drahthaar for bear

[duke7581]

Does anyone use a DD for bear or yote i know of guys who use them for hogs and there is one guy in lower MI who got one to run bear. Just curious if anyone else uses them i thought itd be great to be able to hunt birds in fall and yotes in winter with the same dog. The guy in NC who hog hunts his DD or scent loud.

[artrodex]

Photo taken from internet

[duke7581]

thanks for the pics. I am really thinking of going this route i usually hunt with a buddy that already has a good pack of hounds and want a dog of my own to hunt with also but i cant have multiple dogs right now so i was thinking of going with a DD i no he wont be as good as the hounds but still should be adequate and fun to hunt and when we need to throw a fresh dog in we can use him.

[cat and bear]

I owned two wirehair dogs, from pups until the day they passed. The history of them is made up of seven dogs, one including hound. In germany, they are known as the versitile hunting dog. They are used on hogs and bear there, also birds of course. I didnt run mine on bear, however, my male ran one while i was baiting, and got cut up. No question, you could have made them run whatever you were hunting. i had a buddy from the city which has one, and killed over 500 coon, he trailed silent, until treed, which he needed around houses. I was very confident in these lines of dogs and thought hard about putting a pack together as a challenge, and give guys something to talk about But I wanted to continue good hound lines here, and didnt try it, but they are a very worthy breed to try about anything with. In germany, one of the test, is putting the dog in a kennel and it must kill a full sized coon, to pass. The NAVHDA, is the organization, you may want to google to learn more about the breed.

[duke7581]

Thank you for info i own two teckels that are from pure german lines, those germans sure know what there doing when it comes to versatile hunting dogs i would love to own a dog that is about 50 pds heavier with the same smarts and prey drive as my teckels. I also have close friends in germany that they handle dogs for a living, they seemed pretty confident also especially if raised running with hounds. Thanks again and ill let you know how it works out if i choose to go this route. thanks again

[LCK]

I raised and guided hunts with Wirehairs for many years. I never used mine on bear, but dang sure ran down and caught many a coon, red fox and coyote with them between and sometimes during bird hunts. All of them ran silent, but did chop on tree. They never spent much time baying, they were to busy pulling hair on the smaller critters. I always just figured a bear would kill one pretty quick due to their totally fearless grit and they were too valuable to risk it.

The good ones I had were very fast, heads up track runners with medium to warm noses when tracking.

Two resources for you would be the North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association or NAVHDA, or the VDD, Verein Deutch Drathaar Association. The VDD emphases fur a bit more than the other, but both associations have very good dedicated breeders of outstanding stock.

[cat and bear]

LCK, thanks for refreshing my memory of the VDD

[duke7581]

figured couple of you might like these pics.

http://drahthaar.yuku.com/topic/1358/Dr ... om/USCON/1


i like the bear pic in post #9

[BoarHunter1]

You can run them with your hounds on bear, they do in Russia some here in the states.
Not sure I would, I got too much time and training into mine but they can do just fine.








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Deer Shed

[duke7581]

boar hunter thanks for pics i dont plan on running them on bear. gonna be used for ducks,upland ,coyotes,foxes and bobcats

[LCK]

Those pics tell the story for sure. Dang fine dogs.

[wwy]

I have a pudelpointer which is one of the dogs used to create the wirehair way back when. He has caught bears, lions, and coon on his own. I also used him as a trap dog where he located dozens of cats and coyotes. He is a good pointer and a great retriever. I think there are likely wirehairs that are very similar. He can flat out smoke a bear and grab hold , he will bay a bear pretty good for a single dog. He had a few learning moments. I would never call him a bear dog, he might be if I put him on more but I don't, so I won't guess on what he could do. I catch more than I don't when I turn him out on one though. If you had three of them that worked together and you worked on the fur side of things I think you could be pretty successful with some dogs. The only difficulty would be finding someone breeding for the fur side of things. I don't know of any. To test a DD in the DD system they have to trail and retrieve a dead fox or coon. You shouldn't have too much trouble breeding a dog that can do that. Most guys in the states breeding the versatile breeds are concentrating on bird hunting. Most hound/cur breeders are concentrating on fur hunting. If you go that way you might look for a dog bred closely to first generation European imports or dogs utilized for fur hunting, not just in the DD testing system. Most wirehairs and PP's are pretty gamey dogs.

[BoarHunter1]

The VDD in North America, is not concentrating on birds, but the entire Versatile dog, including fur work, blood tracking and waterfowl.
All bred, male And female, Must kill a Fanged varmit.
There are multiple fur/ retrieve drags to be breeding certified.

John Jeaniney of Deer Search, who writes a monthly column in Full Cry, has the opinion that the DD has the best nose and is the bet tracker of all Sporting dogs, a better nose than a cur, but less nose than a hound. He has tested and seen several but uses Teckels for bear and deer recovery work. Theyre alot smaller and easier to work with in thick country.
They vary as far as tracking prowess goes, from deep nose and methodical to hot nose winders and everything in between.
All of them will kill varmits, point, retrieve and take a track. But some do it better than others depending on what youre looking for.

I like PPs too, but theyre not nearly as common, and I think they have more variance in coats. I dont even think PPs are required to kill varmits (HN) in America any longer. The club is getting away from German Breed Certs in that regard.
I give the edge in field work to PPs, but in overall versatility and that of Tracking, I give the edge to DDs.
Personally, I like the solid braun DDs or Schwarzshimmel (black Roan) but any dog that hunts well is a good dog to me.

Might not be a houndsmens cup of tea due to being hotter nosed, but they can do it all, and are a true jack of all trades.

[wwy]

Boarhunter,
I guess I stand corrected on the DD testing system. Maybe I am thinking of their puppy testing qualifications. Looks like you are using yours for true versatile dogs judging from your pictures. Good on you thats what these dogs are made for. I would say you are correct that PP's are by and large not used on much fur and the NAVHDA certainly doesn't really select for it. Although, I would still say that most of the DD or Wirehair breeders in the States are not breeding with furred game in mind.

[BoarHunter1]