Best bobcat breed??

[uncle Brisco]

the best bobcat dog i hear tell of had a spash of borbercollie,but the rest was cur and plott i believe anyway it was from reliable sources,and acording to the tales the dog was quite efficiant at makeing other dogs look cruddy

[larry]

I pay attention to more than just catching a bobcat cosistently. All dogs smell the same, where it gets lost in translation between the nose and the brain(intelligence) I would say is breed oriented. Can the dog catch a bob on Mon then run one every day for the next two weeks and not have shot feet? Gotta have the whole package to be the best far as I am concerned, and a Walker is far from the whole package.

[Mike Leonard]

Interesting stuff from all: I guess it goes to show we all enjoy this type of discussion.

I thought it was rather interesting some years back they had a bobcat world hunt for a couple of years. I never atended but had a friend that did, and he was one of my mentors and a real bobcat hunter. He was just sort of getting his feet wet at this competition thing the first year, and never really got into the mix much. I can't remember where they held it if it was Montana or Wyoming but up there some place I guess. Now as we all know going out to hunt a cat is not excactly like turning some hounds loose in a productive wooded area full of coons and going on a coon hunt. He said back when these were held there was a pretty high number of cats, and the hide prices for a good cat was lower than a prime coon. Now it was in the 70's when he was telling me this, so I amguessing this must have been held in the late 60's early 70's era. He had a poster showing Nances's Little Topper with Bob Marasok of Wyoming and herealded as two tiem world champion bobcat dog. He then had a picture of a Plott dog owned by Cougar Lee Fatouras of Livingston , Montana crowned as the world champion bobcat dog. I found this pretyy interesting and would like to know if anybody out there has any idea what ever happened to this competition. My friend also had a letter where he had challenged Dale Lee to a competition bobcat hunt on any ground he chose for $5000. and he said after several letters he never got a final response.

This guy was an interesting old hunter and the first 3 day weekend I spent with him in camp on Cabin Creek we hung 13 bobcats on the line with his dogs. I was more than impressed back then, and still am today. We wereh unting on patch snow in low sagebrush coulees and badland country and we did catch a number of these on the ground.

[larry]

Mike, who is this friend that has or had issued this $5,000 challenge? I have heard of a similar challenge floating around out there, $5,000 apiece, lion, bobcat, and bear =$15,000 total for all three. Still have not heard of any takers on any animal either. I know of the dog that backs this challenge up too.

[azplott]

I know walkers seem to be most peoples favorite flavor for bobtails but I am very fond of plotts. There is a guy named Greg Anderson that lives in Show Low, AZ that raises some fine plott bear dogs. More than a few of these dogs have made some pretty nice cat dogs too, both lion and bob. i have a young male from Greg that has changed the way I think about hounds.

The reasons I am fond of this family of plotts are:
-very fast
-good noses
-super durable and tough feet
-grit to boot
-BRAINS!!!


Trevor

[Mike Leonard]

Larry,

The guy's name was Leo Riley. This challenged was issued in the mid 1960's so it was a lot of money back then.




A z Plotts, Greg has some fine plotts for sure, and I have to tell you if you get a good cat bred plott you certainly will be happy. They have a lot of bottom in them and can really handle the cold weather well. Olen Greer of Gillette, wyoming and Gordon Pace of Bountiful, Utah had a strain of plotts for years that really excelled on western bobcat.

[Roy Auwen]

I have hunted with several of Olen Greers dogs in the late 60s and early seventies.Great lion and bear dogs also.
He started all of them on bobcats!
A man by the name of Ray Torrey, lemhi guide services bought them.
They could smoke a lion.
Lot of those lions in the record books.
He flat had a good strain for sure..

[Mike Leonard]

rOY,

i WONDERED WHAT HAPPENED TO ALL OF THAT BLOOD OF HIS, DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA. i WASN YOUNG AND STUPIDIDER THAN I AM NOW AND I WOULD SET OUT THERE UNDER THE PINES AT THOSE DOG MEETS AND SUCH AND LISTEN TO OLEN, VERN PHILLIPS GORDON AND OTHER, AND NEVER GAVE A THOUGHT TO ALL THOSE GOOD DOGS. HECK I GUESS IFIGURED BACK THEN IF YOU WANTED ONE JUST CALL DALE BRADENBURGER IN THE FULL CRY AND GET ONE. LOL!

[uncle Brisco]

hey Mike there was a few Greer dogs out on the rez down to Wannblee,bang up dogs,sold sevral litters most went back east,but they're gone nowexcept for a few Scar x Justin Whiteface plott bm cur pups that are still alive bitein kids and other rez dogs lol

[Roy Auwen]

rOY,

i WONDERED WHAT HAPPENED TO ALL OF THAT BLOOD OF HIS, DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA. i WASN YOUNG AND STUPIDIDER THAN I AM NOW AND I WOULD SET OUT THERE UNDER THE PINES AT THOSE DOG MEETS AND SUCH AND LISTEN TO OLEN, VERN PHILLIPS GORDON AND OTHER, AND NEVER GAVE A THOUGHT TO ALL THOSE GOOD DOGS. HECK I GUESS IFIGURED BACK THEN IF YOU WANTED ONE JUST CALL DALE BRADENBURGER IN THE FULL CRY AND GET ONE. LOL!

MikeRay sold the female to Obe Corey.
Mike and KingTo his son Corkey.
Sailor died.
My youngest son Got two males out of Mike and a reg. redbone female, They were great cat and bear dogs.
Dan Smith At Leadore bought These dogs and has offspring out of them , stioll hunting machines.
They were Brandenburger strain, they are waterd down around here ,but has'nt changed much.

[Redplott]

This is a very interesting subject I don't think the breed makes much difference. As long as it has some brain although I personally prefer plots but the best cat dog. I ever owned was a walker/Trigg cross cold nose would drift the track and a locked down loudmouthed treedawg I sure do miss old Elmer (deceased age 13)

[sdred]

I am new to this forum and am new to this sport of Bobcat hunting. Me and my neighbor thought gee lets buy a couple of coon hounds and have some fun hunting bobcats and make some money. The cats the badlands and the overall lack of knowledge has humbled us but has also has made us addicted to bobcat hunting. I hunt two redbone cross dogs a female and a male littermate. The female is hard running good nosed the male slow and patient. My partners dog is a bluetick hard running as well good nosed as well. This helps us put pressure on the cats the two females play hop scotch on track and kind of compete against each other.
works well untill we run across the cross tracks the circles the rim jumping the hole crawling the limp crawling etc.... Thats when ol slow and steady pays off. Which by the way isn't all that often. WE have been on alot of cat tracks and Have gotten or had a chance to get these cats, but all I can say is that the houndsmen has to become as smart as a good cat dog.

[Hipshooter]

Your poll dosen,t even list the breed of dog that has caught more bobcats than all of the other breeds combine.
Go to some of the southern states that has a bobcat season all year
long & ask what breed of dog they use.
Some of these old timers catch a lot of cats in a years time in the heavy populated cat country. And the cats seem to get thicker every year.
Your poll is for snow country & not dry ground hunting.
I hope I didn,t step on any toes, but the guys that catch 200 cats a
year can,t be wrong on their choice of hounds.

[Daniel Tremblay]

well what is this breed you are talking about that all the old timers use on dry ground?

[cecil j.]

I know it really all depends on the praticular dog not really the breed. but i am curious what you guys think the best breed is for bobcat hunting ( treeing, tracking, cold nose, etc.) i live in oregon so bears and long tails are outta the question.

Reply too the above from Jack/ how long have u been hunten an training hounds ? Your question is just 2 hard ther is NO answer too how you have it framed-out ! Sorry but I guess after all these years I`ve been hunten I just can`t fathom-it-out myself. It`s like what kind of catdog u looken too keep and hunt ? I`m pretty confused there 2 ! I would attempte t2 say / one that goes-out and finds the scent and works-it successfully and puts a tree on the end of his barken an (by GOD) there is a real live cat up in the tree) when u get there under the tree ! I just don`t see breed a part of the equation LINE BREED TOO KEEP A HUNTERS PERSONAL HANDLEN GAME DOGS CORRECTNESS BREEDING-UP /yes
by jack