Here's yesterday's bear tree.

[George P]

This is Boone

<FONT COLOR="#800080" SIZE="1">[ 19 July 2001 15:42: Message edited by: George P ]</font>

 

[George P]

Heres Whitey and Magic

 

[George P]

Heres Miller at his first bear tree with whiskey and Radar

<FONT COLOR="#800080" SIZE="1">[ 19 July 2001 15:52: Message edited by: George P ]</font>

 

[George P]

And heres the bear!!He was way up so pic quality is a little poor.I will do better next time !!!

<FONT COLOR="#800080" SIZE="1">[ 19 July 2001 16:00: Message edited by: George P ]</font>

 

[Mountain Boomer]

Great Pictures George. Thanks for sharing them with us. I enjoy seeing pictures of the hounds as much as the game.

 

[JJHACK]

Your walker Boone is a big boy! What breeds do you prefer for bear? I was partail to walkers because they kept my vet bills low. The plotts were the opposite end of the scale they not only chewed on the bears enough to get them up the tree they would chew on each other at the tree.

I guess I was kind of partial to Blue ticks for their 1/2 way additude between the Walkers and the plotts personality. Most guys use a severe mix of breeds and don't really care about the breed, just that they work. jj

 

[George P]

JJ, I too prefer the walkers,although I am not color blind and will use what ever does the job. I feel the same way about the plott dogs as you do. 4 of the 5 dogs pictured here are dogs that I bought this spring.This is the first time I had them out. I was pretty happy. You know how much bear dogs cost JJ and I have quite a bit into these so I was glad to have a good first day with them.No telling how the next one will be.LOL. I have been with way too many dogs to judge them one way or another after one hunt.
What part of Washington state are you from JJ? 2 of the dogs pictured here came from Washington St. down near Spokane.

<FONT COLOR="#800080" SIZE="1">[ 20 July 2001 19:29: Message edited by: George P ]</font>

 

[CATMAN]

George,
Glad to hear your first day was a sucess, heck it should just get better now...lol
Looks like them dogs you bought musta knew what a bear smelled like. Glad to see they done good...keep us posted

 

[maineiac]

Lookin good George,lookin reallll good.Nice lookin hounds.Gotta make ya feel good seein em do what they supposed to.Lookin forward to gettin out for a run this summer with ya.

 

[JJHACK]

George, When I ran the hound business here for bear and lions I was working in Idaho, then moved to the central part of Washington state. I hunted extensively on the penninsula around the perimeter of the park. The over flow of bears there was unmatched in the world. It was not a problem to run 2-3 different bears every single day. We would have 100% success seasons every year with clients, and get requests from the tree farm to do damage control on the bears as well.

I worked for the agency that managed bear damage for ten years doing this damage control. Then the law changed making hound hunting illegal. I sold all the dogs becuase I could no longer use them. Funny thing about that though, as much as I loved having a great race through the bush. I think I enjoy the solitude of the high alpine and the immense views of the snow capped mountains during the fall spot and stalk hunts. Both methods have entertainment and value but having done this both ways I doubt I would ever chase a bear with dogs again.

I love lion hunting with the dogs, but I have since killed quite a few with out them as well. If I were to hunt lions with a dog it would be a single dog and I would track on foot as long as possible until the dog was ready to explode, then I would turn him loose to tree the cat. They are the easiest of all hound hunted game to tree, except for maybe a possum.

Lions have no running capacity and always jump up the first good looking tree they can get into to catch their breath. I worked with a handicapped houndman with a stainless steel and plastic knee joint. he hobbled around every where though. I saw him run (hobble) down an embankment while looking at fresh tracks and yell "couger". He had spotted it in the old growth and started running(hobble stagger) after it and it jumped into the closest tree when barely chased by a cripple!

I had a 1/2 beagle 1/2 blue tick that weighed 35 pounds tree several lions by himself while walking him on a lead and then turning him loose when we got tired of tracking.

Lions are bad news when they can surprise you from behind, but when you chase them they are the biggest "scaredy cat" in the woods. Much different the bears who will run for hours and maybe never tree, or even bobcats which will also run and run and run all day long and may also never tree.

I think those boys in some parts of Utah, Arizona, and Nevada, might have more troubles with lions fighting with dogs cause they have no big trees to put em up?

We just bought a blue tick pup Pure with papers. He comes from the original desendents of the Blue tick registered in 1945. They gave a copies of the Family tree from the UKC. Interesteing history to look back on. The mother of the very first Blue tick Registered by the UKC was a walker!

My pup looks exactly like a walker with almost no "ticks". The huge long ears and the much longer legs give it away as a Blue tick but the primarily white, with black and brown
make it look like a walker. He's 14 weeks now and in need of something to chase!

After loosing the goat to the lion in my barn two weeks ago I needed to get something going for protection of the stock. Hope he works out.jj

That original Blue tick was named: "Blue Diamond Smokey River Jim" by the way.

 

[Bear Creek Adventures]

George P,

Great seeing hound pictures again!! Makes me want to get out with the dogs again. Unfortunately (or fortunately) I will be scouting and hunting bighorn and getting camps set up and ready for elk season so I probably won't be able to get out with the hounds until late October. I have a new female that I am anxious to try.

Looks like you got a hell of a deal on your dogs. It sure makes a guys feel great when your dogs work like they are supposed to!

 

[Buckshot]

Way to go George! Thanks for sharing the pics. I'm happy to hear that them western dogs can tree an eastern bear. Sounds like you did well and it must be a relief.

JJ,
You might be in the wrong forum for those kinds of comments regarding your preference for bear and lion hunting without dogs! Most of the folks in here are kinda partial to their technique! You're fairly accurate in your comments regarding lions, but on the other hand, one of those scaredy cats turned around and ate my 90 pound hound dog last winter in an area where you couldn't go 10 feet without running into a big tree. And after he did that he tried his best to tear the head off my other dog. Exceptions to every rule I guess.

 

[JJHACK]

Clint, there sure are exceptions to every rule! I think I have pretty much removed the words "never" and "always" from my vocabulary since I started writing for several different magazines a years ago. Those words always come back to haunt you!

As far as being on the wrong forum? Hmmm maybe but having done this many different ways I guess we can all change our minds now and then ( remember the "never and always" rule) I like hunting with a dog, but I still need it to have some level of "personal" on my part. I think the comprimise of a more intimate hunt with a single good dog and using your tracking skills and control has a value to me that I guess cannot be explained.

Bears,... no I would not bother hunting with one dog, unless I did not like the dog! I have a serious concern about a big tom removing the head of my only dog, I know it can happen. I guess I could get killed by a falling tree in the forest too though. Or while driving down the road to where I will hunt. If we were afraid to take chances we would never leave the house I guess.

That is probably why I did not buy a Plott hound. They had more vet bills from mixing it up then any dog I have ever had. I really think they are mentally twisted! Maybe somewhere along the line they were interbred with a wolverine? I have seen them bite each other when they had the game treed, yet at home they were the best of friends!

Walkers on the other hand were near zero vet bills unless they would get to close to the tree with the plotts there. They did not put stubborn bears up very often though because all they would do it bark at them. Often times that was enough to get them up the tree. However the big old bears would fight on the ground and really need the brute force and (stupidity) of a Plott to mix it up with them. Plotts usually make bears climb if any dog can do it.

I guess that's why I bought this Blue tick. they seemed more balanced over all then either the walkers or the Plotts I have had. What kind of dog was it that was killed? 90 pounds is a big hound!jj

 

[Buckshot]

JJ,

I was just joshin' ya on the wrong forum thing. Naturally everybody's boat is floated differently but I think you'd have a hard time convincing dedicated houndsmen that hunting with dogs isn't one of the more personal forms of hunting around.

I agree completely with you on the plotts. Typical conversation with plott guy "'So, how's ol' Buck doin'?', 'Well, ol' Rig got off his chain and killed Buck last week, he's sure a gritty SOB!'" Just kiddin' it's not always that bad, but they do have more grit than I want. It's my opinion that grit, nose, speed, size and just about every other attribute can vary as much between strains of the same breed as between the breeds themselves.

My big dog that was killed last winter was a redbone/bloodhound cross. Now I've got a 9 month old registered black and tan from a strain where almost every male weighs 50-60 pounds.......my pup?......85 pounds and growing! Must be some powerful stuff in that Wal-mart food!