Hello Folks!
I have been promising to get this Article done for weeks now, but “Cat Hunting”
Keeps getting in the way.
We had a hard but successful Hunt in Florida this month. The Scenting conditions were horrible… high humidity…EAST Wind…mostly Dry conditions, very little water in the woods… and Hot temps, worse than in August.
The Hunt had highs and lows, I was promoted from Dogboy to Dog Sergeant then to Huntsman; and then I turned some Hounds out too soon and was demoted back to Dogboy.
We arrived at Camp before daylight on Sunday Oct. 4th. We planned on Not Hunting Sunday night however a Weather system was moving in and Rain was forecast for Monday and Tuesday. Dad said that we should make a round in case we were rained out later in the week.
We loaded up before dark and headed out to the southern Clubs that Dad is in. Deer Hound training season was going strong so we gave those Hunters time to catch up their Hounds about dark. They don’t really bother us however when a Deer Race approaches you always wonder how “Pressure Broke” your young Hounds are. Deer running the way they do a Deer Race is here and gone mighty fast.
We put the Hounds down to empty out before putting them up to Rig. After doing this for 20 min or so we were Rigging in earnest and had not gone far when Corky (this is Rivers littermate who was not performing up to speed for Mr. Harold Parker so Dad traded one of our 6 month old full sibs for him and has been working to “get his mind straight”) Sang out with his big Bass Horn mouth telling us that a Bobcat had made this road its feeding ground for the night. We put the Rig Dogs down they barked a time or two then moved the track down the road to the Canal Road and down it before moving the track off into a Blue Mud Swamp. The track was tough to move for a while but Brandy Yodeled out that she had found where the Cat had left the Swamp for a Plantation.
We pulled down a dim road to where a Deer Stand is located to better hear, and hear we did! Brandy, Corky, Rivers et al had jumped the Cat and the “Opry” had started. We had the old pros Rita, Rip and Cheyenne along with the young Hounds, 12 in all. The Music was loud and in Harmony with all singing their loudest. Rip grabbed the Cat as she tried to slip out of the Plantation into a SMZ and back into the Plantation the Pack came. WOW what music; Dad was filling every Pocket that he had. About 15 min into the Race this smart ole Sow pulled a trick out of her Ditty Bag by doubling back tight on her tract and caused a brief loose but it was enough to allow her to hit the SMZ she had tried earlier. She thought her escape was immanent but Corky and Cheyenne had other ideas, they found where she had gone and called the Pack to come help. You could watch on the Garmin Astro 220, the Hounds who had been circling looking for the Cat, Hark to Corky and Cheyenne.
They heated the track up and for the next 30 min the Pack ducked and dodged the Cat up and down the road ditch, in and out of the SMZ, never getting further than 150 yds from us. The Volume on the Music was all the way up, at time the Roar was so loud that you could not pick out any individual, just a Roar that must have been in the 60 decibel range! This could not last long! But this ole Sow had a trick or two left yet to pull. She had tried twice to come out into the road and the Pack would not let her. Finally she had to do something so out she came; it almost did not work as Sandy and Rip ran the Cat by sight out of the road into a ditch full of water.
This bought her some time to try to pull a Houdini only Rita and Rivers have read the Book and were thinking Bobcat. They found where the Cat had slipped out and called for help, the Cavalry arrived and turned the Heat way up on this Cat… so much so that after another 15 min. this Big (23#) ole Sow expired in mid stride as the picture shows. There was NO fight, the Opry went from full volume to nothing then Penny and Sage started baying about 130 yds from the truck.
Penny, Chick, and Cheyenne baying Cat
Dad with 23# Old Sow Cat after 1 Hour 15 min. Race
This was the first of two that we caught this night, the first time I have been along when we caught two before midnight.
The second Cat Choctaw Rigged off the top. This would be the only Cat that we trailed for any length of time on this trip. Corky found where he had gone down a road behind us out into a Plantation. Penny then found where the Cat had hit another road then gone into a fresh Clear-Cut. Rita, Cheyenne and Rip reached way out and found where the Cat had left the Clear-cut and gone into a huge 10 year old Pine Plantation.
We have run several Cats in this Block; they always run deep and hearing is hard but when it is wet we can not drive into this Block. This was the case this night. We stayed within 400 yds but never got any closer than 150. The Air had become heavier as the Humidity came up as the Storm approached and sound did not carry as well as it did for the 1st Race.
This was a young Tom judging from its Track, it staked out its place to make is last stand and ran up and down a SMZ for the next hour. We could pick out the Squealing chop mouths of Sage, Brandy and Rita. We could also pick out Rivers and Corky when they Bawled out when they got a pick up but the rest were just background music for the more distinctive mouths.
When the Cat decided to pull a Mike Tyson it was bad. I can usually get to the Pack to help out with my Hickory Stick but not this time! It was too bad with too much water and too far. They bayed and fought for almost an hour till they “got-err-done”. I had some Doctoring to do when we got back to Camp as this Cat was “MEAN”.
I will tell about the rest of the Hunt in the next installment but suffice to say it got much harder after this till the last night!
Good Running to All!
C. John Clay
Dads Dogboy
