Cat dogs

[plottpappaw]

I was wanting some feed back on question i have? I raise plotts and only use them on bear hog and coon! I was wondering what cat hunters look and breed for in their hounds? I occasionally run a bob cat or two but have always wondered bout dogs for mountain lion nd the possibility of using a hound bred for big cats on bear?

[Mike Leonard]

This is a very complexed question: let's see what our forum has to say on this matter>


Thanks for asking.

[plottpappaw]

I hope i get some good feed back! I'm looking give my plotts a lil more nose and grit! But i was thinking that a well bred plott cat dog pup would be a good possibility! I'm not hurting with my pack but i'm always looking to make better dogs! Hope some of ya'll can help me!

[lionhunterdaves]

In my experience you can have hounds that will run both. I really concentrate on lions and bobs in the winter, but in the spring, summer, and fall I run a lot of bear. My dogs seem do do rather well on both. Sometimes it might take a week of good hunting for them to make the conversion, but once they get locked in on what they are chasing they seems to do fine. Some of my dogs do better on cats and some of them are better on bears, but if they won't run both I won't have them.

[Ike]

My dogs will rig, run or tree on a lion just as hard as they will a bear, switch from one to the other on any given day, and I can't imagine why a guy living in lion and bear country wouldn't hunt both if they are legal game......

ike

[plottpappaw]

Thank you guys! I wish we had big lions here i would love to catch one! If ya'll dont mind keep up the opinions! If ya can explain ti me what a dry ground dog means!

[Catman]

Well here's my definition of a dry ground dog. I'm sure every ones opinions vary. A dry ground dog to me is one that will move a cat track across frozen dry ground or just bare ground even though it may be an old track. We don't have a multitude of lions here like we once did so when you find a track you want to be able to run that track even if its a day or two (sometimes more) old. To me its not about the catch so much as I like to watch a good dog move a track across a melted off south slope, frozen ground, or just bare ground when the temperatures vary as much as 50-60 degrees during the day. I also like to run a few bobbers so I want to add that I want a dog that can move the track with good speed especially when that track starts warming up. I know you'll get some good input from some of these southern hunters on this subject so good luck in your endeavors.

[liontracker]

The best Bobcat dogs use their eyes as well as there nose, have a natural born cat sense to them and are extremely intelligent. They also run to catch at break neck speed.

[twist]

Liontracker that is so true. I believe you must have been around a few bobcat dogs

[Ike]

Thank you guys! I wish we had big lions here i would love to catch one! If ya'll dont mind keep up the opinions! If ya can explain ti me what a dry ground dog means!

A dry ground dog is nothing more than a term used to imply that one dog will move a dirt track and the other won't. Bunk! All of these hounds (whether they are coon dogs, bear dogs or lion dogs) are scent hounds that trail game, and the difference in moving an old track is that that hound has learned to do it. Cold trailing on open ground is nothing more than trailing, and the difference in my opinion is one hound has only learned to use it's nose on a hot track while the other has learned to move a cold track. Cold trailing comes natural to most hounds but often times a trainer has to walk a dog down those old tracks and make them learn to dig down and push or follow that track.............

It probably helps to have an old cold nosed trail dog that is open on track to role model for that younger dog, but bottom line the handler is or can be a huge part of that. Some dogs have alot of the trailing traits bred into them, and those dogs take to a cold track more naturally than others. However, I've had hounds that love to run a hot bear dig down and scratch down a lion track all day and all night without a complaint once they learn that was their job.

ike

[kk]

I agree with Ike on his comments about dogs learning how to cold trail. I run Plotts and they do good on Bear, lion and bobcat and also coon but I do not hunt coon much. I like dogs that want to catch game and I think mine do. I don't have the best dogs but they are very good. They are still young but learning and getting better all the time. My oldest dog is 2.
What line of Plotts are you running, my guess is if you take them out and run them on cats you will find they will do you a good job.

[plottpappaw]

I have dollins/ heat/ von mostly and a half crockett half ferguson male! Thats way back but thats the best way for me to tell ya! I run some bobcats with them they do all right! Kinda a long bodied dog and really small! Cur looking dogs! I may pick up on some more cat running now with this information ya'll have provided me thank ya'll

[kk]

Sounds like you have some good blood. I have seen Dollins and heat both do a real good job on cats. Give them some experience and i bet they will do good.
Good luck.

[Big Mike]

A good friend of mine had some plotts that made pretty good dry ground lion dogs. They could trail a good track if it wasnt more than a night old and conditions were good. I believe they were brandenburger lines. But they couldnt trail with the old strains of dogs that have been bred for cold trailing in the SW for many moons

I agree Cold trailing is partly a learned skill. But all people weren't created equal and neither are hounds. It takes the bred in genetics plus the learning to make a good cold trailing cat dog.

[jonet plotts]

Start your dogs on bobcats from 6 to10 months old.Get them on as many cat races as you can.Pull your old dog out of the race if possilbe after your pup has been in a couple races.You don't have to catch the cat to teach that pup to trail.Runit on bear the following summer.Do not run that dog on bear first!!!That makes a very sloppy tracking dog.Trailing bobcats first teaches them to run with there nose on the ground.When you accomplish that trailing lions is easy!Hopefully the dog has a good nose and a brain to run it, if so get that dog broke ,make him handle and you have your all around hound.