twist wrote:Dogs from different areas preform different some acclimate some dont. Be it running dog or full hound. Andy
dwalton wrote:I have limited experience but have taken dogs from the Western Oregon and hunted in Eastern Oregon, Eastern California, Southern California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Arizona And caught lion and bobcats sometimes in the same day. Maybe some dogs need time to adjust to the changes but I feel a good dog is a good dog where ever he is hunted. Maybe it is just the hunter that is limited himself and his dogs. Good hunting Dewey
. I agree Dewey. Good dogs catch any place they are hunted. As for acclimating? I also think that pertains to the new handler who has an unfamiliar hound he is trying to read. A good hound is a good hound no matter where it's dropped. I will go one step beyond, even done with hounds used on all tree game, not just bobcats! I personally would never feed a straight bobcat hound. Who would feed a hound that required time to adjust to a new location that is being handled by the same owner who regularly hunts the dog. That would be a waste of time not to mention would limit traveling the Country and the species you pursue. The biggest eye opener for me was our Oregon ban in 1994 and taking the hounds all over to hunt what I wanted. This sorts the fly shit from the pepper! I also would be hard pressed to feed a full hound of ANY breed, not that they aren't out there! As for locating? The difference between hounds and running dogs are the number of slick bobcat trees
Cant see having any tree dog at all in your hounds in certain areas beneficial but I know nothing so my opinion don't matter. The northwest is a whole other deal though. Id imagine its pretty necessary there just like in other areas with taller timber country.
I guess my thoughts are if the running dog crosses are working well for locate/treeing in the western coast region, then it seems like they would do well most anywhere.
Last edited by brian j cerelli on Tue Jan 17, 2017 8:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.
1bludawg wrote:I can see that Mark but i've seen good dogs come out here that hung up on the first windfall or rockpile they came to.
Had a buddy take a good cat dog to Oaklahoma and the heat and humidity sure took the fire out of him .
I and some buddies believe some good dogs will have to get acclimated to some different conditions.
I think any bobcat habitat is going to have have windfalls,rock piles,and brush and usually a combination of all three. Labeling the dog mentioned above a good dog is a stretch i think. If it hangs up that easy in a new area i bet it does the same at home.
mark wrote:If it hangs up that easy in a new area i bet it does the same at home.
My thoughts exactly. Good dogs don't need to get acclimated and they damn sure don't care who is handling them. They know the game and they are there to catch game. Who is casting them means nothing at that point in their life.
brian j cerelli wrote:I guess my thoughts are if the running dog crosses are working well for locate/treeing in the western coast region(arguably the thickest tree cover in the u.s.) then it seems like they would do well most anywhere.
The good ones would yes but some areas I would think you would be better of with just straight running dogs for the most part.
brian j cerelli wrote:I guess my thoughts are if the running dog crosses are working well for locate/treeing in the western coast region(arguably the thickest tree cover in the u.s.) then it seems like they would do well most anywhere.
The good ones would yes but some areas I would think you would be better of with just straight running dogs for the most part.
i understand what you mean when running in more open areas where your not as concerned about treeing.
but where do the straight tree dogs shine? (im talking on cat only)
My dogs seem to be normal going coast to coast and running cats. Hope to make it back again this year. Haven't seen them needing time to get used to an area. But there a bunch of Culls any how. Maybe Dan you don't need the full running dog in them areas haha... Maybe some areas will be tougher for dogs to locate in. I know when the humidity drops low and the Temps get down and it's that cold dry air. The dogs take more time to locate... So maybe hunting an area like that the dogs would have trouble. But locating is locating so a good dog should do it every where.
brian j cerelli wrote:but where do the straight tree dogs shine? (im talking on cat only)
I cant truly answer any of these questions but my assumption is that a straight tree dog isn't going to shine anywhere when it comes to bobcats. There will be exceptions to that rule of course but overall the crosses are gonna out do them over a period of time.
It would take a lot of time and a lot of money, but I hope some day some one can afford to haul their dogs to:
1) Oregon and hunt coastal bobcat there without the aid of snow
2) Minnesota and hunt bobcat in something other than the "catching snow".
3) Arizona and hunt bobcat in the dry desert without snow.
4) Texas in the summer
5) Louisiana summer
6) Florida summer
7) Virginias or Carolinas, mountains AND coast.
8. Kansas/Nebraska bobcat season.
And Maybe Maine. But I have an idea Maine and Minnesota would be about the same.
There might be dogs that will look like a well oiled machine in all of these environments in the same year. I hope there are. I Would more than love to buy the book or other documentation about this experiment (with photos of each cat at the end of the track).
Until someone does that, it is all just opinion, in my opinion.
And I can't see anything wrong with stating our opinions. It makes for interesting reading.
I'm not trying to convince anyone of anything ,just stating what i've seen.
I don't think you'd have any problems hunting any of the western states but i'm talking about hunting in conditions that are different than what a dog is use to.
There's no comparison between Oklahoma and Oregon in terrain .Some dogs brought out here take to it like a duck to water others need time to adjust ,some never catch on.The cliffs are the biggest problem ,with the blow down thickets being second ,especially where they fall across steep ravines.I've seen some pretty good ones never really figure the rocks out .
David makes some good points in his post.
As i said earlier the heat and humidity really got to a buddies dog when he went to Oaklahoma .
I've heard of supposedly top dogs coming from the east coast that didn't cut the mustard out here.
Or is the factor more the person with top dogs rather then the terrain? Some ones top dog might be a cull to one of us? And vise versa. How many Wisconsin, Maine, Montana, Colorado, Wyoming, and South Dakota, Kansas, Nebraska Cat dogs see or are put down on a 50 to 100 tracks a year? I know them Texans and Virginia and Florida guys run a pile so they are put in the same boat as a lot of the NW guys who have CAT DOGS....
That's a big factor. Most dogs don't get the opportunity to become top dogs cuz they aren't given enough chances/tracks or hunts. Dogs don't even get tough til you run them a lot. A soft dog cant catch anything difficult. And some dogs just wont get tough. They don't have what it takes to push themselves that way.
