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Rigging cats seems to be the least of my worries! Got snow last night, went out to find a track and my truck broke down, had to fix it on the side of the road (wife was happy to get that call : . Now the snows mostly melted and it's gonna be in the teens tomorrow, but bad cat pop and crappy conditions be damned! I'm gonna take my "non-cathounds" out and try to strike something, walk a loop or get broke down again anyway. I feel like I'm the minority who believes I can make a good cat dog out here that doesn't have to have his nose stuck in a track and I'm really looking for answers. One of these years I'm gonna take a month off and come hunt in Oregon and see if I can get some stuff figured out. If any of you has a strike dog that's getting up there that you'd let go at a reasonable price I'd be interested in chatting with you. Thanks, Darin.

At the risk of sounding like a know it all, will say I would be cautious, especially with young dogs when they have not been boxing for a long period of time. Just something I have had to figure out on my own. Al

C,mon Al, dont take ALL the fun out of it for him.

Al, you mean be cautious that I'm turning out on good game? I'm very cautious...probably ruined a good strike dog prospect by being too cautious. I usually turn loose until I see a track unless my older dog opens. Haven't had much luck getting a track going from a strike unless the track is on the road. Only had a few strikes in the last few years...usually out of the box and before daylight when we can't turn out. Looking for real answers here...Al, Mark and any of the rest of you rig hunters: what's the most important key to making a rig dog...I already got Dewey's opinion? Breeding, exposure/training or conditions? I'm not talking strict bobcats/ lion too.

I really believe thermals play a huge part in rigging.

Clyde, i would think the different time of day you talk about is a direct result of the direction change of the thermals or wind direction.I see this all the time when rigging anything.Early mornings when the air is still I tend to only strike crossing tracks.
When the air warms up I will strike lots of piss poles and parallel tracks, even cats from the down hill side of the road.The reverse happens when I come back in the afternoon or evening when the thermal reverses.

Newby, my cat hunting is done in Montana. I have struck and treed lions on bare ground in Montana not a lot though, I have caught more roading on bare ground. I have never struck & treed a bobcat though. I think good population is everything. If a track needs to be less than 2 hours old to strike it you may never get get that opportunity in Montana. I have never found a bobcat track in the snow that I figured is under 2 hours old. I consider myself lucky finding an overnight bobcat track in good snow in the first 4 hours of looking for tracks.

Darrin, please keep in mind that I don't know shit but I will tell you what I think.....

A dog can't rig what's not there. How often do you see a track in the snow in any given spot? Here it's not very darn often. I mean that if I go out hunting on a good snow, there is no guarantee that I'll cut a track. What would make it any better on dry ground as far as quantity of tracks, let alone smoking hot ones. I've only cut a couple tracks(lion or bob) this season that were less than a couple hours old.

Doug is very right I think about temp and thermals. I have had my dogs strike a day old lion track, only to drive over a smoking hot one a few days later without a peep. Same dogs, same box, same snow, same speed, same everything; except temp and barometer reading.

I've had the same thing with coons. Strike an old track and drive past a coon running along the road ditch without a peep.

What I'm getting at is the more I learn the less I know. There is way more science to it than most people give credit to. There is also a lot of art that goes into it from the dogs ability and desire.

It sure is hair raising when they all open though and I'll keep giving them the chance, win or not.

Scott

The way some describe mt for short tails I would feel guilty if I harvested one.

chilcotin hillbilly wrote:I really believe thermals play a huge part in rigging.

Clyde, i would think the different time of day you talk about is a direct result of the direction change of the thermals or wind direction.I see this all the time when rigging anything.Early mornings when the air is still I tend to only strike crossing tracks.
When the air warms up I will strike lots of piss poles and parallel tracks, even cats from the down hill side of the road.The reverse happens when I come back in the afternoon or evening when the thermal reverses.

Think your "right on" on your assessment. Really like conditions when I can find a ridge that has a up slope breeze of 5-8 mph. Have struck number of cats in those conditions, with some of them being over 100 yards off of road(or at least hounds go that far before giving voice).

Scott and dhostetler, I hear you and your experiences are very similar to mine, just wondering if I'm missing runnable tracks a few hundred yard above or below the road. Example, I have driven a certain road next to a river for years and often find lion tracks in good snow and a few cats. This year I decided to start walking out some gated spur roads to scare something up. My first trip out I found a few pockets that hold a lot of Bobcats within a couple hundred yards of the road. I'm wondering why in all the years I've driven that road with the dogs in or on top of the box, haven't gotten more than a few strikes. Got one a couple weeks ago where my dogs blew up in the box like it was on the road but it was still dark. Went back after light and swept the whole area without finding a track and the dogs acted like they couldn't smell a thing. I definitely agree with the thermal theory, gonna start playing with that a little. Trouble is, if I don't find a track or get a strike by noon, I usually boogie...maybe I'll try an afternoon hunt one of these days.

Newby, yes a lot of logging roads go up bottems which is the best habitat. A good strike dog could pick up those tracks traveling along just below the road or crossing through culverts. To get the best wind strikes you need your dog on top of the box, most of the time it is to cold for that. Another issue is happening to be there within 1 to 2 hours after it traveled. Last weekend I was roading 3 dogs through a road and my box blew up the dogs on the road never smelled it. I turned the dogs loose in the box they immediately went 100 yards above the road and started it. They ran it about half mile then the race fell apart. It was either a back track race or else the track became to bad as they had moved it out to more open rocky country. I went up to where they started it and there was a deer kill that had been recently cleaned up. I was probably running a lion but it could've been a bobcat. That cat had never crossed the road and the wind had been just right to get a strike out of the box.

Yes Newby, I did mean cautious your dogs are not trashing. It is a new game to them & dogs get excited coming off the box. In my opinion all dogs miss some tracks when boxing, I have driven out a side spur without a strike, turn around & on way back strike a track that takes a lot of work getting jumped, I feel certain I missed those on my way in . Have a few times saw a critter in the road & had dogs miss it, that is cat hunting. If I was looking for dogs that will make box dogs, Would get a dog from a long line of natural box dogs, get him started on desired game, design my box to be sure he can get is nose out, haul him in that box, if lucky, his ancestors will take care of the rest. True if you have an older, reliable box dog that is a big plus. I agree any hound is a constant work in progress, until they are retired from hunting. I have owned dogs that had not trashed for years, sure never had 200% trust in them. Just my experience. Al

OK this is just from my experience. We had a track that was dang near 5mins old in about 2 inch's of fresh snow. We backed up the road loaded the dogs on the box and drove down to the track not even a squawk. But just the day before the same pack of dogs struck a hour or more track and treed the cat in the dryest conditions I have ever seen. What would cause that? When we put them down on the snow track they took off like a rocket. I am still puzzled a out the whole or deal.

The scent hadn't lifted yet. If you would have waited a few more minutes they may have hit it.

What catdog360 said.