best breed of bear dog

beaglewalkerhunter4 · Post by **beaglewalkerhunter4** » Sun Aug 03, 2008 5:27 pm

i was hust wondering what you guys think the best breed is for bear hunting?

nmplott · Post by **nmplott** » Sun Aug 03, 2008 6:13 pm

thats a ford vs. Chevy question. best answer I can think of is: the type of dog to get it done the way you like.

Brady · Post by **Brady** » Sun Aug 03, 2008 7:29 pm

ANY BREED

Hound 1 · Post by **Hound 1** » Sun Aug 03, 2008 8:15 pm

Well you opened a huge can of worms buddy. There isn't a "BEST BREED" in my opinion. It all depends on the terrain, type of conditions, and so on. I have seen good pure breed's and really top notch heinz 57 dogs. The best that I have seen are usually an English or Bluetick, crossed with a Walker/Plott cross. This cross I have seen some top notch bear dogs. But good bear dogs and Big Game Hounds come in all shapes, sizes and breeds. I think 1/2 of the dog comes from how the owner handles and trains them, and the other 1/2 is if the dog has what it takes, some hounds are not bear hounds and a top notch lion/cat dogs. Just my .02

beaglewalkerhunter4 · Post by **beaglewalkerhunter4** » Sat Aug 09, 2008 7:36 pm

sorry i wasnt verry specific

three rivers catahoulas · Sat Aug 09, 2008 8:35 pm

PLOTT's are the best the only dog that will tree a bear LOL!!! Just kidin

. I will run any thing out there as long as it does what I need it to. I've been lookin at the B&T forum. I think I'm gonna get ahold of that Ken Duncan fella, he sounds like he has some top notch bred B&T's, I want to try one of them cold nosed sob's. I seen guys talkin,sayin they are fairly fast

beaglewalkerhunter4 · Post by **beaglewalkerhunter4** » Sat Aug 09, 2008 9:51 pm

yea you dont come buy many b&ts that are verry fast.. a budy of mine was lookin into a duncan himself

ryan goodwin · Post by **ryan goodwin** » Sat Aug 09, 2008 10:36 pm

ya thats a win lose ? but in my 24 years of hunting them bears walkers are my choice

Ike · Post by **Ike** » Sat Aug 09, 2008 11:09 pm

three rivers catahoulas · Sun Aug 10, 2008 3:24 am

My Walker's are my nose, and my Plott's are my get'em up or bayed dogs, My buddy has redbones but I havent been real impressed with'em as far as bear, but coon dogs they are and mighty fine ones at that. I my self have never owned a straight B&T, but from what I hear they are cold cold nosed, but I have seen and herd they aint what anyone would call fast. All the English(Redticks) I have had or seen have always been pretty good dogs, a handlers dream, but about the same as a Walker as far as nose and runnin ability's, Blueticks and Plott's are the hardest treein dogs I have ever seen, and all the Blueticks I have had the pleasure of huntin behind have been really cold nosed dogs, but they to aint speed deamonds LOL, but they will rattle the leaves of the tree's, and they to have shown me they are smart. Plott's are my favorite breed, and I have yet to find a plott I dont like or wouldn't feed. And they dont have the coldest nose, but what I do like about'em is, what ever they start, we can most of the time catch, and we dont cold trail a bunch. My father-in-law had an ol Walker dog, that would start a track so cold it would be hours before he warmed it up enough for the other dogs to even know it was there, he was a good straight dog, but I didn't like huntin behind him, just because I always new we were in for a long day.

Dan V · Post by **Dan V** » Wed Aug 13, 2008 9:56 pm

An old friend of mine, Josh who used to be a Govt hunter/trapper 40 years ago, told me how he used to make bear dogs:

Back in those days you could get dogs from the pound for free. He would load up a truck load of them and take them out. He said he would start a bear with the older dogs then turn all of the new dogs loose.

Then he would lay across the hood with a 30-30 and shoot the dogs as fast as they came back.

you never know whats going to work out. The ones that lived were BEAR dogs.

Strike Em' Hot · Post by **Strike Em' Hot** » Wed Aug 13, 2008 10:25 pm

Dan V - are you just stupid... or you just stupid? Why would you say such an ignorant thing? I highly doubt that ever happened, but if it did, why the hell would you post something like that on this forum? They use to do a lot of things back in the day, but that doesn't mean we need to discuss it now. You must be new to hounds or something?!?! :evil:

release · Post by **release** » Wed Aug 13, 2008 11:22 pm

Nothing comes close to a plott for bears!

chilcotin hillbilly · Thu Aug 14, 2008 12:08 am

My black and tan is a little faster then my walker. But If I have a running bear My collie cross is faster then any hound I've seen. A true 40 mile an hour dog. My one year old walker is showing a lot of grit on bears. I watched her play tag with a ouchy sow for 15 minutes alone and she was right in there. She looks like she may be my best bear dog.

Vance M. · Post by **Vance M.** » Thu Aug 14, 2008 12:55 am

The best breed is the one that you like. There is good and bad in every breed. And if someone has to talk and talk their dogs up then that is usually a sign that something is wrong.

Find some one in your area that catchs a lot of bears, that would be a good start at finding a good breed for you.