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Dewey the bell hound was as intelligent as any hound I ever owned. She treed numerous cat in her life, but was not a true cat dog. Any green horn could have caught coon & some bobcat with her at a very young age. True after she treed her first bear and I shot it out for her she was hooked. The sister hound never ran a bear in her life to my knowledge. A friend told me when I bred to her mother it was a mistake, I would have bear problems. However after we had pulled the pack from a cat track one warm morning, sister keep grinding , opening very seldom, long story short she jumped & treed that cat before we could get any more dogs to her. Admit, I was quite but proud, when he told me he was sure mistaken about his advise not to make the cross that produced sister. Dewey pepper/s dad was an outstanding bear hound that sold for big money. Her mom was born here and sold to a cat hunter as a pup. That hunter is a good cat hunter, however he gave up on pepper/s mother making a cat hound. A good bear hunter got her and she made a very good bear hound, a bear killed her. Did you have to bear break pepper? Pepper/s grand parents from my side were straight cat hounds and skinner never ran a bear to my knowledge. I was told you were a bear hunter before you became a staright cat hunter? My point is hounds can often be used on various game with success. I also have been told that Turner blood you have was used very success as bear hounds, some of the best? Take care Al

Al: I scolded Pepper one time for bear. All the dogs that I have have a lot of bear dogs in their back ground and I have seen a few hounds that made good bear and bobcat dogs. The way I hunt and train my dogs none of them are ever broke they just don't run trash. My point was that the dogs I choose to keep for bobcat are not the dogs that I would keep for bear and what it takes to make a top bobcat dog is different than how I would work a bear dog. I feel their are different traits that I want in a bear dog or a cat dog. Here is what I think people are missing, Most people have never hunted with a pack of strait bobcat dogs picked for bobcat and only allowed to run bobcat from an early age. Most people are not willing to do that, they hunt every thing. Until you have spent a lot of time behind a pack raised and train only on bobcat you will never know what is possible for a bobcat dog to do. Yes there are a lot of good dogs hunted by combination hunters that do well on bobcats. But can they tree 100 to 150 bobcats a year on the coast? No they don't it is a different ball game that is far beyond most people belief. How can one know what one has not seen or experienced. I can't do heart surgery and would be the last one to tell a person how they should do it. Neither can Tom but when he talks bobcat hunting and bobcat dogs you can bet that I am all ears. It will be worth listening to. Dewey

Dewey, you know I repect and enjoy your post but have to wonder when you say your hounds just dont run trash there are hounds that a ptetty strait but when hunting young dogs and multiple dogs there will be a trash race. Yes it sure helps running young dogs with straigh ones but it happens. Andy

Andy: I raised 10 pups last year Andy at one time. Yes I ran a few deer and I had to call them off a bear or two this spring when I have exercised them but all it takes is a tone. I walk 6 to 8 at a time young dogs with 4 older dogs when I walk. I see pups get flighty on tracks all I do is call them to me. My young dogs are hunted lose at most times, they hunt with me. I know that if they were put in with other dogs by another person they would be running trash. I sent one away this year that did run deer from the start by herself she was gone before she could get another to run with her. I don't put up with dogs that give me trouble on trash it is just not worth the trouble. I let all my dogs run lose a lot of the time while I am here at the house they will not leave to go hunting unless I tell they to. When I go for a walk they are collared They go when I tell them it is ok. They are taught from a early age to stay home. I have a lot of time into my young dogs but it pays when I get to go hunting. A lot of what I do is different than most people take time to teach and I pick dogs that are easy to teach. It is just a different way of doing things than most do. Dewey

You were starting to scare me there for a minute, that is so true the more a pup is tought from a young age about obedience the easier it is to control them when the time arises. , I knowfrom first hand the amount of obedience you put into your hounds as Butch was a true gentleman with manners.Andy