BigGameHoundsmen.com

Was wondering what the longest bobcat race some of u have ran and caught the cat. Several years ago I had a 12 hour race and finally put cat in a beaver dam. I had about 6 one year old litter mates and one old dog that knew what he was doin. The pups kept makin loses and the old dog would figure out all the bs and gett it goin again. Was a long day and night but was one of the coolest races I've had because I saw the dogs on the cAts butt several times during the race. And all the young dogs made it all day. It was like the cat was waiting for them and would jump out of the brush and the race was on again

The cat was waiting for them kids to give up and go home.

50 Years ago in Central Texas Dad and Buster Moore ran one over 8 hours before catcing it on the ground. An old Tom. Dad had his original 6 Hounds.

Since then we have run one over 5 hours once and 4 hours several times.

Glen Rybard ran one 7 hours and 57 minutes before catching her a couple of years ago. Bad scenting conditions, the Pack could not hold pressure on the Cat, however pesistance paid off!

Kudos to you Jake for having Hounds to stay hooked up for 12 hours on the Cat. That took Good, Hard Hounds to get r done!

Jake we had a twelve hour race when I was a kid but it was mostly a big long cold trail job with a short jump at the end and a tree. Only one dog was at the tree the rest lost interest about half way through the race. I saw a lot of 4,5 or 6 hour races back then that ended in treees most were simillar to yours several jumps thrugh out the race before finally treeing the cat or catching it on the ground.The longest race that ended in a tree with the dogs I have now was the 4.5 hour race I had this last winter.I think the fact that I dont hunt as hard as we did back then and am busy elk hunting and deer hunting during pursuit season my dogs are never realy in good enough shape to tree those tough cats till toward the end of season. Take care Larry

I think you mean the total time on a cat. In the mid '80 I started one at 7:00 AM and trailed it across a major river and treed it at 10:00 PM after a short jump. The was the last day of the season and the dogs were in great shape with a good season behind them. Dewey

Was with a friend this year on a super cold day. Dropped on the track at about 6 AM and I believe it was 2 or 3 in the afternoon when dog had the cat bayed on a cliff. GPS said 15.7 miles

Last year 15 below zero just had one dog (season dog) garmin showed 14.8 miles. Cat would not tree had several chances in good timber and never would he stayed in heavy cedar treed hill sides, finally ended up in culvert in late afternoon. Andy

My average bobcat race probably lasts around 5 hours. I have had several that lasted 10 hours. This past winter I had a race that was over 12 hours and the Garmin had the distance at 21 GPS miles. I was out of contact with them for 3 or so hours.

I had no idea the ground that the dogs and cats cover until I bought the Garmin system last year. I ran a big tom bobcat that the race went 26 GPS miles in about 8 hours.

With few bobcats in my area, I have to start a cat track that is often 10+ hours old. It makes it nice when I do find a track that is only a couple of hours old.

About 15 years ago on opening day of bobcat season we cut a small female in about 4 inches of new snow .We started it about 8 in the morning with our two best dogs, by noon we had added another.We ran till dark, pulled the dogs, and were back the next morning at daylight.We cut her again in the same canyon we left her in and dumped our next best dogs.The dogs from the day before were hammered.They had her jumped in less than an hour,we ran her till dark again and never did catch her.At the time we prob had the best cat dogs we ever had. We caught almost every bobcat and lion we ran for about an 8 year stretch. Same year we started a big tom in a canyon,after about two loops in the canyon we decided to pull 1 dog. The cat was running the same one mile circle within a few yards each time .Each time he came to a big ledge he would gain sum time on the dogs.We switched dogs a couple times and finally about an hour before dark we had both back on him .Finally i decided to hike in to that ledge and catch the dogs as we had 20 mile snowmobile ride back out .Igot to the ledge and was waiting there,i could here the dogs coming then i seen the cat coming down through the pines to the base of the ledge.He climbed a quakie at the base and climbed up level with me before he seen me. By that time the dogs were under him and i was on the ledge he had been jumping over to .I shot him bout dark. Probably an 8 to 10 hour race .42 lb cat ,biggest i've ever caught .Best year i ever had was 18 bobcats and i prob went 3000 miles on sleds and ran every track that was runnable and i'm sure i passed on at least 30 lions i could have ran.Those days are gone in this country now.Caught 3 bobcats this year,cut 5 .

C John when you talk of scenting conditions on that near 8 hour race in Arkansaw, were those caused by the cat or the weather. Weather scenting is something I probley never give enough thought to, unless it was real hot or dry. Thanks Al Baldwin

Mr. Al,

It was Weather/Atmospheric. When the Hounds have trouble smelling we find they are unable to hold the TIGHT pressure on the Cat which will cause the Cat to make misstakes.

Good subject for a Topic,

Thanks for the answer C John. Don/t know precise time but recall one winter day in about 1966, one comsumed most of the daylight hours. Of course was not an all out jump, move good for awhile, then have to track, over & over. Only had two dogs on it, only one wound up catching on the river bank. Honest was not too sure I was not going to find a bushy tail critter when I arrived. Was elated to find a smallish bob. That was a very nice hound, what luck to find him, Tom Barnett sold him to me ( very cheap) & I borrowed the money, to pay him. The hound was not a bear dog. Wish I had been old enough to realize what I had and smart enought to preserve his bloodline. Al Baldwin

Of the long trail jobs, how long are the jumps? To me the jump is the easiest part if the dogs put the push and don't let the car trot ahead of the hounds. I have never seen a cat run hard that does not get a break from a lose. If the dogs can't hold him in a run he can go all day if he chooses. Dewey

If you take out all the bad spots cats like to frequent they are very easy to catch. Add in a half mile of blow downs in a nasty creek canyon and it gets tough for any dog to hold pressure, usually giving the cat another head start. The hardest races I have ever had were in the spring following a long season of constantly catching cats. I have talked to other hunters that were in the same area and they were experiencing the same as me. Hours of cold trailing, but the cold trailing was at a fast pace. It is like the cat hears the dogs and starts covering ground. Going in a straight line up over ridges, sometimes mimicking a coyote race. In my early years I would pull the dogs because I was doubting them but then I started letting them go in hopes of catching them red handed. When the races started ending at trees I started letting the dogs work. Quite often the track would go for ten miles plus through drainage after drainage full of steep blow down covered ground. Once the dogs were jumped they could often get the cat caught pretty quick but the jump wasn't the challenge. Many times I would have to pull the dogs off because of where they were heading. I have had some jumped races that lasted hours, as Dewey mentioned, if the dogs could have held constant pressure without any sort of loose they would have got it done faster. I just don't believe there are dogs out there that can hold tight pressure through some of the nasty ground cats end up in. Cats are different every where you go.

A Good Thread with some very good info from different regions!

This quote from Mr. George applies just about everywhere: " I have had some jumped races that lasted hours, as Dewey mentioned, if the dogs could have held constant pressure without any sort of loose they would have got it done faster. I just don't believe there are dogs out there that can hold tight pressure through some of the nasty ground cats end up in."

Very well said!