You have a great setting nmplott. And you actually can have a bobcat ranch, and can manage the harvest, etc. I dont know how much time you have for hunting, but you sure got the dream setting for it. I hunted with a family in Southern California that had the same thing, only they had no cattle, just bobcats and grey foxnmplott wrote: It is on our private ranch and only 6 people who hunt have access and only two of us have hounds.
They had developed and trained some of the most impressive dogs I had ever hunted with. But it took them many years to get there. They kept trying different dogs, and making different crosses until they had what worked well for the area they were hunting. IN one night with them, we treed three grey fox and a bobcat. They almost never killed anything on their ranch, and it always was just a matter of minutes from the time we started hunting until the dogs had a track going. Never more than half an hour of looking for a strike. They roaded, but also free casted dogs.I dont know how big your ranch is or how dense the bobcat population, but I myself do not like to kill game close to home. When I need to harvest fur for money or whatever, I travel to areas away from home and I spread out wide and I dont hunt or trap one area too much. Stuff close to home, I need for getting out and working dogs and I dont want to waste all my time looking for tracks.
Sounds like you could stand to manage a harvest of bobcats there and still have stuff to run if that is what you want to do. But I learned from the Youngs, with the right dogs, you really dont have to kill a thing to have top dogs and catch lots of game. If your cats will not climb, that is a problem though. If you dont want to kill them, and they wont climb, you have to come up with dogs that will stop them and bay them but not kill them. That is what I wanted, but it is a hard balance to find.
How long are your races before they go to ground? IF they are going to ground at the sound of a hound, the only way you will probably catch them is with silent dogs. If they are moving for two or three hours befor they go to ground, you got a chance of putting together some dogs that can stop them befor they take to a hole.
That is how our cats were. They would rather not den up, because then they could be cornered. Alot of the cats would not den up until they were getting tired, which takes a long time with a trotting bobcat. There are dogs that will stop a bobcat within 30-75 minutes of the time it is jumped. If the cats are giving you that much time, you might want to explore the dog options. I know of a plott that does it on a regular basis. The Clay dogs and other Southern foxhound based dogs do it on a regular basis, and it sounds like you really have no need of a tree dog with your cats. I know of mixed bred dogs with a little more eye and ear skill that do it on a regular basis. I have heard of border collies or aussies that could do it. There have been some cur dogs that have done it on a regular basis.
Some areas will allow hunting strategies that will beat the cat at his game. One area I hunted, if the cat was crossing the road heading north, we could catch him. If he was crossing the road heading south, there was no way we were catching him because he was heading into the vertical rocks. If he was crossing south, there was no reason to put on his tracks other than giving the pups some rock experience. You may have areas on your ranch that will give the dogs an advantage.
If the cats are not giving you that much time above ground though, and you want to catch them, I am afraid you will have to surprise them with silent dogs or traps or, as you suggested: Terriers. Living as you do, you certainly have room for a couple more dogs, and you might have the time of your life with the Terriers. They are fun dogs to have around. You will laugh out loud at some of their antics. We are rooting for you, so let us know how it goes and what you come up with.
If a terrier comes out an earth with a badger chances are it's because the badger wanted to come out.
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