To hunt lions may be the Rhodesian Ridgeback can help you!! Not the retrievers. How the hell a retriever retrieves a lion for god sake!!!! Use a dog who is made for the job!!

The Rhodesian Ridgeback is a large, muscular dog originally bred in South Africa to hunt lions. It is also known as the African lion hound.

� The peculiarity of this breed is the ridge of hair which grows forward on his back.

� In 1922, a group of Rhodesian breeders set up a standard for Ridgebacks which has remained virtually unchanged ever since.

� The Rhodesian Ridgeback was admitted to registry by the AKC in 1955.

Umm, we're hunting "field" lions here in this forum. Not "lions".

(If you're not too swift, what we mean, is the feral version of the housecat.)

Well, I think I'm down somewhere in the rat terrier/beagle/small shepherd/mutt class because of the friendly trained pet aspect. I followed the talk on the jagterriers a while back and got the impression that they were tasmanian devils in dog suits, but loyal. I have reservations about those rhodesian lion destroyers too. If one of them didn't find a cat I might have to shoot the bast*** before getting down out of the tree. Plus I'm getting older and its hard to climb now with one clamped on my butt. I think of my Dad coming up from the back 40 with a live woodchuck wrapped in his coat and his handkerchief tied around Gramdmother's dog's nose (to stop the bleeding). I just need a good one to put on a cat I find while wandering the hunting lease but most of its job will be protecting the yard, fetching the paper and the like. Maybe one to still hunt deer with as I'm sure it would alert before I would. How about a small english pointer? ar spaniel? I've hunted with two or three great ones and one was a super pet?

I am soliciting your opinions on the best breed of dog to use for hunting field lions and ranch cougars in hunting styles similar to night coon hunting, rabbit hunting, squirrel hunting, and yes, even pheasant hunting. Something somebody said got me thinking about retreivers, pointers, pit bulls and so on. Thanks for any help. ned

You might concider developing a pack of hounds, walkers, blue ticks, redbones if your'll be running long tracks.

If your on small property maybe Catahoulas or Black Mouth curs. I 'd stay away from catch dogs Pitts, Bulldogs, Dogos.

Take a look at this web site, I think you'll like it: http://www.baydog.com/

I've got Catahoulas if I can help in anyway let me know.

I've allways been partial to blue ticks,,Good luck,Clay.

Ned, this is an interesting question. I've been around field dogs most of my life, pointers, brits, springers and a few others. My weird friends have other varieties not devoted to the hunt. I forgive that up to the point their mutts are considered "yappers".(see post sometime back in regards to turning them into slippers with on properly aimed kick). I cannot abide "yappers", though I'm fairly certain that Albert and young Bob will. I digress.

A few years back I came to the conclusion that dogs killing cats is an acquired thing, not natural necessarily. Yes, I recognize that spontaneous chomps occur, but most young dogs try to play with cats. Therein is found the beginnings of a genuine cat mangling dog given proper circumstance.

I came to this conclusion because of a VIZSLA I had back in '85-'87. Found her destitute by a dumpster near Blue Ridge, Ga. and picked her up. Of course she had the nastiest movement imaginable on the flight home as her way of expressing gratitude. There was only 30 min. left before I landed so I didn't kill her.

My neighbor, the kind Ms. Helen, a certified Lauderdale Blue Hair, had 3 BLACK CATS. The dog, known as Ginger, was a pup and wanted to play of course. Two of the cats would play with her, the third, in a very misguided and rather turdish fashion, made Ginger bleed. Still, she wanted to play, and about 1 out of 3 times, she bled. She did not understand, and of course they all LOOKED ALIKE, and SMELLED ALIKE.

Time passed, Ginger matured into a fine intelligent 65#, and gentle dog. She loved the woods, hunting, helping with the skill saw and router, sometimes even the chain saw! She even loved the cats(!), a factor I didn't really know how to deal with, but I was a lot younger then. The cats multplied too. I woke up one day and counted 17 of them, all grown, and all very BLACK. Ya know, they all looked alike. I didn't smell any of them though.

Finally it happened. Ginger got her degree in cat mangling one fine spring day when she went out, saw the cats and wanted to play. She trotted up to a pair of them, and I assume that one or the other didn't want to be labled as a dog lover so Ginger got a snoot full of hooks, and bled. Weird thing about it, she just sat down, lick her nose a couple of times and looked at the two villans for about 5 seconds, then she exploded. She always had quicker reflexes than most dogs I'd known, and her teeth were quite sharp, especially on the back side of her canines. She used my truck as a pace truck a few times and could maintain 45 mph for about a block or so, but I never found out what top end was.

There was this sudden snarl, then a blur of gold and black. She had cat 'A' by the back of the neck, shook about 3 times and tossed it. Cat 'B' made a break and ALMOST got to the tree, then it too got the shake and toss treatment. I got her under control, disposed of the evidence and that night she smiled as she slept beside the bed. Ginger and my Remington pump w/ CB's was an unstoppable force in the 'hood after that. When I moved down to the Keys sometime later, Ms. Helen had 3 cats. I don't know if they were the original cats or not, neither did she. Nor did she lose sleep over it as she thought she had too many anyway. So did I.

Well, there you go. I vote for any good sized dog that you can train with the assistance of 17 identical cats, even if not of the same disposition. I wouldn't put a proper bird dog on a cat as they're too valuable, and might be injured. Ginger didn't care much for the sound of guns, but obviously had lesbian tendancies. A purrfect combination! Sorry this was so long.

Dan

Pres., TYGC
www.Vizslaseatum.too

Ned my best field lion/ranch cougar dog has been Maggie,my Golden Retrieve.She has hated cats from birth.One winter when she was 3 1/2 years old we had a lot of snow.She killed cats at will as her longer legs propelled her faster.The cats would flounder,bogged down.I've seen her throw one straight up in the air and nail it when it hit the ground.That spring when it thawed I had 20 plus field lions that I found in the yard.That doesn't count the ones I saw her dispatch that I disposed of immediately.She has cancer now and I don't think she'll she next fall.Never had a better bird dog,ducks,geese,pheasants,grouse and partridge she good on all of them.Got a female lab pup out of Candlewoods Ramblin' Man who shows real promise though.

The best cat-killer I have ever seen, is the noble Australian Shepherd. Extremely agile, lightning fast, and smart! We had one that could jump from the ground to the haymow, plucking a cat off it's perch in the process. Of course, it made the hunting mighty scarce, but if you want efficiency....

As an aside, I used to hunt pheasants with them, without a gun. The Aussie was fast enough and could leap high enough to catch the pheasants in transition from rising from the ground to level flight, and would bring them back, live, to my hand.

Catahoula's? Are those them hounds from Hawaii? derf

Things are starting to focus here. I don't think I want a catch dog. Probably ruin too much meat. Does anyone have knowledge of cat/dog chases? Do the cats tree quickly, or do they head for the next county?

They like to go vertical when they can Ned. My .257 will do that to 'em whether they are ready or not.

G.ned ludd , have only watched one cat/dog chase that I can recall. Dog was a nice choclate lab , smart , good disposition , I think he was attempting to play. The cat didn't see it that way ,ran for a bit and when the dog caught up it dropped to the ground, rolled and came up under Mr.Dog with claws extended.Needless to say , vital areas were hit and the dog yelped and ran off ,sat down and licked the affected areas and looked puzzled/hurt . I think he felt betrayed. The cat went up a tree and stayed there till the dog left.Both animals belonged to friends so the cat didn't get removed with extreme prejudice, actually, giving the Devil his due, it was one of the slickest quickest moves I have ever seen.

More good information then. If it's to be a short chase and a treeing, what kind of dog? My most wonderful golden was lousy on squirrels once the left the ground, although he could spot them a long, long way away and he knew they were up that tree they jumped to somewhere. On the other hand he would sit very close to me in the dove fields and actually reach out a paw and poke me if I didn't mount the gun on a very distant incoming dove. I can use a smaller dog on short chases. One that hunts by eye, not nose. Maybe one of 120's Aussie shepherds?

Hello Mr Boss Kongoni: Thanks for the link. Some of those Dogs and Hogs are certified killers. Perhaps a little more dog power than I need. But awesome, nonetheless. Thanks, ned

My mom and dad are here for the weekend, and my father had a good news story to tell. I guess the barn has sagged enough on one end that Trooper, his Jack Russell terrier was able to get into the haymow and took care of the last barn cats.

I shed a tear for that, as that was going to be my best chance to "blood" my rifle for a while.

Hello 120 mm. Hope all's well. Too bad you don't have any ranch cougars left to try. But who knows, with summer coming? Regards, ned

Think of it ned,,,beagles are bred short legged so not to out run the quarry,,,Thus out of the line of sight,,hopefully, ,Hounds for species that "climb" are bred to over take the target to force them to climb the nearest thing they can find If picked up in an open field,,,,the results aren't pretty,,,Clay

120mm,

The Jack Russell is an excellent field lion dog. Small enough to get anywhere a cat can hide & they'll get the job done for you if the cat doesn't make the tree. Only thing to watch is don't work 'em on cats too soon. Start out with rats or such. Something that'll bite but not hurt them bad to teach 'em not to play. 18 months old they'll be ready for dangerous game. Russells will stay under the tree way better than bird dogs too.

You don't need the stamina of coonhounds for cats. I've never known one run further than the nearest tree.

If you're hunting country with little vertical cover team up a flushing dog with a greyhound. Give the cat a fair start then slip the hound. You can get greyhounds free from the local dogtrack.

G. ned ludd,
if your are serious about honest opinions or fact's, then get a couple of jagdterrier or a Deutsch Drahthaar.
Any question's, ask me.

I know this is a bit out of phase with the discussion but years ago I read a story in an outdoor magazine about some boys out west using greyhounds to rein in the 'yote population. It seems one of their peers wanted to play too, and he did not have a greyhound. He did however have a cheetah, and figuring it to be fleet of foot he set out on the chase amidst great ribbing and merriment.

They spotted a 'yote after a few miles of driving, stopped and set about unleashing the hounds of hell. All expectations were dashed however when the cat was first out of the blocks. The greyhounds which were normally aggressive killers, took a look at the cat and went back in the boxes. The 'yote had parked his butt on a small rise to admire the hysteria, and was apparently hypnotized by the spotted blur hurtling at him at low warp numbers.

It turned out that Mr. Cheetah was a sporting fella, for upon arrival he slapped the 'yote silly and sent him rolling across the hilltop, then nonchalantly trotted back to the truck. Mr. 'Yote, apparently humiliated by all of this slinked away contritely, looking back over his shoulder several times as if to verify that he had not actually been chewing peyote.

The cat's owner received no further ribbing, the greyhounds refused to leave the boxes for the rest of the day, and there was great scientific discussion regarding the speed of light on the way home. Methinks everyone learned something that day, even the cheetah.

Dan

Pres., TYGC
www.WorldsfastestPussy.cat

G. ned ludd,

if you want a small dog, then get a jagdterrier. If you want a average or larger dog then get Deutsch Drahthaar.
Jadgterrier are mostly for flushing birds while a Deutsch Drahthaar will point birds giving you alot of time to prepare yourself a shot. For more information on Deutsch Drahthaar, then please visit www.vdd-gna.org
I currently own a Deutsch Drahthaar which is a 60 pound female and to my eye's, it's the best damn versatile hunting dog breed that exist today.
Even though it's not legal to hunt deer with dog's in Oregon, my female has the natural ability to bring them to me in a chase simular to a border collie
rounding up sheep while baying/barking. She is also a excellent fur & waterfowl & upland dog as well. Rhodesian Ridgeback within the USA or A.K.C. have been bred out
of natural ability. You would be better off importing a Ridgeback from Australia or maybe some part's of Africa. Beside, a Rhodesian Ridgeback is a sight-
hound not a scent hound.