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I have a hound that I bought 4 years ago for cats,put him on bear.He treed several bear ahead of the young pups that we were training.Now cat hunting him again,have had 2 jumped cats good chaises that ended in loses.I'm starting to think they may be going in tree and he isn't locating it.Does this happen much? When a cat trees will they climb like a coon or jump up high? The Terrain is very thick and steep not very effective circling looking for track.I don' know how much harder a cat is to locate.

Thanks

A lot of people think the cat treed and the dog is just not locating more then likely the cat is just putting it to the less experienced dog they are very tricky. Alot of guys will say the cat jump as they got to the tree when really all he did was bump the tree to fool the less experienced cat dog. cat don't run like coon or bear and some dog never make the adjustment.

Thanks for the reply.I have read where they are very tricky.No one runs them in this area,I was hoping they would be dumb until we got smarter.

I think cats are very tricky and challenging, I also believe that locating is the hardest trait to find in a hound, in our area cats will find holes or cracks in rocks and ledges to hide in, tall pines or trees make it harder to locate also, if you have cats to run keep on doing it you will make some fine hounds as they will learn a lot from those cagey little critters, good luck and enjoy every race no matter the outcome.

Try to get in a little better country with out all the down fall if you can. them cats take big advantage of that stuff.

Bobcats are no doubt the hardest animal to locate. Locating is a bred in trait just because a dog trees bear, meens nothing when it comes to locating and treeing bobcat. This is just my thoughts but if they arent doing it at 4 yrs of age they never will. Andy

To my hounds defense,bear was all I ran him on until this year. At first on cold tracks he was to fast,he is doing better .He uses sight very well to track doesn't get hung up on ledges,runs track well until the big loss? I plan on getting a pup to train this spring and only use on cats so I can run them most of the year.Nothing better than being out in the winter months and a tough challenge. All advice is welcome.

Thanks again

The person I bought him from cat hunted him so he is cat minded.locating may have always been a problem.Or I ruined him on bear?

DOITALL wrote:The person I bought him from cat hunted him so he is cat minded.locating may have always been a problem.Or I ruined him on bear?

The mentors I hunted with in my youth used to say after running more bear than cat all summer , it took a little time and cat races for the dogs to adjust to running cat scent. But they were very successful using thier hounds on bear cat & coyote. My belief is a true locator has little trouble locating most cats and gets the job done on the tough locations. However not all hounds are gifted locators especially on cat. So my guess is Jeff is right on, your dog is most likely having trouble with the tricks cats pull when hounds pursue them. Al

Thanks Al, I will keep running him until the bear come back out then will have to wait for snow.Jeff I will get on a lease about 1 hour from here ,much flatter with clear cuts and lots of cats.

Thanks again

One of the best bobcat dogs I ever owned was also better than fair on bear. the one thing I always had to do every year with him is after running bear all summer, I would have to take him to the cat woods by himself for 1 or 2 bobcat races to get all the bear knocked out of his system. Then he would settle in and tree cats like he should.

dawger wrote:One of the best bobcat dogs I ever owned was also better than fair on bear. the one thing I always had to do every year with him is after running bear all summer, I would have to take him to the cat woods by himself for 1 or 2 bobcat races to get all the bear knocked out of his system. Then he would settle in and tree cats like he should.

There you have it, a good dog will catch any tree game you put it on, that's why its good.
Still think its best to start them on cats tho, then step up to bear so they know the difference.

Hey Doitall, look on the brightside, a really good bear dog is harder to come by than a bobcat dog.

Phil Soucy wrote:Hey Doitall, look on the brightside, a really good bear dog is harder to come by than a bobcat dog.

Your gonna step on some 'bobcat gods' toes with that comment...

[quote]
There you have it, a good dog will catch any tree game you put it on, that's why its good.
Still think its best to start them on cats tho, then step up to bear so they know the difference.

That's my plan for the next couple of years,trying to get a pup running cats only.

THANKS