many questions?

[robbyson99]

I've heard that this year was going to be hard here in maine to tree a bear because of too much rain and it being so wet out there! Is this true? Second question. Starting bears off bait. Is it best to start just 1 or 2 dogs or to drop the tailgate? 3rd and last question. My male opens up hard at every hit bait. We let him go once with about 4 other females. One being in heat and her and my male ended up back at the bait. Another time he opened and I let him go by him self. He started cold trailing but stopped. We went up the road and he was with some females that were tied up. Should I keep trying him alone until he gets one jumped alone or throw him in with other dogs. He's never ran bears but opens hard at every hit bait and wants to run. We still have a month of training season before regular season! Any advice and help would be greatly appreciated

[BuckNAze]

Some good questions, personally I dont think I would hunt my male and/or female (if she was in heat) with each other if I was trying to catch a bear, takes 2 dogs out of the race. They are both concentrated on something else, especially the male. Id like to see the answer to some of those questions as well! Oh and after we strike one we usually let one of our better dogs, or younger dogs if we are teaching them to start a track on their own, out to find the track then after we know they got the scent good we usually turn out how many dogs we feel like we want to (usually ends up being them all, haha)

[TRACKER]

Sounds like he's a rigger but not a starter. The only reason a dog doesnt start is lack of leading or experience. Personally i would walk in and find out what direction the Bear headed out of the bait put him on it and walk with him and coax him until he goes and dont ship the rest until you know he has seen the bear or is going hard and not turning back. Once he's seen one he's set.

[spruce mountain]

First off I would never run a male with a female that is in heat.How much track experience does your dog have?Is this the same dog that you were running on cats last winter?I certainly wouldn't dump the box either that usauly ends up in a big mess.I would probably try turning him out and when you think he has the track lined out I would try feeding one more dog in that has some experiance also and might help him keep it going,not a puppy,hopefully a male.If your hunting were there is good road access I wouldn't turn any more in until they get it jumped.Good Luck.

[larry]

You need to keep in mind that you don't know what he is opening on, especially if he is ending up with a lose back with the other dogs. Are the other dogs babbling like idiots tied up on the leash pulling him off??? Lots of other animals will visit a bait, Are you certain he isn't opening on trash??? If he opens on a bear he should be able to trail it, a bear is a walking garbage can, if he can strike it he should be able to catch up to it. You never mentioned how old the dog is?

[robbyson99]

He is going to be 3 in september. He is the same dog that ran cats with so he's got some trailing behind him. We have pictures of bear and bear only on the active baits. He's broke from coon so I'm willing to say its bear he's opening on. I've only tried him that once by him self and he started but went to the tied up dogs. Sounds like I just need to keep putting him on active bear baits and I believe he will go. Thank you for the responses

[robbyson99]

I do believe that's why he went to them other dogs. One of them probably barked hearing him and that's all it took. What about it being harder to tree bears due to all the rain and wetlands? Is there any truth to this ?

[spruce mountain]

I can't see why all the rain is going to make any difference,unless your dog's don't do well in water.If thats the case your going to have trouble running in most places in Maine anyway.I treed one today and they went thru alot of water but it didn't seem to effect them much.One pup got hung up in a bog but that always seems to happen with the young ones at first.Good Luck.

[BuckNAze]

Yeah some dogs just dont like the water and wont even cross creeks sometimes it seems. All mine seem to love water, treed one yesterday, only about a 150lber but my male dog the unexperienced one was right on its butt trying to bite the bear, didnt tree after too long, got to watch the whole race. We try to teach our dogs after we cast one off the start the track not to bark at all and punish them for doing so. They might be excited but they need to learn what we want them to do and thats be quite when we are listening for the dog that started the track. Rain isnt a issue for us, too dry around here but we have hunted in it before with no issues

[robbyson99]

Thank you guys for the help. We have not treed a bear yet but I really have the confidence that my male has what it takes. I just gotta give him the chance and show him the game.

[allisonzc]

I hunt Eagle Lake Maine every year the water doesnt seem to bother our dogs and they are from western nc. Your dog may be striking at the bait because of all the scent that is there and cant work the different tracks out.We have had as many as 4 different bears at one bait in a single night in maine, try spreading sand in a 10ftx10ft square around the bait an this will help you see how the bears exited the bait.It kinda sounds like your dog may be running the back track cause he goes and stops happens because the track is getting colder and colder the farther he trails. As for the other dogs barking leave them in the truck till he gets it jumped keep them far enough so they dont smell the track and if they bark at the dog trailing shock their brains out!Oh yeah rake the sand clean after each visit so you know the fresh tracks.