Hey everyone. It's been a long time since I've written here so I thought it would be a good idea to fill everyone in on what I've been up to and why I've been "radio silent" as of late.

Although there were a lot of highlights and exciting things that happened for me, 2023 was one of the most challenging years of recent memory. I'm not going to get into any of the personal stuff here, but several of you have reached out asking what I've been up to and if I plan on putting out more content and more videos on YouTube. So, let's get into it.

Old Dogs are the Best

As I write this, it's March 17th and bobcat season has been over for just over 2 weeks. The last week of season the mountains I hunt got hit with a huge snowstorm, and while I did manage to get one snow day in searching for tracks, after that we were pretty much snowed out as the conditions were far too treacherous. Oregon Coast Range snowstorms are no joke. But prior to that, I actually had some of the best days hunting with my dogs of my life and that is largely due to a new dog I acquired named Rider.

Rider is a 10-year-old Bluetick given to me by my good friend to use as a "pup trainer" with my young aspiring bobcat dogs. Rider has treed hundreds of bobcats and is a true seasoned pro. He strikes from the rig, cold trails, starts tracks, jumps cats, and is a rock-solid locating tree dog. The full package, if you will. It took some convincing of my wife to let me bring him home, but I absolutely love the idea of giving good old hunting dogs a comfy retirement home -- so I jumped at the opportunity to bring him into my pack.

I think it was my third trip out with Rider that we caught our first bobcat of the season -- I nice 24.5lb tom. Yes, I know the bobcat's weight because I killed him and brought him home with me. His hide is currently drying on a stretcher, and I plan on making a rug out of him. I will never forget that day as it was a turning point for my younger male dogs, Roux, Clover, and Bruno -- they kept up with Rider the whole race, which lasted about 6 hours by the way, and even contributed to picking up some losses. I don't think I've ever worked harder to tree an animal than that cat and success that day all came down to a decision I had made that no matter what I was not going to give up on this track until we had it caught. And that's exactly what happened.

Prior to that, I was struggling bad. Really bad. All season, I was attempting to get my greenhorn dogs onto bobcats, and although we were putting in a good effort and getting a few tracks started here and there, we were having an extremely difficult time and every day out was a battle to keep a positive attitude.

The Struggle is Real

But the roots of that struggle go back much further. Those of you who have read my book, or have at least heard me talk about it, will know that it's all about Whiskey, the old Walker female my mentor had given me as a pup trainer. Sadly, she died unexpectedly in August of 2022, just before that season started. That lead to a very tough season where I was relying on Coulee and Roux who had hunted with Whiskey, hoping they had absorbed some of her talent.

Most of my hunting videos on YouTube are from that 2022/2023 season and as you'll notice, we didn't catch much. We caught one cat on our own that year, and unfortunately, I didn't get any usable footage of the cat in the tree, so a lot of people don't believe me that we actually caught it. I promise we did. Maybe it was a little bit too big to show on the interwebs. Whatever. If it weren't for the generosity of my mentor and his hunting partner, with whom I've since become great friends, my dogs would have seen far fewer bobcats. So, thank you, gentlemen.

A Year of “Dabbling” in YouTube

Once that season was over, I started focusing a lot more on growing my YouTube channel. A side note on that: the main reason I started the YouTube channel was simply to have a way to promote my book, Cat Dog Chronicles, and I didn’t exactly plan on becoming a "YouTuber." Overall, I enjoy the process of filming and editing videos, but man is it a lot of work. I don't really consider myself a perfectionist, but I'm definitely on that spectrum somewhere, so when I put something out in the world that I'm not fully happy with or proud of, it really bothers me. This is most likely the reason why you haven't seen any new videos out of me lately -- it's a bad excuse, but I simply haven't had the time or mental bandwidth to put in the necessary effort to make good videos. I'm sorry if you enjoy watching my videos, maybe at some point I'll start making them again.

Starting the 2023/2024 hunting season, I was optimistic that if I just spent enough time out in the woods, covered enough miles of road, and ran the dogs hard enough, we would luck our way into some bobcat trees. Well, that didn't really happen and I spent the first couple months of season really struggling. This was around the time when I got overwhelmed with pretty much everything going on in my life and decided that for the sake of my own mental health, I was going to drop everything extra and focus only on hunting. So that's what I did and that's why you haven't heard from me, unless you've tuned into the handful of random YouTube livestreams I've been on with the "HoundTuber" boys.

Blue Dog Redemption

Luckily, Rider came along and bailed me out and we are all in a much better place. We treed that cat I mentioned, and treed a couple more, though I had a hard time finding those ones -- I believe Rider and count them as success. Of course, I don't have video evidence of those cats so you won't see those races on YouTube; they will stay tucked away as fond memories I'll always have for myself.

Perhaps the biggest highlight of this last season was watching my two blue males, Bruno and Clover, get their "lights" turned on while following Rider's lead. Roux did great, too, but he has a couple years on these blue boys so it feels different.

What's Next?

Well, that's a great question. I have always been an "ideas" person, but over the years I've learned that ideas aren't worth anything without execution. A year of dabbling in YouTube has shown me where my real passion's lay, and that's with writing. Writing for me is my absolute favorite artform, and sometimes it takes messing around with other modalities to realize what you really like doing.

My plan as of right now is to shift my focus back to writing, and specifically, writing more books. I have begun work on a new book, and you may be surprised to hear that it's not directly related to hound hunting. I do have another hound book idea that I'm really excited about, but I need to let that idea simmer for a while and may need to save that project for 2025.

That's all I have for now, thanks for reading and catching up with me.

Sincerely,

Niklas

P.S. I'm only offering this to newsletter subscribers, but if you want to get a free download of my audiobook, Cat Dog Chronicles, through Audible, I have a bunch of free codes I can give out -- just reply to this email or email me at houndrunnerweekly@gmail.com and I'll get you hooked up!

Seth is a member of the Houndsman XP team and you can check them out here:

https://houndsmanxp.com/

As a reminder, this week I'm hosting the Monday Night Livestream on my channel (@houndontherun) so be sure to hit the notification bell so you get an alert right when we go live.

Hunting season is here so look forward to more videos from the woods coming up. I have also been working on my DIY dog box build I have been talking about for a while, so I should have a video or two coming out about that as well … it's been a great learning experience and I'm really happy with how it's turning out.

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Hound on the Run

A newsletter about hound dogs, wild animals, and heart-pounding good times in the woods by hound-obsessed writer, Niklas Isaac.

By Niklas Isaac

Buy My Book, "Cat Dog Chronicles" - https://www.amazon.com/Cat-Dog-Chronicles-Niklas-Isaac/dp/B0BCH39Q7B/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3H5J2HXWD9Y97&keywords=niklas+isaac&qid=1664995894&sprefix=%2Caps%2C115&sr=8-1

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Oliver Anthony has taken the world by storm with his hit song "Rich Men North of Richmond" but did you know that he is a hunter and also let's hound hunters access his property? Well, it's true and I think that's just freaking phenomenal. And for that discussion to take place on Joe Rogan's podcast, one of the biggest cultural platforms in the world, well that's just even better. We kick off the episode this week by playing and reacting to the snippet from the 2.5 hour episode between Joe and Oliver. Good stuff.

It's been a bit slow on the hound and wildlife news front, but I found a couple of interesting stories to share with you including how cougars are whacking wolves up in Washington, and how there are blue smurf dogs running around abandoned chemical plants over in Russia.

I also fill you in on details about this week's Monday Night Livestream series … normally it happens on Brett Vaughn's channel, but this week it's taking place over on the  @AnecdoteofaHoundsman  YouTube channel run by Chris Watson. Go subscribe to his page and hit the notification channel so you'll get an alert right when we go live!

Hound on the Run

A newsletter about hound dogs, wild animals, and heart-pounding good times in the woods by hound-obsessed writer, Niklas Isaac.

By Niklas Isaac

Buy Hound on the Run Merch

Buy My Book, "Cat Dog Chronicles" - https://www.amazon.com/Cat-Dog-Chronicles-Niklas-Isaac/dp/B0BCH39Q7B/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3H5J2HXWD9Y97&keywords=niklas+isaac&qid=1664995894&sprefix=%2Caps%2C115&sr=8-1 ---

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SHOW NOTES / REFERENCES

Monday Night Livestream - https://www.youtube.com/@AnecdoteofaHoundsman

Oliver Anthony on Joe Rogan Experience Podcast -

Cougars Killing Wolves in Washington - https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/cougars-killing-wolves-washington

Blue Dogs in Russia - https://allthatsinteresting.com/blue-dogs-russian-chemical-factory

If you’ve been watching and/or listening to my podcast episodes lately, you’ve heard me talk about the livestreams I’ve been participating in with the group whom I lovingly refer to as the “HoundTubers.”

You know …

• Brett Vaughn of Born 100 Years Too Late / Interviews, Stories and Tails

• Chris Watson of Anecdote of Houndsman

• George Lambert of Mountain Music and Mules

• Jonathan Jones of Uncle Papaw Jonny

It’s a great group of hound hunters who also make YouTube videos (well, Jonny makes cooking videos, but he’s down with the hounds) and I feel very lucky to hang out with them.

Normally, Brett is the man at the helm and the host of the shindig over on his Interviews, Stories, and Tails channel, but this week he’s not able to make it … so he asked me if I’d want to host the livestream on my channel.

Why of course I would!

So that’s what’s happening and is taking the place of my typical weekly podcast episode … and I hope you join me!

The Deets

Where: My YouTube channel - Hound on the Run

When: 4:30 PM PST / 5:30 PM MT / 6:30 PM CT / 7:30 PM ET

Why: Because livestreaming about hound stuff is bada$$ and you need to be there.

Be sure to subscribe to my channel and hit the notification bell so you’ll be notified the moment we go live.

That’s all for now folks, stay blessed.

Niklas

Throughout the interview we learn all about Brett's history with dogs, starting with Airedales and running coyote dogs (sighthounds) before discovering his true love of dry ground lion dogs. I had a great time chatting with him and I think you'll really enjoy this one.

As mentioned towards the end, Brett has some puppies out of really good stock that are currently available for sale, and he asked me to put his email address in the description for anyone interested, so here it is: brettvaughn@icloud.com.

Born 100 Years Too Late on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BrettVaughnB100

Interviews, Stories, and Tails on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@InterviewsStoriesandTales

Monday Night Livestreams start at 4:30 PST/5:30 MT on the Interviews, Stories, and Tails YouTube channel.

If you want to learn more about the current issue related to bear and mountain lion hunting that I talked about in the intro, please visit https://www.howlforwildlife.org/nmbearcougar.

In this episode, I talk about:

• How I'm preparing my dogs for the upcoming bobcat pursuit season

• What I use on their feet to keep them conditioned and prevent them from busting pads (see: https://www.pawsrprotected.com/ )

• What's currently keeping me out of the woods …

• How I'm getting my dogs exercise at home …

• Why it's time to build a new dog box …

• All the different dog box designs I'm considering …

• Why I need all of you to send me dog box ideas and inspiration! …

• How I'm making progress on the audiobook version of by book, Cat Dog Chronicles (https://www.amazon.com/Cat-Dog-Chronicles-Niklas-Isaac/dp/B0BCH39Q7B/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3H5J2HXWD9Y97&keywords=niklas+isaac&qid=1664995894&sprefix=%2Caps%2C115&sr=8-1)

• A reminder that every Monday you need to tune into the Interviews, Stories, and Tails YouTube channel to join our livestream! (https://www.youtube.com/@InterviewsStoriesandTales/videos)

If all goes well, the interview I had planned for today will go out next week, so stay tuned.

As always, I greatly appreciate everyone tuning in and for all the positive feedback I've received. It's a lot of work to produce these podcasts and videos, but it definitely feels like it's worth it and I hope what I'm doing is making a difference in the hound world, even if just a little bit.

Sincerely,

Niklas

Also on this episode, I answer a listener question from the Hound on the Run Hotline from a gentleman who’s running into some issues with getting his young English hound to come back to him while hunting. Full disclosure, I am not a professional dog trainer, but I think about this stuff non-stop all day long and have come up with a lot of tips and tricks from training my own dogs. I hope that at the very least, I helped generate some new ideas on how to work with young, stubborn hounds.

If you have any tips or tricks about dog recall training, leave a comment or call into the hotline!

SHOW NOTES & RESOURCES

Check out the Fueled by Joy Podcast: https://joydogfood.com/fueled-by-joy-working-dog-podcast/

Find a Joy Dog Food dealer near you: https://joydogfood.com/dealer-locator/

Check out Joy Dog Food on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@joydogfood/videos

Joy Dog Food on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JoyDogFood

Joy Dog Food on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joydogfood/

Watch the Episode on YouTube

As always, thanks for tuning in and don't forget to like, subscribe, and hit the notification bell!

Show Notes and Sources

Hound Hunting Season Proposal in South Dakota

• https://brookingsregister.com/article/south-dakota-game-fish-and-parks-commission-tackles-issues-at-its-july-meeting

• https://listen.sdpb.org/sports-rec/2023-07-24/hunters-push-for-mountain-lion-pursuit-season-in-south-dakota

• https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/south-dakota/articles/2023-07-24/mountain-lion-sighting-prompts-warning-from-eastern-south-dakota-sheriff

• https://listen.sdpb.org/sports-rec/2023-07-21/south-dakota-hound-hunters-seek-more-mountain-lion-opportunities

• 2022 South Dakota Hunting and Trapping Handbook by sdgamefishparks - Flipsnack

Two Howl for Wildlife Actions to Take for Canada

• https://www.howlforwildlife.org/bcwolfcaribou

• https://www.howlforwildlife.org/c21senate

Arizona Man Finds Live Bobcat Behind Front Grill of His Car

• https://www.fieldandstream.com/survival/bobcat-in-car/

Rabid Beaver Attacks Girl Swimming in Georgia Lake

• https://www.fieldandstream.com/survival/fifty-pound-beaver-with-rabies-attacks-young-girl-swimming-in-georgia-lake/

Biden's Dog Keeps Biting People

• https://www.npr.org/2023/07/26/1190123428/white-house-says-bidens-dog-to-get-more-training-after-biting-secret-service-age

• https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jul/25/joe-biden-first-dog-biting-attacks

Check it out, leave a comment, give it a like, and don’t forget to subscribe to Hound on the Run on Youtube.

Subscribe on YouTube

Show Notes & References

Weyerhaeuser Bans Hound Hunting on Their Permit Properties

• https://myodfw.com/articles/hunting-private-lands-access-habitat-program

• https://recreation.weyerhaeuser.com/News-Safety/Open-Access

• https://www.change.org/p/weyerhaeuser-rescind-weyerhaeuser-letter-disallowing-dog-hunting-after-2014-season

Washington Game Commissioner Violated Law

• https://sportsmensalliance.org/news/victory-judge-declares-washington-game-commissioner-violated-law/

Bobcat Attacks Camp Counselor

• https://www.ctinsider.com/news/article/ct-bobcat-attack-rabies-lyme-camp-counselor-18182659.php

Hiker Brings Shotgun Into Canadian Park, Shoots Bear

• https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/canadian-hiker-brings-shotgun-to-national-park-shoots-black-bear-because-he-was-scared/ar-AA1dA7YY?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531&cvid=095d54cc5037440f882293d11e1091bd&ei=52

Big Cats in England

• https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/23644164.big-cat-hunters-have-proof-running-wild-cotswolds/

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Master_of_Game

In the intro, I share some details about a new livestream series I got invited to be a part of with Brett Vaughn of the Born 100 Years Too Late YouTube channel along with other hound hunters on YouTube. The livestreams happen every Monday night on Brett’s longform content YouTube channel - Interviews, Stories, and Tails. Be sure to subscribe to that channel and hit the notification bell so you’ll get an alert when we go live. Should be a good time!

Get all my links in one place: https://linktr.ee/houndontherun

Show Notes and References

• Canada Lifts Ban on Training Pens -https://www.nationalobserver.com/2023/07/12/news/ontario-greenlights-dog-hunting-training-facilities

• Wolves Kill Mountain Lions Kittens Cutting Population in Half - https://getpocket.com/explore/item/how-wolves-are-driving-down-mountain-lion-populations?utm_source=pocket-newtab, https://cowboystatedaily.com/2023/07/11/snacking-on-kittens-and-starving-adults-wolves-may-have-cut-northwest-wyomings-big-cat-population-in-half/

• Cop Shoots the Wrong Dog - https://nypost.com/2023/07/12/cop-hunting-aggressive-dog-shoots-familys-labrador/

• Bears Are Digging Under California Homes - https://www.fieldandstream.com/conservation/black-bears-dig-california-homes/

Videos We React To

• Dog Jiu Jiutsu - Paul Hunter (@paulhunterjiujitsu) | Instagram

• Bobcat Catches Squirrel - https://www.instagram.com/p/CukP7jVpnoZ/

• Bear Moose Kill Fail - https://www.instagram.com/p/CufM4Mtp1LD/

• Raccoon Body Checks Opossum - https://www.instagram.com/p/CuKf0RkP3XH/

• Golden Retriever Knee Capping https://www.instagram.com/p/CuKWh9gAUnO/

Subscribe now

Subscribe to Chris's channel - @AnecdoteofaHoundsman https://www.youtube.com/@AnecdoteofaHoundsman

Get all my links here: linktr.ee/houndontherun

SHOW NOTES:

• How Chris builds his boxes on the fly …

• Chris's favorite budget-friendly material for building dog boxes …

• How rebar, fence posts, and bedframes are made …

• Why he started the Anecdote of a Houndsman YouTube channel …

• Why modern training collars are more humane than the old fashioned ways of dog training …

• How hound hunting is a more expensive hobby than most think …

• What a "Rez horse" is …

• Why most people should not get dogs …

• How he got started with hounds in the 90's …

• His first dog boxes …

• How he's never bought a commercially made dog box …

• Some upcoming mods for the box he just built …

• How Niklas has more dogs than will fit in his box …

• Bear hunting in Arizona …

• Why not to cold trail bears …

• Dog boxes made out of street signs …

• The magical power of conveyor belt material …

• Why it's important to share stories of people getting attacked by animals …

• Crazy Yosemite tourists …

• Choya - Chris's least favorite plant …

• Chris's signature dog box touch for tying things down …

• The magical power of mule tape …

• Don't plan, just start building it …

• Why Niklas should buy a Harbor Freight welder …

• Chris's quick tips for being prepared (watch his latest YouTube video!) …

We will return to our regularly scheduled programming next week.

If you haven’t gotten a paperback or ebook copy yet, you can check those out here:

Cat Dog Chronicles on Amazon

Thanks for listening!

Niklas

Buy Hound on the Run Merch

We now have a voicemail box for our podcast listeners! If you hear something we say on the podcast and want to share some commentary, have a fact check for us, want to tell us a related story, or just want to say hey … give us a call at 971-301-4884.

Show Notes and References

• Subscribe to Full Cry Magazine! https://fullcrymag.com/

• Main Lobsterman Win Victory Against 'Egrigious' Regulations https://www.foxnews.com/politics/maine-lobstermen-catch-big-court-victory-against-biden-administrations-egregious-regulations , https://junkscience.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/MLA-v.-NMFS-decision.pdf

• Mountain Biker Chased by Cougar on Mt. Hood https://www.kptv.com/2023/06/05/cougar-chases-mountain-biker-mt-hood/

• Cougar Chases and Attacks Mountain Biker in B.C. https://www.lakecountrycalendar.com/news/cougar-chases-and-attacks-mountain-biker-near-popular-trail-in-roberts-creek-b-c/

• Man Killed by Black Bear While Drinking Coffee https://sports.yahoo.com/mystery-huge-bear-killed-arizona-190244110.html

• Cougar Seen on Natchez Trace https://www.natchezdemocrat.com/2023/06/14/local-coach-sees-cougar-on-natchez-trace/

Show Notes/References

National Pet Preparedness Month - Disaster Response Training - https://thedaily.case.edu/national-pet-preparedness-month-week-1-disaster-response-training/

Raccoon Family Rescued from CO Home Depot -https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/nation-world/national/article276191181.html --

Woman Brings Illegal Wildlife Raccoon to Pet Shop in Maine for Grooming - https://www.natureworldnews.com/articles/56678/20230528/woman-brings-illegal-wildlife-raccoon-pet-shop-maine-grooming-rabies.htm

New Study: Having a Pet Dog May Increase Your Risk of a Sleep Disorder - https://scitechdaily.com/new-study-having-a-pet-dog-may-increase-your-risk-of-a-sleep-disorder/

Commissioners Approve a 2024 Mountain Lion Season in Nebraska - https://www.ksnblocal4.com/2023/06/09/commissioners-approve-2024-mountain-lion-season/

We had a great time, aside from the ticks, and I hope you enjoy the video we made from that day which is live on YouTube now. Check it out.

Please note that moving forward new podcast episodes will be release every Sunday. It just feels like the right day for the show.

SHOW NOTES:

• Check out my book, "Cat Dog Chronicles" on Amazon

• Get a Hound on the Run T-Shirt, Hoodie, or Sticker at our merch shop!

  Visit the Merch Shop

CHIT CHAT

• Joe Rogan teaches us about how dogs smell with their ears, from JRE episode #1994 - Theo Von

NEWS

• National Dog Bite Awareness Week

• Wildlife Officer Nabs Bear Poacher

• 'Aggressive Bobcat' Who Attacked Turkey Hunter Still on the Loose

• 9-Month Old Baby Killed in Dog Attack

THE BOOK SHELF

• "The Master of Game" by Edward, Second Duke of York

VIDEO REACTIONS

• This week’s videos were all found on Instagram. You'll just have to watch.

I’m very excited to announce that the Hound on the Run Podcast is back in action. It has been over two years ago since I published my last episode, and at that point, I had decided to shelf the podcast because I just had too much going on.

But now, we’re changing up the format and I’m bringing on a very special co-host to official reboot the podcast — listen to find out who it is! Before, like most podcasts, I was only doing audio, but I want to cast as wide a net as possible to maximize our efforts, so we’re going all-in and including video as well.

Moving forward, you can listen to the podcast right here on Houndontherun.com or in your favorite podcast app on your phone (Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, Podbean, etc.)

And you can watch new episodes on YouTube and Rumble.

Show Notes - HOTR Podcast Episode 1

Now that we have the announcement out of the way, here are the show notes and references from Episode 1.

• Watch the video version of the podcast!

  • YouTube: Hound on the Run

  • Rumble: Hound on the Run on Rumble

• The Hound on the Run merch shop is live! Go buy a t-shirt, hoodie, or sticker!

  • Hound on the Run Merch Shop

• That time I tried to be a good Samaritan coonhunter by helping some folks on the side of the road deal with a zombie raccoon situation …

• I tell a little bit about the book I wrote:

  • Cat Dog Chronicles, by Niklas Isaac on Amazon

• We discuss 3 wildlife-related news stories:

  • A 70-Year-Old Hiker Fought Off a Mountain Lion in Utah - Backpacker

  • "Aggressive Bears" Have Closed Part of the Appalachian Trail to Camping - Backpacker

  • Cheetah deaths raise questions over India’s reintroduction scheme | India | The Guardian

• Garmin releases a new dog tracking handheld and I recommend checking out the Double U podcast episode giving a feature-by-feature breakdown of the new product.

  • Garmin Alpha® 300 | Sporting Dog Tracking Handheld

  • Hound PodCast: Double U Hunting Supply: EP 290: Announcing The Garmin Alpha 300i, TT25 And More! on Apple Podcasts

• I give a demo of the incredible website Howl for Wildlife and how it’s an indispensable tool for us hunters to make our voices heard:

  • Howl For Wildlife

• Video Reactions:

  • Woman survives five days in the Australian bush living off of wine and lollipops | Watch (msn.com)

  • Nile Crocodile Steals Wild Dog's Food

Other than a handful of YouTube videos I’ve put out over the last few months, there hasn’t been much excitement on my end. The Oregon bobcat harvest season ended on February 28th, but unfortunately due to heavy snows, I wasn’t able to hunt the last week and a half of the season. This was terrible timing as some things were starting to click for my dogs, specifically Roux who started striking from the truck and starting his own tracks this season. I also got the Blue Pups on a few good snow tracks this year, and although we never found the critters in the trees, I felt it was very good experience for my young pack to get some cat scent up their noses.

Check out the YouTube channel here if you are interested in catching up - Hound on the Run on YouTube

Enough snow accumulated in the mountains that I hadn’t even been able to get my dogs out for exercise until yesterday. Needless to say, we’ve all been going a bit stir crazy and are completely ready for summer to get here so we can do some serious camping.

Anyways, to keep you up to speed on future Hound on the Run happenings, here are a few things to look forward to.

Audiobook Version of “Cat Dog Chronicles”

I have been blown away by how many copies of my book, “Cat Dog Chronicles,” you all have bought. But through conversations I’ve had with many friends, family members, and strangers on the internet, I have learned that many folks simply don’t have much time to read actual books these days. But many do have lots of time while doing other things—like driving—to listen to audiobooks. I, also, am a huge fan of audiobooks.

So that’s what I’m working on—turning “Cat Dog Chronicles” into an audiobook that will be available on Audible.

Recording will start soon and I’ll keep you all posted when it’s ready to go. It will be a big project for sure, but I’m aiming to have it done in a few months.

More YouTube Videos Coming

I have been having a great time editing and publishing videos on the Hound on the Run YouTube channel. Many, many hours of video were recorded in the field this hunting season, and I still have 3 or 4 more hunting vlog videos in the works. But once those are up, I’ll be shifting focus slightly on the YouTube channel and covering some of the other aspects of owning hunting dogs and some non-hunting training-related stuff. I might even be scheming up some hound-centric comedy videos.

Here’s my latest video where Roux and I spent a beautiful morning following tracks in the snow!

Anyone want to see me take my dog Finn to a salt spa therapy session?!?! Should be pretty funny!

Hound on the Run Finally has a Real Logo

Hound on the Run is clearly a bootstrapped operation and business decisions are made on an as-needed basis. So, it took me a long time to get an actual logo made. But the time has come and the talented designer over at Outer Agenda came up with a logo that I love. Check it out!

If all goes as planned, we’ll have this sweet design available on t-shirts and hats among other items coming soon.

Thanks for Stopping By!

I hope everyone has had an excellent Easter and got to spend some quality time with family. I appreciate all the love and support you’ve shown me and look forward to sharing some exciting new projects moving forward.

That’s all for now, see you next time!

Niklas

Happy New Year, my fellows. May 2023 bring you and your dogs much success in all ways.

As far as Hound on the Run is concerned, 2023 is off to a great start. We’re only 10 days in and I’ve already been invited on one of my favorite hound hunting podcasts to talk about my book, Cat Dog Chronicles—none other than Ben Sheet’s Tree Talkin’ Time.

I had a great time sitting down (virtually) with Ben to share all about my book and my journey so far into hound hunting.

You can listen to the Tree Talkin’ Time podcast on your favorite podcast platform or app.

Here’s a link to the episode on Apple podcasts.

For long-time Hound on the Run subscribers, you may recall that I interviewed Ben Sheet’s on my short-lived podcast—he was one of the first guests over 2 years ago. Since then, he has been chugging away putting out some top-notch episodes with a wide range of guests in the tree dog world. I’m a huge fan of what Ben is doing, and I highly recommend you give him a listen.

New Coon Hunting Video on YouTube

Raccoon trees are all that’s on the menu this year for the Blue Pups. And in this week’s video, I take them out to our coon hunting spot for two nights of cold December hunting.

On the first night, it’s just the pups and I plus Finn and Plum joining in as my dedicated coon dogs. No trees were made that night, but we made some good progress in terms of overall handling and cooperation—there were several times where I recalled the pups from long distances (I think the furthest was 500 yards) and they came back to me perfectly. Since that video, I have successfully introduced the tone on their GPS tracking collar to function as the recall command and they are picking it quickly. Not bad for about 7 months old.

On the second night in the video, my friend Charlie joins me with two of his coon dogs, Ember and Topanga. Ember came through and got one treed for us and the puppies followed along as best they could.

Tika, the only female in the litter, completely surprised me on the tree … you’ll just have to watch but I tell you—she understood the assignment.

Pip, on the other hand … let’s just say I need to work on some tree manners with him so he doesn’t get his butt whooped in the future by a less patient dog than Topanga.

Watch it here:

Thanks for tuning in, I’ll check back with you soon.

Sincerely,

Niklas

This week’s video was recorded about 6 weeks ago on a day when I snuck away from work to cash in on the first good snow of the year up in the mountains. As you may have read in chapter 6 of Cat Dog Chronicles, I have a love-hate relationship with hunting in the snow. Being able to see a cat’s tracks in the snow is invaluable for someone like me with dogs who are still learning the cat hunting game, but there are so many challenges that the snow brings that it can be really frustrating. I’ll admit that I used to hate the snow a lot more than I do now, and the more time I spend out in it driving around looking for cat tracks, the more I recognize what a remarkable tool the white stuff is.

When hunting snow, conditions are everything. Yes, it can be easier for dogs to run a cat track in the snow than it is on bare ground, but that’s only if it’s good snow we’re talking about. And where I hunt in the Coast Range of Oregon, opportunities to hunt good snow are few and far between. As you’ll see in the video, the snow conditions were far from ideal. But even when it’s all wet, sloppy, and splotchy, I’ve grown to really enjoy the act of hanging my head out the window looking for tracks.

Even when they aren’t runnable, laying my eyes on those silver dollar-sized paw prints with the tiny little toes is exhilarating.

I hope you enjoy this week’s video, let me know what you think in the comments.

Oh yeah one more thing … even if you don’t watch the whole video, I highly encourage you to skip to the very end for a healthy dose of comedy at my expense. It’s too gross to share here in text so you’ll just have to watch. Hounds are so nasty!!!!

Merry Christmas,

Niklas