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I was wondering how aggressive you bear hunters like your hounds do you want hounds that get in and pull hair or do you just want them to stay back and bay.

copper ,how aggressive depends on what you ask of a dog, i and my hunting partner got on a real mean sow last sunday, she would run down the dogs, as we pondered the situation, we agreed that we were glad we didn't have one of our older female's she has no reverse gear, it is very debatable as to how much grit you want a dog to posess, i look for level headed dogs not reckless, there is a fine line between the two, you have to pressure the game , but at the same time i don't keep a dog that when hunting season opens out of the hole they try killing a bear and spend most of the rest of the season laid up , these dogs are culled from my pack as they are useless, if i have four dogs bayed up and the fifth is back 20 feet away they too are culled, ( depending on amount of game, age ,etc)i breed for a ton of grit , than what usally happens is the dog gets caught, wises up and settles into a balanced type bay dog, sometime's they are ruined, sometimes they are better dogs for it, the one that learns is the best one to keep.to me the sensible dog is the most valuable one, as you both will have way more fun, with rising fuel costs a guy don't need a bunch of vet bills to top it all off,

I like smart dogs that know when to pull hair and when to stand back and bay.I guide for a living and i cant aford to have dogs that are overly agresive,between the vet bills and the dogs being laid up i couldnt aford it. I would need fourty dogs to make it thru the season.The best time to bite a bear is when it is dead lol.

Well Mike if you had a dog that wouldn't get in and pull hair at all but would stay back and bay would you keep the dog.

I think this question depends a lot on how much you want to pay at the vet, and how important it is for you to say you've got "real" bear dogs. In the same breath they've got to put pressure on, but not get reckless like mike said. It's a very fine line to stay on.

On your question if it stays back and bays, I'm fine with that as long as it's ALWAYS there. I've seen a lot of solid not flashy dogs that just happened to always be at the business end of the hunt. I'll keep them in my pack anytime. I want them diving in at good chances, but don't want them dive bombing head on constantly.

A lot also depends on the situation. A dog that hangs with a tough bear by itself and stays back bayed is absolutely fine in my book.

Here is a question is it ok for that dog to bay when the bear catches a pack mate? Are you ok with that?

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Smiley wrote:Here is a question is it ok for that dog to bay when the bear catches a pack mate? Are you ok with that?

How good does the dog do at other aspects of the hunt. If it's filthy cold, then I'm A-OK with that. If it's a pack type dog, then I'm probably not.

In our neck of the woods, we generally put out a couple start dogs and let them wind out the track. Once it is heated up we put more dogs in to put the heat on. But we hunt in an area where you can easily do that. Generally when there are just two dogs in there, they don't put a pile of pressure on a bear. It's when the others arrive that they start to mix it up.

I've seen numerous encounters where a pack of dogs had the situation completely handled. The bear was stopped, didn't want to go any further but wouldn't tree. It's just backed in some where. Then a bunch of fresh ram-ass "gritty" dogs were tossed in and all hell broke loose. The outcome became the same with the bear stopped again, except now a bunch of dogs had to be fixed up and the day got more expensive.

I've seen numerous encounters where a pack of dogs had the situation completely handled. The bear was stopped, didn't want to go any further but wouldn't tree. It's just backed in some where. Then a bunch of fresh ram-ass "gritty" dogs were tossed in and all hell broke loose. The outcome became the same with the bear stopped again, except now a bunch of dogs had to be fixed up and the day got more expensive.[/quote]
Nolte you do bring up a good point and I have seen that a couple times. For me though not enough to figure that in an equation for my evaluation.That being said there are some bear that just will not tree ( not as many as most would have you believe though) .
I would not keep that cold nosed dog or the stupid dog that would lock up on a bear with no reverse both are going to get the core dogs killed in a bad spot.

Pretty quick to the point this time boys! There really may be two styles in the end though. Battles that are won over who can go the longest (endurance) and battles that end because there's no where to go (putting the brakes on). Both work and fit folks better for different reasons. I can't afford to give a bear ground or let it go where it wants. It will always be in an off-limits area before long. A little of both is what we're all after I guess. Good posts here though I think.

I had a guy once tell me that he had dogs on a bear that wouldn't tree for three days. He said the bear and the dogs were just walking with each other. i don't know if I believe this or not. has anyone else ever had dogs on a bear that wasn't treed for more than a day.
I can't imagine a bear not treeing for that long with good bear dogs behind it.

COPPER, HERE I GO SETTING MYSELF UP, BACK IN THE 70'S- 80'S I RAN PLOTT DOGS, THEY WERE GRITTY, I AND TWO WALKER MEN DUMPED OUT ON A BEAR ON SATURDAY MORNING, THAT EVENING DODS STARTED HITTING THE ROAD, ALL BUT MY THREE PLOTTS, THAT NIGHT THE WIND BLEW, RAINED AS I DROVE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE CANYON EXPECTING MY DOGS TO SOON HIT THE ROAD, WELL COME DAYLIGHT , BACK UP THE HILL AND ON MY TELEMETRY, I FOUND THE DOGS WAY OFF BAYED, THIS AREA WAS ROUGH, NO ACCESS, WELL LONG STORY SHORT SATURDAY COME AND GONE, I SLEPT AT THE FOOT OF THE CANYON WAITING FOR MY DOGS, SUNDAY MORNING BACK UP I GO ON THE TELEMETRY, ALL DAY LONG, SUNDAY PASSED, BACK TO THE BOTTOM OF THE DRAINAGE, MY RECIEVER DEAD MY WIFE TAKES IT HOME AND CHARGES IT UP, BRINGS FOOD, BACK UP WE GO MONDAY MORNING, WELL AT AROUND NOON , I FIND THEM TREED IN THE HEAD OF THE CANYON, TREED FOR A LONG TIME ,I WALKED IN LEASHED UP THE DOGS PETTED THEM UP AND OUT I GO, 51 HOURS FROM THE TIME I START, I HAVE SEEN IT, BUT WHAT IS THE POINT?I DON'T EVEN ENJOY HUNTING LIKE THAT ANYMORE, WHEN I SWITCHED TO ALL WALKER DOGS I FOUND A DIFFERENT STYLE DOG , OVER MANY DECADES I LOOK BACK AND WONDER DID THESE DOGS POSESS ENOUGH BITE TO MAKE THE BEAR CLIMB? I KNOW THEY DID FOR SURE, BUT WHY TREE AFTER 51 HOURS? THIS COULD BE A SEPARATE THREAD IN ITSELF, HELL YOU CAN'T TREE THEM ALL, THAT IS THE FINE LINE I SPEEK ABOUT, THERE WAS A BOOK PUBLISHED ABOUT HUNTING BEAR IN OREGON , THE HOUND SECTION WAS PRINTED ABOUT ME AND MY HOUNDS , BARNES AND NOBLE HAS THEM, THE AUTHOR GARY LEWIS, THE BOOK, BLACK BEAR HUNTING. YOU OR ANYONE ELSE CAN CALL BULLSHIT IF YOU WANT, I LIVED IT , QUITE FRANKLY I DON'T MISS THOSE TYPE OF DOGS FOR ONE SECOND!! I HAD THE PRIVELIDGE OF CATCHING AROUND 500 + BEAR WITH THE PLOTTS, AND OVER 500 WITH THE WALKERS . I REALLY DO LIKE MY WALKERS BETTER, THE PLOTTS SEEMED TO FINISH A HIGHER DEGREE OF RANK BEAR, BUT I REALLY DON'T CARE, BACK THEN I MEASURED A BEAR DOG BY COMPLETED CAUGHT BEARS, DOING THIS FOR 36 YEARS I KNOW FOR A FACT YOU WILL NOT CATCH THEM ALL , WORKS JUST FINE FOR ME,

i think some dogs work a bear differently depending on how many dogs are in there. like nolte said, here in wisconsin we have a 6 pack limit so during kill season you need to be selective on which dogs are let go. if some of those 6 come out to the road we just keep adding to the pack to help the other dogs. i don't know what other states have for a pack limit but i think it makes a huge difference on how many dogs are working that bear at the same time.

what really impresses me is an OLD gritty dog -

I believe terrain also plays a factor as I hunt lower brush country sometimes the percentage of cacthing a large boar is high. I run a pack of 4 to 6 dogs in the brush more is not always better. I also don't mix my pack so they learn to trust one another and learn how to work the bear. I want them to bite but to bite the right end of the bear. A dog which wants to get in their face or thinks he's king kong is no good to me. I like my hounds to work a bear the same as cow dogs work cattle if the bear stays put for the dogs to bay but if the bear tries to walk for the dogs to put pressure on him. The bears that tree aren't the problem it's the ones which want to test what their up against. So what I'm saying is that I want smart aggression out of my dogs.