]

I had one this year make a figure 8 about 4 times and I was just about to speak in tri tronics when they finially lined it out of there. I have a question for you guys about this. Do you think it is harder for a hound to pick the scent back up on the backtrack when you are on dry ground or in the snow? I have hunted both and have my opinion but, as usual I'm sure I am wrong with it. Also when i say dry ground I'm not talking dry open arid terrain, I'm talking brushy stuff that most of us hunt when we say dry ground.

Marshall