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I catch more lynx then pretty much anyone but have no experience on bobcat.
From what I have seen with other hounds that come here from down south is that bobs have a fair bit more scent then a lynx.
You need to start training you hounds on hot tracks and over a year or two or five slowly start putting them out on older and older tracks. YOu should have no problem finding plenty of tacks in Ontario, no need for bait. I have two or three wolf baits out each winter and have only once seen lynx tracks hit the bait.
My dogs have to catch bears as well as they catch lynx or they don't stay around. Any dog will catch a lion in the snow.
Don't plan on rigging lynx consistantly until you have caught a 100 or more.
Give it a go and good luck, I would love to hear how you made out.

Wow, 1bludawg that's incredible never seen that. It's amazing how bobcats run different in different areas.

1bludawg wrote:dhostetler,I use to wonder about that to so i've went back and measured the distance from the point the cat entered the road to the spot the dogs exited the road on his trail . Using my trucks odometer i've found some that went a half mile and i know they'll go further but since i didn't measure them i can't say with accuracy .
I believe the more educated the bobcat is the further he'll run the road and it saves their hides many times .

1bludawg is telling it like it is on bare ground! Any cat learns quick on the tricks he uses to throw a pack of dogs off his track or just gain him a little more lead ahead of the dogs and this road running is one of his main tricks. In the winter months under better scenting conditions this trick isn't too bad but in the summer months when it's hot & dry and scenting conditions are bad anyway, this little trick will throw most dogs 95% of the time. Good dogs will figure it out given a little time but I guarantee the cat gained him a little more lead on the dogs. Never realized how often this happened until garmin come out with their tracking devices with birdseye, giving you the ability to see all the roads. I can nearly predict the loses or bobbles on the track being able to tell when the dogs are getting ready to cross a road. This trick is used by the cat when he's up and running and pressure being applied.

On the other end of the spectrum i have seen cats hit the road with the staggers and i believe they are looking for the path with the least amount of resistance,and they usually loose ground instead of gaining it. In this country when a cat knows how to use a road to his advantage it will always involve a junction,and they know where theyre at. The big junctions with more than 2 possibilities is where it gets real interesting. One of the worst road scenarios for me is when the dogs are close to the cat when it hits a road and im standing right there and the cat sees me and ducks back in on top of his track. Dogs hit the road and start looking for which way the cat went on the road of if it crossed but it is real hard to get them to go on the backtrack off the road in those deals. For some reason it is different than a double back where a road isnt involved. The one good thing about cats learning to use the roads is that the dogs also learn how to handle road running cats in due time.

[quote="mark"]On the other end of the spectrum i have seen cats hit the road with the staggers

10-4 Mark. Agree on everything you said but makes me wonder how smart the cat is that hits the road with the staggers. If he has the staggers he's already in trouble. A smart cat better not let himself get in this predicament or he's going to get in trouble. Smart cats will get caught with good dogs when conditions are right. I guess even smart cats loose their cool when the pressure keeps a coming at them.


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In most of the country I hunt Montana and Idaho if something runs a half mile down the road it's definitely not a cat usually its a coyote, moose, or wolf. Though the 500 yard road runner was in Idaho but I am pretty sure it was never run by dogs before because of the cat's size and lack of winter access to the area. Unlike what virtually everyone else experiences, everything I have run the more I've run it the easier it becomes to catch it. Though the stuff I tree doesn't have the experiences of slingshots and paintball guns that I have seen used I can well understand game under those circumstances never wanting to climb again.

Robby,i think in most situations like that it is because the cat has ran out of options. He has tried everything he could but the dogs are still right on him and he is done. He has ran up and down paralell to the road until he has no gas left and gives it one last effort where he can cover ground the easiest. I also think that at that point he is no longer able to think like normal,if he was he would grab one of the
many trees available to him.

We never harass a cat in the tree at all. Our experience is that they run better each time they are left in tree and im glad they do otherwise they would all grab a tree when they hear the pickup start in the morning. Lol

mark wrote: We never harass a cat in the tree at all. Our experience is that they run better each time they are left in tree and im glad they do otherwise they would all grab a tree when they hear the pickup start in the morning. Lol

HAHA, Yes the stuff I catch regularly all scamper up trees as soon as they here a truck door slam. Dogs just have to field around and find the game hanging out in trees. LOL

There is one exception a female lion I've run several times that puts on a race that is beyond comprehension runs like a bear once it gets in a tree its panting so hard that I am afraid it might fall out with a heart attack. For the most part all other game seems to me not to be harder to catch a second or more time if anything they climb quicker & easier.

mark wrote:Robby,i think in most situations like that it is because the cat has ran out of options. He has tried everything he could but the dogs are still right on him and he is done. He has ran up and down paralell to the road until he has no gas left and gives it one last effort where he can cover ground the easiest. I also think that at that point he is no longer able to think like normal,if he was he would grab one of the
many trees available to him.

We never harass a cat in the tree at all. Our experience is that they run better each time they are left in tree and im glad they do otherwise they would all grab a tree when they hear the pickup start in the morning. Lol

Mark know you tree lots of cats. respect your opinion. However, my experience has been once cat learns roads gives the hounds a hard time the cats use them quick & often. Especially in the dry part of the year. Al

Al,i know that as well as anyone. the point i had in my mind to throw out there was that i think it makes a huge difference at what point of a jumped track the cat is at and able to run a road. A cat that hears the dogs and can get to a road before the dogs are really up under him is a tuff cat to catch if he has done it before. A cat that is running with dogs right on him but not out of gas is not as tough for the dogs to stay up and not completley be back to trailing. Conditions and BP make a huge difference too. I wish i could post videos because i have some of 3 diffent scenarios of cats running roads. Bottom line is most of the cats that beat the dogs are road running son of a guns but i am starting to have a lot of trees right along side the road so im thinking that some of the times the dogs are gainig ground on a road runner???????????

Man o man I can't wait to run some of these cats just hearing this I can tell that these cats ain't like chasing coons I talked to a Friend of mine and asked him about but ing me under him as a trapper helper and told him about the idea of running lynx under our trap license on his line he said shure thing not a proplem said their are lots of lynx on his line and that he had lots of pics of them on moose hunting cameras on his trap line I just happen to be leaving tomorrow to drive the 19 hrs to get up their and try to fill a bull moose tag so it will be in testing to see if the moose hounds trash on any lynx lol but our first job at hand is fill moose tag with the hounds lord willing we will get time after to let mister trapper try out my hounds on his trap line keep looking up and I'll keep you posted on the moose trip slash lynx dream and i want to give a big thank you to all you guys for helping me with this dream Of witch I'll say I don't have a sweet clue how to run cats I'm a fairly new houndsman and been running bears for about five years and we only got good at that the last couple of years so I'm very thankfull to be able to speak to people who are experienced so thaaannnkkkksss verrrrryyyy much

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[quote="mark"]Robby,i think in most situations like that it is because the cat has ran out of options. He has tried everything he could but the dogs are still right on him and he is done. He has ran up and down paralell to the road until he has no gas left and gives it one last effort where he can cover ground the easiest. I also think that at that point he is no longer able to think like normal,if he was he would grab one of the many trees available to him.

Totally agree!

mark wrote:Al,i know that as well as anyone. the point i had in my mind to throw out there was that i think it makes a huge difference at what point of a jumped track the cat is at and able to run a road. A cat that hears the dogs and can get to a road before the dogs are really up under him is a tuff cat to catch if he has done it before. A cat that is running with dogs right on him but not out of gas is not as tough for the dogs to stay up and not completley be back to trailing. Conditions and BP make a huge difference too. I wish i could post videos because i have some of 3 diffent scenarios of cats running roads. Bottom line is most of the cats that beat the dogs are road running son of a guns but i am starting to have a lot of trees right along side the road so im thinking that some of the times the dogs are gainig ground on a road runner???????????

Mark I can sure agree on that. You think better than this old worn out hunter. Al

I've seen a few dogs like sons of Blankenships Ole Hammer dog and a few others that would hit the road running.A cat had to lace up his sneakers to stay ahead of them in a road !

if the dogs are under the cat running it right when it hits the road it's got to get out of that road quick. Where the problem comes in for me is when they make a lose beside or near the road and then the cat hits the road, that cat might trot for a mile or more down the road, those are hard to get back under.
And sometimes I've hit a traveling cat a long ways from home, he'll run up n down in the woods beside the road till he gets a break then he'll hit the road and pull out, if the dogs find it quick enough they'll take up some slack in the road and the cat will go back to the woods, he'll pull this several times till he gets back home --- or they lose him completely, which is what usually happens to me.