BigGameHoundsmen.com

thank you, will do our best to put a cat in a pic! here is a short video of how our 2 days went. notice the bad hair as the day goes on lol.
http://youtu.be/EK942wro1YY

Good luck archerman, keep at it.

I run fox mainly, as I dont have yotes, coons or cats here lol but moving to a better area soon, and my main goal is to get hunting some tree-game.

Also, I'd like to thank David, for the inspiring posts on this thread.

HH

That seems pretty open for cats. Do you find many tracks in that open hardwoods?
Nice video, now you just need a cat at the end to make it all come together..

there is a mix of hardwoods, swamp, and pines up in that area. some roads go in a mile, then there is some that go for 8 or 10. guy just has to drive through all of it. I am at the southern border of where are cats mainly are. thinking of trying farther north but i seen tracks in this area and the wolves are at a minimum here.

Day 5, snowed all night and into the am. Found a good track that was not snowed over. Must have been in the last 30 min. Got dressed and headed in thinking I could cut her pretty quick on this one. She showed little to no interest. Walked it out a ways to a high grass swamp witch made it tuff to stay on the track. Cut her loose to see if she would help. Worked the swamp four about 20 min then I heard her fall through the ice. We had a big warm up here last week so I new the swamps could be a problem. Few min later I heard her fall through agine. I knew there was no way I was going to get across this thing so I had to call it. Headed to work really bumed out that she don't get that track going. Headed back up to hunt satuday and Sunday with another guy. This guy has a dog that's for sale so will see how he does. Thinking I'm going to have to get another dog.

So went up last sat and Sunday with another guy. Put his dog down on two tracks sat bit just couldn't get um going, tracks turned out to be older then we thought. Went out Sunday and found four tracks befor light. Waited tell first light and he put down his older male and he got it going pritty much without a hicup. We were able two cut my dog and another of his. Dogs took the track out close to 4 miles and the cat started to circle alittle and back track. We found a road that got us pritty close and started in. The dogs were treed or bayed at that point we dint know for sure. On the way in we crossed the dogs tracks and seen the cat track. Not that we were doubting they were still on the cat but just a nice little tidbit lol. We were about 600 yards away from them when it just went silent. We walked in and found all three dogs with a face full of porkupine quills. So what the heck happend? The guy I wS with marked where they had been treeing in the garmin so I stayed with the dogs and he walked in. He found were they had that cat bayed under an uprooted tree and where the cat ran out and into a hole in the ground. Outside the hole layed the porky. So we figure the cat went in and ran out the porky then the dogs hammerd it. I ended up buying the dog from him Becouse I know he did a good job cold trailing and running the track. My dog also hunted good with him. Going out tomorrow to see if I can get one going now with my new male and the female that I have been trying all season.

hope you have a little better luck next time out. its getting better and better it sounds like, just need to seel the deal now!

I've seen that a few times where a cat crawls into a hole with a porky. Cats always had a few quills in them. Be careful though, once some dogs get a taste of porky, they don't leave any of them alone. A cat will lead the dogs to many more porky holes in the future so try to kick that in the butt before it becomes a habit.

yep chiller its getting closer every time lol. really learning a lot. went out sunday and found a track befor light. put the new dog down after light and he opened good, looked good, was hunting but just couldn't stay on course. track and loose track and loose. I walked with him for about 500 yrds and he got it going. ended up going about a mile but just never got the track going good. conditions just weren't right. still happy with the dog he was hunting and giving it his all the scent just wasn't there that day for him. when he was out about 900yrds and still slowly cold trailing I had to make a disision to cut my female in or not. I dint want to mess up the track but at the same time any farther and I dint think she would go to him and I wanted her in on it. so I took a risk and cut her in. dint work out track quickly ended and dogs came back. idk I would rather not get the cat and get her more exposure. was just crappy deal.

day 9, went to same area I have been hunting and had zero luck finding a track. headed north to the area we had ran last sunday. cut a track in the same area as last sunday and put my male down and he cold trailed for about a mile before I figured he had it jumped. by that time we could not here him and were unable to cut any more dogs. the cat was headed to the same area as the one that holed up up on us last week, so we headed down to a small river that the cat crossed last week and sure enough we can see on the gps he is coming our way. I sent me son down a few hindered yards with the 12ga and a buddy of mine went half the distance. I stayed back with my female and a young dog to keep them quite. we waited and.... here comes the dog lol. the dog was a lot farther behind then we thought. I ran up and cut the to dogs in and of course they took it the wrong way and I couldn't get um. finally got them turend around. by this time my male was 300yrds deep. on a good note my young pup did range out to about 100 yrds before turning back. for some reason my femal was working the track instead of getting cought up to the race so she gained apsalutly no ground on my male. by this time it was 4:00 alomost dark with no roads at all that would get us closer. I toned me female in and the male quit at dark and started to work his way back. so I am in a spot, if I cut her in before the cat is jumped there is a good chance she will over run the track and screw it up. witch happened last time or I wait tell the cat is jumped and hope its within range of cutting her in. if not then like what happened today it will be a one dog race. idk this is a tuff game for sure. I have two days left of season. my plan is to cut her in as soon as I know that it is my last chance to get her in and see what happens. this male has a great nose and will stick with the track but he is on the slower end. I think its going to take more dog power to get a cat in these snow conditions. about 3 inches at best.

It can be a slow process so keep plugging away and you'll get there.
Can you train on cats?

I don/t anything about cat hunting in Minnesota, but, enjoy reading these post. Have you tried turning her in with the trained dog as soon as he starts the track? Maybe, she would get the edge off & settle down before the cat is jumped. It is hard for a young dog to catch up when turned in behind. Just my thoughts, stay with it, good luck. Al

No mondo, we don't have a training season. I have not cut them together right of the bat yet. I guess I figured they would just blow past the track and look stupid. May be a good idea if I could get the male to come back I may be able to get him started on it after they get settled down. Went out this am and only hit one old track. I did try it on my way back out but he couldn't make heads or tails out of it. Tried thoug so a guys got to be happy. We have 1 day left here and the weather man says -2 for a high. Going to go out and see what happens. We are getting snow now. From start to finish I had a good time this season. As much as I want to seal the deal, I know that no matter how many I get in my life there will never be another one like my first. I really enjoy the challang and learning more about hounds in general. To ecually be able to see for the most part what the dog is smelling is neet. The biggest lesson this season was that I need to get in shape! July I will be starting my first bear season so I have plenty of time to get on the old stair master lol. Thanks for the info and ideas from all you guys.
Jack