What makes a Bobcat climb a Tree or turn to Bay?

[Dads dogboy]

Mr. Dewey, Twist, Coastalrangecathunter, Spruce Mountain, Pegleg, Vacathunter, et al;
What makes a Bobcat climb a Tree or stop to fight it out on the ground.

I sure hope we get lots of participation from all over the Country on this!

CJC

Hit the right Key this time

[SECOND NATURE]

I wasn't on the list but to me there is only one answer that comes to mind in my meagre existence of a want to be cat hunter PRESSURE!!!

Here ours have pretty much quit treeing not just for me but everyone i have ever talked to but alot do go under ground but constant pressure to me is what makes it happen no matter where they end up in my opinion thanks Larry

[chilcotin hillbilly]

I have little experiance with bobbers but lynx need the wind blown out of them, as they run like a bobber but are faster. If they over do it and lose all their wind they have to fight. I still think the speedy track drifting dogs would tree bobbers all over the country. I know which dogs get it done in my kennel.
Doug

[Dads dogboy]

Second Nature, you were deffinitely on the List in the Et Al section....I just could not remember your handle...you are somewhat CLOSE to Spruce Mountain anyway I think!

We are having the exact opposite of you all...our Cat are treeing. We have treed 16 here in Florida since the 19th of April. did put two others in Log Piles...in years past Dad would have caught half of the Treed ones on the ground!

Thanks Hillbilly, I sure would like to come up and watch and see a Lynx Race sometime, but smart enough to not want to bring any Hounds, just come watch the Pros in action!

Good answer from the both of you, am anxious to see what every one thinks is the ONE Key ingredient to ending a Bobcat Race sucessfully!

CJC

[radar]

Hopefuly the sound of a roaring hound I know it would make me climb and not put up a fight But really I think its some moma teaches them when there young, flite is safer than fight.Whether it be a rock pile,hollow, or to climb a tree.One wrong move and it can result in death even if it dosn't happend during the fight.If injured and can't hunt or drink properly.JMO

[SECOND NATURE]

your right sprucemoutian and I are quite close we are brothers and live about 10 miles from each other. I was just kidding about the list LOL

cat hunting has been real challenging for me here the past few season do to conditions and I am definitely my own worse enemy when it comes to cat hunting . it seam's like I overload the track when i shouldn't and underload it when i should have put on more dogs . I go in the woods when I should have stayed on the road . I stay on the road because of traffic when I should have went with the dogs. I seam to be struggling hard but I enjoy cat hunting the most of all the game I run with hounds

I think this will a interesting post and am looking forward to the replies my self thanks for starting it

[coastrangecathunting]

i think with a lower number of dogs you tree more than if you have a large number of dogs. when acat gets tired it starts to hide and the more dogs you have running around looking for it the better chance you have of finding it before it heads the other direction. i have watched this happen plenty of times. dogs over run the cat and this cat sneeks off the other way , that is your loose.

jc

[Huntintony]

I think it takes a few FAST, HEAD UP, RUNNIN DOGS!! Quiet on the track till it's jumped. Then the cat doesn't have time to get his game plan together. I believe if the cat hears a large pack of dogs commin, he then has time to put some nasty moves on your dogs, and get out of town.

Looking forward to some other opinions.

Tony

[chilcotin hillbilly]

cjc, I am sure your hounds can get the job done on lynx as well, you may just need to get busy knitting some sweaters and boots for them.

[Warner5]

I am with J.C. on this one. the cat is jumped and feels pressure, jumps in a hole brushpile, windfall patch etc. the dogs recognise this and start to fan out looking. the lead dogs over run the cat and circle back, at this point the cat is sorounded. depending on the cat it might hold, make a break for it or tree. This is where I think the 8 to 15 dog pack shows its strenght. with so many eye's, ears, nose's and teeth looking for the cat once one dog snuffs the cat out, the rest close in on that point and the cat runs out of options, just finding a tree at that point I believe could be very difficult. thankyou John.

[spruce mountain]

I think that it has something to do with natural selection. In most areas if a cat climbs it dies so it doesn't pass on its genes. Were cjc hunts if they climb they live so they pass on thier genes. I do think that it also depends on the dogs some dogs will tree a higher percentage than others. I think that more pressure will tree a higher percentage. Pressure comes from speed and brains and the drive to catch. John I would also add that you're fathers hard work in trying to breed a better cat dog has paid off over the years.JMO

[mondomuttruner]

don't take this as gospel but on another post there was talk of several or more dogs do a better job on a cat? the cats around here like to do loopdelu's, figure 8's, ect., now when the cat is coming down an old rut with dogs behind, there is another dog coming up that rut toward the cat(hopefully not barking),BANG caught cat! as much as you want to think the dogs are all together, their usually not, close but not together. just one example, not the only. I know running on dirt is different but I don't have any experience with that.

[kordog]

im betting it isnt any one thing. cats personalitys must differ on wether they are gonna tree.hounds certainly make a difference if there pressuring them enough. or decide to pile on ending it before the cat decides to tree.bay type dogs give a cat more time to tree.the lay of the land probably is a decideing factor if a cat knows there is a hole he can get into he isnt going to bother with a tree.even the availibility of trees when the cat gets to the point he wants up. if they are totally pooched from running maybe they cant climb. if i can pick one scenario with hounds right up on them it would be the cats personality cause a cat has a choice to tree here in maine with the availability of trees yet they stay on the ground alot usually it is a cat .that doesnt mind fighting dogs.a cat any cat for that matter is a stuck up ornery creature that holds a grudge some are just worse than others.i say all this with some bobcat hunting ,but with what ive heard from guys who hunt them also .good thread cant wait to read them all.

[dwalton]

Guy's I have been thinking about this all day. This is only my opinion it has nothing to do with the cats point of view. I would say pressure... steady fast pressure a dog making all the corners, no loses and no over runs. If a cat gets breaks he can stay ahead a lot longer. For ever lose a dog makes I think you cut the odds of catching that cat in half. The worst lose is one that the dogs over run the cat and he goes back his back trail. If the dogs are not right on a track they will over shoot the track. It is easy to see and the most common mistake that dogs do. If the cats are taking to holes you are not putting enough pressure on then. If you are catching them on the ground you have dogs that are right on the track and pushing them. I feel that in areas that only I hunt and not kill,the cat get easier to tree. In areas that are hunted hard by a lot of people that do not tree many the cat have learned not to tree. If you scare a cat bad enough with a lot of dogs and noise he will run longer and more likely to catch him on the ground. Some areas the cat run more than others, I think the cat have gotten away more thus learn not to go up. A dog that cuts to wide and barks off track will appear to be running a tough cat when they are not, it is just them making a tough cat race out of it. Roads, bluffs and thickets all are factors in the length of a race and as to what the cat will do. I live in a area that the cat are very easy to catch, very few long races unless it has been hunted hard by others and the cat have not been treed. Then I get some good races. So to some it up... Pressure, the way a dog runs a track and the terrain. Who knows what a cat is thinking., but I know a lot of people give the cats way to much credit and do not take enough responsibility for what there dogs are doing. You got 25 cents worth this time or maybe not. Dewey

[alphaknl]

...I would say pressure... steady fast pressure a dog making all the corners, no loses and no over runs. If a cat gets breaks he can stay ahead a lot longer. For ever lose a dog makes I think you cut the odds of catching that cat...

Yup, close the gap as efficiently as conditions and abilities allow. I don't have enough experience to say why some tree, some hole, and others stand their ground. I have watched cats be physically stopped by dogs and have all 3 outcomes.