How much does a bobcat dog cost

[cstiedhog]

This is the first time I ever posted I am a hog hunter from Texas but am getting a little bored and want to start bobcat hunting. My hog dogs tree some bobcats but I would like to buy, "One" good bobcat dog that can tree a cat "fast" on it's own and doesn't trash at all. What I would like to know is how much approx. does this dog cost.

[kordog]

if you have two kidneys be prepared to sell one of them.

[Hagerman]

Where in Texas are you? There are a few there and make the contacts first etc. I know a few you can trust there in Texas.
John Ketzler

[cstiedhog]

I live south west of Sherman Texas 15 miles.

[orbowhunter1971]

A rigging, straight, truck to tree bobcat dog in Oregon is the price range of $4000 to $5000, if you can find one for sale.

[Melanie Hampton]

A rigging, straight, truck to tree bobcat dog in Oregon is the price range of $4000 to $5000, if you can find one for sale.

Heck.. I would say that is starting price on a true bobcat dog that does all of the above..

They are not cheap to buy....

[Dan McDonough]

$4000-$5000 Heck that would get you my third best dog but you'd still have a good dog. If you want my top dog that would be a good deposit and I would hold it for you and keep it in the pen until you got here.

Just adding up the costs to get to that really good dog, I think that if your not going to do any of the work to get that dog there, and you want to just buy a dog that you can go and beat all of your buddies with, it starts at around $20K and you'd be getting off a lot cheaper than if you had to go and do it yourself. Buying top finished cat dogs is not for folks who don't have a hefty bankroll.

Of course, if you are good enough at this to make a dog like that, you could buy the right dog for 4K-5K and make it into a 20K+ dog. If you think your that kind of guy...your likely not. If your that kind of guy, you know it. All of the talk in the world isn't going to make you one either.

Am I that kind of guy...nope. I am working to get there but I don't live in the right kind of country and I can not move. It takes me about 5 times longer to get to the same place with a dog that a guy like me can do if he lived in South Texas, Oregon, Calf., or one of the other high density cat areas. I sell a fair amount of started dogs for considerably less than the above prices. I do well (if you can call it that) because I have a high quality line of dogs, certainly not because I have the best bobcat population.

My suggestion would be to find a great cross and buy the whole litter if they'll let you. Quit your job, sell your house and buy one of those tents with a stove in it and have at ér. In four years you will certainly be able to answer your own qestion.

If you don't want to go that route...about $20k ought to get you started and able to beat most of your friends on a regular basis.

It would be pretty interesting to hear from some of the folks who have sold dogs for that much. It won't be me because with the number of cats we have here, I need to keep those kind of dogs in order to make the others without killing myself by having to walk tracks up every year. If I sold them, all of the money they would bring would just go to the hospital to pay for the surgeries I would surely be needing within the next year or two. See there are a lot of reasons why those dogs cost so much.

[Nolte]

Well, I'm pretty much out. $20K for a dog that could become wolf food on any given morning. In WI it would take a guy roughly 1,000 years to recoup that cost if he sold the hides from the one bobcat he can kill every 5 years. I think my odds are better off buying scratch off tickets. At least I'll have the paper from them to light on fire.

I've never seen a good cat dog for sale around here, but then I've probably never even seen a top cat dog. Seen some dogs that have got some cats, though. Most have been from guys who make up their dog's shortcomings on cats by being good hunters.

Personally I think most dogs are way over priced. Seems if one barks at a house cat it's worth $2K. Not to me, but that seems to be the trend.

If a guy is dropping that kind of coin, he best hope that dog always comes out on top. Otherwise you'll never hear the end of it.

[pegleg]

I don't know the monetary value of a top cat hound any where. I do know i wouldn't sell one of my top dogs. it isn't all that easy to come up with a hound who can carry your complete confidence. then you don't have long to enjoy them at their prime. therefore i wouldn't sell one unless one of my kids NEEDED a kidney. however everything does have a price and if you find the right stiation you maybe able to walk away with one fairly cheap. and compared to the time and money spent making that hound you would probably still save money at anything less then $6000-$8000. but that varies from area to area. good luck.

[DerekE]

I cat hunt and don't live too far from you, an hour west of Fort Worth. I'd be happy to come up and hunt sometime and you'd probably learn a lot about what it will take to catch cats consistently where you are. Most of the time when hog hunters tree a cat it's because the dogs just happened up on the cat and then located. If the cat runs they probably can't catch it and most of them run. When reading all of the advice on here the first thing I would suggest is look where in the country the advice is coming from. Not only what state, but in the case of the state you and I live in, WHERE in the state.
Feel free to call if I can help.
I'm not claiming to know it all but I know what it takes to catch cats around this area. I will tell you ahead of time that it is nothing at all like hog hunting.
Derek
817-597-1150

[Dan McDonough]

10-4 Nick! When you look at it from the Wisconsin perspective, chasing cats is plumb crazy! One tag to kill one cat is sitting at around once every 10 years right now. The DNR is way behind on what they are doing with the cat population over here. It works out good for me becaue there are more cats around to train on. Killing cats doesn't make a cat dog a cat dog so I'm alright with it.

I doubt I'll ever sell a dog in WI. for more than $3000. It seems like everybody around here wants a $5000 dog for $500 and pups over $200 are not welcome in most parts. I don't blame folks in the North woods though, there isn't much money to be made and those who do are not typically cat hunters. On the flip side, if you've got a few extra bucks under the porch, a guy can buy an awfully good dog in this state for $2500 from guys who does some pretty hard hunting. It's mostly bear dogs though.

Buy the way, the offer still stands. When you bought that Lep. pup, I said that if he does not turn out to be at least above average, I would replace him. How is he doing?

I've got a few young dogs that are tearing it up right now and I've been going out a lot. I'm trying to pack as much hunting as I can in before deer deason starts. Then it's time to head out west for a while. I've got a fun trip planned for Dec. or Jan. if you've got some time off work this winter, your welcome to come for as long as you can stand it.

[Nolte]

Dan,

You are exactly right. For most WI guys, if they called their wife on the way home from buying a $5K dog their stuff would be all packed up on the porch ready for them when they got there. There sure isn't much money to be made in the good cat/bear areas and a guy has to make some sacrifices if that's where he wants to live.

Most of the people who have a little coin in WI aren't hound guys. They usually got a nice house and a big boat on the cabin at the lake. Or a big tract of land with a cabin to shoot big whitetails.

I've always said this about cat hunting in WI. If we took a given year and looked at the 225 or so cats taken and talked with all the hound guys we know, I bet we could count ALL the cats taken in the state. If not all, it would be darn close. Most guys who are failry serious about cats will average getting 2-3/year for people they find with tags. Some guys are much better and will have a higher number. In any case that puts it down to 75 groups of guys statewide harvesting cats. Each group has at most 2 dogs doing the brunt of the work in those groups catching the cats, and some of those groups are doing alot of leg work. So maybe ther is 150 good cat dogs and that number might be twice as high as it should be. And I bet if you approached any of those guys with those top 75 dogs, NONE are for sale.

I definately agree though on the bear dogs. If a guy actually had $2,500 and keeps his eyes open he can find a heckuva bear dog if he's looking. For sure not everyone for sale is a bear dog, but they are around.

[cstiedhog]

Derek I would love to meet you and hunt with you I have lots of hunting country. About the hog dogs treeing cats they run them usually 30 minuets but sometimes 2 hours before they tree. Except at night they tree till I am close to tree then jump weather I sneak in without light downwind or walk up with light on they jump so why do they jump at night but I cant make them jump in daytime. (903)815-2892 Cote Sutton