A bobcat hunting book

[david]

From David Benepe. Healdsburg, California 95448.
Postmark: Feb. 21 1984 Santa Rosa, Ca

To Mr David Peightal. Dallas, Oregon 97338


2/16/84

Dear David,
Allen Dunn is a good friend, and was a real good hunter and hound man.

He Mentioned you to me on the phone one evening, and your interest in catching cats. You already know my advice.

David, There are a lot of hound handlers but very few hound makers. It takes years of experience and breeding to make a good dog. Also, lots and lots of game. Just because a dog comes out of good stock doesn’t mean it will perform. It is actually cheaper in the long run to get one or two proven dogs to start out with. Let them train pups for you.

As for the breed, what it is doesn’t matter. What it does is the main thing. I like Walkers myself because they tend to be good cold trailers, but some of the best dogs I have ever owned or hunted with have been Heinz 57. Mixed. I also prefer a small dog. They can go through the brush easier and faster.

Even with the best dogs you are only half way to the tree. Your own skill as a hunter is very important. It’s a symbiotic relationship David. Most hound men have their own style of hunting. All I can say is if you want to catch cats learn to think like one. Know their habits and tendencies.

You may know all this already, and I don’t mean to be patronizing. Remember, free advice is worth what you pay for it.

IF you want to hunt cats stick with cats. Don’t trash up your dogs on something else. I never free hunt or road hunt my hounds. I do all the tracking myself. The dogs don’t come out of the box until I have located a promising track for them. If you are hunting horse back, check everything they show an interest in to make sure it’s right. Also, don’t hunt your dogs with another pack unless you know they’re good. They may pick up bad habits. I have seen one bad dog pull off the whole bunch.

Ray Nelson is the best man I know for making a good cat dog. His dogs aren’t cheap, but you can bank on getting what you pay for. Anything you get from Ray will be trash free and finished out. After that it’s up to you. I know Ray has some dogs for sale right now, but I cant’t quote you any prices. When you have your mind made up for sure let me know and I’ll put you in touch with Ray.

I have hunted with Ray many times and in my opinion he is one of the top hound men in the country, and an accomplished lion hunter. He has been raising and training hounds for many years, and has a good reputation.

My advice to you is this:

[david]

I am hoping that the letters sent so long ago to a struggling hunter, might be of help and of interest to those in the same boat today.

I have several letters and will probably include most of them, if not all of them. There are little bits of information to be gleaned from every one of them. Some of them have to do with dog exchanges and stuff like that, but even those can give someone like Newby some insight into the bobcat game and those who play it.

I have a few from Dale Looney. He is an amazing story teller. My favorite letter of all is one that he wrote. He got to spend some time hunting with a man: TB. He ended up buying two dogs from TB. He also gave me a pup out of those two dogs after I had moved to MN. I will not put the name of TB here just because he is extremely private and I want to respect that. But many of you know him or know of him. I have never met a bobcat hunter that knew of him and did not view him as a master bobcat hunter of the Northwest. I think most, if not all, would even say he was and is THE master hunter of the Northwest.

The story is amazing and just so well told. Dale shoed horses for a living, and he was just the ultimate cowboy story teller. I sure wish I could find Dale. I have been trying for years. If any one knows where he went, please let me know.

I have letters from Del Cameron that are amazing as well. I do not yet know if I can include them since he is a man that makes a living at writing. I am guessing he will let me quote small portions of them. I was a young pastor at the time, so much of our talk was of the Lord, and he has some good quotes on the hounds and houndsmen as well.

I have one letter from Harold Parker mailed from Hattiesburg, Mississippi on February 3 1986. He is good friends with the Clays (Dads Dog Boy). So it has been interesting to discover that I actually did have a connection with the Southern cat dogs, and totally missed the boat on that one. I was trying to help him out with a dog, when I should have been getting help from him. You know what they say about hind sight.

I have some letters from Ray Mears who became like a grampa to me. Rays breeding influenced most of the walker lines in the Northwest. Bear dogs, cat dogs, coon dogs, what ever walkers were used for, it would be hard to find one without some of that influence somewhere. Ray owned Sonny, while his son Lonnie owned and promoted Sonny's litter mate "Finley River Dan."

I have letters from a government hunter named Everett Manor, and from others whose names most would not know. In one of them, it talks about Sam Faulk breeding his female to a male that I had purchased from Mac Mcallister in Missouri. I actually had forgotten all about that. I could not name one female he was bred to, although there were several. It is weird to me to think that Sams line had blood from my dog. I have no idea if he kept that blood worked into his strain.

I crossed my female on one of Ray Mears dogs. In one letter, I find out that a female from that cross had been used by Sonny Turner to raise a litter for his strain of California fox/cat dogs. That pretty much blows me away, and it is amazing that I had forgotten about that as well. Again, I have no idea if those pups worked out for him.

So it is fun for me to go through this stuff, and I hope that if I do ever get it printed, it will be interesting reading, and helpful at the same time.

I am going to type out here a portion of a letter I have treasured. It is from Steve Matthes. For new folks: he was a lion hunter who developed a line of red dogs called the Matthes Lion Hounds. If you do a search on his name here I am sure it will come up a few times. You might have to try spelling it: Mathes. Ernie Straum came to own the registry for those dogs at one point. Ernie was from my neighborhood and we sometimes bumped into each other there at Ray Mears cabin.

I thought it was so interesting that Steve Mathes mailed his letter to me on the same day that David Benepe mailed his letter to me. But what is more interesting is that their advice to me is exactly the opposite in one area, and exactly the same in another area.

I will give you a bit of it here:

[david]

From: Steve Matthes Box 250 Carlotta, California 95528
Postmarked: Eureka, CA February 21, 1984

February 19th 84

Dear David….

Just a quick reply to your letter.

I think you might find it hard to buy the kind of a dog you describe, unless you catch someone down on his luck and needs the money. Usually those kind of dogs have to be raised. That’s the reason I always encourage a person to pick a pup from some known dogs that are able to do what you hope their pups will do. This takes time, but often is the quickest in the long run. Right at the moment I don’t know of anyone that has pups from two good cat dogs for sale. I’m sure though that if you scout around, you will be able to locate some in your area. …and spotted like you want them.

Allen is right about getting an old trained dog, but just where you would find one for sale might be the sticker. Ray Nelson is the only man that might come close to having something that would fit the bill for you that I know. Right now I don’t know what he has, but he is always training one or two to sell. I heard that he sold three a few months ago to Mike Fromhold, a lion hunter that lives near Carmel, Calif. What he had to pay, I am not sure, but it wouldn’t be cheap. Lion dogs start at about three-thousand now days. Ray starts his dogs on bobcats and chases lions with them as a part of their training. He is perhaps the best dog trainer alive today. He is also located in the best spot to train them too; plenty of big…and small cats to work them on...

[newby]

Keep it comin' David...I'm currently reading a book called, "A Million Miles In a Thousand Years" by Donald Miller. The main premise is that we all write a story with our lives and that we have the power to make that story one that has lasting benefits...one that will make the world a better place, or not. I know that you're writing a book about cat-hunting and some might think that something this temporal has nothing to do with the eternal, but I respectfully disagree. I don't know you personally, but I've read enough of your posts and seen how you handle yourself, even in difficult situations to believe that you're a man of integrity and who has his eyes set on writing a story with his life that will positively influence the world around him and have lasting, even eternal benefits and this book you're writing is just one more chapter. Thank you once again for passing this wisdom on to the next generation.

P.S. one of the most beneficial lessons I feel I could learn at this juncture in my development is to be able to understand cat-behavior and habitat...any information you could pass on in that realm would be greatly appreciated.

[david]

Newby. you may be new to bobcat hunting, but you are not new to life.

Thankyou very much for your words.

I actually started this thread just because life was feeling pretty futile. I needed to spend some time with old friends somehow. I did not really know how, so tried this. I actually spend most of the day every day praying and worshiping God as I drive. I do not have much time or desire for TV, and most days get disgusted with radio. I ripped the CB out of my truck because I just cant listen to it. It reminds me so harshly of how lost we all are. Sometimes I just need to stick my head in the sand for a little while to rest. I will pull it out a little later to see if the darkness is turning to dawn yet.

It is weird that God would require us to need more than Him. He made us to need people. I don't have too many of those in my life really, and even fewer that could ever understand some things that people on here routinely understand. I got a new famous old quote just now penned by Ryan. "The call of the hounds makes us Stupid". There are some other things that particular call makes us, but this is already too deep.

Regarding your questions on cat behavior and habitat: I am not nearly so good at this area as some folks on here. This is particularly true of folks like Dewey Walton, and the Clays. It will help to know what region you are from and intend to hunt. I have personal experience with about three regions, but will fail you miserably in any of the rest.

There is a piece I wrote and posted here about cat behavior as related to those who hunt them. I revised it after getting great feedback from Dads Dog Boy regarding the southern cats interaction with water. I will post it here for you. It is more as a way of getting others to help you more specifically once they know where you want to hunt.

[david]

“Tricks” Bobcats Use

The #1 trick I have had those sneaky bobcats use on me is to dress up like a bobcat and do things a bobcat normally would do. I am sure there are bobcats I have run in remote areas that have never even heard a dog before. They never had the experience of shaking a dog off their track. They still have done pretty good at making my dogs look silly at times. Most of the time, I do not think they are doing tricks. They are just going places they always go, and traveling in patterns that are familiar to them. It turns out to be tricky for the dogs. But I think the cat is often just doing his everyday stuff.

Typically bobcats are not giving off a lot of scent. It Might be because they are such clean animals, always bathing so to speak. Couple that cleanliness with some of their natural travel habits and they can come off looking pretty smart.

I know that some bobcats are capable of repeating something that lost the dogs before. But I don’t know if they are thinking about those things and problem solving in the way a smart herd dog might do. They might be just repeating routes that are habitual for them. It might be that there is something about that habitual route that throws the dogs every time.

Probably the most common "trick" they used in Oregon when I was hunting there was simply to hit the open road for a while. You would think a dog could just go down the road either way and figure it out, and sometimes they did, but a lot of times they didn't. And even if they did, sometimes by the time they found the track again things had gone from a jumped race to trailing.

Now if it snowed and these same cats hit the road, they would likely be caught. If it was new snow, the dogs could see the track as well as smell it. The dogs sight trailing could sprint at that point and close the gap rapidly. Even if they had to rely on scent, now the road would hold more scent. So if the cat was smart in using the road when it was dry, he was not so smart in using it now.

Even in snow though, if the road had been heavily traveled, or plowed, the cat was smart again because the track would have to be mined out of the mess. Actually, he was walking a thin edge between something that might have betrayed him terribly, and something that saved his hide. Traffic and plows can all happen in the space of an hour. An hour earlier might have yielded very different results.

In following the dogs while cold trailing, I have often seen where a bobcat put a "spur" in his track. They seem to go out one way, then come back on their track for a ways, then take a right and head off in a different direction. This looks extremely smart. This can completely end the track for an inexperienced dog. But again, it was a cold trail. The cat was probably hunting. I have done the same thing if I was still hunting deer, for example. I am checking out a view point, or returning to a spot I got lucky in the past, or I start one way and change my mind because I heard something or saw something or felt something. A bobcat might just be doing the same thing.

I have also seen one cat walk in a track from another cat that was traveling the opposite direction. He would travel in that track step for step for a while and then make a hard right turn. I have witnessed this exact thing put dogs on the wrong cat track and going backwards on it. If two wrongs could make a right, the dogs would have been right. From a purely listening standpoint, a strong track can go to suddenly not as strong, to slowly petering out to nothing. How smart can you get? But I honestly don’t think it was something the bobcat thought about. I just think it is something they do sometimes. I am of the opinion that they hate walking in snow, and these behaviors are putting their feet on the sidewalk instead of getting them snowy again. I have seen domestic house cats shake their feet while standing in an open doorway of the house just thinking about going out! They don’t like it. But they do it because they have things to get done.

This same avoidance of snow has caused some cat tracks in the snow to completely disappear into thin air. Then you get to looking and realize there is a series of exposed rocks, and that cat is just avoiding the snow. He will gravitate toward even the slightest hint of dry rock poking through the snow.

I have told the story of the cat I saw about to get rolled by two dogs. The snow was at least 8" and soft. That cat disappeared, and then reappeared behind the dogs, heading the opposite way. The dogs had not the slightest Idea. I was watching it, and I have no idea how he got that accomplished either. But because there was two dogs you had Oula Belle saying “I don’t have him anymore, you got him?" and Spike Driver saying: "What are you talking about, I thought you had him... Are you sure you don’t have him? No I know you got him, you always got him... right? Right? C'mon, you got him right?" And by the time they realize neither one is cracking a joke, they have gone 50 yards and have no idea where to start looking for that cat. If I had not been there, I have no idea how long it might have taken them to find the track going backwards inside their own tracks. Now there is a smart cat, right? Hmm, not sure if that was brains or just basic survival instinct or just pure luck cause my dogs are idiots. But it sure caused me to think back on races that could have been explained perfectly with exactly the same series of events.

There is another thing they commonly do in areas where they can get to some thick growth. They will repeat a circular route and get an area so tracked up with cat and dog that the dogs really have no idea if they are coming or going. I am not so sure the cat really processes that one mentally either, but maybe he does. I think he is simply afraid to leave all that wonderful cover that he is so good at hiding in. He knows the dogs are close and he knows that if he heads across more open areas he is asking for trouble.

Another thing those smart cats do sometimes is to climb a tree! I feel that loosing cats at a tree is probably about second to loosing them on a dry road. They use this trick of not hugging the tree like a coon does. They have “figured out” it is best not to rub your private parts on the tree bark like that. Depending on the tree and the obstacles around it, they might not even touch the tree until higher than a dog can put his nose. I don’t know of any dog that can figure some of this stuff out except with just a ton of experience. The dog has to be intelligent enough to be learning something from each experience. In some regions, they had better have a genetic gift for locating without the aid of scent on tree bark.

In an area of hundreds of thick evergreen trees, and hundreds of dog tracks within minutes, what are chances of finding the bobcat if he first hits the tree trunk six feet up? Sometimes experienced dogs KNOW he is up and can wind him but can’t figure out which tree he is in. But I don’t really think the bobcats figured all these things out. The cats are just being cats.

Hiding is in a bobcat’s job description. They do it every day when hunting and they are experts at it. They hide in trees, they hide among rocks, they hide behind vegetation, they lay flat and disappear where there is almost nothing to hide behind. They practice seeing but not being seen. They learn to move when eyes are not on them, and hold still when eyes might see them.

It took me a long time to realize this and it seems basic, but bobcats use these hiding skills when they are being hunted. The example I gave above with the two dogs in the snow is something I don’t think a coyote could have pulled off. As in the circling behavior mentioned, bobcats stay in there because they can hide if they need to. They move when they have to, they lay still when they have to. The dogs might pass within feet of the hiding cat. And when bobcats take a tree, they will hide in it if they possibly can. It can be very hard to find a cat in a tree that offers any type of cover.

I have never witnessed a bobcat swimming. But I know of some people who have; not only in Southern climates as reported my Mr. Clay, but in the far north as well. I have been on hunts where the only way the bobcat could have gotten to where it is now is by water. And the only way for me to get to where he is now is by water. They are not afraid of water and will use it to their advantage if they can. There are some domestic cats that love water and will even enter it by their own initiative. There are some that hate it. I would not be surprised if these same dynamics exist within different bobcat subspecies, and individual bobcats.

One behavior that does display memory and intentionality is the vertical rock syndrome. There are definitely bobcats that have figured out that a dog cannot climb a wall. Some cats will start traveling toward the rocks at the first sound of a hound in the area. I also know of a bobcat that would habitually climb a tree way ahead of the hounds as well.

The Chess Game
Consider the game of tic tac toe. There are not too many challenges to it. If you have the first move, you win. That is, unless you are trying to let a little child have the chance of winning.

Now consider the game of chess. Some people spend years studying how to become a better chess player. Bobcat hunting is the chess game of the hound world. It keeps you thinking about it long after the last game is over and long before the next game begins. And while the game is being played, if you are not thinking, you are bound to make a wrong move that could easily cost you the game. Then you will long be thinking of what you could have done differently. You will get better at it for as many years as you are willing and able to do it. It is a great challenge to dog, man and cat. It is probably a bigger challenge to the dog and the man than it is to the cat. But that is good. That is what keeps us coming back for more.

[mike martell]

David,
i sent you Dale Looney's contact information....check your pm's. looking forward to your book. i know most of those guys mentioned as well as the dogs....mike

[david]

Mike, thank you so much for Dales number. It is going to feel pretty weird to just dial up his number when I have tried for so long to find him. I am going to have to let it settle in my mind for awhile before I actually call him. He is as trustworthy a human being as you could ever hope to meet.

Mike you are the one who told me Faulk had bred to Banjo and said his pups were better than he was, and I just did not remember it at all. I apologize. I have a letter, July 18, 1985 from Rev. Billy Falling, of Valley Center, CA., and he was actually there at the breeding. It was funny to read that letter and then remember doubting you. I am kind of an idiot that way sometimes. I am afraid I am going to have to start trusting other folks memory a lot more and my own memory a lot less.

I am wondering if you know if Sam kept that blood in his line or kept it out?

Thanks again Mike

[mark]

David, I finaly put all the dots together and figured out where i had heard of you. In the early 80,s i got 2 dogs from Bill Paetch a male and a female.The female named cricket was out of McKenzie River Banjo and Lost Valley Rainbow. She was a so so cat dog but she was as tough a bear dog as you could ask for. A ton of heart and stay power! I hunted with Sam Faulk a little then and we had tough bear that Sam came up and helped us with. Alot of miles,dogs,and hours later i got in and got them help. Cricket and another dog of mine and 2 of sams were the only ones left. That bear pretty much ended Sams dog Chiefs career. If i remember right i think the vet bills came to over 4 grand at the time between the two of us. I still have people asking me if there is any of that blood left around. The last i knew Terry Miller in Scio had the last of it,not sure where it went from there.Mike had a female out of the last litter i think. Anyways i really enjoy your posts and put me at the top of the list for one of your books!

[mike martell]

David,
glad to help you out. sam out crossed to banjo. sam said he was pretty tight with his line and needed an out cross. i think he remained close to his own strain after.SAM said he actually seen banjo quit a bear, but was happy to report the offspring turned out better than banjo. ALL DOGS WILL QUIT A MEAN BEAR AT SOME POINT! SAM was living proof about dogs that stuck like glue. cost you a lot of money. didn't catch em' anyhow...don't feel bad about not remembering....hard to believe this has been almost three decades ago. when i spoke to dale today we reminisced about numerous old time hound hunters....most are now gone. great reason to share your knowledge.

i remember mark owning a young walker female by the name of Mindy...she was out of cricket and rowdy....if i remember correctly i told mark the following....that spotted dog "coon dogs" that bear out ahead of my plotts i"m done hunting with her...i think she was about 10 months old at the time. she literally smoked my pack and come up treed and never took a step backwards.

she treed many times, we landed at the tree before the plotts.....i quit hunting plotts soon after and remain to this day with the treeing walkers. those dogs were excellent switch hitting style hounds. this was also how my kate dog was bred. mark had a direct son of woodscreek loose bruce back in those days that was pretty rough on the bears....i made that cross three times with excellent results.

i chuckle about those cat hunters who say to own "cat dogs" you must hunt your hounds only on cats.....to each his own opinion....i have opinions about how it places more pressure on the handler and you are prone to more off strikes on the rig.....basically a dog gets used to almost all tracks being GOOD! but a good dog is a good dog and i can't do much to mess that up....i just need to add coyotes and i have it covered.

those dogs set the bar where it remains today....good luck with the book.

[david]

[jcathunter]

David, you get that book written, I'll be right up front buying my copy Along with the facts and figures, I truly hope your book is full of your philosophies and vigor for life. Including those two things will give any reader a true perspective on cat hunting. I'm still hoping you are able to come out and hunt sometime. If you come this year, it ought to be hillarious.

[Beimel]

David, I really appreciate all of the information you shared! I learned a lot from this. I sent you a pm if you wouldn't mind checking it out.

Thank you

[david]

Jcathunter, it is always good to see your name show up on here. I will never forget some of the things you have said. I can quote you, but wont right now. It is so amazing that you got to spend so much time with Elmer. I wish you were writing a book just about that.

Thanks again for the invitation. One quote I will give: "the only thing better than owning a boat is having a friend who owns one". Thanks for inviting me into the bobcat boat. Maybe someday.

[david]

Beimel, I love hearing from the guys just getting established. Thanks for letting me know that the information is helpful for you. It gives me a reason to keep doing it.

I was looking for a piece to post in response to Tom Toms thread. I cant find the one I was looking for, but here is one that covers some of the same concepts.

I usually loose some people anytime I talk about this topic. I get attacked less now than I was 6 or 7 years ago when I brought it up. Just take it with a grain of salt. It is just opinion and theory. I believe it, based on very limited experience, but I do not expect you to: