BigGameHoundsmen.com

A hunting buddy and I had an interesting discussion over beers last night that lasted well into the early morning hours.

I spend most of my time running hogs with Walkers in the coastal foothills and brush of Northern California, but catch a few bear every year that migrate down into the ranches of my hunting country in the fall and winter. He spends most of his time running bear in the woods of the Sierras, but occasionally he will run hogs with me.

The debate began when I drew a lot of similarities between hogs and bears and running them with hounds: their physiology, habits, and behavior; the abundance of scent and the opportunity to drift a track; both can be struck from the rig or by roading; the fact that some are caught after a short race while others will not stop running at all; some stay put while others may be hard to stop walking as they are bayed; some back themselves up into a defensive position while others will charge the dogs repeatedly, etc.

He scoffed at the idea, and indicated his position that any dog-whether it is a hound, cur, or pet-should be able to catch hogs, while it takes a special kind of dog to catch bear. In his opinion, a good bear dog will bay a hog easier than a good hog dog could bay a bear.

I think he is wrong as is his contempt for a hog dog, but am curious as to whether or not I am in the minority. For those of you who run both hogs and bear with hounds (or even open-mouthed curs), do you find more similarities or more differences with hogs and bear? Do you find more similarities or more differences with a hog-hunting hound and a bear-hunting hound? Is it easy to have a dog that will do both equally well, or would this be rare? Which species do you think is more challenging to catch? Why? Or do you find them about the same?

Hog, unlike a deer, lacks the scent glands on their leg, therefore, They leave very little scent, and other than the bobcat, leave the least scent of any other animal that is pursued with hounds in North America. A bear leaves more scent than any game that most hounds run after. My hounds have cold trailed a bear 12 hours old , but those same hounds would struggle with a 4 hour old hog track. But, as far as dangerous to bring to bay, the bear has more weapons to use than a hog, and is tougher on a hound when cornered, even though both can kill a dog in an instant. The bear can climb and always has that perogative, where a hog can only run, or back up and fight. So I would rate them a toss-up over all.

but hogs piss & $#!+ in their wallows and so leave that stink every where they walk. if you're down wind it doesn't take any better dog to find them than a bear.

In most of the places where hogs are hunted the number of hogs per square mile is vastly greater than the number of bear per square mile in areas where bear are usually hunted. This can lead some to make the mistaken assumption that hogs are easier. I believe that if you were hunting an area that had the same density of bears and hogs, with dogs that were equally good at both, you would catch more bears because they are easier to catch.

JMO

Bill

Generally I agree with your friend but I don't have any contempt for a good hog dog as I like any dog that is good at what it does. I do agree with him that a good bear dog is going to be better on hogs than a hog dog is on bears, most of the time. I've seen a lot of whipped out bear dogs that would try to eat a hog up. Most of the dogs I've seen don't have the fear/respect for a hog that they do a bear. Just what I've seen, take it for what it is, an opinion.

Well Rifleman, If I known you were drinking beer, I'd been hunting with you more often.
having made hog dogs into bear dogs I think it takes alot of dog to do either. depends on the bear,hog and the country. I've bayed bears in country with know trees, and made some hogs wish they could climb. I've also ran both all day without sucess. The only difference I have found, is a man may want to run a bear track that is 12 hours old,
and not to many guys want to run a 12 hour old hog track. A good dog in my opinion should be able to finish either.
If a dog gets wooped off a bear and appears to make a good hog dog, chances are he will get killed or wooped off when he gets on a real bad boar.
This is a ongoing disspute, it seems to allways go back to the same thing.
A lack of respect for some elses dogs or style.

a wise old timer once told me he figured most of the trailing scent left behind a running hog was from his breath. due to the lack of scent glands. I don't know if its a fact or not. I do know when you have a boar bayed there is a sweet smell in the air . I don't think its his breath.

I think a hog dog is much easier to find then a bear dog. Part of this could be that there are a lot more hogs then bear. Dogs seem to be bred hotter nosed and shorter winded probably because of all the competition coon hunting. They don't have to go as far trailing or running on a lot of hog tracks because they will run into a gang of hogs and some will bay even if they are not the one you turned on you have caught a hog. Around here we don't have huge groups of bears hanging out together like we do hogs so a trail dog has to be much more honest and follow through on a track to trail a bear. Bear dogs also must possess a trait that hog dogs don't have to think about and that is treeing. You can have a hard running dog on bear but if they wont tree they are not a bear dog around here. Also most gangs of dogs know they can kill most hogs they also know that they can't kill most bear so they put more pressure on hogs forcing them to stop and bay.
This is from my experience running both in East TN and Western NC.

Hogs and bears seem like apples and oranges to me. I have ran both, though not with the same dogs. Most if not all of the hog doggers that I know and hunt with and want closed mouth dogs. Where we hunt we dont want a dog to strike then track it for 2 hours then march on foot another 2 miles to kill a hog. Most hog guys (In monterey county california) want 1000 yard range closed mouth dogs that are rough enough to stop a hog and not get killed. I dont think that fits the bill for bear guys. I think if you wanna run both you are gonna have to sacrifice something.