Has anyone treed a bear with just one dog?

[Nolte]

You don't want to believe that a dog can be good at catching bears all by itself without getting ate up and that is fine with me.I won't spend any time trying to convince you otherwise.The guy just asked the question...is it possible ? The honest,true answer is YES.

Trueblue,
I read through this and got to thinking, which usually isn't a good thing. In any case, we had a dog when I was a little kid that was as good as I've seen. I'm not really sure how many bear trees he was on, but it 50-75/year and probably 5-10 solo/year. The supporting cast wasn't much so most of other trees were due to the heavy lifting by him. In any case, that dog would get beat up multiple times a year (most times when alone) and have to be laid up. Then the bear catching would go down quickly. So, I definately know you can tree them solo. I just don't think it's a great safe long term strategy for a good dog. And it's not the best expectation to have for a guy just getting his feet wet with dogs.

My thoughts on the matter were confirmed this AM. I had a younger dog get by on bear chase and then bit in the shoulder when he was all alone. Huntig a dog alone is like sitting in the corner listenting to an Ipod. I prefer to fire some money in the jukebox and crank up the volume. Good Hunting to you.

[Idaho Bison]

I think you hit on the head Nolte. The great dogs will certainly tree bears alone but some bears won't respect them and they will be tore up.

[Trueblue]

The great dogs will certainly tree bears alone but some bears won't respect them and they will be tore up.

Doesn't really take a great dog.It just takes a dog that wants to catch a bear and doesn't care whether or not he has company.

Notle,
The guy just asked if it was possible.I think about half a dozen guys on this thread said they have done it many times.I have no idea why the guy only has one dog but I can assure you that if I am ever down to one dog and I have the option of going out and chasing a bear or staying home....I'll be out chasing a bear.

[radar]

I agree with you Notle and usually do every time I've read one of your post.

Trueblue I was gigling to my self as a typed it cuz I keep thinkin of the that South Park episode

[Ankle Express]

Nolte, I've seen that kind of dog before. Just no difference whether in company or alone. Bad mix. Just like the one I burried last year. Fact is though mine and probably yours still got banged up in company. Mine had teeth knocked out, broken leg, fractured ribs, to many stitches to count (well into the hundreds), antenna ripped right out of a Johnson collar (none of this the same trip) and still never backed up from a bear in company or not. Finally he lost. These as great as they seem either don't make it or spend alot of time on injured reserve. I've seen rougher smarter dogs though that can do the same and more. They get old and still catch bears alone. Bears stop alot of times too for just one dog better than the whole pack. Makes a difference. The dogs I hold highest get old and in their mind they were still always alone. Didn't make any difference still but they survived and did bang up jobs. I wouldn't have done that to that young dog purposefully nor would you either but by gosh if he goes back and sticks something rough in good company till the motor gets turned off your on your way to having something. Its a tedious process but at some point its necesary to know what you really got. Bear dog or cheerleader.

[cobalt]

Even though I could debate the topic with Mr. nolte and have adequate experience, reference and pictures to back my points, he believes what he believes and I cannot change that.
I do agree 110% with Ankle Express' statement.
I enjoy the ipod as much as the juke box as long as it's playing a good song.

[briarpatch]

Just what are you guys debating? I believe Nolte stated that he has seen many one dog bear trees......Just not his preference. I agree with Nolte.

briarpatch

[Nolte]

. I've seen rougher smarter dogs though that can do the same and more. They get old and still catch bears alone. Bears stop alot of times too for just one dog better than the whole pack. Makes a difference. The dogs I hold highest get old and in their mind they were still always alone. Didn't make any difference still but they survived and did bang up jobs.

Stephan,
I hear ya buddy, give me a heads up when you find a short cut to find those type of dogs. I haven't found one yet.

Seen one dog like that who was beat up once in his life, that's all it took. He bayed up a pile of bears by himself. He wouldnt' crawl down it's throat, but was always pretty tight. Once you got more dogs in there he'd get tighter and if it was a treeable bear, it would tree. If he would have pressured them by himself, he would have ended up like your dog. Somehow ours died of old age, he just got lucky and caught some breaks along the way. If you look back on one of those old grizzled vets, you can probably count a half dozen times they should have met their maker but somehow didn't while other young promising dogs get smoked on the first one. Just the way it goes.

Like I've said before, completely agree you can tree bear with one dog. No doubt about. But from my experience in WI, I prefer to not put my start dogs in that position if I can help it. They seem to find themselve in that position enough without me purposely putting them in it. I figure if there are a couple more dogs in there giving pressure, the bear has a little less odds to get ahold of the best one.

[Ankle Express]

Nolte, I wish I had that magical shortcut but I ain't. Fact is and I'm sure we would agree with Cobalt we would hunt either style of dog. I like it both ways and can make them both work. Wisconsin is a little different than most places in that typically you are dealing with an exceptional road system. Can be thick as anywhere but an exceptional road system. Maybe thats not you but I'm betting it is. Picture no roads, mountains and canyons in between roads. Maybe several mtn.'s and canyons. In other words most likely no chance in hell of ever getting close enough to repack a race. What you put down at the start is it, 90% of the time. Cold,hot or whatever. Once a dog gets alone here its alone. However it done it. There wouldn't be a bear dog left in this end of the state if they couldn't handle one alone but there are some good ones around. You won't see many if any dogs from my area for sale. We run through dogs, damn good dogs because of this very reason. If they won't back up and turn a run down into a circle till they wander who is chasing who and the bear breaks out for a run then they won't make it long around here. However the ones that get old here and are great learned or adapted to the difference of fighting bears in company and holding bears when alone till somebody dog or me can get there to help them out. Some the roughest dogs I ever seen bout met their maker once or twice then hardly ever had a hair out of place till they died of old age. The answer to this mans question is yes one dog can tree you a bear. The one dog he has may not be the one for that job though. Could he ruin a dog by itself that might've made something with a pack? Hell Yes. Could he make a dog by itself that meets the grade? Hell Yes, if its the right dog and survives. Got to have the right dog for the job.

The lead dog I've run for the last several years (basically his whole life) is just about how I like'em. Just about, though. Been a love hate relationship his whole life. One of my buddies has took him home twice to keep me from doing something stupid with the old dog. My only complaint is he is not rough enough when alone. May sound off to some but it doesn't work so well in this roadless country usually. He'll run alone or in company 8-12 hours. Usually from daylight to dark. He'll hunt every day never needs a break. Built like a coyote. When the bear stops he stops. He had rather the bear charge and he'll recover and push it around and back to moving and all thats up to par but if the bear ever figures out to just stand there then we have a stalemate. He stops when the bear stops. If I can't get dogs to him and we are trying to get to him then he'll be stopped and cause you to walk off into some hell hole to try to get to him all for him just to follow the bear out of there and into the next place it decides to stop. The more tired the bear gets the shorter these are but we can't ever get into him like this. He takes alot more bluff downs by just baying and not working in my opinion. What works better is just the threat of more pressure. In my opinion the bear gets busier defending and not charging so much. Don't need teeth really just the constant working and angling for openings that threatens teeth. Enough to keep one a little more busy when stopped and enough to pressure it back on the move. Both will wear the bear down faster and maybe up a tree. If nothing else though that threatening pressure will push that bear through that area hopefully and into something where we can get dogs close enough or even better get it across a road. The dog my dog is out of is #2 on my list of bear dogs and I expect alot from my dog. The hate has always been I know he has the tools, the ability and the smarts to be as good w/out company as with but he respects one to much when alone. I got to here by overlooking that though because the dog got his jaw broke on his third bear and first bay up some several years ago. That dog didn't know to back up and that is my fault. One quick trip to the bear bays early on in this dogs life would have probably made a better dog out of him because his jaw wouldn't have got broke and maybe that amount of respect wouldn't be there. You'd never know the difference in an area with good roads. Fact is he hates bears though and will need a good flossing in good company he trusts. JMO

[cobalt]

The debate isn't weather a dog can tree one alone, it's weather it is more dangerous for the lone dog. As nolte just said "once you get more dogs in there, he'd get tighter". That to me means it gets more dangerous for the dogs when there's more dogs in there. Any healthy 125# bear can kill a pack of dogs if they choose to, but luckily, they usually are defensive fighters. Single dogs have been killed by bears, but in my opinion, dogs are most often killed when there are lots of them there because the distance to the bear decreases and the intensity increases due to their competative nature. I've sold many dogs to bear hunters in Wi. and a couple have been killed, but they were not alone when it happened and they had caught many all by themselves in the past. Dog killing bears learn their trade and it doesn't matter how many dogs you put on them, none are safe and you will end up with dead or wounded dogs. If I had to kill a bear like that, I would put 1 or 2 dogs on it who make a lot of noise and work a bear intelligently. If you've ever seen a dog get caught and ground into the dirt, you'll know that there was nothing any one or 20 dogs could do to prevent it. Maybe multiple dogs can keep a bear stopped or get it stopped easier, but that doesn't mean they're safer.

[Ankle Express]

Dog killing bears learn their trade and it doesn't matter how many dogs you put on them, none are safe and you will end up with dead or wounded dogs.

Thats a fact.

[Trueblue]

The debate isn't weather a dog can tree one alone, it's weather it is more dangerous for the lone dog. As nolte just said "once you get more dogs in there, he'd get tighter". That to me means it gets more dangerous for the dogs when there's more dogs in there. Any healthy 125# bear can kill a pack of dogs if they choose to, but luckily, they usually are defensive fighters. Single dogs have been killed by bears, but in my opinion, dogs are most often killed when there are lots of them there because the distance to the bear decreases and the intensity increases due to their competative nature.

.

I definitely agree with these statements as well as Ankle Express.One place you can see the difference is when a bear decides to descend the tree right in the middle of half a dozen dogs.That situation can be a real feeding frenzy with a pack but not so much when there is only one dog at the bottom of the tree.Any lone dog with half a brain knows that loading that bear by himself ain't a real good idea.

[Nolte]

As nolte just said "once you get more dogs in there, he'd get tighter". That to me means it gets more dangerous for the dogs when there's more dogs in there.

It might be more dangerous, but I think it's much more productive. When I say "more dogs", I don't mean 25. 3-5 good dogs on a bear is all you need. My dream world involves 7 exceptional dogs and hunt 4 at a time. If you hit that bad sucker, you'd still probably still have 3 to hunt and most likely a couple more after a few days rest. Too bad I've got to live in this world and hunt what I've got, when I can.

One place you can see the difference is when a bear decides to descend the tree right in the middle of half a dozen dogs.That situation can be a real feeding frenzy with a pack but not so much when there is only one dog at the bottom of the tree.Any lone dog with half a brain knows that loading that bear by himself ain't a real good idea.

Most times brains and beardogs aren't a great combo. You've got to have some level of dumbness in a way to be a bear dog. I doubt many of us would lip off and try to jab for hours to a guy who is bigger, faster and stronger and could squash us in a second. But that is what we expect of our dogs. I'd say about every dog I've seen that I considered a bear dog would take advantage of a bear backing down the tree and grab it as soon as it got low enough. It might be short lived and back off once it hit the ground, but when they get an opening to grab something with fur they are taking it.

On the subject of bear killing dogs. I am a firm believer that more dogs are killed by other dogs than they are a bear. What sounds a lot better after the fact. There are definately some that have learned their craft to tear up dogs, but they are the minority here in WI. And most of them can/will be taken out of the gene pool eventually. A dog getting killed on the actual hunt happens less than one that dies after the fact from an infection or injury. And even that is fairly rare. It happens but it's not commonplace. I probably know of more dogs killed by wolves, or cars, or falling through ice than by an actual bear on a hunt.

We hunt different than guys in our own state, so I'm sure that guys located in other states are different as well. Dogs that fit in my pack probably wouldn't make it in other guys D-squad. But if everything was the same, what fun would that be. Good Hunting.

[Trueblue]

I'm starting to understand where you are coming from Nolte.I think you are right.If you take an aggressive,hair pullin,REAL bear dog and hunt him by himself,you're probably asking for trouble.That has not really been a problem for me because I don't currently own any real bear dogs by that definition.I got some that take jabs here and there but my dogs have a pretty healthy dose of self preservation.I got to be honest and say that I don't really know what it is like to hunt with a pack of real deal bear dogs so I will have to defer to your expertise.Some of the dogs that I have owned have done a pretty good job of putting up solo bears without getting ate up but maybe that is because they weren't the real deal.

[Nolte]

I got to be honest and say that I don't really know what it is like to hunt with a pack of real deal bear dogs so I will have to defer to your expertise.Some of the dogs that I have owned have done a pretty good job of putting up solo bears without getting ate up but maybe that is because they weren't the real deal.

Don't worry Trueblue, I never owned a pack like that either and I probably won't either. I'm OK with that.

I will say that every dog I'd put in my top ten of bear dogs would bite a bear in the ass every time, if it backed down the tree. Every single one. And I'd probably only put 2-3 of my own dogs in that top ten.

Do all of you guys from Idaho have a bug up your ass or is it just you two? I'm just calling dogs like i've seen them, nothing more. Just some observations from hunting with normal dudes, with normal dogs, who spend a lot of their free time chasing bear. Take it or leave it, but spare me the condescending attitude.