best breed for bear

[Yoda]

I like my English and Blue Ticks. I tried walkers but they never seemed to hunt as hard.

[onalimb]

I get a kick out of people that say Plotts are all fighters. After all these years, I finally came to the conclusion that most probably don't have the guts to crawl in the thick brush or a den with a bear to get back dogs that won't quit. So keeping dogs that bay from long distance is safer for them, and requiers no trips to the vet. They have ten year old dogs without a scratch, because they are so fast and smart? B.S. they are chicken shit cheerleaders, and legends in their owners minds. If they had a smokin Blue dog, Redbone or Walker, they would sell him too.
Every story I have heard in my life of guys calling dogs off a bear, never included a Plott, unless it was a worthless one. They want it all to end at a tree, or have their dogs quit so they don't have to risk getting to close to a bear.
Less Plotts in the world than any other biggame dog, been around less time, but have a reputation that can be argued about, but never disproven.
I have seen some good dogs of every color, and have talked to other Plott guys that have seen them too, but we are called the Plott cult, even though we breed on performance, conformation and bloodline.
Plotts are the undisputed kings of beardogs, and all that has to be done to remove that title is prove they're not. Everybody had a 100 year head start, but nobody was able to pull it off, pretty strange huh? LMAO!!!!!!

[Lonewolf]

We can ramble on for ever over which breed is the best. The truth of the matter is the person behind the pack of bear dogs is the one who gets it done. He will evaluate each dog within his pack and only keep the one that will get the job done. I mean the dogs which will stop or tree almost every bear they are put on. There will be vet bills and some will give their life over it. The bear hunter knows everytime the doors open they all might not come back. I've seen good and bad in all the breeds. I don't hunt anyone breed I hunt bear dogs which ever color they come in.

[Ike]

We can ramble on for ever over which breed is the best. The truth of the matter is the person behind the pack of bear dogs is the one who gets it done. He will evaluate each dog within his pack and only keep the one that will get the job done. I mean the dogs which will stop or tree almost every bear they are put on. There will be vet bills and some will give their life over it. The bear hunter knows everytime the doors open they all might not come back. I've seen good and bad in all the breeds. I don't hunt anyone breed I hunt bear dogs which ever color they come in.

Ain't that the truth, a man after my own way of thinking.............

[Nolte]

You plott guys can't have it both ways. You can't call every other dog out there a worthless coward, junk, chickenshit, etc and expect guys to just go "aw shucks you're right, I'll just go take my second rate dogs out and catch some game". It's also been my experience that the grittier the dogs, the more likely they'll be aggressive all around. This is a general trend not an aboslute. But you need to walk that fine line in order to have dogs that have enough of it (whatever that amount may be).

I don't get how it's OK for someone to throw around alleged characteristics of certain breeds (which may/may not be true), but when someone throws the ones of their breed they get bent out of shape.

I guess I've never seen a plott that was heads/tails better than everything else I've seen. Seen a few good ones, but none I'd consider great. Then again I'm not really looking hard either. But a guy shouldn't have to if they are that superior. A few hard hunters I know on the other side of the state have some dandies, but I've never seen them hunt. I'm sure there are some out there along with all the other breeds.

When I started hunting, I must have missed the memo that there was a competition to determine what the best breed was/is. I always thought that it was just my dogs vs the critter. I never knew there was this other whole collective judging committee out there. If that's the case I should have maybe tried harder to put down some better dogs. Sheesh. The ONLY way to compare dogs is to put them down side by side, see them both the same track, same run and see what the outcome is. The rest is ALL speculation.

As a side note, probably the best bear dog I've ever seen rarely got a scratch on him. One time when he young he got clipped, but after that he never did. I saw him on dozens of caught bear and he was almost always the closest dog to the bear. While other dogs were getting pounded and coming out(white dogs, red dogs, brindles, black and blue), he'd still be in there hammering away. There was no calling him out either. He actually died on caught bear after an errant or pass through bullet clipped him. I'd take another dozen like him in heartbeat and if I had 3 like him I'd have no doubts about catching nearly every bear from Maine to Maui. He was black with a little bit of blue in him.

[onalimb]

We are used to the fighting Plott stigma, I personally don't think it was started by a Plott guy though. Some guys with 55 pound Walkers probably don't like reading how slow a Walker is in the hills, probably wasn't started by them either. I'm sure the Blutick boys that have dogs that will strike a cat from the box and fly to catch it, don't like the track stradler term, and they probably are not the source of that as well.

We are all dog hunters here, and I have friends that have never owned anything but Walkers, and Blueticks. I poke fun at them every chance I can, they can't catch a mean bear, but they breed for, and can strike and catch a dry ground a bobcat in the middle of summer, and do it pretty regularly.

I'm going to keep picking on everybody, because I'm not the warm fuzzy type, and not interested in a group hug, but if we ran into eachother on the road, I'd wave and stop to B.S. I have respect for anybody dedicated to their breed, or for those rare hunters that no matter what they pack, always seem to have good dogs. It's all just in fun, and I don't really mean anything personally when I state that just because you own big, goofy looking, slow, track stradling, booger barking, shadow scared, colored like a cow, hound, that you have no chance of catching a bear. Because even a blind pig finds an acorn once in awhile!

So quit being so serious all the time, the second you go to show your dog off anyway, they'll pee on your leg and chase a deer into a porkypine.

[pete richardson]

the Plott is the undisputed king of bear dogs.
undisputed = unchallenged; unquestioned; generally accepted

i guess if you use the last one , then it is true-
all members of plott cult believe it-
many hound guys that never bear hunted believe it-

the general public believes it-
nolte dont accept it ,
.i would question it .

id at least have to ask, which plott are you talking about

beardogs are very scarce in any breed .. and thats undisputed .

i like onalimbs last post -

exactly the way i think of it --only in reverse-

its fun to pick on plott guys i love to hate plotts
ive seen a few id be glad to feed-

it only takes one great dog to make you join a cult--

its the walker cult here-

did you ever see a black n white mailbox- ? or a car ,or a building ,

. they tell me thats a holstein thing ,i always thought they were walker guys

[chilcotin hillbilly]

I think the garmin dc30 will tell the tale better then we could in the past. I think guys that need more then 2 or three hounds on any bear don't have great dogs but it all boils down to what makes you happy.

[justjared]

me personally could care less what color a dog is i love em all but i like to just talk crap to give my freinds a hard time but it dont matter what colors im following weither it be on my snow shoes in my waders or hikin boots as long as im hearin those hounds talkin to me that my friends is called heaven

[onalimb]

Jeeze Nolte, you like my last post, but only in reverse?

If that means you are the warm and fuzzy type, and are out looking for a group hug, please post your picture, so I can drive on by without stopping or waving if we should pass in the future!

[Curby]

Jeeze Nolte, you like my last post, but only in reverse?

If that means you are the warm and fuzzy type, and are out looking for a group hug, please post your picture, so I can drive on by without stopping or waving if we should pass in the future!

i think u mean pete, not nolte, wrote that.. and i can assure u that pete aint the warm fuzzy type

i have nothing against plotts..

but 2 things bother me about purist plott guys..

1 is when they insist plott is the 'only' bear dog

2 when they insist that plotts are pure

both are false


i like seeing a good plott like i like seeing any good hound, i have no prejudice against the breed.

[Nolte]

I'm with Curby on this one. I''m usually a fan of the color that is on the best dog. And good dogs aren't like grapes they don't come in bunches regardless of what is said on the internet.

I used to run a bit with a guy that was a so-called plott guy. All I heard was plott this, plott that, this dog's out of all star legendary so and so, yada, yada, yada. Even though it was my dogs that were always at the trees and always there first. It's pretty evident when you see the dogs cross roads and some are lagging behind by 5-10 minutes. On a caught one (if they made it there), I never saw any relentless power forcing the bear to climb or face certain death. And to be honest mine weren't even that good dogs, they were just dogs.

My point is this, I see lots of guys catching all sorts of game in all sorts of places with all sorts of dogs. So to say that there is only one is pretty damn short-sited, off base and arrogant. And in my neck of the woods the guys that are catching the most game, aren't packing all brindle if any.

[frs123]

up here there seems to be more plotts than any thing else ran on bear but that by no means takes anything away from the other breeds. ive had good luck with white, black and red dogs. never had a blue dog so cant say anything about them. who cares what color it is al long as they are at the tree with something in it. some of the best dogs ive had have been cross breeds. as long as im having fun chasing my dogs it dont matter what color they are. i have more plotts now than others but by this time next year i might not.

[Catch]

i have nothing against plotts..

but 2 things bother me about purist plott guys..

1 is when they insist plott is the 'only' bear dog

2 when they insist that plotts are pure

both are false


i like seeing a good plott like i like seeing any good hound, i have no prejudice against the breed



1st- Plotts are the only dog that is considered a hound that did not come from a Fox Hound. Fox Hounds are not gritty, gutty, courageous, tough or badasses! If any of you top Plott critics had any idea about breeding, you would have figured out you can't breed something that is not there to begin with. Plott's are the only true bear dog, they began as bear dogs and still are being bred for bear dogs! Sorry guys, but you can't get "real" bear dogs from a Fox Hound.


2nd-Curby, Plott's are not pure? Please explain, I'll be waiting.


If You Want It Caught, You Better Get A Plott!

[BIG TRACK]

i was under the impression PLOTTS originated from a lab pitbull cross?

if the PLOTT is such a bad ass put emm up shut emm up bear eating machine. i would keep them a secret and i sure as hell wouldnt be trying to pass the breed onto my competition?
i wish i could find a PLOTT breeder that has some of these put emm up shut emm up bear eatin machines because iam dam tired of culling all these PLOTT pups

BIG TRACK