dumping the box on bears in the road?

[leghound]

any opinions on after seeing a bear in the road or crossing the road how soon you dump the box some old time bear hunters have told me to wait half hour then go back. they say this lets the bears adrenaline rush from seeing man wear off. I know we have only caught one of the four bears we have saw in the road the rest blew our doors off

[Ike]

I've only seen a couple bears from the road and none of them got away. We did rig a bear a couple springs back midday along a river and I told my hunter that the bear had to be right there close, so I started cutting dogs loose. By the time I got the last dog out of the box and sent it across the river the others were treed. So even though we hadn't seen that bear it was close enough to see if it had not been for the brush. I say cut you best dogs loose if you want to tree that bear and feed the younger ones in one by one very shortly after--me I just unsnap the ones on top and jerk both door open ASAP........ That is if I'm only playing..........

I've heard people talking lately about having dogs that run to catch. Well, I don't buy that crap and all of my dogs better run to catch. What I have experienced with bear hounds over the years is a pack of hounds has to lift their heads and run in the scent tunnel or they'll be cold trailing in less than a mile. A good bear dog knows this and when a bear bail the tree or crosses the road they pick their heads up and stick their nose in that bears azz.......and those are known as real bear dogs in my books.

If a guy is running to kill and limited on dogs, then he better get out and look at the track for trophy quality. Good luck with the coming season and post some photos when you can......

ike

[cobalt]

I think it's a smart practice to wait at least 5 minutes unless the dogs are rigging the bear until you cut them loose. Of the maybe 30 bears I've seen cross the road and turned dogs loose on, I've had more mishaps than straight up success. Not that the dogs don't get caught or treed, but the variables aren't the same. The scent of a bear running across the road hualin ass is different than a bear sitting just off the road who hasn't seen you and it's hard for the dogs to put a line on it which can start a real cluster if that bear is making out of the country at mach 9. If they rig it cut em loose like Ike says.. The only problem is having the patience to wait if they don't. In my book it is cardinal sin to cut dogs loose on a bobcat you see cross the road in front of you. With bears and lions it's way easier for the dogs to sort it out. Those old time hunters didn't tell you that because they had some devious plan to screw you up. You'll find on those deals that dogs cut out in those situations don't open until their way off the road, probably where that critter stopped for a second to listen. It's not about nose, it's about scent.

[Nolte]

I've seen all sorts of weird stuff with bear crossing the road, BUT if you see the bear cross and aren't consitantly catching that bear, get different dogs.

If I see one cross, I want to get a dog on it right as soon as possible. Find the spot it crossed and put them down. Why give them a head start when you don't have to. Get one/two dogs lined out and then feed the others.

If you want a massive clusterfck, just start unclip every snap and open every door at once, with about 3 trucks.

[bearhntwi]

I've seen all sorts of weird stuff with bear crossing the road, BUT if you see the bear cross and aren't consitantly catching that bear, get different dogs.

If I see one cross, I want to get a dog on it right as soon as possible. Find the spot it crossed and put them down. Why give them a head start when you don't have to. Get one/two dogs lined out and then feed the others.

If you want a massive clusterfck, just start unclip every snap and open every door at once, with about 3 trucks.

Yea,dogs runnin every f ing way up and down roads on the track on the backtrack lol.I agree get a few going the right way then dump the rest behind.

[cobalt]

Nolte- I would say that if you can't catch a bear you've seen crossing the road after waiting 5 min. to dump, then you might want different dogs. I'll give em a half hour and still expect them to tree.

I also believe that a person who says they catch every bear they dump on is someone who hasn't hunted much, if at all. There are no guaranties.

[BigGameHunter]

Dump em one or two at a time to make sure you get them lined out and in the right direction. I would also make sure that those first ones you put down are really lined out. I've had a few times I've dumped a few dogs and they start the right direction and here they come back on the backtrack and take every dog I've put down since. And I am talking a matter of around 30 seconds. Remember those dogs are just as excited as you and if they have a momentary lose and come back headed the wrong direction you got to get them turned around; otherwise your going to give that bear a BIG head start. Doesn't happen very often but it happens.

Nobody said anything about not being able to catch a bear after waiting five min. Why the crap would you want to give him a head start.

I learned a long time ago with a few less than pleasant experiences not to dump the whole box.......cussed the heck out of my dogs at the time but guess who's fault it really was.....

JMO.

[Nolte]

Nolte- I would say that if you can't catch a bear you've seen crossing the road after waiting 5 min. to dump, then you might want different dogs. I'll give em a half hour and still expect them to tree.

I also believe that a person who says they catch every bear they dump on is someone who hasn't hunted much, if at all. There are no guaranties.

It doesn't have much to do with being able to catch/not catch them. It's more a matter of not letting them get a bigger head start. And with that head start doing things that prolong the race or possibly screw it up, ie cross a big river, highway, or into a place where you can't run. If they are in a good spot to run, put the heat on them as best you can. Or in my case, put the lukewarm to them.

I never said anything about catching them all, I've seen all sorts of weird stuff screw up a hunt. But if you aren't catching them on jumped tracks, something is wrong. And it's not the track.

[blackpaws]

Nolte- I would say that if you can't catch a bear you've seen crossing the road after waiting 5 min. to dump, then you might want different dogs. I'll give em a half hour and still expect them to tree.

I also believe that a person who says they catch every bear they dump on is someone who hasn't hunted much, if at all. There are no guaranties.

It doesn't have much to do with being able to catch/not catch them. It's more a matter of not letting them get a bigger head start. And with that head start doing things that prolong the race or possibly screw it up, ie cross a big river, highway, or into a place where you can't run. If they are in a good spot to run, put the heat on them as best you can. Or in my case, put the lukewarm to them.

I never said anything about catching them all, I've seen all sorts of weird stuff screw up a hunt. But if you aren't catching them on jumped tracks, something is wrong. And it's not the track.

And if you don't put the heat to em right away, there's another truck with 10 dogs hanging out of it around the corner coming your way and is going to rig that rack and throw on it.

[RubySwampblackntans]

any opinions on after seeing a bear in the road or crossing the road how soon you dump the box some old time bear hunters have told me to wait half hour then go back. they say this lets the bears adrenaline rush from seeing man wear off. I know we have only caught one of the four bears we have saw in the road the rest blew our doors off

Well i have always loved to listen to the dogs scream, Thats why bear hunting is my favorite of all animals to hunt. I just drive up to ware i seen the bear wait until the box blows up then unleash the hounds. I have never had any problems looseing a bear that hot.

[bristolblue's]

i've haven't ran alot of bears from the road, but we have caught probably half of them, and i wouldn't give a bear a head start, we seen one on a ridge from the truck last summer, and it only took us twenty minutes to get up there, but that bear was already out of the country. We have ran alot of coons that we seen in the road, and we never caught them, not a single one, and that was with our best dog, and people says the get better dogs, well then in my opinion they aren't very loyal houndsmen, and i seen that same dogs dry ground six lions in one year, where i'm from thats almost unheard of. so its not the dogs fault, it has so many different problems that can go wrong.

[kordog]

seeing a bear in the road doesnt happen very often for me but when it does its the perfect opportunity to leave those veteran hounds in the truck and give those young hounds a chance to show you what they got . if they screw it up oh well . im more in it for the dogs performance. alot of houndsmen dont know what they got till their best dog dies or is laid up and they have to lean on a different dog to do it all

[BlacktailStalker]

Dump the box.

[dhostetler]

I have caught all the bears I seen on the road except two. I usually have my older dogs on one side of the box and the younger ones on the other side. If I see one on the road I point the back end of the truck to where the bear left and open one side and once they start it open the young dogs side, if you screw around and don't get everthing dumped right you will have your front dogs 500 yards out in a couple minutes before you get the last of the dogs dumped, I always have everything collared up and ready to go, I have seen guys screw around and try to put collars on and feeding dogs in on red hot strikes which to me seems stupid by then you have lead dogs already a mile out and those dogs are essentially thrown out before they even start.

To me seeing a bear on the road is no different then getting a red hot wind strike (in being catchable).

[Ike]

If you're starting some young dogs or hounds that you can't control, then always lead with your best dog or two and fed in the rest. In situations where a bear is on the road, the scent may well be heavy enough that those excited dogs will start it right and turn it around. I believe the reason for that is a bear may well be walking when you see it and then jump and run leaving less scent, therefore it's may be easy to confuse those hounds and thus turn them around.

I've worked long and hard with my pack (and believe it or not) can usually call them back on a pretty damn fresh track. In my opinion, if a guy can't he's gonna waste alot of time in the woods. Example: dogs turn a track around and you can't stop them, hounds run down a backtrail all day and a guy is chasing dogs that will never tree the bear. If a handler gets those hounds listening to him he should never have the problem of dogs scattering in every direction on a hot bear.

good luck,
ike