The Misfit Cat Hunting Thread

[duck duck goose]

Hi Guys,

I was going to post this up in the Bobcat Contest thread but I didn't want to hijack it so I thought I would just make a new one. I've had a hound for about 4 years now and this past summer I bread her and kept a couple of the pups, bringing the pack up to 3 dogs. I have had some limited success on bears in the past few years, and a little bit on coons, but none so far with cats. I really enjoy being in the woods though, and I like writing up stories about my time spent out there. With that being said, I will do my best to keep this thread going with the stories of my trials and tribulations trying to build a pack of working cat dogs. Hopefully you guys find some entertainment from it, and if you see anything that I am doing wrong feel free to pass along some advice as I would be happy to have it.

[duck duck goose]

The fall of 2012 was when I first added a hound to my household. I had lived in the foothills of Alberta for about a year and had become enthralled with the idea of disappearing into the mountains with a pack of dogs for days on end chasing after one of those big majestic toms. Putting one up a tree, especially on his home turf was but a long off fantasy, but one that I intended to make a reality. And so it was, that my quest for a mountain lion had begun. I began training my new pup on scent trails, and exercising her regularly in anticipation of the winter season to come.

Our first season was a write off as a 20 lb pup could barely navigate the 2' deep snow, let alone run down a 150+ lb kitty cat at several thousand feet of elevation, but we were determined. The next year I joined a local hound club and began going to their events, attempting to absorb every tidbit of information that I could possibly squeeze out of the club and its members. Despite being 100% smarter and more prepared for our second season, it came and went without even finding a paw print in the snow to suggest that we were on the right track. Hmmm... this might be tougher than I thought.

Our third season came with a move across country, the Detroit area has quite a few cougars, but not the 4 legged variety that we were after. The types of cougars that we often come across in the Motor City still have sharp claws and teeth and are definitely a dangerous critter, but running them down with a pack of dogs is usually frowned upon. Determined to hunt with dogs however, I changed the game up a bit and began looking for raccoons, to match the new habitat that we found ourselves in. I found some mild success that year with my dog managing to find a ringtailed bandit fast asleep up a rotted out old oak tree one day, but I quickly discovered that my trusty hound dog didn't really care to chase them.

I had heard a quote once that went something along the lines of "to truly understand something, you have to completely immerse yourself in every aspect of it," and I truly wanted to understand how people managed to take a pack of dogs and turn them into a finely tuned machine with one purpose; hunting. Hound hunting to me is a real world example of synergy in the natural world. A human by them self, would be hard pressed to run down a cougar, or bear, or even a bobcat, and a dog by itself, would never be able to dispatch one of these critters by itself. Together however, the team can accomplish something that neither of the two could complete on their own, and this is the basic fundamental that drew me in to the hunt.

Another move in late 2015 brought me back to cat country again, this time on the dry ground of southern Arizona. I now had the opportunity to pit my limited knowledge and experience against this majestic species in some of the toughest conditions imaginable; this should turn out well... As imagined the fall of 2015 came and went without any success. Getting familiar with yet another new area takes some time and that was basically what went into this season. Narrowing down an entire state to an area that is worth hunting took a lot of miles on the truck and a lot of wandering through the canyons and forests, but that in itself is reason enough for me to get out of bed in the morning.

In the spring of 2016 I decided to breed my dog, because clearly the cause of my lack of success was not having enough dogs o_O. I also became a member of the Arizona Coonhound Association (check them out on Facebook). I kept two pups from the litter and brought my pack of 1 up to 3 hounds. Throughout the summer I brought those dogs out to the woods every day that I possibly could, just getting them familiar with the terrain and the sights and smells that they were going to run into in the coming fall. The boys grew up quick and at this point they are about the same size as their mother, and they are only 6 months old! We've been out a few times this winter already and have actually managed to cut a track. We weren't able to get anything moving from it, but hound hunting seems to be a game a small victories from what I can tell, and that was our first.

Now I am starting to get pretty long winded with this post, but I want to welcome everyone to follow along with me as I try to figure out this game. If anyone ever says that hunting with hounds is cheating, or that it gives the hunter an unfair advantage, I would point to my record of 0 for 4 years and politely suggest that may not be the case. Nonetheless, I will make an attempt to update this thread and welcome anyone who wants to join for a weekend of wandering throughout the woods to send me a message as I would be happy to take you out with me. There is definitely some beautiful country here in Arizona, and there is no better way to see it in my opinion than from behind some floppy eared hound dogs.

[duck duck goose]

Our search for the wiley Arizona Bobcat continued between Christmas and New Year’s Eve this year. With a fresh dump of snow coming to the higher elevation regions of Central Arizona on Christmas Eve, the conditions for cat hunting looked to be the best that anyone could ask for. When the storms were first predicted to roll through around the 22nd of December I plead my case to the wife that we should just postpone Christmas by a few days to take advantage of the fresh snow and to get some hunting done. Unfortunately, she did not think that this was a good idea, and we also had concert tickets to go see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra on Boxing Day, so we were stuck in the city and were going to be hunting at least 2 day old snow. Oh, and Boxing Day is what we Canadians call the day after Christmas, it has something to do with boxing up the gifts that you didn’t want and returning them to the store. But I digress, our trip out would not start until the 27th of December. The good news though, was that the holiday provided us with 6 uninterrupted days to be in the woods, providing us ample opportunity to get a good idea of what was happening in the area and to hopefully catch up with one of these elusive critters.
With the truck loaded up with all of our gear we set out Tuesday morning for an area of National Forest that I have become somewhat familiar with. Tucked away comfortably in the high country pines we were happy to see that the snow conditions were still very good. It had been cold enough since Christmas day that the snow was still a fresh fluffy blanket covering the forest floor, and the roads had been broken open by a few adventuresome 4x4ers in the days prior. The going was fairly easy with all of the weight of our gear helping to ensure good traction in the snow, but my 2 wheel drive truck still ran into a couple of problems climbing a couple of hills. Although we were able to get around, it became all too clear that we were not going to be able to make it as far into the forest as we were initially planning. Luckily, campsites in the area are plentiful and we were able to find a spot with a view.


We cleared a spot for our tipi and laid a layer of pine boughs that had been left behind from someone’s firewood collecting to add a layer of insulation between us and the frozen ground below. On top of that went our tipi and as the sun tucked behind the distant mountains a fire crackled to life in the small metal stove that would be our salvation for the coming days. Dinner the first night was some homemade pierogis and bacon bits before we turned in for the night. Morning comes early when cat hunting and this trip was going to be no different. Coffee went on at 5:30 am and by 6:30 the slow steady putt of the percolator coffee pot filled the tipi with the smell of morning. The dogs were unhurried to get going as they like sleeping in as much as I do, but as the truck cranked over in the silence of the morning, they found the temptation to see what was going on too much to resist and made their way from their beds to the cab of the truck as we headed out to see if we could cut a fresh track.





As our old black pickup rattled down the forestry reserve roads, two things became very clear. First was just how much of a difference the weight from our gear made in helping the truck get traction on the snowy roads, and the second was that there was no way that we were going to get through this trip without doing some digging. The truck got stuck at least twice that morning when we simply ran out of momentum trying to get up some of the hills. Luckily though it was not all that bad; simply clear the snow from around the wheels to get down to the gravel below and get another run at the hill. About two miles from camp we cut our first track, a bobcat had popped out onto the road near a drainage culvert and crossed into the adjacent piece of bush, so we found a place to park the truck, collared up the dogs, and the chase was on.


The cold of the night before was still prevalent under the canopy of the pines above, which kept the snow fluffy and made our steps fall silent as we meticulously counted that bobcat’s steps up one hill and down the other side. The dogs looked sharp and they knew we were up to something as I would encourage them every time they came back around to check our progress on the footprints in the snow. The cat made a short run from some exposed rock to a pine thicket a few hundred yards away, and Cedar, my oldest dog gave a couple barks of excitement, but she was headed the opposite direction?! Not sure what she was up to, I hiked over to where she was located, but could not make any sense of what had caught her attention, so back to the original track we went, down into the deeper snow of the next valley over.

The forest thickened up quickly and that crafty little bobcat began running circles, this was not his first rodeo, and he knew just how to throw a tracker off. Hopping from rock to rock, leaving as few prints as he could, we quickly lost him. We made one last swing by where Cedar had opened earlier in the morning in hopes of finding where the cat had made his escape, but we were unable to locate anything. The GPS odometer read 3.5 miles as we got back to the truck, and we loaded the dogs up and went back to camp to eat lunch and cut firewood for the coming days.

Day 2 started much the same as day 1, with coffee and a truck full of hound dogs, cruising the loop of road near camp that was not too far removed from the highway to get some help should the truck slide dangerously far off of the road. Again this morning it seemed that I got stuck at least once for every mile of road I was able to cover. I did cut one track, but I was not able to decide what it was, and with my parents being scheduled for a visit today, I did not pursue it further. Any guesses at what might have made this?


Lunch was some shish-kebabs roasted over the coals and dinner was a pork roast in the Dutch oven. Both turned out excellent and I turned in for the night full and happy as it was the wife’s turn to watch the fire tonight. Running the fire in the tipi is a precision balancing act, like walking the edge of a razor blade. Too much wood and you cook everyone out of the tent, not enough and you get to re-light the fire in the dark and freezing cold because it burns out quickly. The correct combination seems to be about 1 piece of wood every hour. It gives you a nice temperature, but does not allow for a very restful night by the fire tender. I had taken my shift our first night, and sleep came easy tonight knowing that the fire would be taken care of by someone else.

Again the smell of coffee filled the tipi marking the start of day 3. We had settled into a bit of a grove and the dogs were ready for another day in the woods as we set out in the truck. The road had iced up as the temperature had climbed in the past couple of days, providing a freeze-thaw cycle that followed the sun. The snow had a slight crust in it, and when I stopped at the bobcat track from day 1 for a little insight to what a two day old track looked like in these conditions, I was amazed to see that the little critter had crossed back at the same culvert just this past night! Again we parked the truck, prepped the dogs and headed off in his footsteps, determined to catch a glimpse of him today.

After our learning experiences of day 1 we were much sharper and managed to stay with his track as again he started jumping from rock to rock and running along blown down trees. Sometimes he even jumped from one blown-down tree to another and then to a third, but we managed to find him and press on. We started the track at 10:00 and by 12:00 we were walking back down our trail coming into the bush as he had circled around and basically ran his same track back out of the area. With all of the commotion of three dogs running all over the place, coupled with the rapidly melting snow, we again found ourselves at a loss to where he had. With a lull in the action and a grumble in our stomachs, we decided to break for lunch.





Leftover Christmas dinner, wrapped in tin foil heats up on a fire very nicely and made for a great lunch as we dried our soaked feet out a bit. Neither the wife, nor I, nor the dogs had any clue where that little bobcat had gone, so we decided after lunch we would make one big circle of the area, down off of the top of the hill, where the trees were a bit closer together and the snow was still a solid blanket, to see if we could find where he had again given us the slip. So we doused the fire and packed up and made one last circle, trying to find our elusive prey. Maybe this bobcat had learned to fly as we put in a huge loop in uninterrupted snow and were unable to find where he had again made his escape. Defeated, but not beaten, and with only a couple hours of daylight left we went back to the truck to head to camp to make dinner and call it a day. GPS reading 11.3 miles.
I checked the weather once we got back to camp and found that there was a big rain storm coming our way. It was forecast to rain for the next 24 hours and with the trouble that we were having getting around already, coupled with the fact that our campsite, which gets full sun, had turned into a mud pit, we decided that we would have to cut the trip short by a day. We broke camp in record time as daylight was fading fast and the rain was closing in, but we survived to run another day, and you can bet that we will.

[Dan Edwards]

I see 2 problems right away and never read the thread. Redbones and a pretty girl. You aint never gonna catch anything. HAHA!

[mark]

The one thing i noticed that may be a factor is, shes drinking the wrong kind of beer

[catdog360]

You're supposed to read the article guys, not just look at pictures

[tmalone]

NICE STORY,TO BE CONTINUED? KEEP AFTER EM!!

[al baldwin]

Nice story & photos. Thanks Al

[david]

Was fun to read. Thank you for the entertainment.

Invest in a set of tire chains when you are able to, and keep bags of sand or other weight over the drive wheels. If you bring empty feed sacks, you can fill them as needed. I know you have a shovel, hopefully you have a tow chain, toe strap and a come-along,two jacks and blocks, a bow saw, a pick axe. If you have a few things like that, it might take several hours of work, but you can get out of some seemingly impossible situations.

Keep up the good work.

[pegleg]

Sand bags?? David its az. even northern az. has more rock's then road. Just give em a ride. DDG have fun its sure better then sitting home .

[dwalton]

It is great to learn by doing but it will take a long time. Find a old cat hunter leave your dogs at home and go hunting with him for a winter. That said it sounds like you will enjoy what you are doing as of now and have some great memories. Good luck Dewey

[bluedog4]

Great pictures, interesting story, pretty red dogs, even prettier wife, awesome food!
I pack a lunch every time I go hunting and end up never eating anything.
If your ever back in Alberta look me up, I will take you on a few hunts. I live west of Cochrane, nestled in the foot hills caressing the Rockys, both bully and nuclear free.
Bluedogs

[Ndigs]

DDG ,Thanks a lot for that story,please keep it going,so encouraging .I'm doing it exactly the same as you.,and it may be the hard way compared to some, but man it sure is FUN. I'm only slightly ahead of you with a few up a tree, and from my limited experience I will say if you stay on those tracks it's going to happen,maybe real soon. You have some beautiful dogs and if you ever want to hike down some lynx tracks in Prince George BC give me a call. Tom Griffith.

[Dan Edwards]

You're supposed to read the article guys, not just look at pictures

Don't tell us what to do. HAHA! Alright I will go back and read the story. Mark, nobody likes our sense of humor.

[catdog360]