One dog?

[brycejohnson]

From time to time I hear guys say things like, "he can tree his own bear," or "he has no problem treeing bear by himself." Most of these guys are talking about specific dogs in their pack, but do not run those dogs solo on bear. So my question is, how many of you just run one hound for bears? And how much success have you had when you do it? I had noticed in my small bear hunting career that pressure was key, and it didn't seem like one dog could always apply the pressure needed to get it to climb. So, what do you think?

[Hound man]

I have had several hounds out of the line I hunt that treed bear by them self
most of the time I try to at least have 2 dogs on a bear just to help so one dog don't get in to trouble an get beat to bad But I have had one hound tree bear a lot off baits and tracks on the road a lot of times it happens when try starting a bad track an the dog gets in some where I cant get anther dog to them

[JConroy]

One good dog can catch a lot of bears but sometimes need that little bit of extra pressure to put a tough one up or stop it, 2 good bear dogs should be able to bay and tree the same amount as a whole pack of dogs.

[come-hunt]

One cowboy can drive one cow, two cowboys can drive two cows but three cowboys can drive a whole dang bunch of "em.

[cobalt]

I think that the truth is if there are more than one decent dog on a bear the better the chances get of catching it. It is also easier on the dogs on a running bear if the work load is shared.
I have run one dog only many times due to injury or dogs in heat, etc., where I had no choice and have caught at least 100 bears with one dog. It is the true test of the qualities in any dog to catch its own game with no help. I have found it is much safer for a single dog on a mean bear than with multiple dogs although it is much harder to stop a walking bear with one dog.

[lgwyn]

I have seen a lot of bears treed by one dog. It was the track dog that we let out first to get the track lined out and he treed it. I think a whole lot of if you need more or not also depends on the bear that you are after, some are lazy and wont run and others will run a long ways. thats just my thinking on it.

[tod watterson]

I think it depends an awful lot on the bear .Seen a lot of dogs catch a bear by themselves and I've seen a lot of times a whole pack couldn't tree one . Depends a lot on the terrain , availability of water , temperature , and mostly temperament of the bear . If you can keep dogs on a runner they usually tree , might take ten miles, but if you get on a mean walking bear in thick brush and ledges you might never get him to climb .We walked a bear in Idaho about ten years ago that laid in the river below the trucks about a hundred yards for an hour . We were down to about 5 or 6 good dogs and some pups but it was about day three of hunting and they were pretty tired . There were some other guys from Oregon camped by us and they came down the road just as the bear came out of the river and walked across the road with about ten dogs on him , ten yards in front of 4 trucks full of hounds . Well they pulled up and tail gated on him with everything they had , bear never ran a step, just headed up on a steep logged off cut with new alders bout ten feet tall . Dogs would just drop out one or two at a time till finally they were all done . Seen two different bears in southern Utah that walked good packs for miles , one got by a road and we were able to get a bunch more in and treed him in a pinion 6 feet off the ground . Bear was 30 years old . The other we never did tree and we ran him several times . A buddy of mine finally ran him in a cave and killed him a few years later , he said it was older than the first one . Both bears had places they headed for when dogs got on them , one headed for about the biggest ,nastiest, steepest , ledgy canyon for miles but he had to cross a road and that's where we were waiting and turned him back .The other headed out in the desert ,ceders , pinions and bad ledges and no roads . He would go halfway to Moab then turn and come back , same basic path within a hundred yards or so every time . Both bears had been ran by houndsmen for years and had figured out what worked for losing dogs and I'm sure that's why they lived so long .

[northwestcat]

some may argue this and tell me i am full of #$%^ but truth be told i was a hard core bear hunter for years till swapping over to just straight cat. i hunted three dogs and that was it i treed or caught two to three bear a day for 4-5 months straight nothing was over four years old and i had one dog that was a solid do it by him self deal he had his flaws was not the fastest but was persistent and would always produce hands down the best by dog i ever ownedfor the bear. i caught well over 200 bear with this dog and two others and could tell you i killed over 50 of those to him solo bayied,walking or up a tree the dog was sold along with the rest as they were not the sort i liked for the other stuff. i owned one out of a pile of dogs back yard bred nothing fancy worlds uglyiest thing you ever saw for a walker but produced he wsa the sort a guy wanted to bear hunt solo or with one or two others. i also have one to this day that trees them very consistant when he trashes on them and anyone he gets after is bushed or bay and this only happens 10-15 times a year.

[Wackfelt]

In Sweden we are not aloud to use moor then two dogs when we hunt bears so hear the dogs must be able do run bears by them self.

[houndawg100]

I've had a two dogs that would tree or bay a bear by themselves. Depending on terrain I figured it out when I was unable to get another dog in after it was jumped on a cold trail. Ended up treed by the lone dog. Not just once either. Both dogs were really gritty. The one female was one of those that was not very fast but was always there. The other is a male I still have and after getting his ass kicked a few times has learned how not to get hurt while by himself. I do like to have another dog in there to help. I've seen other dogs help each other out of a tight spot. Had the other dog not been there it would have gotten caught. It's my opinion that if you have a pile of dogs on a bear one or some of the dogs are gonna get caught cause there is no room for them to spring out of the way. Four to six good one can get the job done here.


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[kordog]

im into bear hunting and hounds for the long run .keeping just one hound is risky and counterproductive to me being able to do that.if your hunting a good dog you might as well be training as well for the future imo.hounds get old quick and some die young .you cant just go to the hardware store for a good bearhound. my hunting time in the woods is precious to me so having an up and coming beardog to keep me hunting hopefully gets me there even in the future.sometimes you dont have enough hounds when they are spent and beat up .there have been days hunting bear where things go to shi@ where i wished i didnt own a single hound ,but the good days far outweigh the bad.i breed hounds with the goal of getting dogs that are capable of treeing bear alone and sticking with a bear alone if need be. it doesnt always go to plan lol .i can still appreciate lesser dogs that add to a pack.

[Coon hunter15 wb]

take a gritty sun a buck

[Emily]

In NY, we have to have at least two to be legal, but no more than 8.
I have two dogs that tree bear fine together. They work well together. I always hope the bigger one gets there first, because he's smarter. The other one is fine on coon, and all heart, but he's apt to do something dumb if he doesn't have his backup with him. If the bigger one gets there first, he can handle the situation and I'm not worried. But it very much depends on the bear. There's lots of ledges here, and the educated bears will bail off a ledge and leave the dumb dog stranded. The smart dog just runs down the long way and catches up.
If it were legal, the smart dog could get the job done by himself, but it never hurts to have some backup, and I don't like jeopardizing my dogs unnecessarily. They work well together distracting the bear for each other. I would never turn out the other dog on bear by himself, even if it were legal.
Now, neither of them can hold a bobcat for long by itself.

[bchoundman]

I ran a grizz last weekend three dogs two older one pup. three stopped bear bay ups. got pup and one dog off at second bay up. my female ran the bear by herself for about a half mile. got it stopped the third time and I got in and got her cought. she seemed to do fine. But I don't normally dump less then 3.

[Outlaw 3]

I have seen some of the dogs with the least amount of grit tree bear by themselves and a large pack of gritty bear dogs have a harder time getting one to climb. I don't know if the rough pack puts too much pressure for the bear to find a tree or if it is just a coincidence that the solo dog got on the easy bear and the pack got on the bad one. I am inclined to believe it is different on a bear to bear basis.