ReRunning a Holed up Bobcat

[007pennpal]

Since everyone is putting out lots of useful stuff here in the bobcat section, I will add 2 cents. I got pretty tired of a couple trained bobcats beating my pack this winter by getting down a rock pile hole. I tried to use favorable snow to rerun the cats whenever they tried to make their escape when we left.
Cat one- came out of hole next day, on rerun, dogs cold trailed but never jumped cat. I tried to walk and figure it out but gave out and went home.
Cat two- some of you won't believe this, but this cat stayed in that hole for six days. I checked it multiple times a day by walking around at a distance using favorable snow. Started to think he might have died from fight wounds he got before entry when I found his very fresh exit tracks. Its like he knew I was checking and I had to starve him out. The second race also ended in a hole next drainage over. Tried to rerun him again, thinking he'd really be hungry now, but conditions didn't cooperate and my dogs never located him exiting section.
Yes I could have caught a couple other cats with the time I put in on these two, but I am stubborn like that. I can see how rerunning could be a better option in areas where locating a cat to run is hard.
Anyone else have better luck rerunning a bobcat this winter?

[dwalton]

You will almost always put the cat back into a hole or the same hole if you come back the next day or a week later. When a cat learns something to get away from the dogs they will use it again and again. I have put cats that I felt was the same cat in the same hole a year later. As far as starting them off a hole it can be done but it is the conditions that determine that. I would bet the cat that stayed in the hole for six days one of two things was going on, it was stormy or it was a big rock pile that had a lot of rodents in it. Dewey

[Daniel Tremblay]

I would be on the curious end that perhaps the cat had a back door in that rock pile and you just happen to catch it leaving a different time. Or perhaps he had a bottle of water hide away in there for a bad day. Six days to go without water after a race would be crazy. Or at least my dogs act like a few hours is horrible lol.

[mike martell]

Sean.
When I lived in Central Oregon, I hunted the lava flows and found many cats in places most guys refused to run. That was the reason for finding those cats. I would size up the direction the cat was traveling and go for broke, if the cat was between rock piles, I found I could catch them if I got on them hard and before they made the lave flow rock piles. I found those flows to be large enough to have many exits, I simply did not return to see if the cat did exit,most I didn't want to ever see again, instead, I made circles around the flow to see if I could locate an outbound track, and if I found the cat in a place my odds were 0% of treeing with open mouth dogs that I like to hunt, it was on again, as I do not care, as long as there is snow to protect the dogs feet from the sharp jagged rocks, if I wanted to catch those cats in close proximity to the rocks, I would hunt silent style dogs, why hunt? .......Many variables to all of this. One day you rocked up the cat and the next day the same cat killed a rabbit and was just not up to the race like the previous day. Knowing your geographical area is a plus. Cats in Central Oregon are easier to catch than the brush cats in Western Oregon. Most of the Central Or.cats take tree after being jumped for five to ten minutes on average in the open timber grounds.Exceptions to this rule or theory apply!....But if you hunt alot you will find this is the day to day....These Western brush cats are different, most will tree when steady pressure is applied. Some get coon dogged (like mine) and make hunting them a pleasure, even when ran with real cat dogs, will put the smoke on your dogs! If I was serious about catching bobcats, I would look to catch those like J.C., John and Mark write about. Once you have a pack that gives those types a go, you will see fewer cats making the rocks.Some cats are like bears and do what they want with the hounds, is it the cat the bear or the hounds? You can never perfect the sport. I think this is the driving force behind most true bobcat hunters, not to mention those big game hunters. A real lion or bear hound is like a real coon or bobcat dog, I have seen very few in my life. I will take the rock piles any day over the Western Oregon Brush.

[007pennpal]

The area I'm talking about is west side of cascade range. This spot has lots of cats, rock piles, brush and other hunters. I was checking tracks at the hole by circling the area of the pile using snow. You could see tracks from a couple hundred yards away. When he did exit after six days, I back tracked it to the exact entry where the dogs "said" he went in. There was a flowing creek nearby, but never tracks to water, but, its a wet area. Maybe its a bobcat dooms day bunker with water and live rodents inside. I had a cat in the same hole the year before. Possibly same cat. Previously, I have live captured one out of a hole with a snare as to not ruin the fur with a shot. I put it in a cage and it wouldn't eat or drink for at least a week. I decided to release it and let some pups run it. Half starved and dehydrated it ran like a champ and earned its freedom. So, I know they can go a six day water/hunger strike. I've learned that some areas are just lower percentage fur return compared to number of races. These areas always seem to have a nice size tom to run when you can't get one in the higher catch percentage areas. Lots of time I make decisions based on road access instead of catch percentage. Thanks for your comments guys.