Coyotes and Bears?

[LoudmouthSpike]

Hey guys. I live in southern VT and we have a pretty large coyote population. We run bears in the summer and have been trying o run bobcats this winter but we don't have very many so its been tough. We have some young dogs who need some running experience before bear season rolls around and we'd like to keep our other dogs in shape. Just wondering if you think its possible to run the bear dogs on yotes in the winter and still run bears in the summer and fall without just getting all balled up on coyotes instead.
Thanks,
Dave

[not color blind]

We run yotes every winter with our bear dogs, I think the benefits far outweigh the occasional yote chase during bear season. I will let them know it is not okay if they run one on bare ground (MOST hounds are smarter than we think). It helps the young dogs tracking ability a lot. It beats them and me sitting around getting stale. Just my opinion, now get after them yotes

[LoudmouthSpike]

Thats what I was thinking also. generally it seems that every year they need a refresher with the e collar anyway, so why not keep em in shape and try to cut down they yote population at the same time. instead of spending several days in a row with no cat race we coud run basically any day we want to. Thanks for your input.

[ColdBlue]

It is pretty common in WI, the only downside I know of is sometimes it seems like some dogs dont tree as well after being run on coyotes. That being said they learn more on the trail than they do on the chain. There is sometimes the idea that this makes them mean toward other dogs, that is simply not true in my opinion. I say run 'em.

[Jason Waterhouse]

I strongly disagree coyotes in my opinion are trash when training and running bear dogs.I cant beleive anybody would want to run coyotes when trying to find a bear track during training season and kill season. Thats whats going to happen if you expose them dogs to coyotes you will start running alot more coyotes than bears. Do yourself a favor and keep them off coyotes. If your concerned about keeping them in shape you can always rode your dogs behind a atv thats what i do. I start rodeing them behind my atv first of may come june 1st there in pretty good shape and after a few good bear runs they get in shape pretty fast. If you want to run coyotes get a coyote dog there cheap and everywhere. Real easy to train one alot harder to train a bear dog around these parts anyways. You are trying to make cat dogs RIGHT? What happens when your dogs are cold trailing a cat track and bump a hot coyote there goes your cat dogs. It will happen. Just trying to help ya out. This is my opinion!

[not color blind]

Hey Jason, I'm not trying trying to start anything here but do you run your bear dogs on cats? If you do than what is the difference between them occasionally trashing on cats or coyotes when you are bear hunting? I honestly only remember 1 or 2 coyote chases all of last bear season (training and kill season). Most people don't have the money to buy/feed different dogs for different game (I know I dont ). Around here we have the same problem LMspike has finding cat tracks, and for me I won't drive past a yote track or two, burning up gas/time looking for a cat track only to go home after not finding one. I guess we'll probably agree to disagree on this one. Take care and good luck hunting, Randy.

[Jason Waterhouse]

Well the differance is that for every cat track around here you have 15 to 20 coyote tracks. Just that ratio alone is enuff for me not to touch the coyotes with my bear dogs. Plus bobcats are tree game where coyotes are not. I guess thats why i dont mind running bobcats with my beardogs instead of coyotes.

[LoudmouthSpike]

Thanks to everyone who has replied. I had no intention of starting a despute. So I apologize if I have. You all make good points. On the one hand I would like to get the pups some experience, but on the other i do hate the idea of chasing coyotes all summer when I want to be treeing bears. Cats are tree game as jason said and given the # of coyotes we have here it does seem that trash runs are very likely. Perhaps roading is a better solution to conditioning the dogs, and as for the pups, if they only run a few cats, but are kept in shape they will be ready to bear hunt for june and try the cats again next year. Anyone else please feel fre to continue with your replies I enjoy all opinions on the subject. And like my pups I am just learning and the more I am exposed to the better I may become at this.
Thanks,
Dave

[Jason Waterhouse]

No disputes here dave. Just opinions Im not saying im right or wrong just saying this is what i do and think. You can have 10 houndsman and asked them a question you might get 10 different answers. I guess thats why we discuss things and talk about it.

[not color blind]

What good would this board be if we all agreed on everything ? Let's hear some others opinions on this topic. Like Jason said no one's opinion is right or wrong.

[Bow]

im with jason.coyotes are the thing that get run the most as far as of game with out letting them do it.

[Borderpond]

Not Color Blind, I know several guys that run the same dogs on coyotes and bears.I sure wouldnt do it. I always had enough problems running coyotes by accident so I sure wouldnt want to encourage them.Ditto what Jason said about the number of yotes compared to cats. Like you said yourself, not much luck finding cat tracks but plenty of yotes !! Plus, I doubt many cats would run the distances that coyotes do on bare ground.

Also, an awful lot of fast running bears that never tree would end up being coyotes if you could see what the dogs were running.Believe me I know because I have been there many many times myself. I've had hunters all lined up to shoot the bear crossing a logging road only to see a coyote pop out !!!!

Its really up to you if you want to run the same dogs on both bear and coyotes. The guys I know that do swear they dont have any more problems than the guys who dont.

[coop74]

I have a Bluetick, trying to keep him on bear, he does a fair job lots of drive.
Ran him with a dog that was suppose to be broke,ha ha
They killed the coyote, now Eddison and Zues's lightning can't stop him from striking coyotes.
My opinion shoot every coyote you see just not in front of your bear dogs.
New Hampshire is full of them.

[Hounder-]

I guess this may be a regional thing but I run my bears dogs on coyotes too.

For one, I hate hate having the dogs sit on chains. I like it when they are out learning and hunting instead of bored out of their brains.

Also, coyote hunting is an absolute blast! Its not like bear or cat hunting where only one guy has a gun, everyone can have a crack on yotes. Its so fun when everyone in the gang is out on crossings and you hear the shot. Plus, they are a pretty fun animal to chase and its not like its a sure thing to get a yote going, still takes a dog with talent to start a cold track and keep one going. Plus, you can walk a pup on the track to help it get started cold trailing.


BUT I do get a few (I do mean few, I'd say TOPS 4-5 a year and thats in a full season of bears chasing) 'yote runs in the summer/fall but o'well, I'd rather have a dog that runs lots of things shitty rather than just one thing shitty


To me, the pros far outweigh the cons. Just my humble opinion though.

[Steve White]

Same here we run them on yotes as well. I do keep a few just bear dogs. Yet, even the dogs that run them in the winter do not trash much. I see guys that have more coon chases every year than I have yote races. Normally maybe 1 yote race during the whole bear season. In fact end up trashing more deer than yotes!!!!

Still I wont run coons with my dogs at all!!! Way to many of them to mess with. I have guys that will not start a track because of the coons. We can have a bait hit by a bear that is completely trampled by coons. Yet will bring out the bear. Can't recall the last time any of my dogs ran a coon in the bear season!!

How you hunt may be a big difference. If I had to free cast all the time. Then I may not run yotes at all. Still I do keep a few just bear dogs in case I get desperate.