General questions

Talk about Bear Hunting
cfanno01
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General questions

Postby cfanno01 » Wed Mar 27, 2019 11:52 am

I was thinking about giving the dogs a shot at running a few bear this season. I've never ran bear but have tossed the idea around for a year or 2. My job allows me to have all winter off, so I run a lot of yotes and some cats here in Michigan, and am looking for something to keep them going more year round. And, of course, get me out in the woods enjoying the dogs more also. I can only hunt weekends during bear season, but was looking for some of your opinions or suggestions. My main concern is getting my dogs injured or killed. They are house dogs. How rough are bear on dogs? In general, I realize this is not cut and dry. Most of my dogs are not very gritty, even w yote. They hold them but don't fight. Ive heard they run similar to a yote. Any opinions on this? Thank you
Bearhunter247
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Re: General questions

Postby Bearhunter247 » Wed Mar 27, 2019 12:36 pm

That's a broad spectrum there! Some bears will run through a pack like a chainsaw. Some walk and and don't pay much attention to the dogs, and some climb before the dogs ever really "catch" them. But if you're dogs respect um they might get a lil banged up but they should be ok.

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cfanno01
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Re: General questions

Postby cfanno01 » Wed Mar 27, 2019 4:01 pm

Thanks for the response. Yea I know it's a very basic and broad question, but I'm just looking for experiences guys have had running bear. Frequency of injuries, etc. I started running yotes and cats bout 6 yrs ago and I was never really interested in running bear, but now that my original dog is over 7 yrs old I'm coming to the reality of how short a dog's life really is. We run a ton in the winter, but I really want to give the dogs the chance to reach full potential, and I do have weekends available in the summer to at least get them out a bit.
cfanno01
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Re: General questions

Postby cfanno01 » Wed Mar 27, 2019 4:02 pm

Any other advice, opinions, suggestions, or experiences are greatly appreciated.
GVBEAR
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Re: General questions

Postby GVBEAR » Wed Mar 27, 2019 5:00 pm

I have had more bears run and tree, than sit and fight dogs over the years. It really depends on the dogs I believe. Most of mine are not hair pullers they will bay tight but definitely suicidal. I have had cuts and tears but nothing terrible. Sometimes if you run in a heavily hunted area some bears seem like they can get crabby fast.
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Re: General questions

Postby Bearhunter247 » Wed Mar 27, 2019 5:38 pm

I agree most bears don't cause any issues on average. And as long as your hounds work as a team they'll more than likely be able to keep one off of each other. In our area old sows bang up more than boars. Most time if it's a mean bo bear things get expensive

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Jeff Eberle
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Re: General questions

Postby Jeff Eberle » Wed Mar 27, 2019 10:28 pm

3 guaranteed ways to get dogs ate up on bear are 1 big packs what happens here is on bay ups the front line gets pushed into the bear or when the bear charges the dogs behind them hinder them from getting out of the way. 2 thick brush bay ups with to many dogs sometimes in the brush 3 to 4 can be to many. 3 a real bear dog I’ve owned a two over the years cost me a lot in vet bills this type of dog is what ever bear hunter wants til they get one. I will never own another one like this by choice.
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Re: General questions

Postby not color blind » Thu Mar 28, 2019 12:32 am

Can you run them year round on yotes in Michigan? If you're worried about getting them hurt on bear, why not just run them year round on yotes?
cfanno01
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Re: General questions

Postby cfanno01 » Thu Mar 28, 2019 9:24 am

Thanks again for the replies. They are extremely helpful. Not color blind, to answer your question, yote is open all year and u can run them w dogs any time dog training is open. I have not heard of many guys running yote in the summer months and the ones that do, run at night. I have a hard time believing dogs have much of a chance running down a yote without snow, but I could be wrong. At least dogs have a shot at treeing bear. I am not a night person, which is why I don't really have much interest in coon either. Seems like everyone switches to bear in summer. Plus, I think bear could be more exciting with the potential for walking into a tree.
cfanno01
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Re: General questions

Postby cfanno01 » Sun Sep 08, 2019 4:43 pm

Thought I'd update...I didn't really try bear much this summer. I am still interested in trying in the future, but I did have a few good yote chases that got started by just roading the dogs in front of the truck. They stuck w them better than I anticipated and I did more summer running than I ever have this year so I'm happy. How's everyone else's bear season going?
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Re: General questions

Postby bowieknife50 » Sun Sep 22, 2019 11:57 pm

We probably had 1 out of 20 bears be mean and stay down during training. Came pretty dang close to losing a dog. Last week had a 352# bear leave 4 dogs with minor injuries and one torn up pretty bad but she'll live. He didn't. It was actually the first bear she ever caught up with so will be interesting to see what she does when she runs again next year.


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