looken for an some help

[Ankle Express]

I'll throw some things at you. Small bear is one thing but they can be beat. Your in a good position where baiting is legal, correct. Use that to your advantage if the bear will cooperate. I know one year we ran our dogs to death. Dogs that we had seen do above average for new country and bear to them just weren't fast enough anymore. They were pushing hard enough but weren't ever making ground/knocking the wind out of the bear. Our baits were scattered in an area where the same bear just wandered from bait to bait. Thought we had a few bear. Turned out to be a little marathon man that had probably witnessed some bad $hit happen to their mother. He would make his rounds every night showing up all over the place but wouldn't clean anything out just hit and run from one to the next. We'd run there one day and somewhere else the next. Got to noticing the night after we would run over there only one bait somewhere would be hit and cleaned out the next day. So we ran there one day and kept dogs on him about all day but couldn't seem to pressure him up. When we picked the dogs off he was right back next to one of the sites. I told them boys not to be making plans for anything else that I was going to keep going over there till I seen the thing. We were in Maine and four dogs is it but it works good for us because we can run our pack in half and have fresh dogs every day. Sure enough next morning only one was hit and it was right where we left off. Cleaned out too. Turned down and finally heard a jump right off the site. Ran the same route as usual and by all the baits but this time he treed a little after lunch. He was tough and fast but he couldn't do it forever. Day and a half w/ a little grub and some rest was all he had. Done it one other time too here w/out bait and done like said above culled it. When we got that thing killed it had new blisters in the old blisters on its pads and toes. Basically one of two things usually happen the dogs either catch and hold either up a bush or on the ground for whatever reason whether grabbing or not and whether the bear cooperates or not. Or they knock the wind out of it which means there is an attrition/physical fitness factor involved which requires endurance on everybody's part. Seems to me most of these are small bear and that most of these will wind up in a tree because if they weren't so scared they would have stopped way before they usually do. Another thing I'll also say is you ain't helping yourself trying to start an over night track after the dew/morning fog is burnt off. With that being said your also probably, just because baiting is so common, giving the bear to much ground to try and make up. Baited bear do learn how to survive eating bait. They will get a loop established and work that loop like clockwork. They won't ever eat and lay down at your bait. They'll eat and walk most of the night just to get far enough way, or walk to spot that gives them a good heads up your coming, or go to ten other sites and confuse their tracks but never give you a chance for a jump and a race. These can be beat to by just turning one dog at the start and running all the surrounding roads w/ the rest of the bunch and try to shave off time and ground. Its a team effort and everybody has got to be involved including you. Just help them out a little. JMO Later - Ps once he goes up doesn't mean you have to cull them either in fact they be easier the next time if nothing happens.