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I was blessed to grow up hunting with my dad and loyd basey. The thing i look at the most as for what they tought me was the style in witch to hunt.

1 - DOGS MIND LIKE BORDER COLLIES

2- THERE ARE TO MANY CATS AROUND TO COLDTRACK FOR HOURS.

3- DONT JUST GO HUNTING, GO TO WHERE CATS LIVE.

4- GO HUNTING WHEN THE CATS ARE MOVING.

If i get a strike and i can tell it is going to be one of those stand on your head tracks i will call the dogs out and move on. where i live there are enough cats around to find a hotter one. From my house i can think of at least 15 cats within 20 mins drive. For example if i go up a road that is 10 miles long and i know there is a cat that lives at the 3 mile marker and the 6 mile marker i will drive to the 2 1/2 before i start hunting. I will road the dogs to the 3 1/2 tell them to load up, box them to the 5 1/2 road them to the 6 1/2. Box them to the end of the road turn around and box them back . Thruogh them in the box and head to another road that has a cat crossing on it.

I try to go when the cats are moving. I LOVE it when it rains hard for a long period then stops . I dont care what time it is i am going hunting. If it is just your average weather my favorite time is early evening. These are some of the things that i use that was tought to me by my mentors hope that will help . p.s. nothing against cold tracking i just have enough cats around that i dont need to.

jc

Great post Bigfoot. I am only 22 but my dad and uncles started carrying me into bear trees when I was in diapers. We have a big group we bear hunt in and nothings better then listening to the old timers tell their storys of all their years of hunting. My uncle used to cat hunt alot but not so much anymore. I talked with him and he gave me lots of good advice of what he and his friends used to do. I personally just got into cat hunting 2 years ago and have not got one yet but was able to help my 16 year old brother get his first cat this winter. Both of our dogs and one of my friends dogs caught it on the ground , we were stoked!

Big foot, I think about those things an awful lot: how so much knowledge and experience is lost every time one of the great bobcat hunters passes on. The men that were old when I was young were very secretive about everyting. It was so difficult to get a word out of them. One of the greats that hunted the same hills I did, would actually avoid me like the plague. I never ever got to speak one word to him. I spoke with his wife a couple times. He was always "gone" everytime I stopped by. He was extreme maybe, but revealed an attitude that those old timers in that area had. He was a great houndman with vast stores of knowlege, and with his own line of dogs that were great bobcat dogs. All that was lost when he died. He did not want anyone to get any of his dog blood. It reminded me of stories of the days of prohibition and the moonshiners. I always wondered if it was left over from that.

We have been so blessed at this site that folks are not that way. I am often sad that the archives of the first two boards were lost every time the board changed hands. I sure am glad we have a stable and easy going man like Buddy to keep this thing going. Thankfully, Buddy just does not seem to get upset when we act like idiots. Thanks Buddy for your patience, and Thanks for not hitting the red button that destroys everything everyone has written.

We really do have the most complet book ever written on bobcat hunting right here at our fingertips. A young hunter could come on here and spend a couple weeks reading every post on bobcat hunting. He could save himself literally YEARS of learning by trial and error. Obviously, there is no substitute for getting out and doing it, but a lot of heartache and frustration can be avoided by weighing what has been said here. It will be important for a young hunter to sift through everything with his brain engaged, as some will not be right for his situation. But the knowledge available here is priceless.

coastrangecathunting wrote:I was blessed to grow up hunting with my dad and loyd basey. The thing i look at the most as for what they tought me was the style in witch to hunt.

1 - DOGS MIND LIKE BORDER COLLIES

2- THERE ARE TO MANY CATS AROUND TO COLDTRACK FOR HOURS.

3- DONT JUST GO HUNTING, GO TO WHERE CATS LIVE.

4- GO HUNTING WHEN THE CATS ARE MOVING.

If i get a strike and i can tell it is going to be one of those stand on your head tracks i will call the dogs out and move on. where i live there are enough cats around to find a hotter one. From my house i can think of at least 15 cats within 20 mins drive. For example if i go up a road that is 10 miles long and i know there is a cat that lives at the 3 mile marker and the 6 mile marker i will drive to the 2 1/2 before i start hunting. I will road the dogs to the 3 1/2 tell them to load up, box them to the 5 1/2 road them to the 6 1/2. Box them to the end of the road turn around and box them back . Thruogh them in the box and head to another road that has a cat crossing on it.

I try to go when the cats are moving. I LOVE it when it rains hard for a long period then stops . I dont care what time it is i am going hunting. If it is just your average weather my favorite time is early evening. These are some of the things that i use that was tought to me by my mentors hope that will help . p.s. nothing against cold tracking i just have enough cats around that i dont need to.

jc

Wow man, JC. I have never met you and never hunted with you but reading your stuff makes me feel like I have done both. It is so amazing to hear you describe yourself and your hunting style and I just see memories of Lloyd.

As you know, I ended up with his Heidi dog. Letting her fool with a cold bobcat track was like letting her fool with a deer track for Lloyd. She would be scolded for it, and she would even be scolded for rigging a track that was too old. IF she opened and Lloyd stopped the truck to let her get down, she better be able to move that track right out of there right now. She knew the rules too. Fooling with cold tracking was simply a waste of time to him. He could have two bobcats caught in the time it would take for a cold trailing show and catch one, if he allowed the cold trailing.

I found out Heidi actually had a real good nose and desire for cold trailing once I got her out here where cold tracking is vital. But you never would have known it watching her with Lloyd.

It is so interesting to come on here and see the different types of dogs and the different styles of hunting in all the different regioins, and with different personalities and reasons for hunting.

First off I would like to say thank you for the kind words bigfoot. I will have to say I enjoy this site also and am learning something new every time I get on here. I am a firm believer in in helping out our younger generation I would like to see every kid be able to have the chance to walk behind a hound at one time in thier early years just like everyone should ride a horse once in thier life just to say they have done it, it might not be for everyone as we know its not but who knows it might be the start to something great. Its hard to post on an issue after David responds because he hits just about everything right on the head I am with him on houndsmen giving thier knowledge. To me if a true houndsmen loves his hounds and sport why not share it with anyone that is willing to learn. later, Andy

I mean this respectfully JC. There are different rules of thumb for different style of hunting. These “styles” are “values” that have been handed down by our mentors. I was fortunate enough to have been in the company of Carl Fisher and Ray Osborne. I started hunting with them at the ripe old age of 8. These guys shaped my “style” and formed “values” for living in me.

1) I would rather cold trail all day than drive around all day looking for a hot track.
2) Hunt regardless of condition. Cats move when they want (they have a broad food base so they can fill their bellies anytime).
3) Just when you think you know cats, they will teach you something.
4) Hounds are pack animals first then predators
5) Dead cats do not leave tracks
6) If you don’t like a young dog get rid of it. You won’t give it a fair shake

This list is long……..

I miss my time spent with these fellas. Carl is 84 now and his health is not the best. I try to visit regularly and tell him stories of the hunt sometimes I leave a video for him to enjoy.

Don

U.R.E . i agree with you, that is how alot of the guys over here hunt. I guess its up to the person and what they like. I also think that alot of dogs can turn a runnable track into a cold track. I let my dogs cold trail if they are moving the track. I just dont like dogs barking at the same spot twice.
Lloyd would call his dogs out if there was a lose over 10 min. I try to give them a little more than that but over here if a cat gets a 10 min lead on you most likely he has already made it to the rocks .
The best advise i have recieved on here is do what you like to do and hunt the dogs you like. Remember this we are all on the same team and we love what we do.

jc

JC; I agree with Don I will very seldom call a dog off a track. I love to cold trail, I hunt areas with few cats and will work any track I start, even walk behind them to help them work it out. But if I hunted where there was a lot of cats it would be a disadvantage to let them cold trail that cold of a track. The key is to have dogs that can move that cold trail and get the cat jumped. When the cat is jumped he's mine he will be treed, holed bluffed or caught on the ground. Well almost always, Dewey

It kind of bothers some of the folks I have hunted that I hunt every cat like it is the last cat on earth big or small. Some big ones get special attention

just a thought maybe cat hunting is a discription of yourself . I am the type of person that i do things as fast as i can. Know matter what it is i will think of the fastest way to do it. Im not a cabenett builder if you know what i mean. So i guess when it comes to dogs i want them to get things done as i would do it.

If you are the type of guy that is methotical when it comes to things you would probably like cold trailing. I dont mind cold trailing as long as they keep moving the track. Just a thought i dont know

jc

I agree 100%.....You define your dog and the dog defines the man. I don't think oneis better than the other by any means. It's just a style. Kinda like dancing in from of the mirror.

U.R.E. wrote: There are different rules of thumb for different style of hunting.
1) I would rather cold trail all day than drive around all day looking for a hot track.
2) Hunt regardless of condition.

U.R.E. wrote:It kind of bothers some of the folks I have hunted that I hunt every cat like it is the last cat on earth big or small. Some big ones get special attention

Don, I got a couple thoughts. You would be one of the succesful bobcat hunters in the Upper Midwest. There are many days when any track you find here is pretty much the last cat on earth. And, if you dont have anything that will cold track it, you will definatley be driving around ALL DAY looking for something hotter, or else you will be the cold tracker yourself and warm it up by sight. But some folks will do that for the last cat on earth.

on your #2, though, you would have to adjust your attitude slightly, because there are conditions that will lay up your dogs for a couple weeks or more if you let them destroy their feet that day.

U.R.E. wrote: There are different rules of thumb for different style of hunting.
1) I would rather cold trail all day than drive around all day looking for a hot track

(The big but...) BUT in western oregon, cold trailing all day OR driving around all day looking for a hot track are not your only two options, except on extrememly rare days.

I know you are still looking for that three cat day. There are a lot of Oregon hunters that have had them, and a few that have had a lot of them. The ones I know of, it is a question of hunting strategy. If that is something you want in your life, you might want to be a little bit open to the strategies that have gotten other hunters what you want. If that compromises your values, obviously, dont do it. But I like the quote that CJC posted of John Wick saying that some of the long held hunting practices are simply traditioins that are chalangeable, and changeable. He invites inovation, and he himself has promoted his own inovation in training and hunting style.

I know for myself, if I discover dogs that do better than mine, I will do my best to get what does better. If I observe other hunters that do better than me with similar dogs, I am going to look hard at their hunting strategy. IF it is not illegal, or unethical, or unpleasant somehow, I will try to implement what I learn into my own strategy, or at least try it. It is something to think about with the three cat goal. Because if you would rather "cold trail all day"... you might be making that goal a tough one to acheive.


As Dewey once said to me: "it is a thinking mans game". I think a bobcat hunter who is good with the game of chess might be more successful than one who is not. And those who are good at chess, evaluate the results of each game: what happened and why, and how could I improve on that.

Lloyd had a hunting style that I can not really use for bobcat out here. Guess what though, it works perfectly for coon hunting out here, and I have implemented what I learned form him to catch big piles of coon instead of small piles of coon.. It is simply a hunting strategy.

When it was legal, Lloyd had chickens that rarely if ever got beaten. His Chickens were known around the world, and he had folks from all over the world trying to get them. He did not become that level of chicken man by accident. Sometimes, you just pay attention to a man who knows what great success feels like.

David

I agree with ya. The problem is that in my area there are several packs of hounds that will catch cats. It seems to be getting harder and harder to find tracks the past couple years in the areas I hunt. It has been getting bad enough that most cat hunters are running fox as much if not more than cats. We still manage to find tracks behind other hunters.



Don