Florida and Southeast

[red owl]

I live in Florida but hunt and fish all over, mostly the southeast. Glad to join. Three questions:
1. On bear hunting in the smokies, what is the average distance you must follow the dogs? Do you run, drive back roads? Hills or mountains? Or is there no way to know for sure?
2. What is a "good read" on bear and coon hounds?
3. I'm also interested in coon hunting and will pay- any guides, etc in Fl?

[treetalkingjp]

Heck I live in the heart of the smokies , you could come up and coon hunt and maybe bear hunt anytime u want for free ! We usually coon hunt 4 nights a week and bear hunt 3-4 . On average a coon runs 400 yards and it's straight up and bear depends 1 mile to 18 miles have had short and really long races . Bobcats don't run to far up here but foxes get out of sight

[Mrcrazyweasel]

Welcome, ya i second what treetalkingjp said, he knows his stuff.What are you looking for in good reads? Training those types of hounds, or just running that game?

[red owl]

Thanks all. I may take you up on the tag along bear hunt. I've stand hunted bears and what really draws me to the bear hunt is the chance to just be part of it, to tag along and be in on everything. That has to be some experience. If someone else kills the bear- that's fine with me. I was planning on coming up in October because I also trout fish and the October leaves ought to look great- we get a few maples, etc that turn in Ocala National Forest but nothing like the Smokies.
On the bear....as a "flatlander" I can do a lot of walking but flat;land walking doesn't ever really prepare you for the hills. I was figuring if I have a gps unit and after a couple of miles I'm beat- I could use the gps to get back to a road, etc. I could do 2-3 miles but 5 miles or more- I might not be up to that- that's why I was trying to figure on the average (if there is an average) how far a bear might run, also- I'm figuring really steep, mountainous country- am I right on that or are some of the hunts in lower terrain?
On the book, I was looking for something along the line of stories about past hunts rather than a lot of technical information. The stories often give me a better overview.
On a coon hunt, are they usually shorter trips and at lower elevations? Maybe that would be a better first hound experience.