Striking!!

[culverz]

What is the best way to teach a young hound how to strike off the rig, if you don't have an older dog. Just trying to get some ideas. Thanks

[BuckNAze]

Get yourself a bear hide and get it nice and wet, make sure its smelling nice and good and place it just off the road somewhere when your dog isnt in the vehicle or rigged up on top with you. Place it where the wind is going to be blowing towards the truck and make sure it isnt too far off the road but where he cant quite see it. Then drive back and forth on the road and make sure he is sniffing the air, dont go too fast and just try to keep doing it till he gets the hang of it. Of course this is only going to work if he has seen a bear before and knows the smell and will bark on a bear, or at least a hide. Try that out, thats at least what I have been told before and am going to try out on my dogs here soon.

[BuckNAze]

Or do it in a road when you have a semi windy day and the wind is swirling pretty good. That way the scent will really be in the air. The fresher the hide the better. If you can get a hide then get some bear scent and soak something really good. Hope this helps. To best honest I havent tried it yet but in theory it seems like it should work. And since you dont have an older dog to teach em with this wouldnt hurt to try.

[LBell]

We are in the same boat, my buddy and I are wirking on our dogs right now and they are starting to show improvment. Make sure they are wanting the scent, if they are treeing on bear scent and running drags on bear scent th advice already given is the way to go. the dog is strikeing because they smell somthing that they want. We use and old road that is a little over grown, we park then walk up the road aways, with all the windows on the box closed, you don't want a cheater. to start we spayed an over hanging branch so it would be right in there faces, then run a drag to your tree, we make a big loop back close to the road and hang up you "bear". we don't have a hide so we use a large black trash bag stuffed full of plastic and put it up as high as we can climb, and it work well. go back to the truck get out the selected dog, and drive slow. make sure to watch body langue, the dog may not bark the first time or two but my pull on the chain or whine. then let them run the drag. the better they do the harder you make it and the less scent you use. thats what has been working for us and they seem to be doing well.

[Hound 1]

I tried this same thing, the dogs had seen a few bear, but wouldn't strike. Use a Coon in a cage, let them bay at it, then an hour later put the coon in a bush next to the road and drive past, they will smell it, and usually not strike the first time, but with a little encouragement they will pop, then a bit later, do the same thing, and keep making it harder and harder. With me this is all it took, and shortly after they were rigging bears.
-Hound

[bency]

teach him the scent by getting him on enough of that game and after he knows that particular scent is good stuff, then do the off the side of the road training method (caged coon/bear hide) and praise him up real good when he does rigg...do this abunch, 3 times a week at least, till hes rigging the real deal for you. Getting them to rigg isnt real hard unless there not ment to be, its getting them to line that scent out off the box which is hard, sometimes they bump and wind stuff thats real far off.

[culverz]

Thanks everyone for your replys. I have a bunch of young dogs that have never been bear hunted but they have been cat hunted. They do really well on cats but I was able to walk them on cat tracks and get them started I am not sure i could do that with a bear since I don't have the snow to help them. Just looking for some tricks. Thanks again.

[bency]

Just free cast them in places where you know theres bear milling around. Look for bear sign.