Quality over Quanity?

[Warner5]

Do you guy's think it is better to hunt an area 3-5 day's a week with a low chance of treeing any cats? Very close to home.

Or is it better to only hunt 1-2 day's a week and tree cats. But much further from home?
Whick one would you consider the better choice for training young hounds? Around the 1 year mark.Thank you, John.

[slowandeasy]

hey john how ya doin? i would rather a young dog see more tracks finished.

[LarryBeggs]

Might depend on how natural a tree dog the young dogs are .Its good for those young dogs to have to locate and tree but it is also good for them to run those rougher cat and learn how to work them as long as they are not getting thrown out of the races.

[Unreal_tk]

I have mutliple areas I hit John. One spot I have I rarely goto but when I hit it, usually yeilds results. The bad part is I have to hit it on weekends because how time consuming of a hunt it is. Weekdays I stick close to home.

[coastrangecathunting]

i would rather run 10 tough cats and tree 3 than run 10 easy cats and tree 9. like larry said it does depend on the young dog u are training . if the young dog is out of stuff that has a hard time locating than i would put in on the easy ones untill it started locating good . on the other hand if the young dog is heavy treeing dog than the harder cats is what i would train it on. if u put the tree dog on a bunch of pop ups than everytime u have a lose it thinks the track is over and starts to tree . jmo

jc

[twist]

I myself would go with where the higher percentage of cats are why hunt 3-5 days and maybe not find a track. A dog learns nothing if they arent turned loose. Andy

[super white hunter]

I myself would go with where the higher percentage of cats are why hunt 3-5 days and maybe not find a track. A dog learns nothing if they arent turned loose. Andy

I think he is turning loose just in a place where they won't tree, I assume there getting into the brush or into some rocks. Maybe I am wrong

[007pennpal]

At that age, I'd go for the higher number of cats. We need to know if there are more cats or if the cats are just harder to tree. If it is just harder cats to tree, then it would depend on the dog, but at that age, in general, I'd say seeing more game is better. Me, I'd just hunt 7 days a week and do both.

[Warner5]

Thank you for all the posts. Roughly the same # of cats at both area's. One area is close but the cats are trained up. I can hunt the close area 3 times with the same amount of fuel it takes to hunt the further away area one time. 7 days a week would be nice. But 3 kids, wife, and job makes it to hard on everyone. A balance is needed. That balance can be tricky some times. Keep em coming guy's. Thanks. John.

[Unreal_tk]

I think finding what few easy cats you can tree in consistent timing is your best bet to start and progress to harder material. Do you try to teach a 5 year old to read in a week or just a few times a week a small amount over time?

[david]

Do you guy's think it is better to hunt an area 3-5 day's a week with a low chance of treeing any cats? Very close to home.

Or is it better to only hunt 1-2 day's a week and tree cats. But much further from home?
Whick one would you consider the better choice for training young hounds? Around the 1 year mark.Thank you, John.

On one end of the spectrum you are huntng 5 days a week. On the other end of the spectrum you are hunting 1 day a week. I know what I would do if I had the option, and I know what I think would be best for my dogs. But I will answer your question with a question:

what do you enjoy the most? after all, dont you hunt bobcats because you enjoy it? I hope so. Figure out what is the most enjoyable for you and for your family situation and do that. That dog thing is easy. I am not the least worried about your dogs. I already know your dogs have it better than most. Our dogs do not have us so they can enjoy us. We have them so we can enjoy them. Hunt the way that brings you the most joy. Your dogs will be happy too. Your cats might not be, but they will get over it.

[david]

But 3 kids, wife, and job makes it to hard on everyone. A balance is needed. That balance can be tricky some times.

I did not know you had three kids when I posted above. Something to keep in mind John, is those kids will be grown up and gone in a blink of an eye. You will curse those dogs for stealing you away from those precious few moments with your children while you have them. I know you lie awake dreaming of making a better life for them, but the best thing you can give them for the rest of their lives is the time that you have with them right now. You can never give that to them again. There are millions of dogs that will be glad to steal your time away when your kids are gone. But your kids, well you only get three of them and only for a short short time. I am only speaking out of my own brokenness and not meaning to put it on you. Take what fits and leave the rest.

[007pennpal]

Thanks for the extra information. How many trees has the pup made it to? Has it ever done it solo? Also, I'd say if you can just work the hunting around work and family instead of the other way around. Another thing I do is to do a quick check of the close area daily to see if it is a cat move day or not. I go to the sure to tell cat crossings. If it looks slow, then that's a good family day. Or other training if family is not possible. If they are moving I call wife and say I need to hunt and she gets it.

Also, if you can get the wife and kids involved it could be fun. Family walks with puppies behind gates. My wife gets half the skin money at the sale for whatever she wants. She don't want to hear about races only catches.

I see a huge difference in how many dogs a single houndsman can train based on the availability of game near his house. And that is really something to think about with your question. Educated cats are really cutting edge game for experience packs to handle. Some of the best puppy trainers have some easy to catch game near home. The cats can even "learn" to tree thinking they won the game by doing so, or at least ended the harassment. Those are priceless.

Remember to keep the wife happy. A dress costs lots less than hunting. Hunting seven days a week wouldn't be any good if you lost your family in the process.

[Warner5]

Thanks for all the replies. Especially good to hear from you David. Wife said take that guy hunting, she will cook dinner. You can lead Grace.

Let me try to respond w/o over analyzing. My pups raised by me in my pen already have a very good foundation. They know what a cat is and I like to think they have a good idea when the track has ended. I do have 2 dogs that struggle once the track ends, but those dogs are not hunted together. I will hunt them on the trained cats. I just make sure I also bring extra tree power to help hold them and also help me quickly see an issue so I can fix the problem.( If they don’t come around soon, I will coon hunt them until they get it). But that’s a whole other topic.

This is going to sound a little corny but I look at it like this. I need to hunt my dogs more than 2 day's a week. Running the trained cats is a lot like practice for race day. We train as much as possible on tougher tracks with longer race's. So when race day comes we are prepared to win.

I believe everyone gave good advice, just too many variables for there to be a right or wrong answer. For example, a year ago I had to build a foundation so I spent more time going to places with easier cats. Thank you. John.

[david]

good to hear from you David. Wife said take that guy hunting, she will cook dinner. You can lead Grace.

Running the trained cats is a lot like practice for race day. We train as much as possible on tougher tracks with longer race's. So when race day comes we are prepared to win.

John I do hope for an plan for the day when I can take you up on your invitation. I still think of Oregon as my home. Some days I get pretty home sick. Lord willing, you will see my scruffy face at your door someday begging for that home cooking.

Your situation with the dogs is so much like mine was when I lived out there. I had a lot of responsibilities but had young dogs that just needed to be challenged. I had a place to hunt that was only about 20 minutes drive from my door. My area was heavily hunted by some well known hunters with dogs they paid 5 figures for. There were some rocks they all stayed away from because no one could catch a cat there. Yet, I could go there and almost always start a track within 30 minutes of getting there. I almost never caught anything, but the dogs got their workout for the morning before I had to get back to my job. I would call them off the track if I had to get going, and it did not hurt them in the least. We did that several times a week. And yes, it was frustrating to not catch the cats, but when I took them to other areas we almost always caught cats and the dogs looked like heavy hitters. The tree was never a problem. They knew what to do when that time came. Maybe there are dogs this would not be good for, I cant say. I can say for sure it was good for the dogs I had at the time, and I would do it again if I could.