Tell about your recent Race, Please!

[Dads dogboy]

Most every week the boys back East @ Speeddog tell some times truthful, some times otherwise, tales of their weekend hunts. The same as these Lion hunters over here. Sure is nice to hear of some one else's good fortune, and it helps easy the pain if others are having bad scenting conditions and game is not stiring!

Wish the Running Dog Cat hunters would please take a minute once a week or so and fill the rest of us in on the trials and tribulations of their efforts to "chose" a shorttail!

Last night the wind laid here about dark, Dad had stood not hunting for three nights as good as can be expected(not very well). So we loaded Ole Ruby and the Puppies for another night of training. We were not expecting much as the wnd had blown all day and the humidity was under 20%.

When we turned the nine Hounds out to empty out road hunting before rigging, we turned out right on top of a cold track. Ruby and three puppies trailed the Cat for 20 min. and about 1/2 mile before the kitty went across the only pasture in this part of the County, end of that one!

Three hours later Ruby rigged a very cold track. Dad said to put her down as we had not smelt another all night. It took 15 min to get the first bark, another 10 for the second. All this time we are watching the hounds work on Our Garmin Astro 220 and were able to see that Ruby and the two young gyps were coursing the Cat off the Mtn. down to a small creek. The track began to get better with more Pups starting to bark, then Brandy swung out and jumped Mr. Whiskers and the race was on.

This Cat happened to be an old friend, we have run many times. He runs the worst briars and a Beaver pond and when those tricks don't work he will hit a road, well last night it did not work. The Pups made Dad proud as every time Mr. Smarty pulled something one of the young dogs were there to tell off on him.

The race ended with the Cat trying his road trick and the dogs putting hin out of it with enough pressure that he went up a big Pine tree right next to the road. I was able to mark where the race ended on the Astro 220 and when we drove up to the location load every hound look up in the trees and find the Ole Tomcat. No treedog except ole Spot and the Garmin.

Not taking the rest of Dads old dogs gives the pups a chance to learn how to run a Bobcat and last night this years young dogs moved from Jr. High to High Scool and the Pups from kindergarten to 1st grade with all A's.

Good Running to All

C. John Clay

[Hipshooter]

Sounds like u had some good races.
Lets hear from u other guys
Wind has been blowing steady for 3 weeks in ks, no hunting.
This time of year always like this.
Wind will quit some what starting in June.

[Dads dogboy]

Hipshooter,

It don't look like I'm banned and I guess this is the place to tell Stories and you asked for it, so here goes!

We are fortunate here in Arkansas to have the least restrictive and most common sense Hound hunting laws in the South! Most States Hounds are shut down because of Turkey season, but here we can run for Sport 1 hour after dark but must be out of the woods by 1 hour before daylight!

Last night Dad wanted to go to Malvern, AR. and hunt with one of his young associates Glen Rybard. Glen is a Houndsman of the 1st Order and one of the few young men (37 yrs) that are coming on to keep the tradition going!

We arrived just before dark, collared and loaded 14 Clay Cathounds; 3 four yr olds, 2 three yr olds, 2 two yr olds and the balance a yr old past. Glens has these Hounds with quite a Handle and they have proven to be pressure broke as people are running Deer dogs year round and they always show up when you don't need them!

We picked up a top breeder of Mtn. Cur Coon Dogs, Mr. Mike Paul who wanted to hear a good Cat race. Doing this is generally the kiss of BAD luck as when you have an audience good things seldom happen. Last night however was not the case!

Glen had 7 hounds down road hunting prior to Rigging (in this big Bad country we can cover many more roads this way) Creek a three old who is starting to come on, started getting excited smelling a pine limb in the ditch. You would have thought he was going to sling his tail off he was switching so hard. He and three other hounds went about 50 yds into a 5 yr old Clearcut Pine Plantation and Creek opened. Glen put his 4 yr old main gyp in to them and they progressed another hundred yds are so and the track played out, Just too COLD. All the Hounds came back into the road except Creek so we proceded on up the road. We were able to watch Creek with the Garmin Astro 220,drift the track on into the Plantation and down to a Stream Management Zone (SMZ).

About 1/2 mile up a logging road turned into the Clearcut. Glen started down this when all the Hounds with us broke down the road in a run. Dad said "Creek must have barked" and boy had he!

When the calvalry arrived, they moved the track, trailing for 30 min or so in and out of the SMZ before jumping ole Shorttail. However the Cat had had enough warning that it had decided to head to the nearest Faraway Place! When jumped the next 30 min took place in the Plantation coming almost to the truck. (Big&Blue got good recordings I will be sending you!)

Ms.Kitty then decided she could get to that Faraway place faster by road. It took one of the two yr olds to find where Kitty had left the road and the race to resume. We spent the next 30 min or so thanking the people @ Garmin for inventing the Astro 220, without it we would have spent very little time listening and a lot more time driving tryng to find the Race!

After seeing that an extended road trip was not going to add to her longevity the Cat started back home to the original Clearcut Plantation where we found her. When she got home we had a classic Cat Race up and down the SMZ in BRIARS that snakes can't penitrate!

For an hour the "Grand Ole Hound Oprey" played one hell of a Concert! The Garmin said the Hounds were never over 400 yds away. We finnally started pulling for the Cat to climb as by its style of running Dad & Glen figured it to be a female. Twice the Hounds started to bay as the Cat was squating a lot. She got up on some Honeysuckle and briars, walked on them and we had a bit of a treeing race.

The good news is that the Cat decided that altitude was the only thing for relief and it climbed a Red Oak in the SMZ.

Boy's and Girl's they just don't come any better! Dog feed will be cheap the rest of the week! Dad said listening to Glens Hounds work was like going to one of my sisters recitals when they were kids. Who was prouder Dad or Glen hard to tell!

Again thanks Buddyw for giving us this forum to stay in touch with like minded people!

Good Running to All!!!

C. John Clay

[Buddyw]

No problem, It's a good Story, and sounds like a fun time, I sure hope if I'm ever in that neck of the woods I can get down to hunting over there. I don't know what I have with my dogs but they are more Track minded quick, Sometimes they too quick to a fault on some tracks, it's taken me allot of time to get them experience to slow down on Colder tracks. The Tree is often another one of my weak points,

We have a Cat over here, she's a Little dinky Female, We've pretty much named her our pet, We call her Danica just like that Girl Race car driver.. Perfect training Cat, not one you want to shoot.

She's reliable, and we can almost Garantee a race with her, If we don't cut her the first time, we'll come back an hour later and 8/10 times she's crossed behind us.
My friend called on the Radio that he her Track started off a Fresh Pile of Cat crap that wasn't there on his First Loop, so I go out and loaded my dog on the box and headed his way to see if I could get mine in the race...

Man she really Duped us. got over there and intercepted his dogs crossing a Road, Put my two dogs in with his, and that cat straight Lined out and put some ground down jumped, I suppose he Must not have been too Jumped because she felt comfortable enough to Sit down up on a landing Turned around listening to the Race and took a Dump right in my Boot tracks that weren't but 30 minutes old when from when I got the call over the Radio,

Well She Trotted down the road for a while, and that Really screwed us up. Took us about an hour before we figured out where she left and we were back to cold trailing. After a bit of that we finally got her Jumped again and that Bitch took the Exact same Path right back to the Start of the Race and Dissappeared.

Dogs were Spent, and She won that race hands down, Made us look stupid at every step. In fact she won the next 2-3 races, On the Forth weekend, I'm pretty sure the dogs had her caught, but just couldn't locate good enough.. Ran it good and hard, but Out here you also Need to have a Good Locating dog we've got 120 Foot tall Fir trees... So technically she's running us a Perfect score, If she's not Whipping us with the Running part, she's Kicking our ass on the Locate...

but we're getting better and closer each time.

I've only ever seen Two Smokin Hot piles of Cat Crap and a Dinky Cat track.. Have yet to get a Picture of her. But Good thing about her, Anyone that has the dog power that can catch her, Probably has enough sense and respect not to shoot her since she not a Big Cat. that's why we are calling her our pet, She's just might help me make a couple cat dogs.

[Dads dogboy]

Buddyw,

Great story!

We have two in the club across the road that are our training Cats. They are good for 10 to 20 min and then up. Great for the puppies.

Anytime you are this way the Welcome Mat is out! Come see us and maybe we can draw one of the bad bad bad Cats that will give us multi hour Race!

Good Running to All!!!!!!!

C. John Clay

[Big N' Blue]

John, your killing me!!!! LOL Look forward to getting the tape and thank you BuddyW for allowing us to have this forum to share stories.
It would be worth your wile to take a trip with these guys. They are truly legends in southeast bobcat hunting circles!!

[kickemall]

C. John Clay, it sounds by your stories that your dogs don't open much, if at all, on a cold track, is that correct? If thats correct do you try to breed them that way?

Thanks,

Dave

[Dads dogboy]

Kickemall,

The Clay Dogs historicaly have been as cold nosed as any running Hounds & colder than most. Over the years this has been the second most important thing Dad has bred for the most important being BRAINS!

Our two and three year old Hounds have expressed great noses, but with that, lots of those BRAINS, they don't bark unless they SMELL the Cat. An old Shorttail does not leave as much scent as a Lion or a Bobcat on the snow, so you will not hear lots of extra barking on a 6 to 12 hr old track in good scenting conditions (falling barometer, high humidity & no East wind) even less on a fresher track if the scenting conditions are bad!

Dads Hounds are bred and trained to only Bark when they smell the Cat and tell you where he is going. They do not waste time telling you again and again where the Ole Cat has been. As the track freshens they give plenty of mouth in the right places.

In the above stories both Cats were Extremly COLD and some good Hounds did not even know a Bobcat had been there.

Hope this answers your question!

Good Running to All!!!

C. John Clay

[briarpatch]

John, I have certainly enjoyed your posts about bobcat hunting. That is my favorite hunt, by far, but we just do not have enough of them any more in this area to justify the effort.

I now go to New Mexico to bear and lion hunt (still coon hunt around here just to get young dogs started). We always do well on bear, but lion are a different story. We tree them pretty good on snow, but most of our hunting is dry ground which, of course is much more difficult. This brings me to my point. We have a line of young hounds (grade, but no running blood) which suit pretty well, but I am always anxious to try someone elses "stuff". Do you or your dad ever sell pups?

I am located at Olney in Northcentral Texas. 940-564-5095 or wefikes@brazosnet.com.

Our dogs sound a little like yours. Work a cold trail good, but not overly open. When they can move they do so and tree good. Some work the track close and others drift-circle. They handle well and are fairly easy to trash break. Of course, they are not perfect and we try to improve them when the opportunity arises.

Thank you and would like to hear from you.

Wade Fikes

[Dads dogboy]

Briarpatch,

Good to hear from you!

No unfortunatly Dad has not, and will not sell a Puppy or Hound.

He has his reasons, some of which I agree with some I don't! But they are his and he has tied up the better part of his life Breeding them, and I am sure not going to question his methods!

You ought to contact Dereke on here. He is not far from you and has darn nice Hounds!

There is a man north of you in OK you got two of Dads Hounds and did not follow the rules and has not gotten anymore. He bred outside the line and sold some (two no no's if Dad lets a person have a Pup) and might have some 1/2 or 1/4 Clay Hounds. These make decent Catdogs in their country plenty nose etc. just smaller fuel tanks and inconsistant litters. I talk to him now and then if he has something I will PM you his contact info!

Thanks again for the inquiry and will call you sometime!

Good Running to All!!!

C. John Clay

[Hipshooter]

John ,
I sent u a PM.
Milt

[hunt14]

Great stories guys! Im starting to read this forum as much as the lion hunting forum. Keep them coming.

[liontracker]

I'll second that!

[Mike Leonard]

CJ Clay,

Not only do I appreciate your input and stories but I learn from them. My most famous mentor Wiley Carroll told me one time the best thing a man can do is shut up and listen to that hound. Your Daddy has listened a bunch over the years and it's never grown old. Dang glad to have you here to bolster old Big N Blue and me up and give us some advice and share the passion of hearing them old cat dogs pecking away down there in the creek till all of a sudden thunders breaks loose and we got a race!

Still a pretty good pace to hang around when we can't be out in the puckerbrush!

[frs123]

man reading what you guys have to say is sure a pleasure. love the stories of mike, clay and all of ya. gonna have to get out of the deep timber and snow and try to run a cat down that way, probably make my pack look like a bunch of fools but would love to try. greatly appreciate all ya have to say. when i have trouble with bear this year ill have to keep in mind what all you guys down there go thru and not be so discouraged, thanks for the stories and good luck to ya all