YOU SAY YOU ARE A TRAPPER?? ARE YOU TRAPPING CATS?? I HOPE NOT, BUT TO EACH HIS OWN. UNLESS THINGS HAVE CHANGED ALOT MOST ALL CAT DOG MEN AND HOUNDSMEN DISLIKE TRAPPING, WHICH IS VERY EASY TO SEE WHY.. BUT LET ME SAY LOTS AND LOTS OF CAT DOGS CAME FROM BEING GOVERNMENT TRAPPER TRAP LINE DOGS, YOU MIGHT TRY THAT,[ LETS SAY YOU TRAP CATS BUT I HOPE NOT ] AND YOU CAN ALSO RUN THEM ON BARN COUGARS , I NOW THAT WORKS FIRST HAND. ...I DONT MEAN TO RUFFEL ANY ONE FEATHERS BY THIS POST JUST TRYING TO HELP OK...........TOM
YOU SAY YOU ARE A TRAPPER?? ARE YOU TRAPPING CATS?? I HOPE NOT, BUT TO EACH HIS OWN. UNLESS THINGS HAVE CHANGED ALOT MOST ALL CAT DOG MEN AND HOUNDSMEN DISLIKE TRAPPING, WHICH IS VERY EASY TO SEE WHY..
Even if Nodge is a trapper what is wrong with him trapping cats? I have many friends here in montana that do both. There are areas they trap and areas they run. When you get into the private sectures and you can't turn loose a hound whats wrong with dropping some traps.....I have no issues with trappers, they have as much right in the woods as you and me.
wingpatch wrote:YOU SAY YOU ARE A TRAPPER?? ARE YOU TRAPPING CATS?? I HOPE NOT, BUT TO EACH HIS OWN. UNLESS THINGS HAVE CHANGED ALOT MOST ALL CAT DOG MEN AND HOUNDSMEN DISLIKE TRAPPING, WHICH IS VERY EASY TO SEE WHY.
I would bet that more than 1/2 of the trappers here run hounds also.
I used to trap before the big city folk took Arizona's leg hold traps away. Always took my dogs along with me on the trap line. Guess you could call it free casting. Anyhow if there was something in a trap I would just tell my dogs no and they would sit and wait while I dispatched it and reset the trap. No sence in getting more holes in the hide by letting them chew it up lol. Some times a trap would be set off and tracks telling me what I had missed. So I would show the dogs the tracks and if it was a few hours old they would run it for me, caught quite a few bobcats and fox this way. Also used my dogs a few times to find a trap that was dragged a long distance saved lots of time trying to track it myself.
Point is I don't see why a trapper can't have hounds and vice versa. My dogs did get caught in traps once in a while but I was quick to get them out and leg holds realy do no harm on a normal sized dog as long as they don't sit in there too long. If my dogs saw me setting a trap they knew to avoid that area.
Nodge, I love your quote. Jim Elliot was a very great man. As great as they come, in my book. Elizabeth is a great woman as well.
Just a note about the houndmen you see, as far as flagging them down, etc. The post about some houndmen not liking trappers is true. Some houndmen do not. That is one thing that would be on my mind. but much more than that, this would be on my mind:
Houndmen, and really hunters and fishermen of many kinds, tend to be very territorial. There have been more people killed over this issue throughout history than we are aware of or would want to know about. I dont think people are getting killed over it now, yet the emotions just naturally seem very strong. One unwritten rule with houndmen is that if they take you to a hunting territory, it is unethical to return there without them. That is why I myself would not flag down hunters in your home territory. There are already enough places you cant hunt without them taking you around and marking all their territory for you. If it was me, I would try to find someone to hunt with that is out of your home territory so it will not be so inconvenient to avoid his areas when you cant be with him.
Here are some reasons why people keep refering to Spanky:
1) he has done his research over many years and has gathered up a line of dogs that reproduce a high percentage of good dogs.
2) They can and do catch lion and bobcat.
3) He lives in Montana, and so do you.
4) He has a well earned reputation for being fair, kind, and more than helpful. Having a dog from his kennel would not change that.
5) He stands behind his product, and if he doesnt, we know where he lives
6) if you ever wanted to get involved in competition coon hunting, you would have as good a chance as anybody else of winning.
Thanks for the replys!!! Hey david I appreciate your input and Spanky has been more than helpful and very informative with all his wisdom! I will take your advice on flagging poeple down. I am not sure why that post on not trapping cats was thrown in there but like he said to each his own. I guess I will be more tackful as to what I bring up on a houndsmaen forum seeing very clearly that I am the rookie around here! Thanks to the houndsmen that keep their sport alive through sharing and kicking down there well earned wisdom with the green horns around here ......
Thanks John
"A man is no fool to give up that which he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." .......Jim Elliot
I am not sure why that post on not trapping cats was thrown in there but like he said to each his own. I guess I will be more tackful as to what I bring up on a houndsmaen forum seeing very clearly that I am the rookie around here! 
Thanks to the houndsmen that keep their sport alive through sharing and kicking down there well earned wisdom with the green horns around here 
......
