road hunting

[Dan Edwards]

Does anybody but the Texas boys road hunt their cat dogs? I have a good friend in CA that road hunts his dogs on cats and fox and was just wondering if anybody else did. I wish I could do that here but just dont have that kind of country to fool with that at all. Way too busy around here and just no big country ya know.

[Hipshooter]

Road hunting is the most popular way of hunting bobcats.
U have to have big country with the roads in good cat country.
Some times u will road for several hours & not start a cat.
I do not have this kind of country, I have small timber patches of 10 to 200 acres
Very few roads, I just walk my dogs in to the timber & make a circle,
if no cat we just load up & go to another patch.
I have had some success useing a caller on these small timber places.
I call for about 30 min, then turn the dogs in. All u want to do is get the cat to move around so dogs can get on the track.
I use female cat in heat tape.
This will make the toms move around, and the sowcats don,t want any other females in their area so they move around some also. But the area has to have a cat nearby.
I do not know for a fact, but I have heard in my country, that u have to be 20 min or less behind the cat or the dogs can,t strike, on this bare dry ground.

[Everlast]

Most people in Ca. that hunt cat and fox road their dogs. It's the main way to get after varmints. Another plus is that it keeps the dogs in superior shape which is needed when running fox. Usually if I don't strike something from the road, I'll start sending them or walking them up into draws or canyons.

I think anywhere game is thick roading is a good way to start tracks. You really get to watch your dogs work and hunt while your roading. But I don't think it would be very productive if you hunt where the game is not very thick. you'd probably just wear your dogs out.

[bluedogs]

i'll road mine off and on mainly i just have them on the box, but every now and then if i know there is a cat in the area if i rig through it and dont get a strike when i turn around and come back through i'll put the dogs down and road them through the area they can pick up the colder trails then they could on the rig i know some dogs that strike cold cat tracks but mine dont has to be a warmer track.

[Buddyw]

About the same as Blue dogs, I wish I had better Box dogs for sure..

Used to be I roaded all the time But we are getting better on the box.

Buddy

[lepcur]

I usually box the dogs for bear and when that season ends I'll road hunt the dogs for cat and fox.

[david]

used to road dogs alot. It is such an excellent way to get them coming your way on trash and good handling. Some dogs have very distinctive bobcat body language and will tell on themselves and others with any other "game" body language. It is as sure as tracks in the snow. Sure enjoyed watching them hunt from a comfortable theater seat.

[Mike Leonard]

A little known secret but I road hunt some for bobcat. Mainly because I do a lot of training this way and I will road my dogs into a strike when they are young and they really get to working the roads. I have two walker dogs brothers that are making exceptional road dogs, and I think if I had more prime cat country to hunt without traffic I could do pretty well with them. They split and eack takes a side of the road and they road off to the side over the shoulder of the road and out where a track will hold. I taught them that early becasue that is where I would set up the strike . Dog will seldom pick up a track right in the road itself unless it is very hot and the road is traveled very little. Most of you hunters have had dogs trail to a road and draw a blank so you know about tracks not holding on roads. Yes some dogs can sift them better than others but most dogs that are sailing down the road and strike are picking it up in the air or off to the side on the brush.These two walkers will stay in a long trot for miles and cover a lot of ground and they don't do a bunch of wheeling off and cutting back in behind you which I hate because a lot of dogs get run over that way.

You can rig hunt a lot of this as well but remember the lay of the land and the prevailing wind always has a lot to do with it when rigging.

I use to hunt coon this way in the prairie states years back. I would kick two dog out and I would drive the big long corn row fields and many times you would traveling many miles a night with dogs catching on the ground a lot. It took tuff dogs with lots of bottom. We were hide hunting then, and the treeing walkers crossed on an old flag tailed running wolf dog we had called Pinky sure made some traveling son of a guns.


I don't road hunt much as I said these days because of the traffic and such I usually go off on a horse but in the right country you can sure cover some ground with good road dogs and when you know the crossing you will get some music from time to time.

[Dads dogboy]

Mr. Edwards,

A little Bird wispered in my ear that you really are a "Closet Bobcat" hunter, in Heart if not in Fact!

You certainly know what questions to ask to get everyone talking and giving very good info! Keep it UP!

We are blessed wit lots and lots of good roads in all of Our Bobcat hunting country! For years Dad roaded his Hounds the majority of the time with some strategic casting. Now he roads to empty out his Hounds and then puts up the Rig Hounds.

Having said this, when we are starting young Hounds and Puppies we road then exclusively. We do this with one old Hound to show the young Hounds what is expected of them. This allows us to put a handle on the youngsters and as some one else just said "Stop the Trash". We try to do this in the early morning and late afternoon when Deer are out so temptations are abundant!

We have much Colder Rig Strikes than Road Ground Strikes. Maybe 1/3 of the Rig strikes can we do anything with! I have discussed this in other posts, stating that we feel this is where a Male Bobcat has Squirted his Anal Scent Gland making a mark post for his territory boundry! Will tell about last nights hunt on another post, but Rigged 8 different Bobcats, jumped 3 caught 1, treeded one, lost one in H2O; found tracks in the road on the other 5. But Hounds could not bark!

Rambled enough!

Good Running to All!

C. John Clay
Dads Dogboy

[Mike Leonard]

Dad gum! We are getting more solid information on this bobcat spot than you can shake a stick at. WOW!

[Tim Pittman]

We road'em to clean'em out and get rid of the excess energy.But we rig about 70%f our tracks.Thought I'd post a pic of this last seasons catch of me and my hunting partners good times.




Tim Pittman

[Mike Leonard]

Nice catch Tim and some nice spotties in there!

[twist]

Nice bunch of cats.

[Everlast]

WOW.........

[Tim Pittman]

Thanks,we had alot of fun.I've had the privledge to hunt and become good friends of one of the most knowledgable houndsmen{hunters]I've either heard of or read about.Dewey Walton is as good as guy as you could ever meet,hard,smart hunter.
Tim Pittman