Ozark Cat Hunting

[BawlMouthB&T]

There’s nobody that I know of in my area who pursues bobcats with dogs. Tons of coon hunters myself being one of them, I’ve got on two bobcats with my older coondog idk if she was ever close or anything. She did end up treeing but no cat, which I’ve heard is common with tree bred dogs over running dogs.

Really I’m wondering what my pack should look like. I don’t hunt the thickets of south Texas so I’m not sure if I need all running dogs to get these cats although I do feel like I need some. I know bobcats are not quick to tree. I’ve never been around running dogs once in my life. I’ve also heard that having a tree dog in a race with running dogs isn’t good cause they’ll mess up the race. Heck I just don’t know anybody to talk to about what I might need to run cats in my area cause there ain’t nobody doing it. Am I wasting my time thinking about it?

[Beebout-it]

Well how about a run down of where you are hunting, and what the country is like. I've heard a lot of those coon bred hounds are quik to tree but I've never ran any so just hear say. Was this bobcat race at night or daytime? Binoculars are always a must in my country those kitties hide in a tree really well sometimes, or I've had the dogs be off by a few trees and it take me a while to find the cat. They are crafty critters but fairly fast dogs that can pick their heads up on the jump should catch them.

[BawlMouthB&T]

The races I’ve been in were at night while coonhunting.

Well I live in the Ozarks. The place I hunt is a sort of mountain range called the Boston Mountains. Not out west mountains but mountains for Arkansas. Lots of bluffs and rock, lots of creeks and bottoms. I’d say 70% hardwood forest. 10-20% Cedar/Pine. And maybe 10% of it actually managed fields management being taken care of by game and fish or forest service depending on jurisdiction. The area is roughly 200,000 acres with the majority of my hunting taking place on about 15,000 acres. It’s all different but the same in the sense that it’s all up and down. Not a whole lot of flat lol. Although some is rougher than other parts of it which is why I stick to the 15,000 that I do. But I’ve wondered if I got into this cat stuff if I should be hunting the deepest parts of the mountains?

There’s obviously thickets all over, but controlled burns and just underbrush growth being different from one place to the other making it to where the entire place is not a thicket. One of my cat races started in a managed field running alongside a creek and ended close to a mile away in a massive thicket covering probably 5-10 acres maybe more hard to say.

To make it simpler said, mixed timber mountains with tons of peaks and valleys with creeks all over with plenty of miles of roads to travel.

[kickemall]

I’ve got mostly running dog crosses but plenty of cats have been caught with coon bred dogs. It doesn’t take a super fast dog to tree them but it does take a dog that can hold a track and pick up loses quick to run the wind out of them. And an honest tree dog that won’t lock up when they double back. Its tough to catch them with dogs that haven’t run them much but if you stay at it they’ll catch some easy ones then start figuring out the tough ones.

[Beebout-it]

Well obviously snow would help immensely especially at first getting started on a track, cats don't mind being around people at all. Farm fields and old buildings have plenty of rodents. If you have a ton of roads I would run them like a bear race, always keeping a a dog or 2 in the truck for when the dogs on the ground push the jumped cat across the road. As with chasing anything else the more exposure you get them the better they will get.

[BawlMouthB&T]

We get very little snow. I do hunt in the snow when we do though so I will capitalize on that when the opportunity arises.

I know my current dogs probably arnt going to cut it so I may look into running dogs to add to the pack that come from close to home, although I worry about that because most all of them come from lines meant for coyote in my area, don’t know that it’s make a difference though?

[al baldwin]

Go back and read what Kickemall wrote, very good advice in my opinion.

[BawlMouthB&T]

Well I read it three times and I mean he doesn’t perfectly describe what I’ve got right now, that’s why I say I may have to go a different direction. My dogs really want to hunt coon and both interactions I’ve had were stated by jumping the cat but my dog didn’t see it but I set her on that hot track and she took it well so I do think she could trail cats but I just don’t believe she’s quick enough. I also know that not every cat gets caught by good running dogs so maybe I’m not giving enough credit to what I’ve got now. My old dog trees house cats as well. When I hunt close to the house.

[hownhunter]

If you are the normal weekend warrior of hound hunting go buy a good dog from a reputable cat hunter that only hunts cats. I don't believe you can train a dog just on the weekends to be what I would call a real cat dog.without the help of a real one that has been in the woods hundreds of times. It usually takes 3 years with a dog before they are considered a dog in my honest opinion. But if you don't mind catching just one a year and you get all the enjoyment out of that there is nothing wrong with that either. Happy Hunting.

[BawlMouthB&T]

I night hunt 3 or 4 times a week as it is. I wouldn’t consider myself a weekend warrior but thanks for the tip.

[al baldwin]

If you have plenty of money buy yourself a good strait cat dog or two, if you can find them for sale. However be sure you hunt with those dogs & see them tree bobcat in the terrain type you will be hunting them in. If money is not available take kickemall advice & don/t expect immediate success, however if you stay at it you will learn & understand what you need. For sure one good cat dog can teach you alot. Good luck.

[BawlMouthB&T]

Yeah I actually found a guy on a local forum who hunts bobcats in very similar terrain not far from me. Probably going to atleast start there see what he has and maybe buy a couple started dogs depending on prices. I’ve found 2-3 dog packs of running dogs on a local forum going for less than $1000 ? Is this common, do running dogs go for less generally, is it my area? Quality of dogs I can understand on some but not several posts with guys talking as if they are decent dogs, I don’t like to assume a guy is a liar not knowing anything about him. Just seems odd when a 3 year old finished coonhound goes for $1500 as a meat dog let alone actual competition dogs.

[al baldwin]

I had a internet friend in southern Mississippi he told me running dogs there sold for those kind of prices, he also said most of those were ran on several types of game. I would not want the challenge of converting those dogs to bobcat dogs. I am a believer that dogs form habits when allowed to run off game, those habits have been very difficult to change in most of my experience with numerous dogs. However, I have started dogs on coon and found in most cases once I started hunting them with a dogs strait on bobcat it was not that difficult be break them off coon, especially wit the modern equipment we have today. If I were you I would head down to hunt with that cat hunter near you and make a few hunts with him. i would not hunt the dog you have with those dogs until I was confident he had decent dogs. Course, that is your decision. Here in southwestern Oregon it is not unusual for a decent bobcat dog to sell for three to five thousand dollars. And very rare are you able to buy anyone best dog. Just my experience & opinion.

[BawlMouthB&T]

Appreciate the information.

Definitely am not considering buying anybody’s finished dogs, maybe a finished cat dog but I’m not trying to convert coyote dogs to bobcat dogs, especially considering we have plenty of coyotes, imo it would be asking a lot out of them to stop running coyotes if that’s all they’ve ever done but not something I have experience with.

I’m definitely going to try and get together with this man down south of me. I think that is going to be my best bet for getting started in cat hunting.

[Beebout-it]

Coons all night cats all day....your going to be exhausted haha