Rigging bobcats

[al baldwin]

Mule man, sure I made some mistakes, sure was not always perfect, but broke more than one dog. Also lost sleep at times trying to figure out hounds. Made it out yesterday with friend Tom Hawkins and his dogs, got lucky and tree near road, terrain so rugged I did not go to the tree. Darn Menier/s makes walking in rough ground very challenging. Good to hear from you. Al

[dwalton]

 it took me years to realize that most of the piss bushes were not coyotes but cat piss bushes. I did not realize that they were not coyote bushes until i stated hunted in eastern oregon in snow. Dogs will strike a bobcat bush and go pee on it thinking it was coyote i caused my on problem. I think most faults that we see in dogs are caused by poor breeding or more so not understanding what our dogs is doing and faulting the dog when we are putting our expectations onto what a dog should be doing and ignorance at reading what's truly happening. Dewey

[scrubrunner]

Al, I have no finished dogs at all at this time rig or otherwise! The two I’ve had recently one died prematurely the other is retired, too old and arthritic. I’ve got a box full that’ll rig but no telling what it is. I’m working on it but it’s a hard task when I don’t know what it is.
A buddy told me once though, if you’re not having problems you’re not hunting.

[macedonia mule man]

Scrub, if a person started from scratch with no broke straight cat dog, no place to buy or borrow one, how long do you think it would take to wind up with 8-12 broke straight bobcat dogs. I’m talking in our area La, ala. Fla.
 

[al baldwin]

Scruberunner I never hunted over 3or 4 dogs most of my hunting life, did at one time own 7 hounds that all contributed and gave very little trash problems. I can/t imagine hunting large packs without having some trash issues, but know others are able to. I hung on to the dogs I trusted not to trash far longer than most people and hated to go hunting without those dogs. Most of the time only hunted one pup at a time. That still not to say that never had a coyote race. Recall going maybe couple years and then usually in spring of the year young dog would break off cold track and it happened. My thinking was if dogs know not to run trash after they boxed it they can be broke from boxing it. For me it worked, but had to really work at it, tracking and shocking collars sure made it much easier to not let dogs get away with trashing. I spent some restless nights trying to figure out some hounds after having a trash race. One thing will share never able to catch over 3 bobcat a day in my hunting days. Visited with a hunter recently who I know to be honest, stated he caught 7 bobcat hunting 5pm to 5am. Hunting 14 running dogs, suppose that happens often in south Texas?

[dwalton]

I hear finished dogs or broke dogs I have hunted my on dogs for 61 years treed my fist bear and bobcat with just my dogs 60 years ago. I believe most dogs need to be pulled out of a pack at 8 to 10 years old. they can catch cats on their own but will hurt your success in the pack. a finished dog is when it dies and a broke does not exist. The dogs are just as good as the hunter that hunts them and the dogs that they are ran with. I my hit trash once or twice a year which is usually a lion maybe a deer for a one to two or a coyote. I found if I hunt alone and read my dogs trash is stopped before it happens. Except for snow the more dogs on a track the merry as long no dog in the bunch takes away from catching the bob. That means for me no barking behind, no barking at the same spot twice, no barking going to dogs that pick up the lose. unless they are running the scent funnel on a jump only the lead dog should be opening. Dewey

[macedonia mule man]

Dewey, im with you about hunting alone and not mixing dogs. The worst part was my dogs wouldnt handle as well  ive had a few dogs that liked to bark more than the other dogs( barking a lot on cold trail, barking going to the race etc.) And i never saw that it hurt the outcome. If you hunt the same pack of dogs theytell when they get serious learn each other. They know a serious bark and what dog its comming from. They can tell serious body language from a maby this is something. It kinds like working with a crew , always one or two running their mouth but you can tell when they are serious.
 
 

[WRJ]

Guys, I'm only 73. So I don't have as much experience as most of you. Every true bobcat dog I've seen didn't need another dog to tree it. The other thing I've seen is that most of the time they're female. I believe this to be true on dry ground or snow. Just my observations.

[al baldwin]

Dewey know you are a very good houndman, agree with you on lots of things you post. However, I do not believe an older hound that barks here and there when they are behind is going to stop the younger hounds that are running ahead  from catching a bobcat. I used to think that maybe it help to confuse the cat a little. I also believe as muleman stated those lead dogs learn to read the barks of others barking out of place and know when they have the track or are just barking off. Not saying barking off is anything I wished for but in all the packs i even owned or hunt with that others owned there were times when some dog or dogs barked behind. I am convinced there are no perfect dogs or people. Just my opinion.