you little bastard

[Dan Edwards]

Got your attention!

Does the size of a dog determine how great of a bobcat dog he may turn out to be? I know that size is very important in all aspects of life when it comes to athletes depending on what sport you are participating in but how important is size to you when it comes to a bobcat dog? I know that terrain will dictate but you tell me what yall think. Of course I already know what I think and no matter what you say, you wont change my mind.

Marathon runners are 5'10 and weigh about 150 pounds but sprinters are 6'0 and weigh 195 pounds so you tell me what about these dogs.

[dan kluthe]

I can't reply specifically in regard to "bobcat dog" - I've not been involved with enough history of hounds - but I can sure reply using retreiver knowledge: I had a Chesapeake Bay retreiver and when I got her I had my choice of 1) the runt of the litter 2) the middle of the litter pup or 3) the pick of the litter (a fellow had just called in and cancelled on this pup account of a job change). I messed with the pups and ended up choosing the runt - That little girl was absolutely the best hunter and retreiver I could have asked for. I've always wondered if she had the attitude that she was NOT!! going to let the other dogs outperform her! So, Does size matter?? - Yes, I think it does in LOOKS only.

[sheimer]

Dan, you'll have to tell us what you think before we can tell you that you are wrong!

Scott

[Big N' Blue]

Dinamite comes in small packages, but you can buy big boxes of it too!!LOL

[nmplott]

with bobcat dogs, I feel they have to be smarter than most other hounds used for other game. They also have to have a colder nose and some speed. I do not think that size really matters with these kind of dogs but intelligence matters more with any game dog.

[twist]

Dan, I'll tell you the perfect size I would like a bobcat dog to be is 30-35 lb female 40-45 lb male tight built good feet and leggy type very atletic. But they always dont turn out that way. I have had bobcat dog very in size. I have had a little female that was maybe 30 lbs soak and wet tight built, leggy perfect size and could put the hurt on a bobcat, have a old plott female right now that all my buddies call her Ruth after the mule on gunsmoke 55lb sway back sorta floppy looking not athltic looking in any way and she can sure put the hurt on a bobcat had a 45 lb male perfect size and looks that got yhe job done real well and also a male that is 60-65 lbs that will run a bobcat with the best of them. So I believe the size does not determin how great a bobcat dog is. Yes it would be nice if every great bobcat dog was a certain size but wont happen. All the dogs I just spoke of have all had a ton of HEART so maybe that is the key rather than size.

[Dan Edwards]

Dan, you'll have to tell us what you think before we can tell you that you are wrong!

Scott

First off, thats some funny shit. I owe you a beer someday partner.

[Dan Edwards]

I dont hunt bobcat so I dont know the answer by the way. Thanks though Twist for a good answer. Seen some snappy ass 35# gyps in my life though that could go through the woods like a damned yote. Never seen no sloppy dog ever in my life that could move but maybe yall have. Got some 55# dogs right now that can move and do pretty good in the woods, better on the open ground but they move pretty good regardless. Them 45# dogs moved better though by far but then again my fastes and most athletic dog stands 29 inches at the shoulder and weighs 90#'s so who really knows. I know he can make a bunny beg for its life but that dont work so well and it only takes him three bites to eat them. Coyotes know they are dead when he screams but thats another story. I just want to know what you guys think about this subject of size in a cat dog.

[Mike Leonard]

I have two walker females that are half sisters. They both weigh about 40 pounds. They have pretty good legs for smaller dogs and have super good feet and an arch back rounded thru the loins and really powerful for their size. When you look at these dogs move across the ground they don't look like they are running they seem to float above the ground they are very pretty movers. On a track that is up they run it so dog gone fast that it is scary at times I mean they leave the country like a bronc mule hit in the a$$ with a packsaddle.

When I look at them I think they are just about perfect for anything but really get thru the brush and rocks and should be ideal for bobcats. They both ran coyotes to catch and would knock bigger dogs out of the way to stay on it I mean they wanted to run something that could move out. The youngest one still will break and run a yote if I don't watch her close. But in reality when it comes to the size think I just don't know because like that flop eared plott Twist talked about I have seen some dogs that didin't look fast enough to scatter their own poop and still they did pretty good on cat.

So I guess if they work any size is good. But I have some pretty big old time dogs and they can cold trail and they can move but you can't pack two of them in an air kennel and go look for a cat track in Mom's Tahoe like you can those smaller models. LOL!

[david]

Where I learned to hunt I never caught much until I had a dog not much bigger than the bobcats. It has been hard to forget that, and I tend toward the smaller tight built dogs. But really, in the land of deep snow, it just doesnt make sense. There are certain days when the little one can walk on the crust with the cat while the bigger dogs can not. but if you are going to have a special dog for every type of snow, you will have a lot of dogs.

A man told me of a 70 lb plott that ran down and killed a whole pack of 4 coyotes one at a time because the snow was just right for him and almost impossible for the coyotes. He could bound once for every two of theirs and as soon as they left a trail or road, he had em. But I probably would not be the one to keep a 70 pound dog three years waiting for that one perfect snow day.

I like a 35 lb female. But there are many days every year in the north when she has a severe handicap. I am very sure if I had learned to hunt in the north country, I would have a preference for a larger dog.

[Mike Leonard]

David,

I would have loved to have seen that plott dog do that. I am not saying he didn't but any dog that can run down one after another 4 grown coyotes and kill them by himself needs to be put in the he man dog hall of fame somewhere.

[david]

Mike, I felt the same way about it. I didnt question him, and the story did not sound made up but holy cow. It was an all day affair, and he was cold nosed enough to keep going after it. He had some other pretty amazing stories too, but I dont know anything about coyote hunting or bear hunting. Sounded like he had put his life into breeding grit into his plotts. He said the dog would bay close, and then circle out further and further to try and get the coyote to bolt. As soon as the coyote turned away from him, he had em. It was deep snow and deep drifts. He said he was walking out to the road with three of the coyote hides (back when they were worth something), and a trapper was parked there watching him walk out. The trapper said "holy @#$% Ed, dont you feed your d@#$ dog?"

Just listening to the guy made me wish I could try a couple of his dogs though. Who knows.

I hesitated to use the story, because I just knew it would distract from the point, which was: a big dog sure has an advantage in deep snow.

[pete richardson]

i think the fastest coyote dog ive ever seen, i know she was fastest i ever owned --weighed about 40 lbs -

she was kind of a freak- i havent had another one that was 3/4 her speed --


either that or she was only fast dog i ever saw--- and the rest are slow


bear dogs , ive seen fast dogs that weighed 80 and 40 and 60 and some same size not so fast -


i dont belive that smaller dogs are faster-just that, some dogs are faster . smaller dogs are more likely to be athletic-- a real athletic big dog can be very fast .

ive been told that big dogs cant get thru brush-.. if a bear can fit , i think a dog can ,, if he wants too
if i was only going to run cat in spruce thickets and blowdowns i bet id prefer smaller dogs

- ive noticed bigger dogs really shine-

in open woods which we dont have much left ,,



little dogs can get thru a spruce thicket , blowdowns, , etc



in deep powder snow
a dog doesnt need to be extra fast to catch coyotes-
coyote breaks a trail for the dog , a slower dog that doesnt make many losses will catch alot of them
..

never seen a dog catch 4 in a day ,but have seen quite a few dogs that could catch one , many days in a row -


have seen when dogs could catch almost every coyote unless it got on a skiddoo trail, road, lake , river ,-or in a huge frestall cow barn , under somebodies porch , etc etc etc

i never want to bet that they can catch every coyote , coyote knows too many tricks---
just when u get to thinking you can catch every coyote , you cant

[pete richardson]

mike your comment got me thinking bout coyotes on deep snow---






when snows deep


quite often they will travel roads ,skidoo trails-- ,and bed down just outa sight of the road-


nyways we put 2 dogs on a fairly fresh track going up a very steep hill, rocks . dogs just walking , haveing to work for every inch in the deep snow- all of a sudden heard dogs screaming, could see coyote, he had commited to come back down

coyote came rite back down same track he had gone up---

he jumped over the dogs ---- he wasnt going back up that hill - he wasnt leaving that trail , ran rite to me and i turned him back to dogs , and that was it ---

cold trail run bayed- done , in bout 2 minutes lol -


thats how it can go in deep snow sometimes- that week we caught 6 out of 7 we put on ---


the 7th one-- thats another story-- all day ordeal and he got away ,
he kept coming back to skidoo trail- -- made dogs look stupid in that snowmobile trail -

[david]

have seen when dogs could catch almost every coyote unless it got on a skiddoo trail, road, lake , river ,-or in a huge frestall cow barn , under somebodies porch , etc etc etc

Seems like you and this guy must have talked because he sure said a lot of the same stuff. The way of the north country coyote hunter.

He told me the same thing about deep snow. The coyotes get on a trail or road and they know if they leave it they are caught. He told me a story of his dogs taking the coyote right through a dairy barn at milking time because that is where the road led to.
luckily the farmer had hunted with Ed and was a little bit more understanding than some dairy farmers might have been.

Then he told me they had another one heading down a road, and the coyote decided he was going to have to take refuge. He runs up this driveway just as the automatic garage door is coming up. He sees the nice little opening and dives in. Well a couple neighbor hood dogs had joined his hounds by now. The two hounds dive under the car where the coyote is. The other two dogs have no idea really what is going on, but hey, we are all barking and in the mood to fight. So the other two dogs mount the car door on the drivers side and start barking agressively at the elderly couple inside. Ed shows up about that time and the window comes down a little, and a handgun comes out. This old guy is ready to off the two dogs on his door. Ed says he interveined at that point but almost wished he hadn't.

Since this is a bobcat hunting section. Guess I could say something about bobcats and roads. I know out west where we almost never had snow, some cats figured out all they had to do was hit a road and travel it a ways and could buy themselves a lot of time, if not end the hunt. Sure was fun then when it snowed. Those same cats would hit a road with snow on it and even my sorry dogs could show me a bobcat. queen or king