running bears with cold nose lion dogs

[pistol]

do u think running bears with cold nose lion hound ruins ur dogs nose? i heard a dog should be able to adjust to whatever he is chasing but have also heard its bad for a cold nose dog to run bear because theres just so much scent and when u run cats in the winter it causes ur dog to be slower and its harder for him to find scent exspecially on bobcats?

[high desert hounds]

A cold nose doesn't mean the dog is going to be a slow trailer. I think it depends on the dogs track style. A good dog should be able to buckle down on a track as long as he can get some scent, and pick his head up and fly as the scent increases. why limmit yourself and your dogs to one game.

[Big Mike]

Running bear doesnt change there nose it changes how they use them.

Dogs dont have to really get down and grind for scent for bears like they do lions. So when a dog gets use chasing bears and not having to try hard to get scent it can screw them up a bit when it comes time to cold trail a lion.

I mainly see the problem with young dogs that have not learned to cold trail first and get expose to too many easy to trail bear tracks. Its hell to get them to slow down and cold trail, they just hit some scent a pick up their heads and try to run with like a bear chase which dont cut it for a old lion track.

As long as your dog learns to do the hard trailing first then switch to bears they wont have much problem switching back IMO

[Jeff Shaw NM]

I use the same dogs to hunt both, and on any given day I could either be cold trailin a lion or runnin a bear full tilt... I expect my dogs to push either track to its extreme which causes some over runs mostly with young dogs. In my humble opinion, if you hunt both bear & lion, and your dogs aren't huntin both every time out or don't adjust from hot to cold easily (should be almost un-noticeable) Don't change your huntin style or what you hunt... (Change the hounds) because there are dogs out there that will do it. ( and do it yr. round)
Later

[Rockcreek]

do u think running bears with cold nose lion hound ruins ur dogs nose? i heard a dog should be able to adjust to whatever he is chasing but have also heard its bad for a cold nose dog to run bear because theres just so much scent and when u run cats in the winter it causes ur dog to be slower and its harder for him to find scent exspecially on bobcats?

I agree with Big Mike. If you plan on using a dog for dry ground lions, it's better not to start them on bear. I would rather not start any "lion dog" on bear. To make a great lion dog, snow or dirt, they have to learn to cold trail and take tracks as they come to them. Figure out big losses, scan out and look for the track and move out when they can.

Cold trailing bear tracks is as good training as there is. Only problem is most bear hunts don't require much cold trailing, sure some places it's more common but it's much more common hunting lion year round.


I also agree with Jeff, if they aren't working... you can feed dogs that do for no more $.

Take care.

[Shorty]

Big Mike hit the nail on the head. The Lee brothers believed this and so does Terrell Shelly.

[festus]

Big Mike you sure cut right to the chase, and told it like it is LOL. I have found that to be true as well, and agree with you one hundred percent. I have also heard that same statement from alot of guy's who are sure enough get'er done lion hunters.

In my opinion for what it is worth there is a big difference between a true bear dog and a true cold trailing lion hound. Not to say the same dog can't catch both bear and lion, but in my opinion a true bear dog and a true cold trailing lion hound are two different types of dog's.

[Mike Leonard]

I have to string along with what Dale Lee said. He said we tried to start them on lion first cuz when they were still young and a little tender we didn't want them getting whooped out on bear and making them iffy at times, cuz we was selling lots of dogs to the public to make a living. But then old Dale said but if they had the real nerve and the real heart it wouldn't make no difference they would make anyway. And the ones that didn't probably would never be a top dog on mean bear and jaguars.

Jeff, I agree with you that is the best of all worlds.

But the best bear dogs I have ever seen, remember I said BEST were also cold nosed cold trailing lion dogs. Why!? Not sure patience and a lot of bottom maybe???