Pitts for catching bear

[UphillDoc]

Plottpappaw-You suppose the reason the Plotts have the bad rep as dog fighters among hounddoggers is from a lil bulldog blood runnin in their veins? I suspect many of the Ol time Plott men had plenty of use for a bulldog.

Take care.

[bob baldwin jr]

Just wondering WHERE you guys are hunting bears and hogs in the same area?

[BigGameHunter]

A guy around my parts tried it one time. He bred down to around 1/4 pit and they were some bear eating dogs. Didn't have a whole lot of problems with dog fights but he also didn't have any dogs from this line left in about 2 or three years. They did do a bang up job on the bears though.

If your having problems with dogs not putting a lot of bears in trees then you may want to look for a line of hounds that carry a little more bite. I don't like the kamakaze dogs as they are to expensive; but oportunistic biters are my favorite. They put a lot of bear away (not every one) and they are a little cheaper to maintain.

[plottpappaw]

You know someone always has to pop up and be a smart elic! Yea one man in particular use some bulldog but the thread is bout using full pits! I own a crockett bred plott! Neck'm down to quarters go for it i could careless but the topic i been discussing on here is full bulldogs!

[Dan Edwards]

I would suggest an airedale! -- plottpappaw

Just one example but this topic has been about more than just pure bulldogs

[plottpappaw]

I guess we have to look at it this way! We all have our opinions on them! I choose to not hunt any where near one! For an earlier question we have both hog and bear in the same area in western north carolina! With the plott bully cross! taylor crockett made that cross in his old age cause he couldn't move through the woods to chase'm a long distance anymore! Then watered it down so much that its almost none existant in them anymore!

[cjohnson1178]

thanx for all the replies. i didnt think it was a good idea and i dont think i will even try. im happy with my hounds they do good for me. but to clarify they are presa carnarios which is like a pit x 10. not that it would make a difference they were origonally breed for fighting. i think mostly he was trying to pawn some of his dogs off on me in his puppy mill he has going. he will probably be shut down soon enough any how by animal control.

[Pops]

presas like bulldogs were originally bred for catching cattle. it took outside blood to make them descent fighting dogs specifically british bull & terriers. in the last two decades good breeders have worked to reduce or eliminate dog aggression. the very best catchdog i have ever seen was a presa named Oso. hit like a truck & hung like a tick, had more control over any size hog than any two dogs i've seen. if he's going to give you pups or at least real cheap it might be worth a shot.
there are few bull & mastiff breeds that can't be turned off fighting w/ a hotshot. the bigger problem is the amount of roadwork you'll have to do to get them in shape to run w/ hounds. in the off season my bulldog was roaded 12 miles at 25-30MPH 3X a week MINIMUM, that includes the height of summer when a lot of hounds were left laying around cause "it's too hot to run the dogs."
not just any bulldog will work. they have to be a smart one. Roosevelt hunted w/ a fella that used one & some crossbreds they literally caught the bear & lion and TR made the kill w/ his hunting knife (which is what a hunting knife is actually for).
i hunted by american bulldogXcatahoula w/ some fellas down east in NC (did most of his hog hunting in other states). he caught an extremely large sow (200-250 maybe bigger i'm not as good a judge of bear as i am hog) by the face & took her off her feet and pulled her down 2 more times before she finally got her feet under her & got up the tree. about 10 foot up she pushed him off. i don't have any pics of him working bear but he's the red dog in the pic, the black marks on his shoulder are the scars from the sow pushing him off.

[Dan Edwards]

No breed of dog anywhere on earth can be roaded 12 miles at 25 to 30 mph. Thats horsehit Pops. I usually dont say nothin like this to anyone let alone you but thats just not true.

[chilcotin hillbilly]

No breed of dog anywhere on earth can be roaded 12 miles at 25 to 30 mph. Thats horsehit Pops. I usually dont say nothin like this to anyone let alone you but thats just not true.

I am with you on this one Dan.

[BlacktailStalker]

I was gonna say...

[Pops]

Dan the roads on Cherry Point around the flight line from hardball to end are 6 miles and cross the runway at one point. 6 miles out and 6 miles back. the dogs followed the truck & i watched the speedometer 25-30 MPH. when i first started roading him this way it was 6 miles at 15-20 MPH and over the course of 3months i doubled the distance then the next 2 months i upped the speed.
before i started roading him i ran him on a lead. again as a pup i ran him and started at 3 miles w/me and built him up to 12 miles. when it reached a point that we were getting home & he was just ready to play i started roading him.

the specific road is called boys town road. you come in through the front gate stay on roosevelt until you pass the end of the runway and take a right on access road. at the end of access road you take a left on rifle range road. then take the immediate right dirt road this is boys town road. it runs around the east side of the flightline. 100 yards from the hardball i drop the tailgate and let the dogs out. i get back in and take off. the dogs follow the truck. at the end of the road i turn around and the dogs follow the truck back. 100 yds from the hardball i stop the truck. i call the boys over & tell them how good they are then they load up good & tired.

[Cajun]

I knew Taylor Crockett for years before he died & you will never get me to believe he bred any sort of bulldog into his dogs. He hated them & did not have any use for a pit or any other bully breed. I knew of him making one cross to a cur dog that he thought looked like a old time plott but he did not register any of the pups.
Back to the subject at hand, alot of the old time bearhunters in the south would use oldtime bulldogs or curs with their hounds trying to make a bear climb or get him out of a swamp.
Anybody that has bearhunted any length of time knows it is just suicidal to put a game pitt or bully breed on a bear. The least you can expect is some expensive vet bills & more than likely some dead dogs. One of these will probably be your best traildog because as soon as a pit hits a bear, all the dogs are going to swarm him & that is when you are going to loose dogs.JMO

[Pops]

how does anybody know that if no one will try it?
it also ignores the historical fact that prior to the 20th century it was fairly common in the south to use bulldogs w/bear packs so that they could be taken w/ a knife. Confederate General Wade Hampton and his family were somewhat famous for it. Roosevelt did the same in the early 20th century in the rockies taking more than a dozen bear & lion using a mixed pack that included a bulldog, a bullXhound & three small terriers. while some were shot many were knifed. in all cases of knifing the bulldog or the bullX caught on the head and held while TR knifed it. they completed the whole hunt w/o loosing a single dog to either bear or lion.

[Rockcreek]

Pits were bred for catching other pits(That's where the "PIT" comes from), not bears. If there aren't any other pits around, I suppose hounds or curs would do . I would never turn any of my dogs loose with pits around and I love pits, well good ones. LOL!

Take care.