best hounds/dogs for hunting bear?

i have seen good and bad in all breeds but perfer plotts

hounds

i live in arkansas, we cant hunt bear with dogs, but i have treed 1 with hounds when i was hog hunting. i have had all breeds of hounds and still do. but as for gritt and hogs i love my plotts.

Ask any man whats the best kind of dog for any thing and its the kind he has in the kennel right now.
Sort of like the most dangerous snake in the world (the one that just bit you) LOL

the best dog is the one that will run the bear back to the truck and bay or tree him there

Etter2 said:

Don't have any bear dogs, but I do know dogs and have probably killed more bears than most folks on this board, and judging by your profile pic, you aint chasing anything over any mtns.

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Easy pal...... You say you don't have bear dogs but have killed more bear than most folks on here..... That may be true but again.... The guy plainly asks what's the best type of hound for BEAR HUNTING!!! I suggest you don't open your mouth unless you know what your talkin about.... Thanks.

Rocket41 said:

Easy pal...... You say you don't have bear dogs but have killed more bear than most folks on here..... That may be true but again.... The guy plainly asks what's the best type of hound for BEAR HUNTING!!! I suggest you don't open your mouth unless you know what your talkin about.... Thanks.

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What makes you such an expert? How many REAL LIVE bears you treed this yr?
How many dog fights you had?

GA DAWG said:

What makes you such an expert? How many REAL LIVE bears you treed this yr?
How many dog fights you had?

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Lol well I never thought I was an expert..... As far as dog fights.... None... Don't keep an ill dog and don't breed ill dogs... And we cull pretty heavy... If you know what I mean lol I hunt plotts not bulldogs... As far as treein bear we had a pretty good year.. I believe we Treed 16 bears.... Real live ones.... Throughout the TN and NC season... And that's not a kill total, seen a few sows with yearlings.... Can't complain though.... Pretty good year I guess

Rocket41, that is a good year in any mans book......Especially with such a short season........I've run the North River area with the Browns, Jeb and Zeb, and really enjoy that area. Tell the Brown's from Coker Creek TN I said "hey' if you see em'........They have some fine Plott bear and hog dogs.......

Etter2 said:

Don't have any bear dogs, but I do know dogs and have probably killed more bears than most folks on this board, and judging by your profile pic, you aint chasing anything over any mtns.

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ETTER2, no reason to get personal there, but anytime you wanna take a walk through the mountains with a fat old man, following my ugly and mean Plotts, and American Leopard hound, let me know......I think I would enjoy meeting you and discussing your comments.

this just gets better and better.lol. ill be heading to bear camp in late March. WHOO HOO!!! cant wait!

We ever get a bear season. I can put yall on em. Im sure if we can tree a few a year accidental like. Yall could wear em out and if yall come across a trashy bear dog that will only tree coons. Let me know

bullsprig1100 said:

Rocket41, that is a good year in any mans book......Especially with such a short season........I've run the North River area with the Browns, Jeb and Zeb, and really enjoy that area. Tell the Brown's from Coker Creek TN I said "hey' if you see em'........They have some fine Plott bear and hog dogs.......

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Yea dave I know those boys pretty well...... Lol

we got a Ga bears eason

Rocket41 said:

Easy pal...... You say you don't have bear dogs but have killed more bear than most folks on here..... That may be true but again.... The guy plainly asks what's the best type of hound for BEAR HUNTING!!! I suggest you don't open your mouth unless you know what your talkin about.... Thanks.

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Well the best type is still walker hounds. That's why Walkers are used in almost every lion and bear camp in the west, northeast, and canada.

there are just as many bad walkers as there are god ones!!!! there are just more registered walkers than any other hound. that means the 50% that are bad out number other registered breeds. A WALKER IS HALF ENGLISH!!!!!!!

I'd say it depends on the type of bear and the location you are hunting. If your hunting Brown Bear in Alaska or Russia, I would say Alaskan Malamutes for their strength, endurance and great warm coats. If you are in the Georgia mountains in the USA, I might go with the Catahoulas or Rhodesian Ridgebacks and possibly Argentina Dogos.

GEORGIA outdoor news. Georgia has mountains and swamps. only interested in our southern states. thank you for your opinion tho.

Etter2 said:

Well the best type is still walker hounds. That's why Walkers are used in almost every lion and bear camp in the west, northeast, and canada.

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I've seen exactly three really good walker bear dogs in my life. They'll run a bear, but in general, they would be my last hound pick for bear hunting except for maybe black and tans. They just don't have the combination of nose, stamina, and grit that it takes to run and tree bears up here in these rugged mountains when you compare them as a breed to some of the others. Remember that Plott hounds were bred first and foremost from the start right here in the western NC mountains specifically for bear hunting, and have been selected for countless generations for traits that make good bear dogs. Walkers were originally fox dogs that were later crossbred with treeing hounds to produce a coonhound type that would tree.

Rich Kaminski said:

I'd say it depends on the type of bear and the location you are hunting. If your hunting Brown Bear in Alaska or Russia, I would say Alaskan Malamutes for their strength, endurance and great warm coats. If you are in the Georgia mountains in the USA, I might go with the Catahoulas or Rhodesian Ridgebacks and possibly Argentina Dogos.

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The only problem with that scenario, coming from someone who spent quite a few years hunting bears with hounds here in the NC mountains, and is decended from a long line of generations of bear hunters; is that none of those breeds have anywhere near enough nose to trail up and jump a bear. Most bear tracks you find are several hours old, and it takes a hound with a good nose to get it trailed up and going. Some of those breeds will work as fight dogs once the bear is jumped, assuming that they don't attack your other dogs instead of the bear. Catahoulas would be my pick out of any of those you mentioned, but they still don't work like hounds for bear hunting down here.

Etter2 said:

Plotts are too ugly and mean for me. Check out what most of the western bear guides run....the guys who run bears for a living 4+ months of the year. Most are walkers with some blueticks thrown in.

It's a dumb argument. Everybody has a different opinion, but I bet if you took a poll of every houndsman in the country, walkers would get more than 50 percent of the vote.

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common stereo type as far as the plotts being mean! and beauty is in the eye of the beholder

The stocks of Plotts I've had and hunted with weren't ill or mean at all, except to bears (and I live in the county where they originated, my dad hunted with Von Plott and Taylor Crockett, so I guess that's as pure Plott as you can get.) I won't keep an ill dog. I've seen a lot more walkers that were ill on the tree or in the box than any other breed. I've been around bear hounders all my life, and was one myself for a long time, and I know very few people who run walkers for bears. This ain't out west where they can't get good dogs and don't no any better.