Hello Folks
Well it is time for another update from the land of perpetual rain!
After the Great Hunt Tuesday night it rained us out Wednesday and Wednesday night. Thursday looked like more of the same, however about 8 AM Martin Sewell our good friend who lives @ Dads camp called to say that he had just seen a Cat cross a road while Deer hunting. He said that he had marked the spot and circled the tracks as well as marking the direction the Cat had gone.
I woke Dad up and told him the story but said that it was raining. He said “To Hell with the Rain” go load the Hounds. He said to take the main Pack to keep from getting a Pup in a Deer Race.
We found the track about 45 min after Martin saw the Cat, and put Penny out to find which way the Kitty had gone. This she proceeded to do telling us with her high pitched squall that he had headed into a bad bad swamp. We put Corky, Rivers and Choctaw out to help her get him going. After 10 min or so we sent Chic, Cherokee, Sandy and Brandy to the others.
They trailed having lots of trouble as the wind and rain would not let up. It was not raining hard just enough to have to run the windshield wipers. After maybe 20 more minutes and moving several hundred yards they jumped the Cat and the Race was on. And just that quick it was over. Up a tree he had gone. It seems that Dad is as good at training Bobcat as he is the Hounds as we have run this Cat several times and he trees quicker each time.
By now the rain had slacked off, so Dad decided that we ought to go load some more Hounds and head south where it might not have rained as much. We did and found a light mist and lots of Deer Hunters. Since we Rig the Deer Hunters did not bother us but the Cat had not moved since early and what rain there had been had washed out any tracks.
We roaded about 60 miles then head to town for gas and some food. We were back to Hunting by 4:30 and at 5PM Rivers and Choctaw winded a Cat out in a Plantation. Corky went out into the Plantation and found where the Cat had been feeding. Cherokee and Choctaw reached out a little and moved him a couple hundred yards. Corky and Penny kept hammering him and Cheyenne along with Sandy hit him slipping out up a road.
This trailing had lasted 25 minutes or so, and then the “Opry” started. When the Pack heard Cheyenne and Sandy sing out their find they all hit high gear to get to them. This Cat ran the roads for almost a mile. Going off then back and running further down the road. The Cat was trying to get to Her home territory and when she got there settled down to run for the next hour in a 10 acre SMZ right next to a Canal. She used this Canal when it got too hot, but one of the Hounds would go swimming and bring her out.
The Opry was playing like no other Hound Race can. The Cat would duck and go one way up the SMZ, then back down it picking up any Hound who was behind. This type of Race is made to order for Chic, Brandy and Cherokee as they never hardly missed a bark. When Chic gets a pickup she has a SCREAM that will make your hair stand on end. Brandy has a Yodeling bawl that quickly turns into a fast chop and Cherokee has the kind of BIG BAWL that all Houndsmen love.
When the Cat pulled a good one ole Rivers might have to root him out, when he did his mouth is just indescribable. He has a Bellowing Growl like no Hound that Dad has ever had. His littermate Corky was doing steady work on the track hammering away with his big Baritone Chop. When the Sow Cat would try to slip out Cheyenne or Choc would find her and tell the Pack to catch, up always turning the Cat back into the SMZ.
This concert lasted just over an hour when Chic, Rivers, and Brandy sang out that the bay up had commenced. I went in and got some good Pics and a video clip before the Cat tried to break out from under the Palmetto she was backed into. Thus ended the Race.
Hounds baying 20# Sow Cat. LtoR Brandy, Penny, Chickasaw, and Rivers.
EFC with 20# Sow Cat after 1 hour Race
This was about 7PM so we decided to try to find another. This did not take long as we struck hot on the main road not long after reaching it. This Cat was smoking hot so I tailgated the Pack as soon as Corky barked off the road.
This was an “Acid Rock” concert as the Cat ran straight away like a Yote or Deer, but they don’t climb trees. This, the Big Tom did after 20 minutes of as fast and furious a Cat Race as a Hunter will ever have.
Dad said good enough and we headed home. We had treed two and caught one with a couple hours of good Hound work and Dads pockets full of Hound music.
Friday night we took the Pups and Rita and headed south dodging more rain. The wind was out of the East @ 10mph and we knew scenting conditions were going to be bad and they were. We finally struck a Cat that they could move but after trailing an hour and over a mile the Hounds were no closer to the Cat than at the strike. We loaded them up and started home but with the Rig Dogs up just in case. Sure enough we hit one on the Canal Rd and put down on him. Rita and Rip were hitting him pretty good in a Plantation so we turned in the Pups and the Race was on. This was a little Sow Cat that we have trained as well. She runs for about 30 min and uses lots of water tricks but as soon as the Heat gets turned up high, high is where she goes. This is alright as she runs enough and is there to run again, have babies, and draw Tom Cats into the area.
Saturday the Weather was terrible. I headed up the road from Camp where I have Cell service and checked in with everyone I needed to, got on the Internet and read BGH, and started home when I Saw a Big Tom headed toward the road across a fresh clear-cut. There were some Deer Hounds running in the area and they must have made the Cat nervous. I dashed home and asked Dad a question that I already knew the answer to. He said LOAD em up. We did and ran this Cat long enough for him to figure out that this was not Deer Dogs. This was probably the same Cat that we ran on Thursday so about the time Chic screamed the second time at him up he went.
All in all it has been a good week. If I don’t die of pneumonia from getting wet so much it will be sure-nuff good. Dad has enjoyed it and says that when the Weather is Bad you just get Bad with it. He said this from inside the Warm Dry Truck!
Good Running to All and Merry Christmas to You and Yours!
C. John Clay
Dads Dogboy
