Aging Tracks?

[newby]

So I took my "started" male and a green pup and went to the woods for the first time since season opened this last saturday. Our most recent snow was approximately 35 hrs. earlier and as I was driving up the road, cut a bobcat track with a little snow in it. I couldn't tell if it was snow that fell from the sky or if it just blew in it.

I grabbed my male out of the truck and put him on a leash to see what he thought of it...acted like he couldn't smell it at first then on the side of the road started sticking his nose in individual tracks and getting a little catty. We followed the tracks up to a culvert where i found a really clear print under a tree...he got a little more excited so I sicked him on it and he opened pretty good. I grabbed my pup out of the box and showed her the track and she started getting kind of excited, but i've seen her get more jacked up. We walked it out together for 100 yrds and it seemed to be warming up so I turned them loose. They trailed it up through three sets of bluffs; a bunch of deadfalls and hung up in a bunch of pines for a couple minutes until i caught up to them and helped them find the track again. Went straight down the hill, across the road and into a drainage full of second growth pines/firs. My male's voice seemed more intense so I wondered if they jumped it, but then he circled around in those pines (50 yrds. in diameter) for 20 minutes, but couldn't move it out of there. I looked around real good to make sure the cat hadn't treed and they weren't just having trouble locating...couldn't find anything. The track looked fresher where they crossed the road, but I couldn't be certain. After 3 hrs. of trailing and not traveling more than 200 yrds from the road...i figured the track must be older than I thought so i called them off and petted them up.

My question is...anything like this ever happen to you guys and how do i know how
old a track is...especially with young dogs that i'm not sure how to read? P.S this is my male's first solo cat track. He's been under a lot of cat trees and a few lion trees ,and a ton of coons, but the first cat track he's started.

[Daniel Tremblay]

I feel you'r pain man, I really do. Last weekend I had the same deal. I believe that if the snow conditions are good. As in, the snow had the right moisture content when it was laid and the air temps. held right, to allow the snow on the ground to hold over for a couple days there is no such thing as a "certain" way to age the track. Sure there are situtations like you mentions like wind and dirfing of the snow. One thing I do in these conditions is let a dog out and walk em along the track. Compare the two tracks and try to make your best guess.

This past Saturday I went out; it had snowed over night. I cut a track at around 6 p.m. The temps stayed around 32 so if any the snow melting was miniumal, the track was in a deep tight canyon so there wasnt any wind drifting. I assumed the track to be a few hours old but "catchable". Turns out I was wrong. Now I'm not certain if it was the quality of the snow on the ground (holding the scent) or what. Needless to say after 6 hours and over 7 miles (thanks to the astro) I pulled the dogs and they never caught up to that cat, they were cold trailing it the whole time.

Although I wasnt happy about spending that much time and not ending it in a tree; it was excellent training for my yr old pup to be shown the ropes by a seasoned vet. So all in all sometimes I believe you just can't tell.

[twist]

With out having checked the roads in advance there is no way of knowing how old the track was, to many variables in weather conditions. My suggestion would be to get your started dog going on the track and keep your young dog on a lead as this way if the started dog makes a loose like you said earlier it is much easier for him and you to sort tracks and get it lined out again as when you have a pup running around all they are doing is tracking things up. Also a suggestion is that if it took 3 hrs to trail 200 yds I would keep your started dog on a lead also and walk out the track a considerable ways until he is really wanting to take it as this gives him and you both a feel for the track. Good luck on your next outing, Andy

[newby]

Yeah, I definitely don't look at it as a failure...the way I look at it is, as long as you learn something in the process, it's not a failure. I think my older dog learned a thing or two and I was even impressed with how well that pup hung in there with him and seemed to be hunting and working the track with him. She didn't open, but she was using her nose and workinig.

Twist, they definitely went more than 200 yrds total, just never more than that away from the road. The cat basically went in a big oval, with the road right in the center. The older dog definitely wanted to go and he seemed to move it pretty good most of the way, then he'd hang up...take off, hang up...maybe he was just over running the track. What would you do with the pup then, leash her til it's treed or til it's jumped and them turn her into it? I'm really hoping to find a smoking hot one tomorrow morning and get one to climb. It would be a good win for both of them. Thanks guys.

[twist]

beings you have two younger hounds that are in the learning mode I would keep her leashed until you have the cat jumped as this way your started dog will not have to check every track the pup makes as it is already a tough hall for a started dog just to keep pushing the track. Keep us posted on the progress of the both of them. later, Andy

[dwalton]

Snow conditions can make it hard to age a track. I been at this a lot of years and do more hunting in one year then most of you guys get to do in a life time. I still can not age a track right all the time. Sometimes the dogs can't trail one I think they should and sometimes they sail out on one I didn't think they could work. I have learn to let the dogs tell me if it is good. A couple of tips you may already know this or not, when you cut a track cut the roads ahead to see if it came out. A hour of looking ahead may save hours on a track. If it did not come out you have lost very little. If the dogs will work a track I will very seldom pull them off to much pulling off will cause them to quit a track to soon. They could jump it at any moment. Also I look ahead to see where the cat might be held up. If there is a brushy rim or nob its a good chance the the cat is close. Cats feed down to flats a lot and go back up to bed. Take the up tracks. There is a way to tell by the tracks if the cat will be full or fat and easy to catch. Works most of the time how many out there know it. I had a old time cat hunter tell me 30 years ago how to pick my tracks it seems to hold true. Send me a private message if you know. I also try to run toms if there is enough cats to be able to choose. On bare ground I feel you will start more toms if you run the ridges and stay out of the best habitat. The females and kittens don't travel as much as the toms. Enjoy the winter, this is our time. Dewey

[newby]

Hey Dewey,
That's all great advice. I figured out that trick about going on up the road a ways the hard way when the dogs took it across the road 1/2 mile up. I'll never make that mistake again. Come to think of it, my dog hung up about 150 yrds from a big rocky bluff and he was heading toward it...who knows, he may have bee laid up there, but my hunting partner (12 year old son) was getting a little cold and tired of trudging through the snow. Lesson learned. Thanks for the good advice. PM sent

[dukes71799]

it sounds like in your story that you lost the track tin the trees. had any of the snow melted and dripped off the trees it would kill the track fast.