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Just wondering what you folks think is the minimum # of dogs could be used for some weekend fun running bears? I've heard some oldtimers say one good bear dog will show you bear. Dont seem to see to many 1 or 2 dog packs putting up bears though.

Chopperdog,

Those old timers were right. I have caught a lot of bears with one or two dogs, even big bears. It is hard to catch bears with a small pack of dogs because there are so many factors in putting a bear in a tree (fighting, running, walking.) I have seen several dogs put bears in trees or walk bears by themselves, but sooner or later this will become dangerous. If you look below a few tabs on krk's post most of those bears were caught with 1-3 of my best dogs. If you have a couple nice bear dogs that will work off each other and a good track to send them down there sholdn't be a problem. Especially if you can stay close to help them.

I've seen a lot put up by one, and alot with two.

Hunted all last year with two. Both females. Last year they were my almost 2 (my lead dog) and a 3 year old.

This year I have 3 going in to season (opens next weekend) My main female who will turn 3 this year, my other female who is now 4, and my 18 month old male.

These 3 seem to be the magic number. Or my young male just might be a little more persuasive than his mom and auntie. He seems to be a little crazy. Numbers of catches has gone up quite a bit with him around.

You defienately don't need a bunch of hounds, if you do you should look for better dogs. Any good dog should be able to go it alone. I prefer 3 dogs just for the runs that get a little western.

I agree you can get it done with 1 or 2 dogs, but get on one bad bear and get those dogs hit, then your down to 0 (waiting for them to recover). It's hard to stop or tree them with 0.

I don't know who coined the phrase, but I love it and believe it to be true.

"If you can't tree it with 3 dogs, you don't need more dogs, you need better dogs".

I'll take one great dog, way before 10 mediocre dogs. I bet I'd catch more game too. If anyone disagrees and has a great dog to trade for 10 mediocre dogs... Holler at me!

Take care.

no doubt all it takes is one bear dog but it sure sounds alot nicer with two

ill tell you one good dog might catch them but you get one fightin that wont tree that good dog is gone

It kinda depends on the county your hunting and how much pressure the bears get,if its real brushy and the bears get run alot you might need 4 or 5 good bay dogs to get in and get a shot and rarely tree one,you cant blame a dog for not wanting to get chewed up trying to fight the brush,beside you might just end up with a tore up pack if there too gritty,and be out for a month or 5 weeks.The best bear dog I ever had would out rig and start tracks that most other dog didnt even know were in the country and tree em or run them till dark but she never got more the 8 or 10 feet from a bear but she always pressured em till the end.Treed a ton a bear with her, you could follow other guys around and be treeing bear and they were still lookin for a strike.You take her out of the mix with medium nosed dogs and you run about half the bear you would with her,she could tree bear by herself but i didnt do it on purpose,she"d just get away from the pack now and again cause she was so outstanding.But if your in the mts and your trying to follow dogs, 3 or 4 are a lot easyer to here treed or bayed up than 1 or 2 ,especially if the get shut up much.As far as being consistantly successful on bear - 2 honest persistant cold nosed bear dogs will put the hurt on bear ...as long as your not hunting in the super thick brush then you need more.

Depends on the bear, depends on the dogs.

If you want to just chase some bears around, 2 will be fine. On the right bears, you'll punch some up some trees.

If you want to hunt hard for a month straight in kill season, I'd suggest having 6-8 and a buddy/two with the same. Bring 5-6 and leave 2-3 at home. The wrong bear can leave you with a half deck in a short order.

Dittos on that Nolte. I have treed most of my bears with 2 to 3 dogs.BUT you get on a hard running bear the first day of the week, and you have your only 2 dogs on it all day, it makes for a very long week !

When I was guiding full time with Tobey we both had 4 or 5 dogs a piece. We can only run 4 at a time in Maine. Lots of times by Thursday we were taking which ever ones could make it out of the dogs houses !! As Pete on here used to tell me ' if you have to drag them out of thier houses in the morning, dont expect much ".

A few years ago I only had 3 hounds and hunted just my dogs. All three,Spot,Whiskey and Lady, were finished bear dogs. I guided 7 hunters that season by myself. Killed 7 bears.Best dog Spot broke a leg with 2 weeks left in season.Killed last 3 bears with just the other 2.Worked out fine. Would never want to have to do it again . Always worried we would get on a hard running bear that wouldnt tree and I would have nothing to run the next day with a paying hunter in camp.

Nolte wrote:Depends on the bear, depends on the dogs.

If you want to just chase some bears around, 2 will be fine. On the right bears, you'll punch some up some trees.

If you want to hunt hard for a month straight in kill season, I'd suggest having 6-8 and a buddy/two with the same. Bring 5-6 and leave 2-3 at home. The wrong bear can leave you with a half deck in a short order.

I am with you on this one

Rock Creek, Wiley Carrol coined that phrase

I've caught quit a few bears with only one dog and a bunch more with two or three. Some of those bears were the meanest, toughest, largest bears on the mountain. But I'll throw in with Nolte on this one, if you're gonna hunt bears day in and day out you better have six to ten dogs and a buddy that has that many as well, cause it only takes one rough, running bear to burn any pack down. If a guy can't get his dogs off a bear before dark and they stay stuck all night odds are they'll be done for a few days. A smart man has enough dogs to rotate unless he's just hunting weekends........

ike

I would agree with a lot that has been said. I have treed a lot of bears with 1 dog and the 2 biggest bears we killed this year had the same 3 dogs on them. But here in wisconsin where we hunt most big bears dont tree and have to be shot on the ground. Its hard for 1 dog to hold a big bear so you can get in and shoot him on the ground. I also agree that if you are hunting hard, you better have a good bunch of dogs to rotate.