2010 florida Cat Hunt update part Three!
Posted: Thu Feb 04, 2010 4:54 pm
2010 Florida Cat Hunt update part Three!
Well Folks I left you all with the mention that we were rained out on Tuesday. It did RAIN putting more water in the woods and covering the roads yet again.
On Wednesday the young man, Booke Evans, we gave the Big Tom to, wanted to make a hunt with us. He had Coffee ready @ 7AM there at his Camp in the Southern Club, we are both members of. After a quick cup we were off. We put the rig dogs up at his Camp and headed South. This young man was raised in the woods down here and knows the country real well. He knows all the roads and showed us parts of the Club that we had never hunted.
On top of being a super nice fellow and a Great outdoorsman, Booke is a darn good Houndsman. He has worked for the Florida Corrections Dept for years in their “Man Dog” division, training, handling and competing with their Blood Hounds. Booke is about ready to retire and has the kind of Hog Dogs that everyone wants and few have. They get the job done!
Dad and Booke listening to the Opry!
We rigged for less than an hour in some of the new to us, country and struck a medium Hot track. The Hounds left trailing pretty fair then jumped and we had a fast and furious 30 minute Race ending with ole Sambo telling us that the Cat was an Arbor Day fan and had selected a tall Cypress to escape into. The tracks looked to be a those of a young Sow so she was left to run again. Batteries were dead in the Camera and water was bad where the Tree was, so no pics. The cold nights and leaving the Camera in the truck means new batteries almost daily.
We hunted hard till 3:30 PM and found several other Cat, but they had walked during the night and we were not able to do anything with them. We dropped Booke at his Camp and hunted our way out of this Club.
We stopped in town for Gas and Dad suggested that we hunt our way home, in our Home Club. I headed out of town, turned into the Club and drove ½ mile before putting the Rig Dogs up. Not another ¼ mile a road turned right into a 7 to 10 year old Plantation.
As I turned onto it I told Dad that there was something in the road a hundred yds ahead in the ditch on my side of the road. He said that it was probably a Dog that the Deer Runners had left out. I said no it is either a Cat or Fox. With that the Top Blew off the box, I shouted Cat over the dim to Dad as I got out putting the Hounds down.
The Rig Dogs went behind the Truck, decided that was wrong then ahead of the truck over running where the Cat had turned out. We called and put them into the thicket and the Race was on. I dropped the tailgate and the ROAR really turned up. This Cat ran up and down the ditch, in and out of the BAD water for 20 minutes….then quiet.
Was he up or in the water? This was one of those 3% where we just do not know…we can guess the Cat was up…the Race was over but we do not know how it ended. The Hounds all came out to the road, Dad was frustrated as he always wants to know how the Race ends. I loaded them up and up the road we went.
We had not gone another ½ mile when across the road a Cat goes. Damn …was this the same Cat we had been running or another…well no matter we turned out on it. The Hounds left right on this Cat then back across the road. I looked at Dad we surely had not missed seeing the Cat cross, but maybe in the excitement of turning the others out we had missed the Cat doubling back like they like to do.
As the Race, and what a Race it was, went on around us, Dad and I got to looking at the tracks in the road. What we had were two Cats here rutting. The first Cat we had run was probably another Tom coming into where this Sow was in heat. The Race was coming back to the road and Dad watched one way while I watched the other so we could see the Cat. But some how I glanced at Dad and missed the crossing as the Hounds blew across the road not twenty feet from me. I never saw a thing, but the Cat left a darn BIG track.
Around and around a small Cypress Pond this Race went. The Opry was playing loudly, it seemed like the Baritones were a little too loud with the Basses a beat behind but the two little bitches that were not in heat, and their Sopranos were right behind this Cats short tail. Suddenly the water came into play…one of those typical Cat Race loses. Then Rivers sang forth in his Baritone Bawl that he had found the Cat headed South…. then ole Rip sang out that HE had the Cat headed North. Some Hounds went to each and for the next ten minutes we had two Races going.
Pic of the Cypress Pond the two Cat decided to run in.
Both Cat decided that leaving the water was a quick way to die and they doubled back into the Cypress Pond.
Rips bunch hushed with a bad check and joined back with Rivers bunch. This caused the Opry to reach a real Crescendo, before a short loose happened to the Pack. While they were looking for the Cat, I could hear water splashing lightly coming up a drain, right to me. As I looked closely to see which Hound was coming out, the Pack erupted as little Meg had found their Cat. I started to look away but instead of turning to the Race, the varmint in the water kept coming to me. It moved just right and I could see that it was a Big Cat. Darkness was falling so I put turned my flashlight on and shined it on the Cat. He took offense and turned back into the Plantation.
This was not the Cat that the Pack was after, as the Race had turned back down the side of the road, on the North end of the Cypress Pond. No less than two minutes after I saw the Big Cat, Ole Sambo bellowed out his Battle Cry and that Race was over. Fortunately Corky went to fussing at Sambo as he tried to hog all the Glory of the catch and I was able to make the retrieve. This definitely was not the Big Cat that I had seen but plenty big enough. When I made it out to the road and Dad and I examined the Cat we found it to be a large Sow…the scales showed her to weigh 22#s on the dot.
Dad with 22# Sow after listening to the Pack running two at one time.
Pegleg and I have been having a discussion on Big Sow Cat. We have been catching some in another Club that have weighed over 20#s that appeared to have never had kittens. This was not the case with this Cat. Her dugs showed her to have been sucked in the past, her teeth showed her to be in her Prime of life, and she had a rabbit in her stomach (this probably accounted for 3 to 4 #s of her weight). We hated to catch the Sow as she would have kept bringing males back into the country…however this is one of the risks that a Cat which does not tree runs.
Well even though it was only 7:30 PM (we had been up since 4 AM) Dad said that I could call it a Day. It darn sure was not a Bad day either…we had Treed one early, then hunted hard for 7 hours, then finished up with three Races, one ending in a Catch and two Cat left to run another day.
Thursday we treed two road running Tom Cat who had been out prospecting for mates. Not good hearing as you have to drive like hell to keep up, then the Tom has the air knocked out of him and up he goes.
Friday and Saturday more RAIN! But Sunday was a heck of a Hunt and I will tell about it next time!
Good Running to All!
C. John Clay
Dads Dogboy
Well Folks I left you all with the mention that we were rained out on Tuesday. It did RAIN putting more water in the woods and covering the roads yet again.
On Wednesday the young man, Booke Evans, we gave the Big Tom to, wanted to make a hunt with us. He had Coffee ready @ 7AM there at his Camp in the Southern Club, we are both members of. After a quick cup we were off. We put the rig dogs up at his Camp and headed South. This young man was raised in the woods down here and knows the country real well. He knows all the roads and showed us parts of the Club that we had never hunted.
On top of being a super nice fellow and a Great outdoorsman, Booke is a darn good Houndsman. He has worked for the Florida Corrections Dept for years in their “Man Dog” division, training, handling and competing with their Blood Hounds. Booke is about ready to retire and has the kind of Hog Dogs that everyone wants and few have. They get the job done!
Dad and Booke listening to the Opry!
We rigged for less than an hour in some of the new to us, country and struck a medium Hot track. The Hounds left trailing pretty fair then jumped and we had a fast and furious 30 minute Race ending with ole Sambo telling us that the Cat was an Arbor Day fan and had selected a tall Cypress to escape into. The tracks looked to be a those of a young Sow so she was left to run again. Batteries were dead in the Camera and water was bad where the Tree was, so no pics. The cold nights and leaving the Camera in the truck means new batteries almost daily.
We hunted hard till 3:30 PM and found several other Cat, but they had walked during the night and we were not able to do anything with them. We dropped Booke at his Camp and hunted our way out of this Club.
We stopped in town for Gas and Dad suggested that we hunt our way home, in our Home Club. I headed out of town, turned into the Club and drove ½ mile before putting the Rig Dogs up. Not another ¼ mile a road turned right into a 7 to 10 year old Plantation.
As I turned onto it I told Dad that there was something in the road a hundred yds ahead in the ditch on my side of the road. He said that it was probably a Dog that the Deer Runners had left out. I said no it is either a Cat or Fox. With that the Top Blew off the box, I shouted Cat over the dim to Dad as I got out putting the Hounds down.
The Rig Dogs went behind the Truck, decided that was wrong then ahead of the truck over running where the Cat had turned out. We called and put them into the thicket and the Race was on. I dropped the tailgate and the ROAR really turned up. This Cat ran up and down the ditch, in and out of the BAD water for 20 minutes….then quiet.
Was he up or in the water? This was one of those 3% where we just do not know…we can guess the Cat was up…the Race was over but we do not know how it ended. The Hounds all came out to the road, Dad was frustrated as he always wants to know how the Race ends. I loaded them up and up the road we went.
We had not gone another ½ mile when across the road a Cat goes. Damn …was this the same Cat we had been running or another…well no matter we turned out on it. The Hounds left right on this Cat then back across the road. I looked at Dad we surely had not missed seeing the Cat cross, but maybe in the excitement of turning the others out we had missed the Cat doubling back like they like to do.
As the Race, and what a Race it was, went on around us, Dad and I got to looking at the tracks in the road. What we had were two Cats here rutting. The first Cat we had run was probably another Tom coming into where this Sow was in heat. The Race was coming back to the road and Dad watched one way while I watched the other so we could see the Cat. But some how I glanced at Dad and missed the crossing as the Hounds blew across the road not twenty feet from me. I never saw a thing, but the Cat left a darn BIG track.
Around and around a small Cypress Pond this Race went. The Opry was playing loudly, it seemed like the Baritones were a little too loud with the Basses a beat behind but the two little bitches that were not in heat, and their Sopranos were right behind this Cats short tail. Suddenly the water came into play…one of those typical Cat Race loses. Then Rivers sang forth in his Baritone Bawl that he had found the Cat headed South…. then ole Rip sang out that HE had the Cat headed North. Some Hounds went to each and for the next ten minutes we had two Races going.
Pic of the Cypress Pond the two Cat decided to run in.
Both Cat decided that leaving the water was a quick way to die and they doubled back into the Cypress Pond.
Rips bunch hushed with a bad check and joined back with Rivers bunch. This caused the Opry to reach a real Crescendo, before a short loose happened to the Pack. While they were looking for the Cat, I could hear water splashing lightly coming up a drain, right to me. As I looked closely to see which Hound was coming out, the Pack erupted as little Meg had found their Cat. I started to look away but instead of turning to the Race, the varmint in the water kept coming to me. It moved just right and I could see that it was a Big Cat. Darkness was falling so I put turned my flashlight on and shined it on the Cat. He took offense and turned back into the Plantation.
This was not the Cat that the Pack was after, as the Race had turned back down the side of the road, on the North end of the Cypress Pond. No less than two minutes after I saw the Big Cat, Ole Sambo bellowed out his Battle Cry and that Race was over. Fortunately Corky went to fussing at Sambo as he tried to hog all the Glory of the catch and I was able to make the retrieve. This definitely was not the Big Cat that I had seen but plenty big enough. When I made it out to the road and Dad and I examined the Cat we found it to be a large Sow…the scales showed her to weigh 22#s on the dot.
Dad with 22# Sow after listening to the Pack running two at one time.
Pegleg and I have been having a discussion on Big Sow Cat. We have been catching some in another Club that have weighed over 20#s that appeared to have never had kittens. This was not the case with this Cat. Her dugs showed her to have been sucked in the past, her teeth showed her to be in her Prime of life, and she had a rabbit in her stomach (this probably accounted for 3 to 4 #s of her weight). We hated to catch the Sow as she would have kept bringing males back into the country…however this is one of the risks that a Cat which does not tree runs.
Well even though it was only 7:30 PM (we had been up since 4 AM) Dad said that I could call it a Day. It darn sure was not a Bad day either…we had Treed one early, then hunted hard for 7 hours, then finished up with three Races, one ending in a Catch and two Cat left to run another day.
Thursday we treed two road running Tom Cat who had been out prospecting for mates. Not good hearing as you have to drive like hell to keep up, then the Tom has the air knocked out of him and up he goes.
Friday and Saturday more RAIN! But Sunday was a heck of a Hunt and I will tell about it next time!
Good Running to All!
C. John Clay
Dads Dogboy