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This is all very interesting and way over my head. I'll stick with the Ole' It ain't raining that hard better get out and hunt Method. Mark have you noticed anything different in the race besides the pace of it? Like less lose time quicker pick ups or the dogs just flat burn the cat up faster.

That's interesting Mark, do you by chance live in an area the has a high humidity and a cooler temperatures (between 35 and 45 F) during hunting season. I guess I'm unfamiliar with inversions, what your describing to me sounds kind of like what we call a thermal air current. In the morning as air heats up it expands and rises creating a breeze that flows up hill. And in the evening the air cools and compresses creating a down hill current. Those can have a huge effect on things in mountainous regions when a temperature change takes place.

Mark I think you are right on when we have a inversion going on out here. Tanner when we have a high we get inversion in the valleys with heavy fog and air stagnation. By going up in elevation you get above the fog, usually clear and warmer. I will not hunt in heavy fog because I will not get many starts off the rig or on the ground. The best example that I had of heavy fog was bird hunting with two of the best pointing dogs I have ever had the chance to hunt behind. We hunted all morning in a inversion with heavy fog from ground level up to about ten feet not one bird located. While eating lunch the fog dispersed, clearing a sunny. We went back through the same fields and got several points. There are several factors that effect scent conditions that are hard to explain for me but I have seen that the dogs have a hard time with. Here's the other thing that is mind boggling I have seen dogs that I considered not cold trailers make ones that I thought were out preform the ones that usually did well at times depending on the conditions. So whats going on there? Something I believe is that the ability to cold trails has very little to do with catching game. That heart, desire, brains and you could go on and on are far more important in treeing game than how cold nosed a dog is. A lot of good thoughts here to think about guys. Mark I been thinking about running the snowshoes in the off season also to keep the dogs in shape. How hard is it to get them to switch back to cats in the fall? Dewey

Not near as hard as it is to get them to switch to snowshoes off of cats!

mark wrote:Not near as hard as it is to get them to switch to snowshoes off of cats!

How did I know that would be your answer?!

Guess cuz one smart-ss knows another lol

Why not just get a few beagles???

How would that keep the big dogs in shape?

If you google "scenting and tracking beagles unlimited" it pulls up a link that a beagle hunter wrote about scent. One of the best descriptions I have ever read. Really worth the read. I would have posted the link on here but don't know how to do it.

mark wrote:Not near as hard as it is to get them to switch to snowshoes off of cats!

Montana summer coyote hunting is just around the corner. lol

Good cat dogs shouldn't run coyote! Way easier to call them and have a good decoy dog! Andy

Summer snowshoe hunting in Oregon, Summer coyote hunting in Montana.

I also have an ocean front property for sale in Arizona.

Come on read between the.....

That inversion thing sounds interesting, we don't get hardly any fog around here. Maybe one or twice a year we'll light patchy fog and maybe once every 5 years it'll be heavy enough to effect visibility. But yeah that sounds like a situation where all the scent is locked in tight and can't move worth a darn. I can see how that would be tough to scent. Some dry air or dip in pressure would be just what the doctor ordered. That's cool, I'll do some research and thanks for shearing.

Inversions make some awesome photos. I've seen them stick around 2 weeks or more. Usually run above them anyway.