Where do the best dogs come from?

[LBell]

I was wondering where do you all think the best dogs come from? THIS IS NOT A BETTER BREED QUESION! What part of the country makes better dogs? Is it the flatter east coast region or the southern desert, maybe the good old Rockies, Who knows maybe even califronia if the can teach there dogs to run in burken stocks (just a little joke ) . With all things considered, terrain, amount of game, freshness of track, length of race, availible running seasons? What do you think? We will say the game is bears and bobs, because there more fairly found across the nation.

Me I have to go with Idaho, the hills are steep and we have pretty good running seasons, the amount of game is ok, from what I hear, there is no driving to the end of the block and cutting the race off, or dumping in fresh dogs around the corner, when they go they can be gone for hours and you wont see them till the tree, theres no discing road edges before dark and going back in the morning. Besides its home. You boys in Arizona and New Mexico are my number two vote though. A little less moisture to work with.

[lionhunterdaves]

Good dogs come from all over! I would have to say it all depends on what and how you like to hunt. But if you want a good all around dog that will do it in all kinds of conditions, get one from around the four corners area.

[bency]

people that hunt hard.

[fallriverwalker1]

dont know when you were in northern cal or where but the sierras go from 1000 ft to 8000 ft real fast where i hunt we dont have blocks to cut dogs off we have brush mountains that will scare most people ' but we still catch game here maybe its the beaches that help although its about 300 miles from where i live always wonder why people have such a misconception of what northern cal really is like look at a topo map you might be surprised www.fallriverwalker.com

[Nolte]

No idea on other areas of the country. I haven't seen enough dogs (or any) to make a judgement.

In WI, if you have dogs that can jump, stick and stay caught all in the big swamp country they will do it anywhere in WI. The only thing I think is tougher outside the swamp is trailing and jumping old tracks in the sand pine blocks. It sure helps to have decent moisture and the short track to work with.

Everywhere you go has it's different challenges.

[nmplott]

.....from dogs that are proven

[LBell]

I am meaning, what areas force a dog to go to the next level to preform, some place's are easier to hunt then others from what I hear? I agree if the dogs are handled by a dink or of dink parents they don't got much of a chance.

[cobalt]

I moved to Id. a couple years ago from southern Or, Northern Ca. Idaho was much easier on the dogs and my % of catch went up. If you think you have bear or bob dogs take them to the coast(Cal, Or.). Id. offers some tuff huntin, guaranteed, but Cal/Or is bit tougher. There is also desert, mountain and coastal brush there.

[Smiley]

Cobalt I take it you have not hunted all of Idaho. there are places that will rival the coast . I grew up on the washington Coast i know whatt he coast has to offer in steep and thick and things that will put holes in you and your dogs. there definately are places in Idaho that are easy but the same can be said in California

[Catch]

cobalt, are you serious? I have hunted all over Northern California, all over Idaho, all over Utah, all over New Mexico, Canada, Arizona and I have never hunted a place that is as easy as California. The first time I hunted California the local hound guys asked how long we would be there, I told them 10 days. They laughed and said "you might catch a bear or two". The first damn day we treed two keepers. The next day we treed another keeper. The local hound hunters asked us to leave because to many bears were being shot. There are 100's of people that go out of state to California every year and it is not because it is hard to tree bear. If you are hunting Idaho, stay out of the bear park. If you want tough, the Chilliwack River in British Columbia is the toughest place on planet earth to tree a bear.

[Tom White]

I have only hunted in Washington State and New Mexico so couldn"t judge where most good dogs come from. I may be gettin old and soft but At times it seems perty tuff here with the bluffs, rock slides,steep ground, dry weather and heat.Not too many good dogs come out of here. Most of em get buried here.

[Catch]

Tom, not sure where you hunt but you got me thinking about New Mexico. New Mexico in my opinion ranks high on my list for tough bear hunting. fallriverwalker1 wrote "the sierras go from 1000 ft to 8000 ft". When I read that I remember back when I bear hunted around the Red River area in New Mexico, but my thoughts were just the opposite. I remember looking at the GPS the first day of bear hunting it read 9000 plus feet, I looked up and only saw mountains and then down. When I looked down I felt those mountains never stopped. I felt if you stepped off you would hit the bottom. Around 7:00 A.M. that morning we turned three females down on a big Ole bear. I walked for hours and hours listening and watching this big SOB bay and walk. If I had a tag I could have shot this bear a dozen times. It got late and the dogs got way out, so I walked down the mountain to the first road I came to all day. I was found by the others in the group and we all went back and walked into the dogs again. Just before dark we saw the bear and dogs, the bear broke bay and we caught up the dogs the next day where I had walked out. The one thing I remember were the rocks, cliffs and how damn big those mountain are. Oh, I also remember not crossing a road every mile or so. Tough place to hunt!

[Mr.pacojack]

people that hunt hard.

Thats about it right there.If a dog is not getting hunted it's not going to be at it's best. If you are asking about what states are the best dogs coming from I would have to say the states that are more liberal with their hunting seasons or from hunters that are willing to do alot of traveling.

[cobalt]

Smiley-I have not hunted all of Id. or any of Wa. Did you tree a lot of bears on the Wa. coast? And, yes there are easy places to hunt in Ca., especially E. of i5.

Catch--I wouldn't post it unless I was serious. I'm probably not as good a houndsman as you, just giving my opinion as was asked. You seem to be quite the worldly bear hunter. Maybe all these posts should be directed to you only. Nice anecdote. You probably caught the toughest bear in the hardest country in Ca. and spoke to the top hunters in the state, no doubt. I think a lot of hunters go to Ca. from out of state because the season in their state has closed and there is a good pop. of bears there and tags are issued across the counter to anyone. I don't know how B.C. got in the conversation. Buy me a ticket for me and my dogs and I'll give you a full report when I return. I've never been there, let alone hunted bear there to know what you're talking about. If by the bear park you mean Snake river breaks or Anderson res. or Mann ck. or st. Maries or St. Joe or Ola or Smith Ferry or New Meadows or Garden Valley or Boise riv. or Waha then Where should I go oh great one. I'm sure you've never been skunked in the park(contrary to what Ive heard).

[bigboarstopper]

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