Bears not treed/caught

Black&TanMan1 · Post by **Black&TanMan1** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 6:07 pm

This I thought might be an interesting ? Of the bears that you ran/got jumped what would you say was the most likely reason for the ones you didn't tree or catch. I realize that each area and terrain is different but it usually one or the other. Please dont try and blow smoke just an honest answer.

Catch · Post by **Catch** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 9:59 pm

I didn't vote and this is why. The dogs caught alot of bears I didn't make it to before night fall and the dogs came out the next morning. The dogs I hunt don't get whipped off and very seldom get out ran. 99% of the time I didn't see the bear on the ground or up a tree was my fault.

The Ole' Guy · Post by **The Ole' Guy** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 10:34 pm

Definitely run out physically,rather than outrun,but same difference.
Got in the book and only had 2 that didn't want to take a tree last year and the dogs won both of those conversations.

Tree em' close to the road and leave a track for next time!

Black&TanMan1 · Post by **Black&TanMan1** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 11:30 pm

Interesting comments. More interesting poll results.

frs123 · Post by **frs123** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 11:46 pm

on the runs i didnt make to i honestly couldnt say. hate to admit the possibility of my dogs being whipped out but it was my fault i wasnt in there on a couple and couldnt honestly say either way. theyve been outrun a time or two and picked up dogs late the next day.

Ike · Post by **Ike** » Wed Mar 04, 2009 2:34 am

Catch wrote:I didn't vote and this is why. The dogs caught alot of bears I didn't make it to before night fall and the dogs came out the next morning. The dogs I hunt don't get whipped off and very seldom get out ran. 99% of the time I didn't see the bear on the ground or up a tree was my fault.

I'll second those comments...........had several bears in the tree still the next day and have spent days gathering dogs after those dogs of mine caught and I didn't make it to them. I've spent as many as five days getting the last dog back off a caught bear. Just a few weeks ago, I started a frozen lion track in the ice and dirt and those dogs were gone all day and night. I radioed them until late and was back early, no tree but still moving. Around 9:00 AM those treeing switches started going off which was twenty-five hours after they'd left me, and were locked up solid around 2:00 PM when I finally made the tree. A good pack of tough dogs don't get beaten very often in the country I hunt...........

ike

onalimb · Post by **onalimb** » Wed Mar 04, 2009 3:44 am

I won't vote on that for some reasons already mentioned.

Redwood Coonhounds · Post by **Redwood Coonhounds** » Wed Mar 04, 2009 3:52 am

Our bears here are under a lot of pressure. If you don't have dogs in top shape, you'll never even catch up to one to see if it's mean bear or not. You have to put dogs on it that pressure it to climb because he's tired.

Opening day you mignt get lucky and the bear is out of shape like the dogs (not likely). After that they are ran everyday until killed or season closes. No chance in hell for a dog that is not in shape.

I vote Outrun for sure.

I've also been the one that let the dogs down. I've had em run for days at a time, and tree all through the night and the next day. I find by the end of season my dogs get in better and better shape, and I'm still as out of shape as ever. They run farther and harder, and I start dreading that walk in more and more. No matter how many times you walk all day to a tree in the worst area, does it ever get any easier - in shape or not.

Ike · Post by **Ike** » Wed Mar 04, 2009 11:29 am

Redwood Coonhounds wrote:They run farther and harder, and I start dreading that walk in more and more. No matter how many times you walk all day to a tree in the worst area, does it ever get any easier - in shape or not.

This past winter I've had to climb into a few lion trees where the treeing switches were going off and I couldn't hear the dogs; places where the dogs were above me and I knew they were one hell of a long ways off and dreaded it as well. I was thinking age was starting to catch up with me and realize my dogs are still in that same tough shape they're always in because of year round hunting or roadin and I ain't.........somehow a person probably needs to mandate an exercise program for themselves like they do for the dogs. I'm sure if I ran that six or eight miles three or four times a week with those hounds while roadin the walk into the tree would still be easy........

ike :wink:

Dan Edwards · Post by **Dan Edwards** » Wed Mar 04, 2009 12:52 pm

Better dig out my hip boots. Its gettin deep in here. I aint a bear hunter but have heard all these same kind of stories from coyote hunters. Dogs come out the next morning and "man they must have killed that coyote they was running". HAHAHA! Shit, mine sure as hell must kill all of em they run too then. LOL! I think not though.

Trueblue · Post by **Trueblue** » Wed Mar 04, 2009 1:19 pm

I tend to agree with you Dan but I don't want to feel left out so I am going to say that my dogs have never been out run or whipped either. :wink:

blackpaws · Post by **blackpaws** » Wed Mar 04, 2009 1:24 pm

i voted that i get outrun because last year it seemed like i was pulling my dogs when the bear would cross into private property a lot. my dogs were in good shape, would bay when needed and would be right on the bears butt but still couldn't get them to climb. later in the training season i moved a couple miles over in the same area we hunt and started to tree/catch more often because they wouldn't be able to cross into private. whether it's a good thing or not, last year i spent the most i had ever spent at the vet. finally getting my pack to do what they are suppose to do and it has been a long time since that has happen for me. maybe this year they will have learned to stay back a little but still put the pressure on.

Black&TanMan1 · Post by **Black&TanMan1** » Wed Mar 04, 2009 2:25 pm

I was reading the interesting comments and thought maybe I should clarify as to what I'm calling a treed bear and what I'm calling a caught bear. A treed bear naturally is a bear you physically see in the tree meaning when you or someone else gets to the tree the dogs and bear are still there. A caught bear is a bear that is being held in one place by the dogs and you physically see it and catch up your dogs.
Blackpaws as far as pulling your dogs when they cross into private property goes I'm not sure what you'd call that. I guess it would kind of depend on how long you'd been on it and how far the dogs were behind it. Like I said each area is a little different, out here private property is seldom a concern.
Thanks to those who are participating.

blackpaws · Post by **blackpaws** » Wed Mar 04, 2009 2:57 pm

i voted that i get outrun

that's why i voted that i got outrun because they should have put enough pressure on to catch and tree the bear. with the dogs i have i expected them to tree the bear. plain and simple, they got outrun. that is why i moved a little further away from the private land to give the dogs a little more romm to put some pressure on. it seemed to work because they started to climb then. good poll and it gets me fired up for this season already. i have real high expectations for this year with my dogs and hope it goes good.

Nolte · Post by **Nolte** » Wed Mar 04, 2009 5:15 pm

It's out run by a far margin. Fat dogs and skinny bear early in the season are not a combo for success. No matter how much you road/swim them, it's still not the same as being in running shape. It helps but it's no substitute.

Sorry Fellas, it ain't caught in any way shape or form unless you pull the dogs off the stopped bear or it's in a tree. Furthermore, it ain't considered a catch in training season if it's not in a tree where you have to get the dogs off the tree. That will be a catch in kill season though, when you pump some lead through it's vitals while it's caught on the ground.

I hate to burst anyone's bubble, but a guy really doesn't know how the deal went down when he not in contact with the dogs the entire time. It's pretty much all speculation and I really don't care as long as there is a bear in the end. I've seen lots of times where I put down a big bear or little runt, and ended up on the other. Somewhere along the lines the lines got crossed.

I had a dog that was lost for damn near the whole day after he fell out of a bear race. Other dogs made the tree and I was looking for this idiot. I was within 100 yards of his ass multiple times through out the day but the prick wouldn't come to me. He was wondering all over the place and I was ready to leave his dumb ass when it was getting dark. Just as I was ready to pull the plug, I heard him start to tree. Walked in there and he a little bear up the tree. Now I could drink the koolaid and say he was on that thing all day, but the reality is he just bumped into it. That happens more than a guy thinks.