Better Dogs?

[Warner5]

There are some cat hunters out there that have very good dogs. What is their secret? They hunt very simular to every one else. Some of the same area's day and nite. These guy's see things a little different. Cat season is not the time to try out a new dog or pup, thats what the rest of the year is for. Pursuit and harvest season just are not long enough to train a maintain a pack of cat dogs. If you want better dogs, do every thing you can do with your dogs in the off season. Handling training, and exercise should be a year round thing for your dogs. Know you laws and abide by them, but get you dogs in the woods as much as you can this off season. I guarantee you will see a big difference once persuit season rolls back around. One thing I have learned over the years. A good jumped cat race in the summer, sounds more like an old traveling tom track. A jumped, screaming race that lasts for more than 20 or 30 seconds, better pay close attention and have a finger close to the button. One more thing cat hunters that brag about treeing multiple cats during those dry, hot summer months are full of B.S. . Just working a cat track when conditions are that bad is very impressive for dogs acclimated to this area. Just some thing to keep in mind. And also just my opinion. Thank you. All have a nice day. John.

[Ringo]

Warner, Iam pretty much a rookie when it comes to bobcats. I was wondering when you said if the dogs jump and run hard for more then 20 or 30 seconds keep your finger close to the button, what are they doing? Are you saying they should catch the cat in the heat really quick or are they trashin?

[coastrangecathunting]

jon is saying the dogs cant keep a cat jumped for 30 sec without a lose. so if they line out for longer than that they are probably running a coyote. or deer or bear. when the humidity gets 30 or lower around here and it hasnt rained for awhile it is very hard to keep a cat going . i ran a little female a couple years ago the race sounded like the dogs were cold trailing . they were parralling a road and i was just walking the road following the race. next thing i know the cat walks out of the brush not 40 yrds ahead of the dogs , see me turns and goes back in , that was the the last place the dogs could smell the cat .

jc

[al baldwin]

John& JC I agree & have to disagree. I have been humbled so many times by bobs that made my dogs look worthless summer & winter. However years ago I hunted with dogs owned by Tom Barnett. These dogs probley got hunted about 5 days a week, year around, that was his life. Those dogs were hunted on bear, bobcat & coyote & what they caught was thier dinner & a big part of Tom,s lively hood.( They were not fed coyote) Guys I tell you those dogs caught cats year around on a consistent bases. It was not unusual to tree a couple bear& a bobcat in the early hours of summer days. There were no tracking or Ecollars. So not that unusual to catch one coyote, put them after another & end up looking for dogs for a day or so. But no problem most always had enought dogs to hunt & catch some more critters while search for those lost dogs. Tom used to drive another hunter up the wall doing that. Even those dogs did not catch every cat they ran, there were more cats that were not as educated, & I tell you those dogs could keep some summer cats moving & could be difficult to kwow what they were running at times even in the summer. They were a mixed pack, running & tree dogs, seldom ever got a false tree, on cat & can/t recall any false trees on bear. Years later hunted with another pack owned by another hunter straight cat dogs. If you had hunted with those, & been that eager to shock, you would have shock them off cat races in summer months. That was how some hunted in those days, no closed season so dogs were never laid up Will add I accompied tom once when he took a dog to the vet office. He told the vet wanted him to look at a couple dogs feet. Those two just had no toenails left, Dr. Whitaker just shook his head & told him to lay them up. Tom actually though he should have a better solution. Tom & Dr. Whitaker were friends. Just something I experienced Thanks Al

[dwalton]

I will agree cats are hard to trail and keep jumped in the dry seasons, but will disagree with the rest. There are dogs that can jump and drive a cat in the dry season, over heating is the real problem. If you remember last September the first week was still very dry no rain for a long time. The first 5 times out treed 4 cats. One race I started at 11:00 AM treed at 3:00 pm, the dogs were jumped over 2 hours they made looses but drove the track hard, when they treed only one dog barked once in a while. When I got to them all dogs were on their sides totally over heated. There was a creek close to there so I could get then all in the water to cool out. That was the longest ,hardest race I had last year I treed 2 in 4 days hunting in June in the desert of northern California where the locals do not hunt without snow. I did have one of the dogs heat stroke and go into convulsions when I got to a tree.. I had water with me and got him cooled down quickly. IT will surprise a lot of people to see what a got pack of fast moving dogs can do. I feel the best way to teach a pack of dogs to move a track fast is to hunt them in dry weather. When cool weather or rain comes they look pretty good. I will not tree as many tracks as I start in those adverse conditions but when good conditions get here they will cat almost ever cat even night old tracks. I have had 45 minute races jumped without a loose in the summer. On one race Tim was with me the dogs ran hard for 45 minutes them all was silent, Tim asked what happen, I answered they treed . We walk up to them to see what was happening and all were laying down cooling out, 20 or so minutes they started to tree. In the south and Texas they hunt in very dry conditions and tree a lot of cats. They hunt at night to keep the dogs as cool as possible. In hound hunting there is far more possible them most people believe or have seen done. I trailed a lion in Colorado that was 9 days old or older on bare ground. How do I know because I hit a track and trailed it to a spot where I had trailed it 9 days before and did not catch it. If I had not seen it I would of not believed it possible. WE never give ourselves or our dogs enough credit. It is amazing what a dog can do with the right help and encouragement. Also I have seen tracks minutes old that the same dogs can not smell. In 2010 in 12 inches of snow I saw a cat run across the road. I put dogs on it, they looked at me like I had lost it. I walked the track out about 400 hundred yards and never even got a tail wag. In those same conditions I had treed three cats already that day. When it comes to cat hunting nothing is for sure, it will always make you scratch your head and think. Dewey

[Ringo]

Dwalton, whats your opinion on the cat that ran acrossed the road in 12 inches of snow? It doesnt even seem possible, but I seen a cat cross the road about a hundred yards in front of my dogs as I was roading them and they acted like nothing had been there at all. That was in the summer months and I didnt know what to think and now the cat in the snow is really messing with me. Whats the story on the humidity?

[al baldwin]

Dewey you are correct on hunting in dry conditions. I have experienced some of that. Used to go out in the summer evenings, worked close to home & had a private area in 10 minutes of home. Great place good dirt roads & some cats. There seem to be some evenings the dogs could look good & others they could not trail at all. I too have had races where the dogs were too heated to tree much. Those were the good days & I did not truely realize it. Did not meam to toot my own horn. But hard to agree with you. Thanks Al

[George Streepy]

Catching a cat in the summer can be difficult but is not impossible. The best I have ever done was 6 cats in August, I only hunted 9 days all month. Most of the years I was lucky to catch a few before the end of September. I give the credit to good old Lady Luck.

I like to read about conditions and how successful or unsuccessful people were. I remember a time a few years back when a very rough storm blew in and no one wanted to hunt. I was really busy with work and only got to hunt because the weather was to bad to work. As I headed out hunting every one else I knew was heading home. It rained hard for four days with 40+ mph winds. In 4 days of misery I caught 7 cats. Trees kept falling over the road and I only had one dog that would ride the box for very long. It was one of those big dumb males I have complained about before. I was convinced those dogs could catch cats no matter the conditions. Ever since then I have hunted whenever I could no matter the conditions. One thing I have learned is that there is a reason everyone was heading for home when the storm hit. Most of the time you aren't even going to find a track in that type of weather, not yet get the cat treed. I have tried very hard to keep the best dogs I could get my hands on, but sometimes it just comes down to luck.

[dwalton]

I have seen many times through the years when a cat runs across a road that the dogs could not smell it. I have seen cat ran across the road on a jump in front of me and the dogs get there and the track ends. I know it is impossible but I believe that cats when they are scared leave no scent. You may see a dozen across the road or in the road before you see one that the dogs can not smell. I talked to Dale Lee about this and he had also seen it happen with lion. When a cat is scared it does something that causes the dogs not to be able to smell it. This only happens occasionally, but have seen it many times in the 46 years that I have ran cats. I have been able to walk the dogs out a ways on the track and they can take it at times sometimes they never are able to even give any tail on the track. I have talked to other cat hunters that have had the same thing happen. Dewey

[Tim Cook]

George Streepy, I think you gave away one of the trade secrets that Warner5 was asking about. Hunt no matter what the weather. This is what I was talking about in another post when a made a comment about being stuck in a traditional rut. When ever it's blowing rain or snow most guys don't go hunting. I'm working full time and going to school, between that and family time I have to hunt when I get the chance, because of this I would say half the days I've hunted this year were days no one else would go. Made for very misserable days of hunting but I was still getting my very young dogs on cats, I think it made them better dogs because of it. Hunt no matter what the wheather

[George Streepy]

Some of us have to travel long distances to get to legal hunting. At times I wish I would have just stayed home, but every now and then something great can happen even when the deck is stacked against you.

As far as cats leaving no scent. A few years ago I heard that and rolled my eyes. I thought to myself what kind of BS are these guys shoveling? But when you have a cat jumped and it comes across the road only to have a couple packs of very capable dogs pop out and act like there is nothing to smell, you start to become a believer. I have seen it happen twice. One of the races was very long and could have been blamed on fatigue, the other was trailed and jumped in pretty short order only to have the cat get within about 15 feet of us and turn into the brush, never to be seen or smelled again. We even walked the dogs out in big loops trying to get it started again. As far as the dogs were concerned the cat grew wings and flew away. So for the non-believers, it will happen to you eventually. Both times it was when people got pretty close to the cat.

[Warner5]

I thought this one might get some attention from a few of you. Al, Dewey, George, Tom Barnett and a few other names mentioned. You guy's are in a very small group of top notch houndsmen, far better than most of us will ever be. With that said, being in this small group has its privlages. Applying a hard earned wealth of knowledge accumulated over many,many years of chasing dogs. Summer cats are possible because you guys know the tricks, but for your average houndsmen summer cats are very tough. If a hunter tree's a cat between july 15 and sept 1st during the heat of the day without any previous weather he should be very proud of his dogs or consider him self lucky. Now I know a hunter can increase his odds by hunting after weather, early or foggy mornings, brushy area's out of direct sun light, hunting the creek bottoms to get one started helps. But for me summer cats are tough. So I would like to add one word to my origional post (Most). Most, cat hunters that brag about treeing multiple cats during those dry, hot summer months are full of B.S. I appreciate all the replies. I look up to and respect you guys. Not for catching game but for the many years of hard work and dedication it took learning to catch game. Dewey, how far did your dogs move that 9 day old track? I have also seen a cats scent just seem to dissapear. George, very impressive number of cats for the month of aug. I am sure you were very pleased. The best I have seen from my dogs in aug. was 3 . I felt more lucky than good. Al, I sure would like to ride along on a hunt with Tom. I really enjoy reading your hunting stories with you and Tom. Growing up Tom Barnett was a respected houndsmen in the Warner family. Much live stock was saved because of Tom. Thank you all. John.

[mondomuttruner]

Good stuff guy's, keep it comin!!

This no scent on a cat after crossing a road is interesting. Are these cases only road related? There's got to be some scientific explanation for it. After a pheasant flies and lands, it washes it scent off in the air and a dog has a hard time picking it up again. Do you think a cat does something related? Maybe after a high speed sprint in the open? I don't know, I have no dry ground experience so I'm just babbling.

[not color blind]

Im just a dumb a$$ but I bet the cats give off a different scent when they get startled on the road. Making it seem to the dogs like there's no cat there.

[CATHUNTER1]

Its much easier on the dogs if you keep them hunting all year long,what hurts are the dog closure areas,when you have to lay them up.The dogs will adapt to the dry conditions,we would just start early and for sure take advantage of any rain or dew.An area i had lived in Ca. was an area that had no dog closure and the areas i hunted could be 7-20 miles from the coast and would get some fog in summer months and running and catching cat and fox during thosed dry months was little more difficult than after the rains ,but we did catch them.Remember some cat seasons in others states start earlier than the Or. season so you hunt when you can and take what ever the conditions throw at you.I would say dogs not in shape in summer time is also part of the problem,but you do have to know when to stop even conditioned dogs during the heat,not to mention snakes and foxtails.I have always been fortunate to live on large ranches and be able to keep them in shape and hunt them when ever i want and that helps a bunch.