Bear hunt starting

[JoMu]

Hello,

I am a young student from Scandinavia and I have been considering to set up my own pack for bear hunting. I have been hunting brown bears for over 10 years with various dogs, but the dogs have not been my own, so I would like to have some own hounds for bear hunting. I have hunted with plotts many times, so I think that would be the breed for me.

So what would be the best way to start up building my own pack? Should I buy a started or ready dog from the States, which would cost me a lot of money, or can I start with pups? Pups I can find closer than States, but can I make a pup turn into a real bear hound without having a ready older dog to train it? Naturally buying a ready dog would be the easiest way to get started, but if ready dog costs 1500-4000$ and shipping over the States 1500-2000$ extra, I will not have money for it in few years because I'm still studying.

In Scandinavia we normally use only 1-2 hounds at the time for bear, so I'm not building up a large pack. That means I need gritty and self-contained hounds, which won't necessarily need support from another dogs.

Please share your opinions and if you are willing to give me a hint where I would find dogs for my pack, give me a pm, I would appreciate it!

[bowtech36]

You could.find started dogs cheaper than that but shipping will still be the issue. I would say get yourself a younger dog and start hunting him with friends dogs or whoever it is you have been hunting. If you're only hunting 1-2 to dogs your only 2 away from a pack.

[kordog]

arent there any pups or dogs forsale where you live .i would have to be really skeptical while buying from the states for a brown bear dog since most of us hunt black bear. and the amount it will cost you to get them .you have to be realistic cause its going to cost you a pile of money wether they turn out to be what your looking for or not having them shipped over there.if 3000 to 5000 is worth the risk to you. dont worry someone will help you part with it.

[kiwi]

Look at the shipping and Quarantine issues first , costs a lot of money to get a dog from the US into Australia, I believe

[chilcotin hillbilly]

I am sending two started dogs to Norway this spring, these pups will have seen around 15-20 cats treed this winter and will see the same or more black bears this spring before the owner comes for his own bear hunt with me. This is an expensive way to get a dog but having been here before he feels it is well worth it.

Brown bears will be again different then black bear alot of dogs give grizzly alot of respect, sometime to much.
I have a DVD made in Sweden with a bunch of Plotts, I would suggest taking a good look before you invest hard earned money in a dog, as I wouldn't feed one of those dogs on the DVD. Mind you if they make the owner happy thats really what matters.