Number of dogs to run bear!

[pacbear]

thats awsome 3dog bear pack get r done

[Emily]

I run bear here in the Catskills with 2 dogs, when I am alone. I am really slow getting to the tree, too. The truth is, only one of my hounds is the real bear dog. The other is my coon dog. I just put him in because it isn't legal to run bears with one dog here. The coon dog does add some pressure, but the other hound is capable of holding a big bear in a tree by himself.
So, my answer is, it depends on the dog. If its the right dog, one hound can do it. If you've got the wrong bear, a big pack can be decimated.

[Spokerider]

Big Swede,
Cool vid.

Wondering........what`s the rationale behind the law of being allowed to run a maximum of two dogs? Fair chase?? Or?

[southwestwalkers]

You can hunt bear with two or three dogs but I feel that bear hunting is a pack sport.

Unlike a lion a bear will not tree as fast. Lions for the most part will.

Your hound will need to have some great stamina. With a bear I feel that there's safety in numbers as well. I like more paws on the ground.

The BIGGAMEHOUNDSMAN website is a great place to meet good folks who like to hunt as well. Run bear with your dogs and makes some friends with folks who like to run bears and have the hounds to do it.

I hunting in NM mostly now. I'm looking to get a group of folks together the start of
Bear season Sept 23rd on. Unit 36 of the White Mtn Wilderness Area on the NM game management unit map. I'm aiming for that first week. Would love to get out there on the 23rd and have the dogs on the ground at the crack of dawn.

Don't know if your interested but if your in NM say when

the best, Robb

[Ike]

........

[chilcotin hillbilly]

I also started out hunting bears with three dogs and caught lots of bears doing it; and any of those dogs would and did tree their own bears from time to time depending on the situation. If they couldn't make a bear climb they would at less hold him all day until I arrived, which was always good enough. Unless a guy has lots of pop ups and small bears, a serious hunter should have six to eight hounds and rotate them to get the best performance.....

ike

I couldn't agree more Ike. Last night the three mutts got into a hard fought 10 mile race with a big boar, through some pretty thick willows and swamps. Treed once but after the jump stayed on the ground. Today the dogs are so tired they could hardly wag a tail.Two groups of three or four keeps a guy out the next day.

[Big Swede]

Big Swede,
Cool vid.

Wondering........what`s the rationale behind the law of being allowed to run a maximum of two dogs? Fair chase?? Or?

I think it started with this video( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0bQI88sYW4 )same dogs and same hunters but two years before. Then we could use more dogs and it was a succse for the people that hunted bear with plotthounds but people intend to be jealous and some of the police department in sweden was verry fast to tag along and listen to this people and the rest is history.. They even say that bears could be "hurt" by hounds but i havent seen a brown bear (grown) that could be hurt by a dog. Its an unethical hunt to use more than 2 dogs according to the government.

//BIG SWEDE

[chilcotin hillbilly]

Big Swede, do you ever tree them brown bears or are they all taken on the ground?

[Big Swede]

Big Swede, do you ever tree them brown bears or are they all taken on the ground?

It seems that the smaller bears often will run fast and hard rather than take to the trees but some times they will take to the trees when the hounds are rather aggresiv. A female with cubbs will often put up her cubbs and then stay on the ground and take the fight and then you will see what your dogs are made of. I belive that there are a lot of dogs that will never bark at a bear after a seasion with a angry female. I belive that you could hunt with only two dogs and it will work out well, but when you use more dogs they will get more confidence and get "better" and if a dog gets hurt you have more then one dog on the bear and its a question of safety for you if the bear is aggresiv.

Here are some videos from Finland. http://videoita.fi/videot.php?cat=Karhuvideot

Karhu = Bear

Thanks Big Swede

[justahunter]

Most of the time just one

[ferjr]

most diffently, i have been running just two dogs all year, a plott and a bluetick, and i have been treeing bears almost every time i go out. i only get to hunt on the weekends and have treed 16 bears this year. if you have to many hounds out all you have is a cluster (beep). JMO.

[Rockcreek]

Most of the time just one

Either a damn proud moment, or a make you scratch your head deal...

Goodtimes!

[basko]

alot has to do with the size of bear and if it has been treed before or not. last spring i treed one with 1 dog and the next week i put 2 dogs on a track and they chased it all dang day. they treed it probably 5 times but the country was so thick it would take us prob an hour to go 100 yards so the bear kept jumping. but i would say 3 dogs is a safe number

[wanchese]

i have seen a single dog bay a big bear on the ground by his self, but most of the time we turn out a LOT of dogs. some times we turn out in three or four different places in the same block of woods and run multiple bears at once. (cluster f--- accomplished). I love it.

[DirtyBrindle]

i have a dog that has caught two bear by herself...i wont dump her on one alone though....it depends on the situation and how many dogs we have available...i like to dump four or five dogs on a bear and later on in the race dump a few more fresh ones...thats just how i do it and thats what works for me.....