Bobcat ?????? wounder why

[outlawhounds]

had bob standing in the road today,turnd out on it just as it left sight into the trees. dogs whent out about fifty feet with me right behind them,they were all on top of the track older dogs had thier nose in the track they were wide open like they could smell it then they just stoped and actd like they coundt smell it! i walkd the two older dogs out on the track and my pup for over a mile and never could get them to take it further the about fifty! this was all in snow and very cold low 20s hard cust with inch and a half dry on top! any buddy have any ideas!!! and i have cought bobs with theses dogs n less!!! fustraiting

[croatankid]

i can't explain why it happens but it's true with any game, except maybe deer which i don't know. i hunt coon and that thing has been beat to death. i know an old bear hunter that says it happens with bear too. don't blaim your dogs, apparently they can't help it.

[Hipshooter]

Try this next time.
When u see the cat, back up about 1/4 mile & let only your 2 best strike dogs out & road them up to the cat crossing. Don,t turn any more dogs out till them 2 has him going good.
Your odds will get a little better.

[BEAR HUNTER]

Good tip Hipshooter. Another thing with snow and low temps I found out. When an animal is walking on snow it will melt and then depending on the temps freeze very quickly. Dont know if thats what happened in your case but its possible. Once the scent is frozen it takes a good dog to get it going. This bear season I had a similiar situation with a bear in the lava beds here in Northern Ca. Temp in the mid 80's saw the bear cross the road, watched her for a few minutes disappear into the trees. Went past where she crossed and turned the dogs loose. Roaded them to the crossing point and they acted like they couldnt smell her. The triggs started winding and got the track moving. Was a learning experience for me.

[outlawhounds]

thanks for ur input! everythang helps thats why i like hunting dogs every time is diff!!!

[B-N-Trees]

This has happened to me a few times also. I have a few theories, but the one that seems to make the most since is, it seems startled animals have the ability to hold their sent. Think about it, sow coons with kits don't leave sent, a hunting lion can get right up to its prey and not be smelled and young animals hold sent while hiding. This an interesting phenomena but seems to have some merit. There is so much we have to learn about sent and how it works in all its variables. But I what I do know that works for me in these situations is to come back in a half hour or forty five minutes and the dogs will take the track.

[Jlhoutfitters]

I have played out this problem and treat it the same way as a day old cat track take a good straight nosed dog and lead him on it for as long as u can hold him back then cut him and neverr cut any more dogs to him until the cat circles and wont tree if he will tree with one dog let it if you have cats that just wont tree sometimes like the ones here in northern mi dump in a presure dog or two and if it dosnt tree it will at least turn it into a rabbit shoot and u can just get in its back trail and wait for the next time around or the dogs catch in the brush.

[Dan Edwards]

I like hipshooter's idea except that I'd only turn one dog out instead of two but that's just me. He is right though.

[Big N' Blue]

Sometime bobcat hunting is a wonderment! I remember seeing a cat cross the road about 200 yards ahead of me and i waited a little while and put my 2 best start dogs down and roaded them up to the track. They blew up and took the wrong end, running to catch. I cut them off and they could not smell the track going forward at all. I walked them into the woods and about 50 yards from the road picked him up, but could only cold trail him. We trailed him about 2 hrs and the track never got any better. Sure made my dogs look good that day! LOL

[traprmyk?]

Not sure why your hounds wouldnt take that cat. i would of put just one dog on himm rather then several ends up being a race betwwen the dogs.. bear hunting i have seen a time or two where i couldnt get a bear jumped in heavy frost conditions . i went back after the frost burnt off and jumped and killed the bear . i believe the frost had that scent locked in

[Buddyw]

We didn't have much luck moving track this weekend in oregon either, but we were in melting conditions, it was cold early on but by 9 or 10 am it was warmed up quite a bit.. Pretty frustrating. in new snow dogs couldn't move a track more than 100 yards in the Timber, we Decided to find another track.. Couldn't find one, came back to it cut it up the hill and dogs could run it better.. Started moving it good 3 hours later, it went Up in some deep snow then back into the crap snow and the track just fell apart again. ended in a Crawl with the dogs just not able to move it even thought the track was freshest it had been all day.

We seen the track in our Tire tracks so it was about as fresh as it gets. we put down on every track we found this weekend and we just couldn't hardly move anything fast enough to jump it. I'm sure it's more frustrating for the dogs..

Like jimmy said, I've heard from several guys this weekend that all had allot of simular Stories crappy conditions, Doesn't help much when you want to see a cat in a tree.. If I had a chioice between like and skill this weekend I think I would have taken Luck!

[Bookem]

i had the same problem last weekend, the track was fresh and the dogs screamed it till they hit the timber, it had snowed the night before and was warming up and the snow was melting off the trees, i think once that starts the snow and water falling off the trees will wash the scent out just, not sure just my opionin.

[Borderpond]

Have had the same thing happen with bears several times. No rhyme or reason to it.Big stinky bear and dogs acted like there was nothing there.
I live in NH but was in NC trying out a bear dog.$ 4000 dog I was thinking of buying. Took my best dog with me to compare them. Bear walked across the dirt road in front of the truck. Got out the dog I was trying and put him on the 1 minute old track. Dog looked at us like we were nuts and just walked down the road. I said" well my Spot dog will show us how its done' Got him out of the truck and walked him on the track a ways. Let him go and and he was back out at the truck within a minute,never once even whined on it .This was a cold trailing dog that treed bears solo on a regular basis. As a very wise houndsman I know always says " I dont explain it, I just report it "

[hamilton10]

I don't know the reason either but I have turned loose on many cats and coons that crossed the road in front of me and the dogs could not work it out. Hogs and coyotes have all been a different story no problem running them off a sighted road crossing.

[sow flat slim]

Didnt have one run across the road, but had a bad time startin tracks this last weekend also, frozen snow and frozen bare ground. Have had very similar conditions before and did alright, maybe its because its a new year and every thing is screwed up