A little light at the end of the trail.
Posted: Sat Oct 10, 2009 10:16 pm
Today was one of those wonderful days in the woods with the dogs. 28 degrees this morning as I pulled out and about 35 when I backed my horse out of the trailer and dumped the hounds.High hopes for a day of lion trailing and maybe some good education for the young dogs. I know the country there very well and most of the marking spots for a tom so I just started rimming and the 6 dogs frisked around a bit but were pretty settled. I had two old vetrans , two pretty well getting there, and two greener than a gourd. Well I put on a few miles busted thru one little bunch of mule deer does and fawns, with a short sight race that ended electrically for the greenies, and then on we go. Well we get down in this big sand rock basin and there were some big ponderosa pines around but still pretty dry and lots of ground cactus, and way down in a dark hole I hear old Blue go YYYOOOOOoooow! Cold strike but better than no sstrike at all.
I guess one might say that and old lion strike dog may be the eternal optomist. I mean that track can be colder than a mother in law's heart but still they are all about it and it is that desire and patience that does turn many cold trails into a treed lion. Well today this was not to be but not because the vetrans didn't work at it. No at times certain things that just don't line up and it doesn't happen. Maybe the track held better than it would at other times being as old as it was. So that means you have spots in the trail that seem pretty good but you get to other areas, and it is gone. Whatever it was it was hard going. I have to give the young dogs credit because they got in and tried and opened and moved it some. Well it moved up over a sand rock ridge and on top was nothing but blow sand. Here was the first place I was able to get a real look at the track and they were moving it the right way but up to this point I hadn't confirmed it. It was pretty hard ground and not very conducive to showing a track.Well it was really slow and I was down to walking leading Shadow my faithful little chesnut gelding who has been one of my main hunting horses for over ten years. I was really watching the younger dogs and seeing how they were working and not paying much attention to anything else, and all of a sudden the dogs just threw their heads up and took off. Well I trotted after them and soon I found then surrounding a pair of rock hounds and their German Shorthair out for a little nature walk. Well we chatted and they asked about the dogs and the funny looking antennas on the collars so I explained things and we parted. Well I had four dogs with me then and no idea where the other two were. Well one of the missing dogs was Blue my oldest dog, amd one was Ben a very young dog with little expereince but a background rich in history of lion dogs. . I tried to get back on the track and get the dog interested in going again and only old Jiggs would keep trying in the blow sand but it was impossible. Well I never heard a peep out of the lost dogs so I gathered what I had and rode towards the truck and trailer. I took a few tracking readings and it seemed the dogs were a good ways south of where we had run into the nature lovers. Well I got to the trailer and watered the dogs I had with me and loaded them and took another reading still south further away. Well I loaded my horse and headed in the direction following the ridges. In awhile after a few stops I found the dogs across the main road down under a line of bluffs still trying to work the track. Well it was getting later and the country they were headed to at a snail's pace was brutal so I gathered them. Such it is on many days just trailing but no caught lion. I suppose if I had really had blood in my eye to catch we could have stayed on it and maybe layed out and who knows maybe even caught it if it layed up. But then again maybe not and this was just a training dog and a fine day to be outside.
Now here is a point that made the day a truely successful one. Even though I had a disruption and even though I didn't catch the lion I had success. Ben a very young and un-expereinced hound stayed in there and kept working a really nasty track with old Blue. He could have left it went and met the rock hounds and went to the truck and got a drink with the rest but he hung and rattled and was still interested although it was a dang poor track to start with.
Now a deal like this makes me want to just jump up quick in the morning and head back out there and give him another try.
Good young dogs keep this sport evergreen!
I guess one might say that and old lion strike dog may be the eternal optomist. I mean that track can be colder than a mother in law's heart but still they are all about it and it is that desire and patience that does turn many cold trails into a treed lion. Well today this was not to be but not because the vetrans didn't work at it. No at times certain things that just don't line up and it doesn't happen. Maybe the track held better than it would at other times being as old as it was. So that means you have spots in the trail that seem pretty good but you get to other areas, and it is gone. Whatever it was it was hard going. I have to give the young dogs credit because they got in and tried and opened and moved it some. Well it moved up over a sand rock ridge and on top was nothing but blow sand. Here was the first place I was able to get a real look at the track and they were moving it the right way but up to this point I hadn't confirmed it. It was pretty hard ground and not very conducive to showing a track.Well it was really slow and I was down to walking leading Shadow my faithful little chesnut gelding who has been one of my main hunting horses for over ten years. I was really watching the younger dogs and seeing how they were working and not paying much attention to anything else, and all of a sudden the dogs just threw their heads up and took off. Well I trotted after them and soon I found then surrounding a pair of rock hounds and their German Shorthair out for a little nature walk. Well we chatted and they asked about the dogs and the funny looking antennas on the collars so I explained things and we parted. Well I had four dogs with me then and no idea where the other two were. Well one of the missing dogs was Blue my oldest dog, amd one was Ben a very young dog with little expereince but a background rich in history of lion dogs. . I tried to get back on the track and get the dog interested in going again and only old Jiggs would keep trying in the blow sand but it was impossible. Well I never heard a peep out of the lost dogs so I gathered what I had and rode towards the truck and trailer. I took a few tracking readings and it seemed the dogs were a good ways south of where we had run into the nature lovers. Well I got to the trailer and watered the dogs I had with me and loaded them and took another reading still south further away. Well I loaded my horse and headed in the direction following the ridges. In awhile after a few stops I found the dogs across the main road down under a line of bluffs still trying to work the track. Well it was getting later and the country they were headed to at a snail's pace was brutal so I gathered them. Such it is on many days just trailing but no caught lion. I suppose if I had really had blood in my eye to catch we could have stayed on it and maybe layed out and who knows maybe even caught it if it layed up. But then again maybe not and this was just a training dog and a fine day to be outside.
Now here is a point that made the day a truely successful one. Even though I had a disruption and even though I didn't catch the lion I had success. Ben a very young and un-expereinced hound stayed in there and kept working a really nasty track with old Blue. He could have left it went and met the rock hounds and went to the truck and got a drink with the rest but he hung and rattled and was still interested although it was a dang poor track to start with.
Now a deal like this makes me want to just jump up quick in the morning and head back out there and give him another try.
Good young dogs keep this sport evergreen!
