bears 50 me 11 whats going on

[crittergetter]

i have been hunting on the north coast in cal, we have ran atleast 65 hot races and have only stoped 11. man i never seen bears run so much? i think i need a pack of gators ,lol any advice or any1 want to come help me even the score?

[lepcur]

It sounds like ya have plenty of bear up there, if it wasn;t so dang far from me I'd be all over your offer. There's a large timber co. up by Eureka that wanted us to come up and kill some for them as they are tearing up alot of young trees but they didn't want to even pay expenses so I declined, heck I can catch bear here by the house.

[Outlaw 3]

It is hard to say, but judging from what you have said, you could use a lot more speed and maybe some grit. Lots of people think the bears are running so much because the dogs are not gritty enough to stop them, but if they are slow and gritty they never have a chance to use all that grit. If the dogs can never catch up to the bear, they will not be treeing it. If you are getting on bears that walk all day with the dogs baying at them and won't tree, you need grit. If you are after bears that run top speed all day and never walk, or bay or tree, you need more speed. If you are not getting on bears at all, you need more nose or a better place to hunt. If you are never getting to see any of these 54 bears that have gotten away you might need a shock collar. Like I said it is hard to know without hunting with the dogs, but my guess is you need more speed.

Just my best guess.

[Jeff Eberle]

It could be grit or speed but more then likely it is just them mean old brush bears over there most the time I have found them are the same bears guys run all summer long in the training zone bottom line running bear in the thick brush the bears win more then you do. Hunted over there this year 5 days and only tree two they are some mean ones over there keep after them 11 is better then 0

[Redwood Coonhounds]

I'd say in 65 races you either need better beardogs, or you need to do some deer breaking. I hear the same thing over in this country. "We ran a bear all day, never got him treed" They say this EVERY weekend, ALL year long. They end up running 70 bears, and treeing 10... We can rig around that same country, right where the dogs ran through... Not a single strike all day. (And mine are FAR from broke) Makes you wonder.

Unless I seen steam coming off a track in the road, and I could shove there face in it, I wouldn't be turning those dogs loose, they would lose there privlage of getting turned loose on a strike where there isn't proof of what they are striking.

[lifreediver]

i think redwood hit it right on and how long does it take you to get to a bay are they bayin at all when they cross a dirt road do you look were they crossed on the garmin and find the crossing and see if there is a bear track there
in the high grass or brush were they cant see the bear it takes a dog with nerves of steel to hang close to a bear he cant see they will quit soon or later if you dont get there
it also takes some wicked fast dogs to catch small bears almost any hound can catch a big one but speed is need for all the small ones well if you leave them for 3 hours with a walkin bear they might quit
sounds like you have to get in front of ya dogs and see whats goin on could be a lot of things you got to get to the dogs faster and in front only you will know whats goin on
i know its not easy to do in some areas but unless you get infront or find a bear track were they crossed ya wastin ya time and gas
i hope you figure it out it gets depressin when ya pickin up dogs that were out goofin off li freediver

[meagain]

Lot of Elk in that brush? Yeah i used to run up on the coast a lot
took a while to find faster dogs to catch em in the brush (bears and elk)

[crittergetter]

Wow, lottsa great advice,I must add that we are seeing 90% of the bears we run , lol we roaded them rite through the elk beds and never a peep ,the bears tree 4 a few minnets then bam they bail.We see them criss cross the roads and man them little shits are fast lol we have shot at them over an over and miss.i find my dogs bay the real thick under brushway to long an the bears slip out the back i think? not one deer race 4 sure old strike dog is 1000% broke. i see no 1 wants to bring thier fast or gritty dogs up to bad cuz there are a ton of bear in there. how long do you recamind letting a pack rest be for runnin again ?Thanks so much every1

[dhostetler]

Well you have about a 17% success rate. If you are just starting that's not bad. That used to be about my success rate until I got better bear dogs. There are a lot of very good internet bear hunters on here but I would really like to run with some of these guys that catch every bear that they turn on. I am not sure what my % rate is currently but I definetly don't catch every bear I turn on.

I rarely have a bear bail out that tells me your dogs aren't aggresive enough. If they aren't aggresive enough to keep it up they in turn aren't agressive enough to put a slow treer up. I also used to have serious backtrack problems until I figured out which was my best start dog. Your best strike dog is not necessarily your best start dog.

My guess is you have a bay problem if they bay it in thick brush and loose it. They should bay tight enough where they either see or hear the bear my guess is they are to scared to get in close and pressure the bear.

[lepcur]

Something that hasn't been mentioned that I've seen is some dogs are perfectly happy just trailing a track and won't run to their potential to catch because they are scared of the game. So, if you're having all day races without treeing this may be the problem?? As far as resting the dogs, I go out in the morning and if they don't want to get out of their boxes I take the day off.

[cobalt]

I actually think you're doing OK. You hunt a tough area for high percentage catching.

[Nolte]

What are other guys in the area catching. If it's quite a bit more, I'd get some dogs with something a little more than what you've got in the box. It's really tough to tell without being there.

With that said, bear dogs catch bear. There's no excuses or mystery hunts, just bears in trees or on tailgates.

[Redwood Coonhounds]

I'd be willing to come over and hunt, as long as someone knows the roads, and aren't packing a bunch of alligators. I get to a tree and my dogs have dog bites, thats gonna be a bad day for everyone. My biggest issue with traveling is loosing dogs and haveing to go to work on Monday.

What type of dog are you running? Plott, Blueticks, Triggs? That might help us narrow it down to what exactly your missing.

[crittergetter]

Well there are 4 other houndsman hunting in there and combined they have taken 5 .they are experincing the same thing.I have hunted 26 days there and have been bear hunting for more then 27 years an have never been beat so much ,lol.my dogs a 4 plotts a black/tan cross an a walker whos bloodline i have had over 25yrs .age range fron 2,2,3,4,10 ,10 .I live in the valley an kill over 200 coons a year to keep them tuned but the bears here are like none i have ever delt with. I hunted all over nor cal even in camptonville and paynes creek, goat mnt Azone so i have played this game along time.the road systems in here are so amazing with detailed maps .but if you come up with them high power walkers it will be over quick an end at a tree next to the road.as far as a fighting dog at a tree i will be the first 1 to shoot the problem dog.aint had 1 fight this year an i have had a ton of buddys come and hunt with my dogs .just wondering how many bears have you treed redwood?

[bob baldwin jr]

The 4 Plotts could be part of the problem