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Budd Denny wrote:A friend of mine brought a older dog up here from Oklahoma (I believe David know who I'm talking of) two years ago and she is finally becoming acclimated to our hunting conditions. Most people would have given up long ago on this dog but the man that brought her here has WAY more patience than most houndsmen I know and now has a fine little cat dog. David, how long did you give those dogs you brought up here a chance to get acclimated to our area?
I have brought dogs from Maine to here and had success, also took dogs there and had success.

Of course I know who you are talking about. He is one of my favorite cat hunters. You know how sometimes you get a dog that just hits you in the heart and no matter what they always will have a place there? Well MW is that dog for me. He has as much patience with people as he does with dogs. I seriously had never met a bobcat hunter who is laid back. I just didnt think "bobcat hunter" and "laid back" could ever be said in the same paragraph or even on the same day. He is a miracle in that alone.

My dream dog I bought was here a little less than a year. He hated me Budd. I have never had a dog that hated me. But he looked at me sideways and could never forgive me for bringing him to this land of ice and snow. He shivered constantly and was just miserable. I was living in an 18' arctic tent at the time with my two kids, or I would have brought him in the house to live. That tent was just as cold as outside unless we were there with a fire in the stove. We let the fire go out as we slept also. And I just knew he would head for home if he could, even though it was 2,000 miles. I felt so bad about the whole thing I found a man from his area that would take him, and I gave him the dog. The dog went back to being a super star upon his arival home. Now, as Mr. Clay said, there are many factors that influence a dogs performance, and you can sure point out a few of them with this dog.

Another of the dogs was and Earl Davis dog. She was the mother of the dog that I sent to Mississippi. I had hunted with her on the Olympic penninsula near Forks WA. with Earl. We treed a bobcat and she and Twist made it look so darn easy it wasn't even funny. And those Forks cats were famous for running long and having to be caught on the ground at times. Not the one I saw! Twist was the father to my pup. I could not afford to buy my pups mother Goldie but when Earls health failed, I told someone about her. He bought her. She was a dream dog in Forks. She never ever was responsible for catching a bobcat in the upper midwest. She was one that would not even go with the other dogs and acted like she was being asked to run trash. She stayed in the area a few years. She did tree a lion for him in Idaho at one point. Seems like he ended up selling her to a lion hunter. Again, it made me feel so rotten because I was the one who convinced him of her abilities. She was not cheap.

Another one was a similar story. I found her for another hunter and hunted with her in southern Oregon. She also was impressive. Same thing. She never caught a bobcat here for him. I ended up owning her. I loved that dog. She had the most beautiful voice of any dog I have ever owned. She was a good rig dog, and handled like some circus dog. She loved working a bobcat track, but she never even came close to being responsible for catching one. I kept her here until she died of old age.

Another one was some very familiar breeding that anyone on a cat board would recognize. He was a cross between two catdog breeds. Same thing, never was really any help at all in getting a bobcat caught. He ended up being very useful to some coyote hunters that would put him on wounded coyotes. I beleive he also stayed in the area until he died.

I could go on, but the story is always the same. The little black dog that did so well, I never met. I only heard about her. She came from the same areas, but for whatever reason excelled here..

The thing is, see, on paper it is much cheaper to buy an expensive bobcat dog than it is to make one; living here where I do. That is why I keep trying it. They say the definition of insanity is trying the same thing over and over expecting different results. By that definition I am clearly insane. But It's not my fault, the blame goes to that little black dog. She's the one yelling I can win the lottery. It really would be much cheaper buying one if it actually worked. It is not that I have a lot of money to spend on bobcat hunting. It is exaclty the opposite. So I have always just been looking for a cheaper way to do it. Buying a dog that has been on hundreds of bobcats is many thousands of dollars cheaper than for me to put a dog on hundreds of bobcats myself. It is just that on paper it looks good. In real life, it has not worked for me.

As far as dogs going back and forth between here and Maine, I have not tried it, but I have heard the same thing from others. The transition is fairly effortless. But think about it. Similar weather, similar topography, similar vegitation, and as near as I can tell, the same great lakes bobcat. Leggy son of a guns that get to 40 pounds or better on a fairly regular basis. Those big males get tall too. I still remember one grouse hunter who saw the race go by. He said at first he thought the bobcat was a deer until it ran right by him.

alphaknl wrote: I can’t explain it, just what I’ve seen...Never paid much attention to a rising or falling barometer, but maybe should. Screw it, I’ll run the dogs when I can. If they look like junk, move on down the road and try again!

Alphaknl, you are a man after my own heart. I would have thought humidity was just something to give whiners something to talk about. Now I am surrounded by all these people that actually think. It is messing me up. If I could go hunting and someone told me the humidity was 5,000 it wouldnt stop me any more than stupid impossible crust. I tape up the dogs feet and ankles and go stumble around. Idiotic, I know. But what are you gonna do, stay home and watch Opra?

Norwester,

Sorry I didn't get on to reply earlier. Moisture in the form of rain, dew, frost will destroy scent. I reckon that is why most of us get in the shower after we have been out working hard and playing in the dirt. LOL!

But as to your question on why bare ground lion hunters start as early as possible in the morning. Here are a couple of reasons.

1. Yes the relative humidity may be the highest then before the sun hits it and lifts it and scent so that is a good reason to start.

2. You can only hunt daylight hours and the track is the freshest as soon as it turns daylight becasue not so much time has elapsed.

3. The main reason is this: many times it takes all day and then some to trail up and old lion track so the more time you have to workit the better chance you have. At times we may strike a track and 7 am and start working it and it may be hours of snal paced work with losses and maybe you get it up to a moving track with the dogs long trotting on it and still you go on for miles and hours. You many times have to trot and lop your horse to stay up with a trotting pack of dogs thru the country they trail thru, and even then they can lose you if he takes a turn where you can't ride. All this time you are hoping for that break when they jump him and run him to tree but it may not come even at the end of the trailing day and then you have to think about that long dark trecherous ride back to where you started.So you start early and keep your finger crossed once you strike a track.

A lot of the great old time hunters would just build a quick camp and lay out on the track and pick it up and go again the next light. These were the guys that were bad news on a lion's trail. Not many today me included relish the thought of a cold camp with an Arizona blanket.

Thanks for the reply Mike. It's always fascinating to hear about tracking/scenting conditions from so many different places.
I wish though a lot of this input would enable me to formulate some sort of predictable rules of thumb that were uniform across the board so to speak.
However all it ever does is leave me scratching my head with more questions instead of answers.

Here where I run hare, the frost will hold the scent, not destroy it. It will actually hold it long enough at times that it can be confusing to the colder nosed hounds.
However, I'll take that as opposed to what happens once the sun and it's heat cause it all to evaporate cause then it can get real tough.
Similar with the dew.
Dew or frost means the relative humidity is 100 % here... and that gives us a chance at some decent running.
Seems most times as the day grows the relative humidity drops and so does the consistency of the running right behind it.