Cat Numbers

[al baldwin]

Just a little history of cat numbers in this area. An old friend called tonight, in our visit he told me a story about who caught the most cat one year in the very early sixties. Southwestern Oregon Houndmans Association, at that time gave yearly awards to the members who caught the most cat for the year.
He received a call from a friend & another member of the club, telling him to be sure to attend the next hound meeting. Seemed someone had gave a another member a few of his cat scalps to an add to his total, that was the proof of the number cats caught. Stated there was dang near a fist fight before the issue got resolved.
However after the dust settled, the 1st. place winner was Harold M. with 33 scalps, 2nd. place was Chamers K. with 29 scalps. 3rd. was Oakley F. with 27 scalps.
I remember all three, they all worked full time jobs, but work swing or graveyard in the plywood mills, & were known to hunt most mornings before going to work that evening. Found this interesting. Al

[1bludawg]

Al,I didn't know Chamers but knew Harold Middleton and Oakley Fowler to be the real deal when it came to catching cats.I guess you could say they lived in the golden era of bobcat hunting.They were serious about cat hunting and hunted hard .In the early seventies Harold had a bitch that was a sure enough CAT DOG. She didn't need any backup.There are few like her anymore.Try as i might i can't remember her name .

[twist]

Al was there a season on them back then or could you hunt all year? Andy

[al baldwin]

No season Andy, there a was a four dollar bounty. But believe Chamers concentrated more on bear in the summer months, Oakley also did some bear , but mostly cat. Harold to my recollect, hunted cat, with some coon. Some have said Oakley was the toughest individual they ever knew, meaning the amount of time he hunted and worked full time. Al

[fallriverwalker1]

al at least those are realistic numbers . always had trouble with the guys thathad jobs and caught 150 bears a season jim

[al baldwin]

al at least those are realistic numbers . always had trouble with the guys thathad jobs and caught 150 bears a season jim

That is what I was thinking. I have heard of two hunters that hunted hard this winter who had caught 20 cat. Working and hunting 20 to 30 cat is a good season here & you will need some decent hounds. Just my observations. Al

[1bludawg]

The old Umpqua Houndsmen had similar hunts with similar results.

[coastrangecathunting]

Al I see your point. BUT. I can see how I guy could catch 100. Some days he wont catch any but some days he would catch 2. and have a 3 cat day at least once. might only find 80 out of the 100 in a tree. Since dewey catches 18 percent on the ground we will say we caught 20 on the ground but only found 5. So I geuss I would have around 65. forgot about the 15 that holed up and the 5 that hung in the tree. now im at 50. treed 5 in a dangerous spot to shoot them out because I don't carry leases and the dogs would have fell off a bluff or into a floded river. now im at 45. treed around 5 that I never made it to the tree before the dogs quit treeing and came out , but I could tell it was there by the way they were treeing. 40 is the final number but actually caught 100. this is just a made up season . just trying to explain how my season would probably go.

[al baldwin]

JC you & mark should be writing for the Late Night Shows. Not really questioning anyone numbers, just found that story interesting, & wanted give credit to hunters who have to balance work, family & hounds. I know locals have caught better numbers, but also know how difficult it can be to produce big numbers here. Don/t know if you remember, sure your dad would tell you no one hunted harder than Harold & Oakley. And in those days no electronics that reached farther than a good rock or long switch. Also want to say sure Dewey has some very good hounds, a ton of knowledge & hard hunter. How nice it would be to have good health, be retired, like I am and have year long season. Something I used to think was going to happen. I sure wish I could experience some one to show me how it was so easy to catch some of these trained cats here. Sure I help train my share of those. Not they can/t be caught, however it might be a little harder than anyone who has not experienced it thinks. Some cats are easy to catch with the correct hounds, but not all are going to be easy & I state that from experience having hunted with Tom Barnett in his prime. Recall one well known hunter from Lane county ( sure Lane must have a few ) coming down to show Tom how to catch a particular cat. Story goes, after the hounds jumped that hunter said, won/t be long now, by golly, he was correct, less than time expected that cat disappeared into thin air. Oh well something to intertain on rainy days. Take care Al

[1bludawg]

Jc,I realize you're jokeing but at the same time you hit the nail right square on the head.

[dwalton]

For you guys that don't kill cats I can see how hard it would be to count them. For me I just count the hides. Sometimes I have to take off my shoes and call the kids in to have enough fingers and toes to count with. Nothing like a pile of hides at the end of the season. We had the most bobcats when we had no season and a bounty just maybe we would have more today if we would go back to that system. Dewey

[1bludawg]

While on the subject of cat numbers i would advise hunters to get there ideas into Dave Walker for the setting of our 2014 seasons . I've been doing some research,talking to a local biologist and Mr.Hiller before he left .I didn't like what i heard .So should we have a limit on the number of cat we can take(western oregon)? Should we have each hunter make a choice on what method they will use to take cat....Hounds- Traps-Predator calls ? Or should we leave it as is,using any /all methods to kill all we can? Al,not trying to hijack your post .

[JakeG]

I was wondering what u guys thought. I know people who kill damn near ever cat they catch. I know some people who shoot maybe one cat all season. The guy that shoots one cat a season still catches a good percentage of cats and doesn't have to take the whole season off work drive all over country. Does it really make a difference if u let them chew on 10 as to 30 ? Just curious. I know I'm tired of runnin all over the country lookin for cats because any time somebody catches one above my house they kill it. I know it can't be the money. Hopefully with hide prices bein 25-30 bucks will help out.

[al baldwin]

While on the subject of cat numbers i would advise hunters to get there ideas into Dave Walker for the setting of our 2014 seasons . I've been doing some research,talking to a local biologist and Mr.Hiller before he left .I didn't like what i heard .So should we have a limit on the number of cat we can take(western oregon)? Should we have each hunter make a choice on what method they will use to take cat....Hounds- Traps-Predator calls ? Or should we leave it as is,using any /all methods to kill all we can? Al,not trying to hijack your post .

Are there changes being considering by state game commissioners, who set the laws? Al

[1bludawg]

The local biologist just said the trappers were complaining about no cats and Mr. Hiller said there was some evidence that the cat population was declining in Douglas County .He said to be sure to get our recommendations into them for the next season.It was hard to get a straight answer from them.I don't know what they have in mind but i would rather see a lower limit than a shorter season.Trying to get some more information that i think houndsmen will find very interesting.