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dose anyone still train there hounds on coon and bear anymore.

Thats all my dogs run. I preffer to bear hunt, but when I can't bear hunt I chase coons. I know a lot of guys that are that way.

do you have much luck, and when your rig dog strikes a track how do you know what is running,or do you use a straight bear rig dog.

thank matt

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I have two hounds--one prefers bear, one coon, but both will hunt either. They have different voices on bear and coon--I can tell what the track is by listening. The bear voice is deeper and more angry sounding. I don't cut them loose if I don't like what I hear.
However, we aren't allowed to run bear at night in NY, so I am looking for coon only at night, and they know it. But, since they can run a much colder bear track than coon track, they do occasionally "trash" on bear when I'm after coon. I don't give them a hard time about it, just tie them back and let the bear go.. During the day, they will stop to investigate a layup coon if they are not already on a bear track, and they will run a coon that is out during the day if it is moving. They've only split, each on his preferred game, once. I went into the bear dog, and the coon dog left his tree to join us.

thanks alot emily

My dogs run coon and bear. It will complicate things but its worth it. I was bear hunting a few weeks ago and spent some time working a rig. It was about 8 in the morning and the dogs would blow up on the box when the wind was right. Finally thought I had the spot narrowed down and let the dogs loose. They hit the ground and started cold trailing a coon. The coon had been over every single inch of that oak covered ridge. So much for the bear that I thought they where gonna chase.

You can usually guess what they are rigging just by the location you are hunting. Also, there isn't to much like a hot bear rig. My dogs don't hit on a hot coon track like they do a hot bear...its almost violent.

I don't mind sorting through the occasional coon when I am bear hunting. What makes it really interesting is when your coon hunting and the dogs decide to catch a bear. It can make for a really long night.