Hunting black bear in Alaska...anyone use Karelian's?

[jssbastiat]

Ok, I'm an old treeing walker man from texas, hunted coon and hogs with them...yeah, they bark on trail, but? How would a walker do in the -20 to -50 with a heated dog house for the winter...then hunt them in the spring/fall at about -20 to 30 above?....

So, i was looking at other options, hoping some of you that hunt the really cold areas have some good ideas...saw the karelian bear dogs adn that look interesting, but, not sure how they do on long runs...

ALTHOUGH, in my bush village, we have a 35 mile road leading to nowhere, that is FULL of black bears...you can drive down the road, spot one, turn the dogs out on it right there.....

I need three dogs to get started....so, any suggestions would help..

thought about this...getting three good dogs trained, hunt the spring/falls, then send them to a good buddy down in the lower 48 that would hutn them the winter months there since it's usually a longer hunting period down there....i'd probably be done with the dogs from nov 1, trapping season, through april 1st, when the bears come out and take a pee and go back to hibernation on and off for a few weeks....i'd like to hutn them for sure on the denned black bears....

hope to hear some ideas, I"m pumped about the new village i'm teaching in, it's nice, racially integrated and has LOTS of blackies, some griz's but not many on the road....

[Lynxhunter]

Wel Mr. jssbastiat, if you are going to try Karelian bear dogs, you'll have to open your mind to a WHOLE different ballgame, far differing from your Walkers way of hunting.
To be honest, I dont think you've got the right kind of Karelian blood lines in the US to make bear dogs like you americans are used to........ If you are looking for Karelians that could be BEARDOGS, you need to go as deep as you can get to the north and east of Finnland and look for specimens that are grey/black-white instead of those pure black - white modern ones, that we know as Karelian bear dogs today.
Todays Karelians should more suitably be called Karelian moose dogs.
Take the cold, no problemo. Hunt bears the way I imagine you would like........., not likely.

Just an idea that poppet into my head: A Cur or Cath x German wirehair(Coat for the cold)?

Hans

[Pops]

might be better to try the siberian laikas. alledgedly the west siberian laika has the nose & the east siberian has the grit. no first hand experience but that is what i've been told by the russian guy in VA that imports & breed WSL.
here is his website.
http://www.laikabreeds.multiservers.com/

[larry]

A german shepherd would do aboutthe same as the kerilian "bear dog" . Hounds do just fine in cold temps. You turn a dog loose in -20 and you are asking for problems no matter what the breed. I live in temps that eange from -40 on up, lots of plotts wealkers and blueticks around here.

[Jeff Eberle]

Look at the old Leopard Cur blood (double coats ,thick hair) Not the New Leopard hound

[lepcur]

Look at the old Leopard Cur blood (double coats ,thick hair) Not the New Leopard hound

I agree with Jeff on this, when I lived in Mt. I hunted lion and bobcat when it was -20 or so and the Leps. would walk out into a fast moving stream to get a drink then ice up but it never botherd them.I have a all leopard pack still and mainly hunt bear with them but also mess with the cats and fox. Mike

[Hunter]

Get you some "sight" dogs. Warm to hot nosed dogs that aren't going to leave the country when you get on a runner. I had them (I hated em too) and if you had anything that went beyond a mile they came back. They don't range out to far and they come back. The one's I had were Black Mouth and Black Mouth X Mt. Cur. Some Mt. Curs are double coated. Mine was atleast. Some Kemmer stock doesn't go "deep". I have friends that get rid of their Kemmers if they go to deep or don't come back like they like them too. They don't get rid of many but, when they do the line to get them are long. You could also look into a Lab or bird dog crossed with something. The labs have the coat to with stand the cold and believe it or not both breeds can tree good. I had an english pointer once and the only time he barked was when he had a bobcat treed. My daughters lab would hunt right along side my curs and tree with them. There are options out there. They may not be registard blood but, alot of times these dogs are specialist dogs.

[jssbastiat]

well, how bout some good leads on buying some leopard curs....and what is the minimum dogs to run, 2 or 3? I've been reading a few posts that some guys said that they only ran 2-3 dogs for years...

and males or females? I always had good luck running females, they seemed to be able to take their time, were methodic, and would find hogs/coons much closer than the males whom wanted to run faster, further and less methodic....

[Jeff Eberle]

well, how bout some good leads on buying some leopard curs....and what is the minimum dogs to run, 2 or 3? I've been reading a few posts that some guys said that they only ran 2-3 dogs for years...

and males or females? I always had good luck running females, they seemed to be able to take their time, were methodic, and would find hogs/coons much closer than the males whom wanted to run faster, further and less methodic....

I would pm Mike (lepcur) that is all he runs is the Lep knows alot about the old Leps Good guy he lives just a little higher up the hill then me

[Nolte]

Good Luck on your adventure, but I got to ask if you've got any road system or trail where you're at. If you don't have a dog that will quit a long track, you are going to be in for some long days. I have buddies who hunt about a 7 X 8 mile section of thick, wet, miserable country and they can easilly lose their dogs for weekend. I don't know how long you'd lose one if there was no boundary on 3 of the 4 sides. Getting dogs out of a one of those thick jungles 2 miles back is NOT my definition of a good time.

You might have a leg up if you had a little cub plane of sorts to be able to fly over and track or get to them and bring them back. I'd also be leary of getting on a griz, you might not see a pile of them but I would bet they are there. I went on a black bear hunt with my cousin up there by jet boat and it was crawling with griz. We had one come in to the bait one night and I was damn glad we had the 338 handy. There was NO f'in way I'd want to try and pull dogs off that prick bayed up and I've been on my fair share of bay ups.

[bob baldwin jr]

nolte ; Could not agree with you more.Been on my fair share of black bear bay-ups also .some can be downright MEAN I have also been up close to 2 griz . 1 of which I was REALLY getting nervous over .Lets just say my BALLS have shrunk in the last 40 years . I will NOT confess to being a WUS .But they do get my RESPECT.

[eROKv]

i can't imagine the wolf situation up there is any better than northern wisconsin - im going to assume its a lot worse. if that's the case, if you can't stay right with the dogs all the time they are gonna get eaten fairly quickly.

beyond that, there's no way in hell i would get close enough to a pissed off grizzly to pull dogs. if you were going to shoot it then thats a different story.

[carl]

Maybe you should try and Airedale. I have one and hunt him with a walker coon dog or by himself. He stays relatively close and comes when called. He has a hot nose and usually runs on sight but can follow a fresh trail. He has on his own ran and treed bear a short distance. If he catches anything on the ground he kills it. I do not think he is dumb enough to take on a bear, he has always put them in a tree? His coat gets long, so in the summer I clip him short so he is cooler and does not get full of burrs. He is a big dog and weighs 85 lbs. I like him to a hound because he comes and finds me I do not have to find him. Just a thought.