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Most well established, very good cat hunters are very reclusive. Most are very high energy people with creative minds. Given the opportunity to spend time with a group of people or be on the mountain alone with the dogs, the dogs win 9 of 10 times. Dewey is very good at describing what he see's. Just watch your dogs- then think about what Dewey has wrote. Now with an open mind try to see what he's seeing.

When Dewey speaks of true cat dogs. He is talking about a program that is selected for their ability to be cat minded, going back many generations. Most of us have a line or dogs from a similar line of dogs that are also cat minded. I am sure he does not mean he has the only line of cat minded dogs in the western U.S.

Cat hunters depend on their ability to pay attention to detail. But when a person uses to much detail when describing their dogs, they run the risk of sounding arrogant.

I have met Dewey and talked to him on the phone on several occasions now. At first I also though Dewey was a little on the arrogant side, but after meeting and talking to him. I have come to realize he is very devoted to his dogs and bettering them. Keep in mind he has earned the right to his opinion, through very hard work and time spent behind the dogs. I like reading his views on here, whether I agree or not. I hope Dewey continues to challenge me and hopefully I can challenge him at some point. I did not write this just to back Dewey. Just wanted to express my take on it. John.

Very well said Warner 5. I wish the bobcat section would have been around when I was trying to start. Sure would have saved me alot of time and money. Then again I was probably too full of myself at that age to have really learned anything. Experience and time in the woods is by far the best teacher, but if everyone would really read some of these post and relate them to what you have experienced in the woods, the dots come togeather. To the men that get to hunt 5-7 nights or days a week, I envy you. Do it while you can and enjoy it while you can. Sometimes things happen beyond your control and you will sure miss it. I know!! I have sure missed it. Please keep the great information flowing, It will help someone someday!

Again,I see some disagreement,but the ability to get along in the end.Really unbelievable if you think about it!We in Oregon here have a hound club[OUSDA]convention once ayear--THIS SATURDAY APRIL 14---AND WE STRUGGLE TO HAVE AS MUCH UNITY as we do on here,and that's face to face.I personally think it's gets better every year,but would be better if all you guys could show up--I'd like to put a face with a name,as I enjoy reading and THINKING about what you guys write on here!!Also have had some great conversations on the phone,steming from some of these topics.After personally looking back at some of my own posts,I've seen where I could have done better asking or giving--diplomacy is not my strong point,but see my bedside manner suffers at times[I'll try to do better].Everyone that contributes on a regular basis here has something to offer,by either spelling it out or by revalation at a later time as I stew on some of the ??? or comments.I try to keep this in mind even when things get a little heated,realizing sometimes to get a point across one has to get a little out there to get my attention,I'm sure if the dogs could talk they'd tell ya--I allwas don't make the right decsison before I act.Have a good evening,enjoyed all the reading.

i am not a bocat hunter but i cant wait to get home to read this section every night, i have learned so much here, and used some of this information and boy has it worked for me and my hounds, it would have taken me years to figure out things i have learned here,i dont think you could buy a book to equal what you could learn here. so keep it going guys i still have a lot to learn!!
thanks Tom

Regret responding to this post. Good luck to all. Thanks Al Baldwin

This is an interesting topic and one I have thought about some. For me part of the issue is: how do we communicate truth? If you know something is true and you are telling someone else who may not know that it is true, how do you tell them what the truth is? If you are not persuasive and smooth in your presentation of the truth, does that make it less true? If the way you state the truth makes you sound arrogant, does that make it less true? If the way you state the truth causes everyone around you to reject the truth, does that make it less true?

It really is a complicated issue. I have often heard of hunters that are very humble, but I happen to know they have a huge trophy room. They are not really humble, they are just much more smooth about presenting the truth. Maybe they make you think you discovered the secret truth on your own and that makes it feel so much more true.

I have long struggled with these things and partly because of my faith. Jesus said "I and the father are one...no one comes to the father except through me". How could any one possibly be more arrogant than that? It is abrasive and offensive. So should he not have said that so people would not think he is arrogant and offensive? I mean a lot more people would like him if he could have padded the truth and hidden it in a trophy room some where.

So, I struggle myself with presenting things I know about bobcat hunting. I am sure i have come off as arrogant at times because sometimes I just say what I know instead of hiding it in a trophy room somewhere for you to discover some day. And I am aware that I dont know a lot compared to what can be known. BUT what little I know, I know very well and with not a doubt in my mind. There, now even that sounds arrogant.

So what that does to people that dont want to sound arrogant is this: it causes them to not share, or it causes them to have to be very careful and politically correct in the way they share. It takes them twice as long to get a point across because they have to hide it in a trophy room somewhere so you can feel like you discovered the secret on your own. Some people have enough patience to take twice as long to get a point across. Some people just wont even waste their time. As a very well known and very old bobcat hunter recently said to me: "to hell with them if they don't want to learn."

When a man like that offers something for free, and it is knowledge that cost him thousands of dollars and dozens of years to gain; you can see how he might not feel the need to present it in a politically correct fashion so as not to offend anyone. I am not speaking of Dewey, but another bobcat hunter much older than Dewey.

I dont really know Dewey all that well. I know there was a day or two we spent together twenty or thirty years ago. I know I learned more with him in those few hours than I have learned with any other houndman that I have spent hundreds of hours with. That is because he was not only knowledgeable, but he was very generous with that knowledge, and he was a gifted teacher. There is an old saying "them that can: do. Them that cant: teach. " It is so rare to find someone willing and able to teach who also very good at what he is teaching.

To me, I cant understand why any one like Dewey would want to be on here and open themselves up to the kind of criticism that is inevitable in a forum such as this. It is beyond me, and it is beyond anything I ever saw in any of the old time bobcat hunters. I think some one like Dewey has a gift and a drive toward teaching people. Again, I dont know why. But his teaching style is very direct. If you do not like getting a drink of water from a fire hydrant, you probably would not appreciate a day of instruction under Dewey. But you will learn faster if you can drink fast enough while you are back pedaling. And you will never forget it. Maybe that style of teaching does not translate very well to the electronic age. If not, I think it is too bad and a great loss on our part. I know if I was Dewey, I would not be coming back for more criticism. I am thankful he has thicker skin than me.

david, i do not know you but would drop the dogs with you and enjoy the company anytime take care well said

Thank you David. I have always had a huge respect for your and your words. Thanks again Dewey

Very well said David...

David,

I do not mean this to be disrespectful in any way or on any Plane:

AMEN!

Thanks as always for your unique and insightful way of putting things!

Only been on here a couple weeks. I am just learning the ropes on here, and am a total green horn at anything to do with hounds.
Dewey is the one I've come to seek out. I hope to have some form of his tutelage, either on here or personally as I continue with my new dog.

DAVID, VERY NICE!!!

Here is my thoughts on why some of the more educated hunter share their stories and wisdom it is in hopes that maybe a FEW can use some of the wisdom that has been experianced from first hand experiances of trial and error. Its just like anything a person tries to teach, not everyone may learn from it but just maybe it will help a select few. If I can just keep one hunter from doing some of the stupid things I have done over the years with hounds I feel good about myself. Andy