# of hounds

Connor · Post by **Connor** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 2:29 am

I really want to get into hound hunting but live in an urban area and probably couldn't have more than than two dogs. Do you guys think that you could run lion and bear with only two dogs?

Ike · Post by **Ike** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 11:40 am

Spanky · Post by **Spanky** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 11:48 am

2 is all you need for cougar, 1 can do it but its nice to have the second for added pressure and also if there is a loose.

2 can also do it on bear but I feel the more the better again for the pressure reasons. If you have 2 that will pull and pressure then indeed it will surely work.

I almost want to say that your country really dictates how many hounds you will need, flat, mountainous, thick, swampy, desert etc......IMO

twist · Post by **twist** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 2:39 pm

take Spankys advive. 100% true!

Dan Edwards · Post by **Dan Edwards** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 2:59 pm

I think that more than 2 dogs on the ground at a time is overkill. I have seen countless number of internet videos with 10 hounds baying a bear at 20 yards. For some reason I dont think 20 or 50 of these type of hounds would really make a damn bit of difference on how fast that bear was gonna climb. I also believe that on a loss, more than 2 hounds is a detriment and damn sure dont help to pick it up.

With this being said, I am not a big game hunter so take what I say at face value. There may not be an ounce worth of merit in what I say but I have been running dogs my whole life and this is what I have seen.

Dan Edwards · Post by **Dan Edwards** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 3:17 pm

On bear I guess it wouldnt hurt to have a few more dogs cause the "tracking" of a bear is not like some other types of game. The losses are not as great from what I hear.

Once again, never done it so take it for what its worth. I know this much though when running a coyote if you have more than 2 dogs on the ground, you pretty much end up with a great big ole cluster f#$k. I dont dig it at all.

tom · Post by **tom** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 6:06 pm

you can catch game with one good hound. but it sure is nice to have a few more in the pack when you catch a bad one on the ground. i caught a lion on the ground with three dogs and they got tore up pretty bad, a few more would of been good to have that day.

Spokerider · Post by **Spokerider** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 6:07 pm

A friend of mine rides her horse around the back fourty, and is accompanied by her little mixed pound dog. We're pretty thick with bears in this area, especially in the spring...... anyway, that little runt of dog has treed lots of bears all by itself! It goes yipping off after a bear and sure enough, up a tree it goes.
Seems to lack in the holding power though, cause often the bear will look down at what just treed it, say "F" this, and come down outta that tree after the dog! That dog is prolly only 20 lbs dripping wet....

snowy river black and tan · Tue Feb 19, 2008 9:09 pm

Hunt with a friend who has dogs it makes it alot more fun. A guy with one good dog and willing to split gas is always welcome.

Bearkiller · Post by **Bearkiller** » Wed Feb 20, 2008 2:58 am

Taking advice about big game hunting from a coon hunter is like taking advice about finances from a used car salesman. I think you can hunt with as many or few dogs as you want. That being said, I've never seen anyone who consistantly catches bears with 2 dogs. Every bear hunter I know has 4+.

mpritchard · Post by **mpritchard** » Wed Feb 20, 2008 3:08 am

Conner, you can catch bear with 2 dogs, the problem is finding them two dogs. If you only use 2, they better be damn good and you will go through a bunch trying to find them. My buddy and I hunt with about 7 between the 2 of us, and only about 2 or three of them dogs do the J-O-B!!

sasquatch · Post by **sasquatch** » Wed Feb 20, 2008 6:35 am

i agree with mprichard 2 dogs will do it you need one that will start the track or both and they have to have enough grit and speed to put the heat on the game so it will want to climb ive seen as many as 20 hounds on a bear but they didnt have the drive to get the job done a friend of mine hunts 3 hounds one dogs find the track and gets it jumped the other two are packed in but when they hit the track they dont slow down they have grit and they have speed if your gonna hunt two dogs they better be able to bite and hang on but dont get discouraged trying to find those two dogs it could take some time

pete richardson · Post by **pete richardson** » Wed Feb 20, 2008 9:02 am

2 good dogs will tree a lot of bear- 2 is 4 times better than 1 -lol

4 is better than 2 -- but probably not twice as good --- if that makes any sense - lol

law says we can run 6 here-- -- 6 allows us to train some pups -- i am glad we can only run 6 lol - anyways if i had my choice, id always run 3-4 on bear -i have seen a lot of times when bear got ahold of a dog and the other dog or dogs " distracted "bear , so he wasnt hurt - if you can only keep 2 --make sure they are 2 good dogs that work together

Dan Edwards · Post by **Dan Edwards** » Wed Feb 20, 2008 11:02 am

Sounds to me like a few people might just agree to a certain extent with this coon hunter.

I aint never ran bear in my life but if I was doing it, I damn sure would never have over 4 dogs on the ground at a time but most likely would just run 2 or 3. I cannot stand having a shit pot full of dogs on the ground. Its a wast of damn time. If I didnt have 2 or 3 dogs that could tree most of the bears as good as 7 or 8 lets say, I would shoot them and start again. I dont believe the hype gents.

Ike · Post by **Ike** » Wed Feb 20, 2008 12:06 pm

# of hounds

# of hounds

numbers

got to thinkin

hunt with a friend

i agree

coon hunter