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i need some advice. I have some young dogs that seem like they have a lot of potential. I found a kill the other day it was a few days old and the cat didn't cover it back up. if i happen to find another kill what is the best way to get young dogs lined out on a track?

I would really take my time and thorougly work a spiral out of the kill until I found the final exit track or the cat laid up.

I know on bare ground like you most likely hunt at times finding the exit track is nearly impossible and then you have to rely on the nose of the dog. that being said remember on bare ground a hound is likely to take the back end on a lion track 50% of the time. If the cat has been there very recently this may not be much of a problem because the hound may be able to move out on airborne scent and quickly determine the direction the lion left the kill.

Fellas that hunt in snow country can at times have a heck of a time finding the freshest track leaving especially if the kill has been there a few days and the lion has visited it a number of times. Many times a lion will lay up pretty close and every so often just get up and go check the kill and not even eat just to make sure nobody is messing with him. This leads to many track and as Glen said you best bet would be leave the dogs in the box and walk that ever increasing circle till you think you have the right exit track.

On the dirt especially when it ia hard to see a track start with your best start dog on a leash and start making a circle around that kill and watch that dog when he really goes to flagging and gets birdie go with him but don't let him go yet he will lead you along hopefully to a place where you can see an actual track and determine if you are going the right way. then mark that spot and continue your circle and if you are convinced that is the best place to start them take him back and go with it. doesn't alwasy work but then what does?
If you have some pretty experienced dogs and are hunting them free cast on foot or of a saddle animal or quad if you can get ahold of most of the dogs and let old number one work on it a bit.

Most of the time these smart old strike dogs won't hardly even look at a kill they know when it's a lion and they go to casting and looking. My old late Gunner dog would just hit another gear and make a big circle around the kill maybe 100 yards and his head would be way up and he was running on the wind. If it was pretty fresh when he ducked and left you better get over there and check that track usually when ity was that fresh he was seldom wrong and if he didn't hit on the wind he would go back to the ground and you would just follow the steps I outlined before.


Kills can be quick and easy or the can be a pain in the rear at times with a lot of confusion and frustration. Usually you will beat yourself up over it if you don't catch it but if you don't the reasons are often you get a bad start, go the wrong way or most of all the cat has not been back in a long while and as you said on the kill that was not covered that generally means he isn't coming back it was fast food.

Glen wrote:I would really take my time and thorougly work a spiral out of the kill until I found the final exit track or the cat laid up.

I guess I'm a little bit of the opposite, it's great if a guy can relatively quickly discover the out track and put on it, but more often than not I find things are such a mess that it's time to let dogs do what they're supposed to do.

Bare ground or snow I usually just let 2 or so dogs down and let them get to it, thats there job and they have too learn how to move things out on there own. I like watching and hearing dogs work way more than I do crawling around on the ground trying to sort out a maze of lion tracks. Its good experience for your dogs, and it'll pay off down the road.

That being said, there sure isn't anything wrong with getting amongst em' and helping your dogs out as much as possible when you can.

There'll be times when you start a track and they trail off into a kill and you might be miles away, I think it's nice for them to say "we've seen this before" and carry on through on there own, hopefully!

houndcrzy wrote:

Glen wrote:I would really take my time and thorougly work a spiral out of the kill until I found the final exit track or the cat laid up.

I guess I'm a little bit of the opposite, it's great if a guy can relatively quickly discover the out track and put on it, but more often than not I find things are such a mess that it's time to let dogs do what they're supposed to do.

Bare ground or snow I usually just let 2 or so dogs down and let them get to it, thats there job and they have too learn how to move things out on there own. I like watching and hearing dogs work way more than I do crawling around on the ground trying to sort out a maze of lion tracks. Its good experience for your dogs, and it'll pay off down the road.

That being said, there sure isn't anything wrong with getting amongst em' and helping your dogs out as much as possible when you can.

There'll be times when you start a track and they trail off into a kill and you might be miles away, I think it's nice for them to say "we've seen this before" and carry on through on there own, hopefully!

Wow, what a novel idea. Let the dogs do their job. bet ya get a bunch of chit for that one.


Take care, Willie

bootheelhounds,

Down in your country you might be able to dust out the track around the kill and if you can sweep the dirt 9feet around the kill in a full circle and take two dogs and let them line it out where you think the lion is leaving from...... Or get there really early and take 3-4 dogs and let them work out their own track from the kill and youll usually have it treed fairly quickly.