Idaho bobcat hunt!

[WAcoyotehunter]

We have been having a tough winter for snow, but this weekend we got ~1/2” and headed to ID to look for a big lion that has been giving us the slip.  We used the snowmobiles to check roads/trails for his tracks in the new snow but could not find anything fresh.  Rather than give up, we decided to let the dogs work and freecasted (turned the dogs loose without knowing where any tracks were…basically taking them for a hike and hoping for the best) and walked out a big basin hoping to cut a track.  Whisper has been giving me fits running old tracks that have no hope.  When she struck I figured that was what was going on.  Anyway, we let her take the track back up the mountain that we had just came down…and she ended up losing the track about ¾ of the way up.  Tana was there with her and they spent quite a bit of time searching, but ended up back near us.  We decided to hike back up the hill and see what was going on.  On the way up we found the fresh bobcat tracks and Whisper started back on the track.  She must have jumped the cat because he only went a few hundred yards and the dogs went to tree.  We rushed up the hill (with all four pups in tow!) and got above the area the hounds were treeing.  They had quieted down and left the tree to come see what all the commotion was about- the pups were getting pretty anxious and making a lot of noise…  We could not see the cat anywhere and the snow was so poor that tracking was very tough.  I dropped back down the hillside and circled to make sure the cat was still in there.  Once I found his tracks I could make more sense of the situation.  He had slipped into a big boulder pile and was probably laid up in there when the dogs jumped him.  He only went ~10 yards but climbed ~60’ up a HUGE white pine.  He was high enough and the tree was thick enough that he was invisible.  Whisper kept treeing on that tree and after a LONG search I managed to see his elbows sticking over either side of a branch!  Lucky break. 
When we shot him out the adult dogs grabbed him and the pups we not far behind.  The cat had just enough life in him to bite my littlest pup on the lip and clamp on like a snapping turtle!  Poor Nosey was squalling and carrying on for a while until she could get free.  She wasn’t hurt, but decided she was going to “re-kill” that cat for the next ten minutes!!  

All in all it was a good hunt for the hounds and a good experience for the pups- they’re almost 6 months old and this was their first tree.  I still have some work to do with the hounds on their treeing-

[jackmaster]

dude that is awesome, makes me really miss hound huntn, dont even know why i open those threads 

[WAcoyotehunter]

you're welcome to tag along-

[HUNT]

Congrats on the bobby!  Gotta love hunting with hounds....

[Huntboy]

Congrats, nice looking pack.

[Arteman]

That's awesome, way to stick with it.  That's good your pup got right back in there after taking a beating, I've seen them go the other way and want no more part of it. 

[MuleySniper]

Cool that looks like a blast!!
MS

[Machias]

Wohooooooo  Awesome Bart,  Nice kitty and I love the way those pups are fired up!!

P.S.  See any wolf sign where you were at?

[jackmaster]

you're welcome to tag along-

tell me what i gotta do dude, i would love to tag along, pay gas money or whatever, hell i will get a wolf tag to if i gotta incase we came by one.... do you keep your dogs close incase of wolves, what is the blonde dog in your pack there, is it somekind of cur

[WAcoyotehunter]

Good eye- the yellow dog is a blackmouth cur.  You can come over and hunt along with me- beware we end up walking and hunting pretty hard.  I have a sled, if you have one too it would be great- if not, we can piggy-back around on one.

[WAcoyotehunter]

I haven't seen a wolf track yet.  I always make a loop around the area to check for wolf sign.  So far I've been lucky and not found any.  The Diamond Pack has been hanging out in WA and the other 'home packs' seem to be staying up north.

[jackmaster]

yeah i dont have a sled, definatly dont mind walkn, do you only hunt in the snow so you can find tracks, or do you ever hunt dry land and hood them or road them

[WAcoyotehunter]

I like to find a track on a road, but if the snow sucks or if we don't find a crossing we will jsut freecast and hike.  It's a challenging way to do it, but can be pretty rewarding (like yesterday  )

You're welcome to come along Jackmaster- I'm hunting Friday and Monday this weekend but the snow report looks lousy.  If you want to come along on a higher percentage hunt wait for fresh snow, if you want to see the dogs work and get some serious exercise some on over despite poor snow conditions.  I'll be out whenever I can snow or not. 

After Feb 16th it's pursuit only and most guys will hang it up.  I'll be running every weekend from Feb 17th to March 31st.

[HUNTINCOUPLE]

Thats an aswesome hunt!

[JJB11B]

  great write up