BigGameHoundsmen.com

The reason I ask, is when i first started this task I thought get a good pup and they will do what they are bred to do, spend time in the field and it will happen. alot of these guys on here make it look easy.

So I am asking, how long did it really take you to tree game with your own dogs.

Thanks,
Dan D

Took me 7 months. My pups were 10 months old and i caught my first bobcat. But from when they were 5 months i was out every weekend and anytime during the week i could. Walking out tracks with no avail. I dont count the coons i caught to easy to catch compared to a bobcat imo.

Thanks Unreal!!
D

If your starting with all pups you need some patience. I'd hate to tell you how long it was before my first one with my own dogs.

This is where a older, veteran lion dog can really get you started on the right track.
If you need one, send me a pm.

It took a while for me! Took me two years on my first bear tree don't get me wrong I have had a lot of races but my dogs where about 5 months to about a year then finnaly they started growing up getting faster and more experianced. This was preatty much all on my own. And don't let me fool you I have had way to many deer,elk,moose,yote races. The pups that got me started did awsome on coon when they were pups.

When I first started I had two 8 week old pups. I didn't know any one, I had never been hunting with dogs and the internet info available today didn't exist. I read everything I could about hound hunting as well as general dog training books. I spent everyday working with those dogs and the first winter I turned out on countless tracks. One day my girlfriend called and said she was watching a bobcat out the living room window. It took me two hours to get there and when I walked my dogs out on the creek they blew up. The cat was sleeping there and I watched it run away. It was a ten minute race and the cat was up. The dogs didn't locate even though they had treed coons in the past. I helped them locate it. That was their first cat tree and the dogs were about 15 months old.

During their second season I met a veteran hunter and he let me tag along. I bought a 2 year old Walker dog that had been on easily 100 bobcats. The dog taught me and those two Redbones how to catch cats. The second season those dogs caught 17 cats. I had a dog that would strike them from the rig and I was no longer limited to hunting snow. The end of the second season I picked up another experienced dog and caught 20 in the third year. My 4th season those dogs caught 31 cats.

As the seasons passed I turned one of those original pups into a family pet. It came to light she didn't really have what it takes. Her brother was hunted his whole life and did his part to show me just over 250 cats before becoming to old to contribute. One thing I can say about those first two dogs is they sure handled well.

I don't know how long it takes, I am to impatient. I can say that an experienced dog will teach you more than any other source of info.

Goodluck and keep it up,
George

They prettty much summed it up, get a older dog and it will cut your time in pieces. They can teach your pups things that you just never will.

I grew up in a hounding family but we didn't winter hunt due to being in sports. There just isn't time when you're going to hockey arenas all over the place. Anyway, when that was all done I had a cat tag and a buddy and I went to give it a whirl. We had been to countless coon and bear trees our whole lives, so how much different can it be. Well we got a snow, cut for some tracks and we thought we found a cat tack. We even compared the track to a track book we had. Just a couple of dumb kids without a clue but we had some dogs in the box. We put them out and treed the cat in less than 10 minutes. We thought to ourselves what is all this fuss to cat hunting, it's the easiest hunting I've ever seen. I think It was the next year before I saw another cat in a tree. I've since learned it's the sport of extremely simple easy hunts or the days/weeks of complete frustration and misery.

I treed a bear my first trip out.....with the two broke cat dogs I bought. They were good dogs but decided to see if the new guy cared about trash. lol

For the first few years I worked my ass off with "broke" dogs I had been given. Never saw a cat in a tree unless one of my friends had one of their dogs on the track also.

Sold the whole bunch of useless (to me) mutts and spent a winter researching what kind of dog I wanted based on the way I wanted to hunt. The next spring I got a cur pup from Cal Allen, that Dec. when season rolled around my pup was 6 months old. I walked out a lot of tracks and never put anything in a tree, never even let him off the leash, just walked out tracks and smacked him w the leash each time he stuck his nose in a deer or elk track.

When he turned 8 months I cut a fresh bobcat track and turned him out, watched him run through a herd of mule deer does and tree that bobber. Couple days later treed a lion w a friends dogs then another that day by himself. Since then he's never lost a lion, bobcats are a different story. Though I think he can hold his own w any dog those little f'ers are tough to tree and keep there.

It is tougher to train a dog without an older experienced dog, or so I have been told, but I feel like I know my dog better than most just due to the time we spent together sortin' tracks. Either way the the time spent is well worth it.


Keep with it, the reward justifies the investment.

JT

It took me almost 2 years before I treed my first lion by myself. It's hard when you first start to know where the lions hang out and to find places that you can hunt to increase your odds. It's a real rush when you do get to that first tree, all the hard work and persistance pays off real quick. I had one started dog and a pup.

I have been at it for over two years and have seen two cats in a tree which my dogs had no part in. Started my first solo dirt lion track yesterday but ended up losing it when it warmed up. My experienced dog which I didn't get till after last season broke her leg in a bear race this year and isn't much help at the moment but my pups are starting to step up. Hoping to see my first solo cat soon but ill keep pluggin along till I do.

first hound, she was nine months old when she treed her first lion, by herself. cold trailed an old wind blown track down into a holler and jumped a lion with a belly full of mule deer. it was her first lion,first chase. so i guess it was a matter of days.

next pup was 15 months old and had trailed a few tracks but two months into the season he was chasing his own cat and hasn't looked back.

couple of females took a couple of month as well, they were 14 months old.

another female was three when she treed her own lion with a couple of seasons under her belt.

we are only able to run for three months in the winter.

had my first pack for about 2 years and then culled them and have been going through a few since then. I am happy with the dogs I have now and I am going on I think my fourth year and still havent treed a cat or bear with just my dogs.

The guys that I have talked to that have started pups on thier own say that thier first dogs were the best and that all the pups that they have started with those dogs just arent as good. I can kind of see that because they have to really learn to do it by themselves instead of always following around a dog that already knows.
I know that you are spending good time in the hills with your dogs.Keep it up and it will pay off!

These are great short stories, I appreciate everyones input!!
D