Headed out Monday to hunt with Curt on the coast. I had just got up to Curt's and could see he was ready to go. So as fast as I could unhook the trailer, and tell the wife I don't know when I'll be back, we were heading out to give the cats a run.
We hit the hills around 5pm or so, with Bruno, Ann, Emma, and Shotgun on the box. We got a good strike from Bruno and Shotgun. We dropped the four on the box and they started cold trailing, then we dropped two young dogs around a year old. They cold trailed through the some old re-prod, and this continued for about an hour and a half, making loses and picking it back up. The Garmin showed them heading up to the road above the old unit, and we headed that way. The dogs hit the road, and and Curt said to box them, so we did. We didn't get 100 yards down the road and all six blew the top off the box. The race was on good now, and they trailed and got it jumped and treed in about an hour. It was nice mature Tom, around 23 pounds, 70 yards off the road.
The best thing I enjoyed about this hunt was that the young pups did a nice job cold trailing with the older hounds, and got treed well. Listening to that cold trailing was just as good as seeing the cat in the tree.
We went out the next day, and got another cat going. Curt had a buddy down and he turned in to the race, and the dogs ended up getting honkered down in some nasty rocky stuff. It was long and cold, not my kind of day, I prefer the 70 yards from the truck races........But is was really cool listening to all the dogs working in that race.
Decided to go visit my friend Tom up north and try to run a cat on Thursday. Conditions were horrible to say the least. Started early and couldn't find anything to move. We decided to box a few dogs in separate rigs and head up the grade. I put Sis, Cooper, and Shotgun on the box and headed up the road. I ended up about 1/2 mile ahead of Tom, and he hit me on the radio and told me his dog Shiner rigged one off the box. I was very complexed as to why Shotgun missed that strike. I hesitated before tucking my tail and asking him if he wanted to drop 3 more dogs on his strike. I still wasn't sure if he was pulling my leg on this one at this point. He responded that I better hurry, so I swallowed my pride and headed down the hill to drop in. Tom gets out of his rig and points to a nasty old rained in track, and I couldn't believe his dog rigged that track. He kept asking me why Shotgun didn't hit it, and I had no response...The only thing I could come with was that his 4 month old pup was laying down spawled on the box and getting in Shotgun's way...I know very lame and weak.
He and Clay started laughing uncontrollably and finally spilled the truth. Tom spotted the crusty track from the rig, which I drove right by, and put a couple dogs on it and got it going. I was relieved to say the least. At this point, my dogs were 200 yards behind, but they were making up ground. The cat ended up treed a little over 300 hundred yards from the road. Thanks to Tom and his dogs moving it and letting me drop in on the race.
This was one of the nastiest holes one could try and walk into. We finally made it to the tree a little battered and beat, but were pleased to see a 20 pound Tom in the tree.
I thought walking down the 70% grade to the road below was going to be a breeze, wrong again. We got to the bottom, and had to cross a river, not a creek, a river!
My 2 young dogs would not cross the river to save their lives, and after throwing them in 5 or 6 times, only to watch them swim back to me was painful. Clay finally reached the river with a rope. I had to watch Tom pull my 2 of my young dogs across the river in horror. Now it was my turn to cross, and I was terrified to cross this river. I walked up and down the bank trying to find a good crossing, and there wasn't one. I guess I know where my pups fear of crossing raging rivers comes from. Clay got in the river below me, and Tom straight across holding a stick for me. I sucked it up, wanting to die, and made it across in complete panic. I wanted to take my ball and go home, I was soaked and beat up. We decided to get back on the road and try to find another race, but no luck.
Anyway it was a blast in retrospect. And I know what I am getting for my birthday-- A set of superman water wings and a kickboard.......
Thanks again to you guys for the hospitality, learning experience, and fun times.
Here are some pictures:
Cat caught with Curt and dogs Bruno, Ann, Buzz, Shotgun, Sis, and Emma
The cat caught with with Tom, Clay, and dogs Shiner, Judy, Maverick, Shotgun, Sis, and Emma.
Tom and hounds waiting for me to cross the river:
The raging river :
