is it worth it?

[dmorty]

ok so my question is,is it worth getting dogs started on some nuisance foxes that come by my place regularly, including swiping a few chickens,when I am really planning on running mainly bobcat and a few lion?They are doing awesome on coon,and cat crazy over any feral passerby. just wondering if Ill kick myself later for starting something I really dont intend to do a lot of down the road? Sure is tempting to see what they could do with them!!!

[Dads dogboy]

There are lots of very Good Hunters/Houndsmen who regularly run bobcat and Fox.

For the South Eastern US this is the only combination of Game that Hounds can run and still catch Bobcats regularly!

VaCathunter, Alabama Cathunter, and Poon can come on here and elaborrate!

Also in CA most Folks run both bobcat and Fox!

I would say give the Fox some exercise!

CJC

[lepcur]

I say go for it. It will make for some real good track experiance for the dogs and once you start to catch them then you'll be ready to go catch some cats. Mike

[Beimel]

I want to run grays with my cat hounds too. Is it possible to run grays but keep the hounds off coyotes? we have a lot of coyotes here and i dont want to run any.

[Dads dogboy]

Beimel,

Invest some time on the Tri-Tronics website reviewing the tips from Mr. Wick. then invest in a System and you can break your Hounds from running whatever you do not want them to run.

In this Day and time there is NO GOOD reason not to have BROKE Hounds.

There are many good Houndsmen out there beside My Dad who have Hounds that only run the Owners Game of Choice.

There are lots of us who think that we havean abundance of Yotes however South Texan and Shorty hunt in Country that not only has the highest density of Bobcats but even more Yotes. If they can have Broke Hounds anyone Can! It just takes dedication and work!

JMO

CJC

[Alabama Cathunter]

For what it is worth. If I had plenty of cats I would run nothing but cats with my hounds, but I dont so running my old dogs on greyfox gets them in shape. Running my pups on greyfox teaches them how to get around in the woods and how to use their nose. When dogs learn how to run a grey fox good for a few hrs they are ready to learn how a cat thinks and reacts.

[Liz ODell]

I think it depends on which critter you would rather catch more and which is more abundant in your area. If you want to catch cats more but you have more fox than cats you will spend your time looking at foxs when you could be catching cats...make sense? Thats why I quit running mine on foxs...because we have lots of fox but I would rather catch cats. Also if your dogs strike good off the box they will be striking fox when you want to be striking bear or cat...another reason I quit the fox deal.
Someone else asked about coyotes, your dogs will not run coyotes cause you run fox, they are completely different animals, and if you think about it every individual animal in the world has its own smell, you could technically train a dog to only run one particular animal in the forest if thats what suited you and you had the time and smarts to do it (and it sounds a little boring!).

[dmorty]

we do have a pretty good population of bobbers here locally,but they are mainly in the foothills and mountains.The fox population is less and they tend to live down here on the valley floor where I live.Every now and then you see them up in the high country,and that is my fear when it finally comes time to get after the cats they will pull off on the first hot fox track we cross!!I currently have two blue pups running behind an older seasoned walker coonhound I bought off this site as a pup trainer.Im tickled to death with their progress up to this point, just wondered if sticking to straight cats would pay off in the long run. I had hounds in highschool but its been nearly twenty years ago. My daughter twisted my arm and here I am knee deep in hounding again.certainly appreciate all the awesome threads on here as I hopefully can learn a little on here and not have to learn everything thru trial and error.thanks again for the input,Later Doug.

[TomJr]

Is it worth it? thats a question that you would have to answer for yourself. For me I don't realy care if my dogs catch a fox, bobcat or lion. All are equaly fun to see in a tree and the dogs are getting out and doing thier thing. I have noticed that they seem to favor one spiecies for a while then switch to another but I don't know why that is. Often It will be several fox in a row then a couple of bobcats then we catch a few lions in a row. Anyway its always fun to see whats in the tree even if its something totaly off like a coati or an ocelot

[Beimel]

I appreciate the info to those that replied to my post. Thanks!

[BLOODY REDBONES]

IF YOU CAN LOOK BACK AT SOME OF MY POST YOU WILL SEE THAT I HAVE RAN AND GUN KILLED A MANY OF RED/GRAY FOX WITH THE DOGS THAT I WOULD ALSO BEAR/CAT HUNT.IN MY STATE THERE VERY LITTLE BEAR AND BOBCAT(NO BIG CATS)TO RUN. SO I TRAIN MY DOGS ON BOTH RED AND GRAY FOX.THE RED FOX WILL RUN ALL NIGHT AND CHANGE UP ON DOGS GIVEN THEY LOT OF TRACK EXPERIENCE AND IF YOUR HOUNDS HAVE ENOUGH NOSE AND TRACK SPEED THEY WILL PUT A GRAY FOX UP GIVING THE DOGS TREE EXPERIENCE AND GUNNING THE FOX HELPS THEM COME TO THE HORN. THE ONLY PROBLEM I HAVE HAD IS RIGGING. YOU MUST CHECK TRACKS BEFORE CUTTING LOOSE IF YOU DON'T HAVE A STRAIGHT STRIKE DOG ON THE BIG GAME YOUR AFTER. MOST WILL TAKE TO CAT ON 1ST OR 2ND TURN OUT. SOME WILL NOT GO OR ONLY GO ONE TIME ON BEAR AND NOT GO AFTER THAT.BUT NOT ALL DOGS MAKE A BEAR DOG EVEN IF THEY ARE STARTED ON BEAR.BUT IF YOU GET A BEAR DOG YOU CAN KEEP HIM HUNTED UP ON FOX AND HE WILL FLY ON A STINKY BEAR.