discription of the lose

[coastrangecathunting]

For people that dont know what a lose is. a lose is when you are running a cat and the dog cant find the track. some loses are only for 10 seconds some maybe 15 mins . Things in the area i hunt that cause these loses are roads,windfalls,bluffs,slashed small trees that make a waste high maze of brush,woven wire fences,creeks,pole running and tree tapping. To keep a cat pressured through all of that stuff you need a CATDOG.What are some things in your area that can cause a lose?

JC

[twist]

I hunt snow and the cats in the past few years they have sure learned to some how make a run for my pickup track and run down it just far enough the hounds make a lose and the cat gets his head start again. Also rocks can do a pretty good job giving them a new head start.

[BEAR HUNTER]

When I was fox and cat hunting the rock piles gave me the biggest problems. The cats would run in one and then out the other side. Run a 100 yrds to the next one and do the same thing. Finally had a trigg female figure it out. She would hit the piles and then run to the other side. In this way I was able to keep pressure on them till they lined out. My other knuckle heads would bay the rock pile until they heard her opening.

[George Streepy]

Dusty roads, thinning, and windfalls top the list for me. One I have encountered prefers to use the state highway. Lines out that direction asap, I would rather have a loose anywhere than the highway.

[Dads dogboy]

JC

Good topic!

For us all of the above can cause issues to arrise....the worst culprit, however for us, for causing problems for the Hounds is WATER.....when the HEAT gets turned up, to the Water the Cat wll go.

CJC

[jason]

the waste high windfall areas and the rocky cliff areas.

[coastrangecathunting]

I forgot one of the worst , when it snows and it warms up and the snow is melting from the trees that really sucks when you are cold trailing.

jc

[mark]

15 to 20 loads of logs out a day on a road and the dust is 1/4 inch deep in the brush for 20 yards in makes a good trainwreck on ajumped track........ tuff to start one too

[DerekE]

Here lately the heat, dry and poor scent conditions cause me to lose him before I find him.
Derek

[Hipshooter]

Kansas cats beware
Weather has changed from 100o plus in daytime & dry
to 60s at night, and rain & no wind.
If the fishermen & campers would go to the house it would also help.

[Everlast]

Sometimes a cat will just stop running and start walking (if the terrain and cover alllow it).........you'd be amazed at how many "loses" are started by that very action.

[Dads dogboy]

Amen, Everlast!

Most will not believe that this happens...too many times we have seen this happen.

CJC

[LarryBeggs]

I think the cats actualy stop a lot and hunker down.Then when the dogs run buy take off again.I wasnt there to witness it but I wish I had been .A couple friends of mines dogs had lost a cat in the road. As the dogs were looking for it my friend almost stepped on the cat on the edge of the road.The cat jumped staight up in the air and so did my friend. The dogs caught the cat right there in the middle of the road.I also have had the dogs lose a cat beside the road and pop out in the road looking for it only to have them wind the cat and go running back to where they had just been looking for it and leave there running.

[George Streepy]

I have had similar experiences many of times. Last season we had a nice tom circling on a hill side above the road. The dogs were doing good and I felt we would have it caught in a few minutes. The dogs had a bad loose at a base of a cliff. By the time they got it figured out the cat had put some distance on them. They were able to move the track real well but were a couple minutes behind it. As we stood in a curve in the road over looking a clear cut the cat popped out in the road and went into some blow downs in a little drainage. It walked some logs, then hooked back the direction he came before it laid down on a log to rest. It was obvious he needed to take a breather. I would usually yell to the dogs but I wanted to see how they would handle it. When the dogs come down across the road into the drainage they almost over ran the cat sitting right there. The cat ran off the end of the log up to the top of a steep bank. The time it took the dogs to get onto the log, which apparently didn't hold much scent, the cat had another head start. That cat would explode out of there at a speed faster than I have ever seen a dog move. It would gain some ground, then sit and rest. When it laid down on that log it was hard to see, the dogs tried to run right under it. They knew it was there, but couldn't see him as he made his escape. It was a tricky little move that was quite impressive. He waited till just the right second to slick back out of there almost the same direction he came in. If the conditions of the day weren't just right I think they wouldn't have ever got him caught. I couldn't believe he sat there while the dogs ran right under him, just a couple feet below.

[Everlast]

I've only actually witnessed the cat "laydown" with the dogs right on his tail one time. Here's what happened;

I treed a cat high up on an open hillside scattered with oak trees. The original strike, run, and locate/tree was easy and basic. However, I was able to tie the dogs back and jump the cat out to run it again. After I jumped it out, the dogs ran it almost out of my hearing sidehilling around the mountain. I sat there at the tree and listened. In a minute or two, the dogs came roaring back directly towards me and my buddy. They ran right on top of us but about 20 yards above the original tree where we were standing and shut it off. I looked up thru the manzanita and saw the dogs milling around and looking for the track...well between me and the dogs I noticed the cat was just squatted down laying there on the ground, dogs all around him, but not seeing him..................then finally one of the dogs saw him and you know the rest.