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Cobalt, You must hunt with blackntanman1 in Emmitt. Anybody tha has seen the dogs that have come out of Catch's yard would be impressed.

Cobalt , no I have not hunted the washington coast with dogs. But i have spent a lot of time on the coast from washington to oregon and know what the country holds. I also have hunted quite a bit of Idaho and can tell you that the diversity is extreme with large pockets of whatever you want . Yes there are easy places to hunt one is where i spend a bit of time here in my back yard another is in the old Bear study areas .
I was just pointing out that you might be generalizing to much . I also believe that many dogs from here in Idaho will have a hard time running on the west coast as there is a learning curve in finding ways through those blackberry jungles and manzanita or whatever it is called.
The old bear study areas has been the easiest place I have been to tree bears . That being said not all were easy but only had one I did not get under .
Cobalt I would have to agree that west of I 5 would generaly have the toughest places to hunt I know washington has the same country east of I5 for quite a ways that is just like right on the coast.

Best dogs have come from people that hunt. There are plenty of breeders that breed hunting dogs but only somone who hunts and hunts alot will breed the good ones to the good ones.

Breeders just make dogs. They might be the best looking dogs youve ever seen but the one part that counts is unknown to the guy who breeds and dosent hunt.

Location dosent matter. In fact its a matter of opinion and there is no real answer. In a general statement id have to say the place thats the most productive with the game your after. The more game and the more you hunt, the more your dogs are gonna be successful. That equals more experienced and seasoned dogs. If I was hunting in a place where conditions were tougher and game was scarce my dogs wouldnt have the oppertunity to be as successful. A guy that trees a bear in an area that has few bears or tough terrain dosent make his dogs better than a guy that trees 5 bears in a weekend in a highly bear populated area. That logic dosent make any sence to me. In the event that the guy who is used to forests full of bears hunts in a place with less bears is gonna be just as successful or more as the guy who hunts where bears are scarce. After all most everyone is rigging anyhow.

bigboarstopper wrote:. A guy that trees a bear in an area that has few bears or tough terrain dosent make his dogs better than a guy that trees 5 bears in a weekend in a highly bear populated area. That logic dosent make any sence to me. .

I am not sure if you were including type or quality of experience in there or not. How much A dog that is not running bears that are challenging them either trailing or their toughness mentaly and physicaly is not going to get very good no matter how many bears they are run on. A dog has to be challenged to their extremes to get better and to get good or to become a top dog and that goes for any game .
If you are running in areas that are full of game how hard are the dogs working a cold track how many people will even mess with a cold track .
Dogs just like everything else get better when pushed to limits and there are places where the limits seem to fall short most of the time.
BBS you may not have intended this meaning i was just bringing this up becouse I have had this conversation several times before.

I hear you and see your point. I was purposely being general about my statement.

cobalt wrote: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).

Ahhh, don't believe everything you hear, I hardly hunt the park. To many other places close to home that are much easier to tree a bear. Wow, I have hunted all of those areas. I like Anderson Ranch, nice place. The problem with Anderson is all those girls on the lake. It is damn hard to get any bear hunting done with a milf on each arm! I wouldn't be surprised if there aren't 20 little Catches over there. Garden Valley, now you are getting into some harder hunting. It has been 10 years since I have hunted that side of the mountains. The last time I was there I killed a 7'8" bear that was 23 years old. Nice place, BIG bears and tough. I'll bet you don't run dogs there much. If you do P.M. me, I would like to watch.

Tell me where the tough places are in California. If I haven't hunted there already I will. I'm always looking for the toughest and roughest. Maybe some day we can go to B.C. and hunt the Chilliwack River, but I'm telling you straight up. Don't take a dog you can't live without. Tough, tough, tough!

larry- Don't know who you are talkin bout. Hunt mostly alone, alway have, alway will. Not a big fan of party hunts and I need no help. Never helps my dogs. I have met a few good houndsmen here, though. Maybe this blackntan1 guy is one of them. Seems to be a lot of B&T's here.

Smiley--I hear what yur saying. Maybe I am generalizing, but I still believe there is more diversity in Ca. Idaho has no coast. A unique environment that challenges dog and hunter. I have hunted the coast for bear going on 20yrs, From Mendicino to Tillamook and consistantly am challenged to even see a bear, though the dogs tree 'em, the bears don't hold well and it takes me a fricken hour to get a hundred yards. The dogs that are raised there do better, they're used to it, but the bears don't hold for them either. The key is knowing where they are going to cross a road. I don't believe there are any better dogs or houndsmen in Ca. than anywhere else. Good dogs are hunted dogs. Good houndsmen hunt and the minute I think I've got good dogs an believe I'm a good hunter is when I see something better. I have had my ass handed to me enough in Id.(including the study area) to have respect and humility. I love Idaho and feel lucky to have the opportunity to live and hunt here.

Catch- You're right about G. valley. It is a little more of a drive and the wolves are thick, but Idid catch on every track I dumped on. Not big bears, but runners. Kinda reminded me of home. It is hard for me to respond to you, seems like all you want to do is insult people and brag about your illigitimate family. I have a feeling your hay days are behind you and the tailings of B.S. are what you are reduced to. Sad. I have no desire to hunt with you or know you in any way. It would decrease the value of my existence. You have defenders of your position. No respect for them either. I've never considered myself a beardog man, But I'll bet I've been to more bear trees than you with my dogs(upwards of 1000 coservatively) and I'm 44yo. Go hunt N. Ca. no more than 20 mi. inland. I'm sure you'll slay 'em. Start at Smith River and go south. No need to reply. Don't really care.

JMO I am by no means an experienced houndswoman, but I think most hounds are bred for their local conditions. If you get a dog from a long line of locally bred hounds, chances are good it will suit the conditions there because the area hunters have bred for the traits most important in that place. Of course, most of the dogs around here are bred for coon, not big game.
Some hounds are better at developing new skills when relocated than others are. I live in a place where bear tracks are plentiful and the ground is moist (Catskill mountains in NY). I've seen dogs from out west go crazy trying to pick one track here and stick to it, even though my hounds would probably miss the faint tracks the western dogs were used to. It probably takes a "better" dog in the conditions out west, but my potlickers do just fine lining out one bear track among many because that is what they are used to doing.

cobalt wrote:Catch- You're right about G. valley. It is a little more of a drive and the wolves are thick, but Idid catch on every track I dumped on. Not big bears, but runners. Kinda reminded me of home. It is hard for me to respond to you, seems like all you want to do is insult people and brag about your illigitimate family. I have a feeling your hay days are behind you and the tailings of B.S. are what you are reduced to. Sad. I have no desire to hunt with you or know you in any way. It would decrease the value of my existence. You have defenders of your position. No respect for them either. I've never considered myself a beardog man, But I'll bet I've been to more bear trees than you with my dogs(upwards of 1000 coservatively) and I'm 44yo. Go hunt N. Ca. no more than 20 mi. inland. I'm sure you'll slay 'em. Start at Smith River and go south. No need to reply. Don't really care.

A 1000 bears from a state that only has two months of hunting and a state that does not allow hunting with dogs! It doesn't matter to tell you the truth, I hope you have seen that many, nothing wrong with that. But I wouldn't go around betting. You see, you are 6 years older than I, and I don't keep track of the amount of bears or lion I tree. I'm more interested in the dogs that tree them. Thanks for the heads up on California, I'll try to make it there this year. Oh, maybe we can load 1 or 2 dogs up this spring and hit the woods. Your more than welcome to stay in my camp, eat my food, and hunt where I do. I'm always interested in seeing good dogs hunt.

thanks....

I bet there are some real good dogs in every state with game. And I "m perty sure they belong to people who hunt em hard.