Any thoughts on back tracking.

[Liz ODell]

Here's another observation of mine, as far as backtracking in the snow vs. bare gound, seems like dog's will figure out they are backwards on bare ground faster than in the snow. I would assume since the snow (minus cold dry squeaky snow) holds more scent longer?
That being said, I like looking for tracks in the snow but blaghhh, I hate the cold and the snow, I would much rather it rained now and then and strike them off the box (maybe I need to move to western Oregon -ha), I had actually been enjoying hunting without putting up with snow this year. We haven't had real good cold trailing snow this year anyway, it has either been dry sqeaky snow or so wet and warm quickly that it is rock hard the next day. I do like that damp snow and then it stays cold and cloudy...those seem to be the conditions when you can trail and catch cat tracks that are pretty old and therefore have more tracks to run as we don't have a plethora of cats here and it always seems like when I check a road the next day they always seem to have crossed the road about 20 minutes behind my truck the day before - dang cats!

Also as far as getting the dogs turned, if they are not showing signs of getting back the right way fast enough I prefer to try and go to them and encourage them to take the track back the way they came from rather than calling them to me and then sticking them back on the track the right direction. Not sure if it really makes a difference but I think me getting in and saying 'Hey wrong way' then hissing them back the other way would get the point across better - maybe help them put 2 and 2 together a little better?

[Dads dogboy]

Folks,

To Dad, a Hound who wants to take a “Back Track” has no value what so ever! It is to be corrected immediately! If the Hound were to persist he would be eliminated from the Gene Pool.

Now, having said that, these Hounds will on two occasions Bark on the wrong end of a Track for a very short ways….less than 50 yards or so.

The 1st is on Smoking Hot Track…till they get it figured out as to which way the Cat went.

The 2nd is when (like now here in Florida) the Scenting Conditions are terrible. The Hounds just can not tell which end is right as there just is not enough “SMELLBLE” scent on either end. Now they will not go far…heck the Hounds most of the time can not even get the Cat off the road.

Now here in Florida the roads are mostly very sandy, David even compared it to having “Year Round Snow”, so you can generally find the Cat’s Track. Yet every time I think that my eyes are better than the Hounds noses, I am proved wrong! It will look like the Cat has gone North ahead of the truck….the Cat’s tracks show this…yet unseen by me is the fact that he turned out and fed back down the side of the road or traveled in the grass covered ditch, heading South behind the truck.

Or, and this is the case this time of the year, there is a second or third Cat who went the other way, and it is the Cat who the Hounds are opening on.

This is why we “Very Seldom” attempt to correct Dad’s Hounds. You had better trust the Hounds and verify by their voices if they are right. Mr. Dewey and others have agreed with us in the past that a Houndsman should be able to tell by the tone and tenor of the Hounds as to them being on the right end or not.

What we are able to do in the southeast may not work where you are, however a Hound who consistently or even occasionally wants to take the Back End of a Bobcat Track is BAD News!

[Warner5]

Thank you Carry. It's great to see you back. I thought this discussion would be a decent one. Right now in my hunting area the toms are covering alot more ground( looking for a misses). At first I thought my hounds were going the wrong way or trashing a lion twice last week, but I let them work and it turned out to be tom bobcats on the move. It amaze's me seeing dogs trail that long w/o a jump or even a pick-up. Seeing your dogs work so hard for miles only to come up short on a wind swept ridge road. These type of race's were not my cup of tea until recently. But now I find much enjoyment listening to the dogs work an old track. It also shows the diversity in one's pack. From trailing, to the pick-up, jumped, catch. For listening pleasure, It is hard to beat a race like this. Thank you. John.

[hunt365247]

I agree with CJC 100% not something that should be tolerated....

[George Streepy]

The best dog I ever owned for going the right direction on dry ground bobcat, would almost always try to run a lion in the snow backwards. She was a bobcat dog that hadn't seen many lions and as I hunted her more on lions in the snow she did get better. I never really understood that. When she struck bobcat tracks in the snow she would always go the right way. Must have something to do with the amount of scent??? From what I have seen around here almost everybody has dogs that will go backwards on some of the tracks, but it seems no one wants to admit it. The rare dogs are the ones that will turn around even if the rest of the dogs continue to mess up.

[newby]

Have you ever found a track and tried to get the dogs going the right direction, but they persistently take the backtrack and run it like they're warming up the track? I finally found what I thought was a runnable track this morning after a little snow last night, my guess is the track was about 10-12 hrs. old coming out of some lodgepole stuff onto the road where the snow was melting. The dog acted like he couldn't smell it at first so I sicked him on it and he opened a little, I'd say this dog has a cold nose on lions, but he hasn't ran very many bobcats. I let him off the lead to see if he could work it out and he circled out about 50 yrds into the timber and started moving it, but the wrong way, I could see he was backwards. I called him off and took him back to the right end and circled him out and as soon as the snow was gone, he kept trying to go backwards. Was he just getting more scent on the snowy patches so he thought it was the right end? Never had him backtrack, EVER, on a lion or anything else that I'm aware of. Sorry for the novel, appreciate any feedback.

[sdred]

Hardest track to run in snow in my opinion, is an old track made on snow that is completely melted away.(could be a tie between that and fluffy dry snow). Now not talking about a hot track, just a cold track that does not touch ground just snow. It seems that if the dog gets better at running in these conditions they will work it forward but that does mean a little coming back to where they can smell if they get a little excited an overrun it on the melted away stuff. So yes I think the snow would hold more scent than a track that is gone if old.

[Rod Vinson]

It sounds like everyone has it figured out..Where I hunt some of my clubs has roads that are rocked so that the roads will hold up with the logging traffic. Most times I cant find a track because of the rock and grass on the shoulders, so I have to depend on my mutts getting the track rite for me. Does mine ever take a track backwards, Heck yeah and so does everybody else's dogs. Mine on most occasions figure it out pretty quick 50 or 100 yards out and turn and come back to the road and try it another direction, I have even seen them on a terrible smelling day trail it farther but most of the time they tell on them selves cause some turn and 1 or 2 might not til I blow the horn.. if they all leave the road barking then they should also be doing the same thing 50 yards out..I do turn them as quick as I can guess that they are wrong....However, I have found tracks going both ways on a road where you can see and then look closer and find 2 tracks going one way and 2 tracks going the other, My dogs and I ain't perfect and neither is anyone else as far as that goes and only God knows where the right way is...but dogs with brains will figure it out if you give them time...The other day I found a track crossing a road after a rain...now I know it quit raining 16 hrs ago and most of the time cats around here walks after a rain...so I know the could be old...I road hunt around 15 or 18 dogs and they could smell the track as they started switching their tails back and forth and their feet locked up like bird dogs, but they couldn't get enough scent to head in the right direction, so they go backwards, maybe 2 or 3 dogs open as soon as they leave the road and within 5 or 10 minutes more join in....I knew they were wrong (I thought), there I was about to have a mental breakdown blowing the horn and hollering they quit and came back and they never would strike it back off the direction the track was going so I carried them on down the road hoping to find a different track (mad as heck I might add), and the dogs kept acting as if they were winding something to the right which is the same side the track had came from so I figured the cat must have walked down the other side of the ditch and I kept scolding them and when I get to the end of the dead end road there is a track going to the right and the dogs left about the same way as earlier but they go down the ditch back to where I saw the first track and they turnt and went like they had went before and 20 or 30 minutes later they were running the cat....I should have left it up to the dogs to find the cat and just sit back and enjoy!! Never second guess your dogs if they most of the time produced the cat in the past...and no they aint perfect...Good Day!