bears jumping tree

[robbyson99]

We had a good run today. Started em round 630 and the dogs were gone. Around 3 I heard my male treeing and treeing hard. This is his first year on bears so I didn't know how long he would tree when it happened. Anyways it took me a good 30 minutes to get to him and stayed on tree hard. Got there and there was nothing that I could see in the tree. Tons of huge pines so I looked for 35 minutes or so for anything resembling an animal in a tree with nothing found. Is it common for bears to bail outta trees when they first go up? I just don't know what happened

[spruce mountain]

Bear's will bail but the dog's would definatly see it and take after it.And bears don't hide very well either.He treed an air bear,who know's what happened.It happens to the best of them.Keep your chin up and keep trying.Good Luck

[fox hunter]

generally if a dog slick trees on a bear it is because he caught up with it and did not like what he seen if he does it again cut your losses

[gkckak]

I Have seen bears that are very smart. They will run to a tree near a canyon or cliff and will climb to the top and swing the tree towards the cliff and grab on and up and over.

[Borderpond]

Spruce Mtns right. Bears bail alot but usually the dogs stick with them.Not like a coon or cat that can sometimes slip away.Pretty darn rare for a bear to jump trees to get away and not be seen..
I do have some video of a big bear going tree to tree though.He crossed on a limb that was about 3 inches thick.We couldnt believe it would hold him.The dogs just followed him to the next tree.

My experience with slick "bear" trees usually had me thinking the dogs had run a fisher.I did have a super hard tree dog that would hit a tree sometimes if she fell out of a race.It was a pain to have to walk in and get her.Pete, you might remember Rose doing that ? She came out of it on her own and turned into a super bear dog.

I wouldnt worry about it too much unless it starts happening regular.If the dogs being run with a pack that usually is treeing the bears he will probably be sticking with them.

[chilcotin hillbilly]

I had the same type thing happen to me this spring, infact three times. The first time the race was a long one and the tempuratures were hot. The garmin was showing Rudy treed and the pups treed in a different spot by a lake not to far away. I hiked in and for the life of me could not find a bear in the Rudy was at, mind you the tree was an 80 foot tall fir tree. The pups where found taking a rest at the lake shore. the other 2 times I thought they slick treed I eventually found a bear way up at the top of one of these monster firs. Infact one of the times the mother bear had left her new cub up the tree and she was nowhere to be seen. Alittle cub like that can hide fairly well.

[robbyson99]

Well I guess I don't really know what happened. I'm gonna give it another shot this weekend coming so we will see what happens. Thank you all for the responses. Its getting to be frustrating. He was treeing in a pine thicket and the trees were enormous. I was by my self and couldn't get back far enough to see the whole tree. We know there was cubs in the area so maybe it ended up being one of them. Time will tell and I believe things can only get better after that run. I hope!! Thank you all again

[pete richardson]

ive seen it happen,,, too many times--

normally , i blame it on fisher- --i had a problem with it this year-- only SAW one fisher- saw quite a few empty trees for awhile --

ive seen a few dogs start doing it when they got old
-- cant keep up , wont run behind-

cant say ive ever hunted with dogs for years that NEVER did it-



if it happens once ,, , ignore it -- if it becomes a habit , you will have to get serious about stopping it - some arent easy to cure- it can be contagious --


- if its trash , like fisher-- just got to get em straight -

how sure are you there was nothing up there? - what is it thats not up there ?

--very easy to not be able to see a coon , cat , fisher , porky ,bear cub , maybe a flying squirrel


-- i had a nt ch coondog tree on a bunch of flying squirrels in a small hole in a tiny tree


one time ,walked to top of mountain and found dogs treed on a dead stub -



leashed them up , , heard bark scraping, , about a 300lb bear came sliding down a tree about 60 yards away--

that comes under ,

cant explain it . just report it -


one time, i watched a 150 lb bear back into a pretty small hole in a tree
, you think bear cant hide- i would have not belived that one if i hadnt watched the whole thing-



nyways--stuff happens-

[robbyson99]

Well honestly I am not sure if there was or wasn't anything up there somewhere. I'd been following and listening to him run opened up from 630 to around 3 when he finally started treeing. I was by my self. It was sunny and 85 degrees so the sun was in my eyes all the way around and there was so many big pines there that I couldn't get back far enough to look into all the trees. Here's what I know. We had a cub jump the road in front of us. 5 minutes later we put the dogs on it. They opened right up and went straight in but sounded like they lost it so we walked in to find the dogs running around rampid. After 10 minutes of searching trees where the dogs were my male and a female opened up in the same area but went back across the road. I'm thinking the cub made a hard right turn and back tracked to get to the other side where he came from and the dogs blew by the track until they found it again. Anyways from there on he ran opened up all the way. Went a mile to another road. Circled back to where we started then circled a few times in a big swamp. Back and forth a few times opened the whole time and finally treed around 3. I would say the sow took him for a run while the cub or cubs were up a tree somewhere. I'd say the sow wasn't far from where we saw the cub and he treed approximately half mile from where we started. From there I have no clue what coulda happened cuz bear hunting is new to me. I shoulda spent more time looking over the trees but I didn't. Its the first time he's treed hard like that and we've still got till the end of october to run bears so I hope things work out. Any tips or encouragement would be greatly appreciated. I do know one thing. Bear hunting with hounds is not an easy sport and takes a lot of heart from the hunter and his hounds. I give all the respect in the world to all hound hunters

[spruce mountain]

Your right it is'nt easy getting a pack of bear dog's going,Especialy starting from scratch like you are.I did the same thing and it's a long hard road and you might go thru a few dog's getting there. but the first time your dog's tree thier own bear it will all be worth it.Hang in there.

[Ankle Express]

Another thing to consider and seems more likely to myself is bears will bump/mark trees. Alot of times I've seen bear that are in front of the dogs and not really being pressured, just pushed, climb up a tree a little ways. Just stay long enough to see if rover is still coming. Maybe catching their breath. Don't know for sure. But they will bail off and carry on. Experienced bear pooches won't make a faulter. However inexperienced on bear and some experience with coons can result in a slick tree. Completely possible your bear bailed off prior to the dogs arrival and dog didn't check out far enough to take the track on. Sometimes dogs that have treed some coons and are quick locators will slick up if they don't check out (circle) enough. Also a dog thats coon hunted some will usually do one of two things take the first tree or keep trailing till the last track takes a tree. IOW track minded vs tree minded. Track minded makes better big game dogs IMO. To much of either is a headache. A dog thats taking that first coon tree will struggle with a bear marked tree. Its alot of times fixable. Experience for them is the answer. You too. If there is a next time get there asap, make your mind up quick and lead them out in a big circle. Look for claw marks on the tree. Cut the track and send them on. May take more than once. Experienced dog would be that much better and quicker. IMO that bear had been pushed and you were close to having the air knocked out of him and possibly up a tree, since it was probably thinking about it but your dog pulled up short. Another possibility is she put the cubs up that tree and waited on your dog. Whipped your dog back and took her cubs on down the trail. Your dog settled for the tree. He bailed. Still maybe fixable. I think you and your dog need to get with somebody who has experience and an experienced dog. It will save you time. Maybe just one good day. Keep going and you'll get there.

[BBGH]

I wouldn't worry about it, some manage to give the dogs the slip once in a while. Small running bears are the hardest to catch

[Tobey]

I have seen this happen several times. Usually I tell my sports to be real quiet so as not to scare the bear when he gets there. Sounds like your dog is faster than the bear and beat him to the tree.
Next time it happens take the dog of the tree and walk him around it far enough away to get his mind of the tree and try and find a track leaving.

I have witnessed dogs baying a bear when the bear charged the dogs when the dogs turned back to find the bear and went right to treeing where the bear was bayed. Lots of cent and real tree minded dogs.

[robbyson99]

Thank you all for the responses. We went up again this past wednesday just for the day. Dropped em out on a good hit bait site and he went out strong. Got out a couple hundred yards and seemed to have lost it. Was going back and forth for 10 or 15 minutes then started coming back towards the bait still opened up. We cut him off. I'm thinking he took it backwards so I should of just let him go. Later that day we see a moose on the side of the road so I tried to take advantage of that for breaking purposes. Boy didn't that back fire! I let him off the leash which was stupid in my opinion. He took right off on it so I lit him up. He dropped to his side so I let off the button and he jumped up and kept going on the moose. I kept hitting the button but it didn't stop him. Its tri tronics and it layed him right out twice but didn't stop him. Boy if I coulda got my hands on him. We called him out about 2 hours later so I think he knew he screwed up. Usually I can't call him out till he's done. What am I supposed to do if a shocking collar won't stop him. It was fully charged and I know it works cuz I've held it myself and went to my knees some quick. Another lesson learned

[Borderpond]

Unless you really love that dog, hes going to be more problems than hes worth in my book.I'd give him a few more trys.If no big improvement is seen hed be down the road and I would start over with another prospect.Yes, I've seen dogs turn on like someone flicked a switch at an older age. I have seen way way more dogs that guys held onto until they were 3 or 4 years old that never got any better.