The Ultimate Bobcat Dog, PART ONE...

[Dan McDonough]

Pretty cool to see you on here Jim. I responded to your PM, did you get it?

Yeah, I just slip them the whole fish. Some of them just grab it and swallow it whole and some just drop it and pick it apart. That's for the smaller baitfish. If I feed them the suckers (not all of them will eat suckers), I just flop the whole thing down. I scrape the suckers though. Those scales are pretty big on them and I figure it's not doing them any good to eat the scales. I have only been feeding fish for a few years so I'm still a little cautious about it.

You should have a look at throwing a stag or two in on the coyotes when the race goes anywhere near the road. They can end it awefull fast. With a mixed pack of hounds and stags you can kill a lot more coyotes and do it in places where the gunshot noise is not wanted. Those stags are like a rifle with fur on it that shoots around corners! I'm having a lot of fun with them.

[Dirty Jim]

I did not get your pm Dan. Yeah them stags would probably be fun but for me a dog needs to be able to trail and tree bear to keep.

[Dan McDonough]

10-4, I know nothing about how stags work on bear. I've heard of people using them on bear but I never looked into that end of things. There may be something on this site about it.

[Dan Edwards]

10-4, I know nothing about how stags work on bear. I've heard of people using them on bear but I never looked into that end of things. There may be something on this site about it.

They bay them like any canine that has a lick of sense would do.

[Dan McDonough]

What I would like to know is this. When a trapper in WI. catches an animal that he does not have a tag for, he can call the DNR and they will come and take it and just write it up as an incidental catch. There is no trouble for the trapper.

Now, if a dog makes an incidental catch, I think the owner can get in trouble for it. I'm going to check that out but I don't think I'm going to be happy with the answer.

[Dan Edwards]

What I would like to know is this. When a trapper in WI. catches an animal that he does not have a tag for, he can call the DNR and they will come and take it and just write it up as an incidental catch. There is no trouble for the trapper.

Now, if a dog makes an incidental catch, I think the owner can get in trouble for it. I'm going to check that out but I don't think I'm going to be happy with the answer.

Not in Illinois you cant. Our hounds caught a deer last year and pulled it down. They didn't do any real damage to it cuz we were on them like stink on shit but anyhow it was called an incidental catch by the GW. He's a real cool dude though so maybe he cut us a break but I don't think so. He's a pretty straight shooter and even if he would have give us a ticket I wouldn't have been pissy cuz if I'm wrong I'm wrong.

[Dan McDonough]

That's promising. I'm going to call them right now and ask.

[Dan McDonough]

The catching part is the problem in this state. I'm not quite sure how they think a dog is not going to catch stuff by their very nature. There are some odd laws out there. It's likely a loophole so they can yank some chains if they don't have anything else to grab onto. I may be making a leap here but there are many laws like that and that's how I see it.

[Dan McDonough]

I haven't got on here for a while but there have been some very interesting hunts lately. Barking treed seems to be a thing of the past for Vicki but it looks as though she is thinking rather that coming up with a new set of reactions. I have been doing releases in an area where the trees are very large and sticking to critters that do not climb up the tree from the base if you know what I mean. She's getting very good at locating and I've come up with some interesting buildings that are really hard to locate in to test her reasoning ability. I've been staying out of the swamps lately for the same reasons all of the other animals are staying out...mosquitoes! The bobcats along with everything else are in the highlands most of the time by nessesity right now. It's making it much easier to find them though.

Tommy is not as much of a pinball in his agility as Vicki but he is a harder charging dog. I'm trying to take it easy on them somewhat because I keep forgetting that they are not even a year old yet but it really is difficult to do when mentally, they are advancing so quickly. If I can keep these two from getting injured while they are young, these two are going to catch cats for fun this winter. That's how I feel now but something is going to change and test that feeling. First seasons are always unpredictable. I'm not sure which of these two will turn out to be the better dog on cats but if I had to guess, Vicki seems to be the craftier of the two dogs. I can't wait to see what the capabilities of their adult bodies will be. They are certainly overmatched for cats in their physical ability...they sure can move.

I'm not good about getting pictures because I don't want to pay attention to the camera when I'm out with them but I will try and get some new pictures up here shortly.

[david]

Dan when you say treeing is a thing of the past, do you mean she has quit barking treed?

[Dan McDonough]

That's right, Vicki is not treeing now. From what I'm seeing there is something going on in her head, something she is thinking about. I don't think this is the final word on the treeing. I'm waiting to see what happens next with this. I took her out at night and and she picked up a track and ran it to a small tree and located (physically, not vocally) and just stood there staring at the critter. She would circle the tree every once in a while and look and smell around but I got the sense that she was trying to line up a few things in her head. I'm not entirely sure what that was yet.

[david]

Ok so your pure stag trees like crazy. Do you know if you're border collie stud was a tree barker? I have heard of some that are and some that are not. Although I think they all can locate up.

[Dan McDonough]

Yes, but I never got the chance to see if he would tree on something that was sight unseen the way a hound will.

[david]

Does she bark on her chain? If so what is her motivation? "Come feed me" or ? Maybe she will bark treed for a different motivation than tree bred dogs bark treed. Like "come get this cat down out of this tree for me..." Just a thought. Have often wanted to see a discussion on "why dogs bark treed". From what I have seen I think different bred dogs have different motivation for tree barking.

[Dan McDonough]

Vicki's main motivation for barking on the chain, if she does, is guarding. She is one of the quietest dogs on my place. At this point, she would please a gypsy poacher for sure.