BigGameHoundsmen.com

A few things to consider is their is probably a cross of running dog and treeing dog out there almost bred to perfection for lion and bear. Also theirs probably a cross being made today by a first time breeder, looking for the same results the other guy has. Most those pups wont be culled more than likely and most will have faults that make them culls more than likely and I'll be the guy dumb enough to buy one lol. The guys bad mouthing the cross probably bought one too.
All these breed of dogs have strains somebody has made as close to bulletproof for that particular game over the years. Some are still trying to reinvent the wheel.
I personally prefer the cross on bear. Been outstanding. Seen the faults everyone has listed about them. All dependent on the region they came from and the breeder. I'd assume the breed of running dog crossed in, will have a lot to do with it. I'm 100% positive I know nothing about any of the three running types, and which would be better for a lion and bear outcross.
Anyway, the faults I've seen I already have an excuse for so most the time the dogs stay here. Because, every cross I've got from the different breeders I've noticed one thing they have in common... they all run to catch game. I dont fo out to listen to the dogs run. I go out to see critters treed or bayed. These dogs excell on the 2nd hour when the best enduranced treeing dogs start to fall out of a hard running bear race. Or it gets above 80 and you'll be waiting at the road for 15 minutes for the tree dogs after watching the crossed dogs cross the road.
I like to get the crosses where the guys are crossing the cold nose of their dirt dogs into the running dogs because I have seen a consistency of hot noses in some crosses.
But my opinion is whether it's a lion, bear, stick or a cheetah you're never going to get to them without a hard running dog with endurance. Let me rephrase. You'll never be as happy as you think the neighbor is with his pack unless you have dogs that catch more, consistently. These dogs typically do that. At least most the ones I've picked up.

Just for conservation for I know very little about bear hunting and nothing about mountain lion. I have bear hunted a hand full of times and killed one bear which was I found was one two many after I finished dressing it out. That smell lasted a while. They do put up a good race though. The people I hunted with didn’t have anything’s but potlicker coon hound type dogs that struck, ran, and treed bear and made it look easy. I’m asking out of curiosity, why would you want to add anything to dogs that struck,ran,treed without any problem. I’m sure these boys I hunted had a hunt fall apart from time to time ,but that is always going to happen. The best have train wrecks,that just shows up some days or at least it does to me. I’m pretty certain a really seasoned bear hunter could take a pack of pure running fox dogs and catch a lot of bear. Pure fox dogs will tree enough to get you there.

Well I never personally added any running dog to my tree hounds. I am not a dog breeder or do not try to be. But I have a few tree hounds I guess you would call them and then a few running dog crosses..But I guess I have been adding them to make pack because the endurance and speed. They seem to be able to put a lot of pressure on and quickly. I mean I have had some long races with the tree hounds too, I think 20 plus miles last year in maine might have been the longest I can remember right now. This year had one race about 26 miles never treed, otherwise 17 miles was the longest. The rest were under 10 miles once jumped. But right now the mix i have compliments each other and been treeing/catching more with the current dogs than I ever have. But I can not say if the running mix is the best solution, or treeing hounds and running mix hound pack is a solution. It is just what is working for me right now. But I believe you are right bears stink. And I bet some fox hounds could run a bear and run them well. I think it just comes down to preference and style of hunting. I look for a dog I can run all day or most of the day. And do it day after day. I want to be able to get multiple runs in a day if possible. And at times I have felt like I was missing the endurance at times with the tree hounds I have had. Which could just have been the dogs I personally have had and not all tree hounds in general. Well enough of my rambling

Gvbear, what kind of time did it take on a 20+ mile bear race. From my experience with a mixed pack, I would have a reall strung out pack of dogs when it ended.

The 20 plus mile in maine was 4 to 5 hours and I did have the dogs strung out, and honestly if I remember right the tree dog was leading up until like mile 17, was in and out of service and there was some swamp that messed a couple up. Then this year that 26 mile race was probably over 5 hours at least before I pulled and I had dogs strung out and bear was pulling a bigger gap at each crossing. ( think it crossed 8 times or so) Dogs did not look good that day. And would like to clear up the running dogs I have do have some tree dog breed into them. Both discussed above are when my dogs get strung out and when that happens it usually never ends in my favor.

Gvbear, a watered down fox dog is not a running fox dog. It doesn’t take very much water to really change a running to something else. If you use pure running dogs with potlickers on a 5 hr race, the purerunning dog is going to be out of the potlicker hearing in 30 min. That is my experience. Most potlickers will drop out and go find something else.

I do not think I ever hunted with a pure running dog, just crosses with potlickers. Maybe one day I will if they are better than the crosses it might be worth a shot. Always looking for a way to improve.