Can you tell?

[newby]

Reading some of the comments on other topics has me pondering a few questions...

Have you hunters that have been doing this awhile noticed any trends in how a cat runs relating to the sex of the cat? I ran one the other day that looked like a nice track that just flat changed zip codes on me til it hit some rock bluffs then circled around a bit then lined out for a couple miles, then got into more rocks and circled around again. Had to pull the dogs off before I got him caught so I don't know but suspect it was a big Tom. Ran one this weekend that turned into two, but they circled a little draw about 150 yards across in a little patch of thick timber for about an hour. They finally treed and found two young cats, one male and one female.

Is their running style based more on their sex, their age, or how many times they've been dogged(or maybe some other factor)? Just kind of an interesting little puzzle I'm trying to solve. Thanks for any replies.

[FullCryHounds]

You're talking about lions? And your saying you ran one for hours? Lions can't run for hours being chased by dogs. They will bay up or tree fairly quickly. They don't have a large lung capcity to be running for hours. Sounds like the track your dogs were following was a feeding track as he was wondering around looking for something to kill.

[super white hunter]

I have seen bobcats run for hours, they just stay right in front of dogs even really good dogs. Have chased lions that wont stay in the tree and it goes on for hours, jump up tree jumped down tree go two hundred hards and tree again and so on. if in rough country that you can't move fast enough in it can go on for what seems like forever

[Unreal_tk]

I've seen both sexs run about the same, toms during the rut will sound like a jumped race I think when the dogs are really still just trailing but its just a guess.

[kehrer10]

I talked with Darin the other day, he's talking about bobcats for these two races.

[newby]

Full cry, I didn't say anything about four hrs. And it quit snowing at about 5 am and the track had no snow in it at daylight...definitely a bobcat. I know I'm from montana and all, but most of the time I can tell the difference between a bobcat and a lion. I had him jumped 15 minutes into the race, bayed up then took off again.

[twist]

Darin, welcome to the bobcat world! lol Some say they can tell what sex by the way they run, I sure cant I have a pretty good idea by the size of the track on bigger toms but never know what you have until you get to the tree. Andy

[newby]

I got ya Andy, guess what I was getting at is say we didn't have the luxury of snow like the guys that are striking cats elsewhere and they get a race going with good straight cat dogs and they get a race like i had a couple weeks ago, they might think they were running trash or at the very least a lion where the cat just changed country. Would you guys that hunt that way, be able to with a good amount of certainty, say, "that's probably a tom the way he's..." finish the sentence. Anyhow, thanks for the input. Just curious.

[al baldwin]

In this area running without snow very high percentage. Seems a lot of houndmen self included can make an educated guess. Toms seem to put of more track scent, make for a race with less loses. However myself & others have sure been fooled, until the critter is caught sure can/t be positive. Just my experience Al

[pegleg]

Generally what you described id attribute to a tom. Ive had a few fox races Id call cat but not that often once its run and females general squat and loop for me even younger toms. The thing to remember is every rule is broken and averages are only that then folks mostly write or talk about the unusual races. Some of the toughest races ive experienced have been on female cats both bob and lion. However theyre the exception not the average. Its also true most lions are very short winded but if they can get into a area that lets them travel at a comfortable pace for themselves but work the hounds ragged youll see a long race. Bobcats typically a tom makes longer dashes between circles and may travel a good distance before the real tricks began. Females seem to go up or start circling and squatting much quicker.