Getting Bear Hounds Started

[us veteran wv]

I am trying to get started in bear hunting with dogs and I was wondering some tips on saving some money since I have recently got out of the US army and have a young family. ANY input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[Teto]

If your worried about money then your probably going into the wrong sport. Bear hunting costs lots!

[Bearkiller]

Find a hunting partner that may be able to split fuel costs ect..... Don't buy dogs in partnership, though. Another good "savings tip", cheap dog food usually ends up costing you more. Quality dog food goes farther. You can also hit butchers shops and friends for meat scraps. They are really good for your dogs and usually free.

[slowandeasy]

hi us vet! first off thank you very much for your service to our country! when some of the bear hunters out there figure out that they are not going to get rich selling puppys started dogs, and broke dogs, (and mostly culls ). one might offer ya a started hound and an invite to tag along hunting as a token of thanks. wish i could help ya out but don't have any of the above at this time. again thank you and i hope some one close by gives ya a leg up getting started Willy

[us veteran wv]

Thanks a lot for the input. I am a greenhorn to hound hunting, but I grew up deer hunting and I was a sniper in the army, so I love being in the woods. I would really like to get into running some bear with dogs though. Would anyone recommend starting a pup with coons and should I do some obediance training first? The pup is 9 months old.

Thanks a lot slowandeasy!

[catdg]

thank you! i wish you the best of luck. there is nothing more satisfying than owning your own dog, that you raised and trained yourself, under a tree with the game you wanted it to catch. hope to hear more of your progress.

p.s. coon hunting is a really good start.

[BOSS HOG]

Thanks for your service to our country, What kind of dog do you have ? coon hunting will help the pup learn to run a track and locate its great practice, if your looking to save a few bucks check the classified section here there's always good deals on used collars and receivers , as for obedience training I teach my muts the 3 basics shut up, load up, and lets go. I would recommend finding a experienced houndsman in your area and try to tag along. last month my local club did a survey to see what the average houndsman spends a year on hunting, the average was just a lil over $11,000 a year per guy. gas, license, tags, dog food, vet bills, ect will add up almost as fast as you make it. good luck

[bearsnva]

US VET, thanks for your service to our country. You live in one of the best states in the US to have and raise bear dogs, top dogs and top hunters. Just find who they are and offer to help lead their dogs and help train their dogs. You will learn from this and get a taste of what it is all about plus will have made some good contacts on getting a dog later if you want. Don't just get a dog, start with a good one. You will be way ahead in time and money. Good luck.

[bearcoons]

welcome home and thank you for your service like u ireturned from the service 13 years ago and started back into coon and bear hunting. fortunately i still had some of my gear from before to help me get going again. like stated before be ready to spend some money over the next few years. not saying this to scare u just being honest. i really really recomend u finding someone to hunt with. and make sure its someone u have alot in common with other then hunting it will make finding a hunting partner easier. reason i say this is its easier to train work with hounds with someone that is already established. i wish u where in northern or central wv i would invite u along with me and my pals. but keep that sniper eye open and u will find some good guys to hunt with

[us veteran wv]

Thanks bearcoons. Thanks for your service. What type of dog do you prefer for bear? Do you use the same dogs for coons as well or will they get confused what to hunt? When training a bear dog do you start them on coons as pups or how do you go about training them other than going out and running them? Thanks for your input. I live near Winterplace Ski resort, just south of Beckley.

[blackpaws]

best advice is to find someone to go with and learn the ropes. If you expect your dog to be a good bear dog, you the hunter need to know what is going on. don't get over your head in dogs. some that just start out will go buy 6 dogs to run and not know how to run them or what the dogs are actually doing. start with the one or maybe 2 and tag along with some other experienced bear hunter and offer help. you may realize that the sport of bear hunting is not for you or you cannot afford it so with only 1 or 2 dogs you can get rid of them easier or faster. good luck and thanks for your service. any other questions feel free to ask. thats partially what these forums are for. no question is a dumb questions. we all had the same questions once or twice in our life.

[Mackdog]

Hunting with another person is a good way to learn the ropes, but be careful. Try to meet and hunt with as many guys as possible, not every one is going to hunt their dogs the same and some may be straight up full of shit. I learned this the hard way, I thought this guy knew his stuff because he had some dogs and a dog box, turns out the only lion he treed was jumped off a kill on the side of the road in a state that doesn't allow hounds.

Unless you are an outfitter that has to tree a bear for clients, treat bear and coons the same. If my dog struck and treed a coon while bear hunting, I'd be happy, the dog would be happy, and its one more time of turning loose that the dog didn't trash. I suggest getting a bear hide or if you have to, get some grawes scent and introduce the dog to it. If you can, grawes bear scent (diluted and sprayed) on a caged coon with some encouragment should do the trick. Come up with a saying or noise that will excite the dog like "git that bear" or "git em" and use it when you play with a hide or bear scented toy Do small drags and play tug of war with a piece of hide. Once it is interested, keep to drags, but make sure there is a reward at the end. Start the reward with a treat, then move to playing with them with a piece of hide or a bear scented toy. You can play with it with the hide/toy at the end of the drag, but make sure it doesn't see or smell you start the drag, it has to trail and find it first. Encourage growling and barking at any bear or coon scent.

Be patient and consistent, but your ultimate goal is to have that dog want to trail, find and kill (or attack, tree, git ect.) the animal that made that scent more than anything. Establishing that drive early on will make or break a dog. A free craigslist 9mo could run bear just as good as a $2000 9mo, just a matter of how it was started. Pick 1 dog you like, color don't matter. Do your best at starting it, hunt it with experienced dogs but at the same time give it a chance to strike and start a track on its own. Once that dog strikes, trails, trees and is trash broke, you have a dog to start a whole pack with.

Most problems with the way a dog hunts, especially on bear, comes from a lack of drive. A dog with a lot of drive will strike like a SOB when they smell the critter, run it till they fall over, and stick to the tree till you say its time to go or it falls out dead. Just my 2 cents, thank you for serving our country and good luck hunting!


p.s. Start listening to Old Slewfoot, Johnny Horton does a good version.

[JIM HARRIS]

SOUND ADVICE FROM ABOUT EVERYONE. FROM MY PERSPECTIVE YOU OUGHT TO JUST GO WITH SOMEONE. MAYBE EVEN HALF A DOZEN DIFFERENT HUNTERS AND CHECK THEM OUT. KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT AND TAKE IT ALL IN FOR AT LEAST A YEAR. SEE HOW YOU LIKE IT AND WHO THE TOP TIER PLAYERS ARE. THERE ARE AN AWFUL LOT OF WANBEE- B S EGOTSICIAL HUNTERS OUT THERE. SEE HOW THEY HUNT, WHAT THEY PRODUCE, WHAT THEY DO NOT PRODUCE AND WHAT THEIR PRORITIES IN LIFE ARE. SOMEWHERE ALONG THE LINE SOMEONE WILL HAVE A LITTER OF PUPS OUT OF REALLY DECENT HOUNDS. I WOULD SUGGEST GOING COON HUNTING WITH DIFFERENT FELLAS AND LEARN THE ROPES, THERE IS A LOT TO LEARN. SEE HOW YOUR WIFE AND FAMILY TAKE TO THIS . I AM SURE MY HUNTING DID NOT HELP EITHER ONE MY MARRIAGES. AT 65, IT IS MY LIFE, I GO ALL THE TIME. NO WIFE
I STARTED COON HUNTING AT AGE 12 AND STARTED BEAR HUNTING IN THE FALL OF '68 JUST PRIOR TO GOING IN THE ARMY. WHEN I WAS IN THE INFANTRY AT FT. GORDON. THE BN. FIRST SGT. WAS A COON HUNTER. HE LOOKED THIS SORRY ASS PFC UP AND WE HUNTED SEVRAL TIMES/ WORD GOT AROUND POST AMOUNGT THE SENIOR NCOS WHO COON HUNTED ABOUT THIS YOUNG GRUNT. IT WAS NOT LONG AND I WAS COON HUNTING ON AND OFF POST HAVING A HELL OF TIME. GOT IN WITH SOME OF THE LOCALS AND IT JUST GOT BETTER. IN TIME I WAS TRANSFERED TO THE VETERNARY CORP AND WORKED WITH ALL KINDS OF MILITARY DOGS, COMBAT TRACKER DOGS, BOMB DOGS, DOPE DOGS, YOU NAME IT. GREAT GREAT DUTY, NO MORE ALL NIGHT TRAINING 6 DAYS A WEEK GETTING JACKED AROUND. ONE HELL OF LIFE LONG JOURNEY.

[Warner5]

Jim has just given some of the best advice I have ever read from this site. Jim I had a hunch you were a veteran from you previous posts, my dad is also a veteran about your age. Thank you for sharing your experience. You have earned it, along with my respect. Thank you. John Warner.

[us veteran wv]

Thanks a lot for all of your advice Jim. Thanks for your service as well. I do believe I am going to wait on getting a lot of money tied up and I am going to tag along and be a grunt for a while. There are some coon hunters that have offered to take me along. Maybe they can put me on some bear hunters that will do the same. Thanks for all of your advice!! This website has been a great help so far, I hope that one day I can too be knowledgable enough to give advice just as you guys are doing for myself. Thanks a lot for everyone's input!!

I was also an infantryman, Ft. Benning and Hunter AAF, and of course Iraq twice.