Bears and hogs with the same dogs ??

[BarrNinja]

There is a book Big Thicket Legacy it was published about 1977. The entire book is interviews with old timers that settled in the Big Thicket of east Texas in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Some of the language wouldn't be politically correct today but it is in their own words. Several of them talk about using their cur dogs  for hogs , cattle, bear and panthers. These people didn't just go hunting 3 or 4 times a month. They used their dogs every day. I think that is the key. Knowing your dogs and them knowing you. JMO

Hmm. The bear and cat was all but hunted out of that country by the mid 1900s. Says a lot to me about those East Texas cur dogs and the men that bred and hunted them.

[BobbyB]

There is a book Big Thicket Legacy it was published about 1977. The entire book is interviews with old timers that settled in the Big Thicket of east Texas in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Some of the language wouldn't be politically correct today but it is in their own words. Several of them talk about using their cur dogs  for hogs , cattle, bear and panthers. These people didn't just go hunting 3 or 4 times a month. They used their dogs every day. I think that is the key. Knowing your dogs and them knowing you. JMO

That is a very good read. And from all accounts, they had good dogs, Then again, I doubt they fed trash. If it didnt earn it's keep it didnt stay long. And from the stories, the cats and bears were pretty thick there.

[jdt]

There is a book Big Thicket Legacy it was published about 1977. The entire book is interviews with old timers that settled in the Big Thicket of east Texas in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Some of the language wouldn't be politically correct today but it is in their own words. Several of them talk about using their cur dogs  for hogs , cattle, bear and panthers. These people didn't just go hunting 3 or 4 times a month. They used their dogs every day. I think that is the key. Knowing your dogs and them knowing you. JMO

   yeah , yeah ,but the bears and hogs we have now are  "  different  "   

[Bigdog]

the bears an hogs r the same but the way people r breeding these hot nosed,no bottom,no range cur dogs is the difference.i know sum r still breeding good lines and trying to improving them,but most r just breeding junk.

[tnhillbilly]

im kinda suprised tnhillilly hasnt chimed in...

Me too hitemhard....I called him yesterday but didn't get him...think I'll try him again, this is his deal here for sure.

Im still here, took the wife to gatlinburg for the weekend, and was pretty much banned from the internet all weekend.
       I have run hogs and bear both with my "hounds" for as long as i can remember.   One thing we need to keep in mind is bear hunting is done in totaly different fashion, than hog hunting.
    When bear huntin, we keep our dogs on lead until we find a track, by sight, or dogs striking, or riggin from truck.  Then turn one dog loose at a time, oldest and more experienced 1st. and so on.  til the dogs get the bear jumped. and then try to get into position to keep fresh dogs packed to the race to keep pressure on the bear to bay up or tree.
     As far as using cur dogs for bear, yes, it can be done, because some

[tnhillbilly]

because some bears wont run, and with the curs being silent you have the element of suprise, and if put enough pressure will put him up a tree. But most curs were not bred to tree. but like i said it can be done.  but i wouldnt put any amount of time and effort into it, unless i just was flat over run with bear.
      It is 10 timed harder to train a bear dog than a hog dog. I have never owned what i would consider a top notch bear dog, several good dogs but not top notch. I would NEVER run a jam up bear dog on hogs, they are just too hard to come by.
    It takes LOTS AND LOTS AND LOTS OF land up here to run bears, like the hogs they get smart and we have runners too. Aka  stove pipe bears, thin bodies and looong legs, there are the ones that will run for days at time.
    To answer the question,  i run my hounds on both with great results. It has been my experience that if you start them on hogs and then put them on bear, the tend to do a little better, as far as getting cut up.

[SCHitemHard]

im gonna find me a bear hunt in TN when i get the extra cash, Tom your invited lol

[tnhillbilly]

Posting from my phone, wont let me post but so many lines is why so many.
   Curs were bred for cow and hogs, plotts were bred for bear, cat, coons, and hogs.   And thats how i hunt mine, I hunt them for what they were bred for. Kinda like using pit bulls as bay dogs, they were bred to catch.
   And a question i get asked alot is, how about using pits on bear?  Thats a number 1 no no.  dont work,  unless you got a couple that you dont want anymore, they will get killed. Bear are like coons, and can turn around inside their own hide.  and pits just aint made for that type of hunting.
         Hope this helps,

[tnhillbilly]

im gonna find me a bear hunt in TN when i get the extra cash, Tom your invited lol

You just come on up, wont cost you nothin but liscense, gas and maybe a place to stay. I hope to have some vac. left come bear season

[Bo Pugh]

i think im coming up to tennesse the first hunt in october, and if we had bear in alabama i would quit hog hunting, that bear hunting is the way to go, when i come up there im gonna bring a couple currs to pack in when he crosses a road just to see what they will do on a bear,

[geronimo]

becareful bo if they are ruff i aint heard nothing but horror storys bout ruff dogs on bears they need to have r.e.s.p.e.c.t.....

[tnhillbilly]

Not me, if we had the hogs and could run them year round on private land, i would sell EVERY  bear dog i had.  Waaaay too much politics, bull #2, fussin, whining and crying.

 Hog huntin; i can take one or two buddies and couple dogs and do my own thing.

Bear hunting; you have to hunt with EVERYBODY and ALL there dogs.

There aint no honey holes, cause your honey hole is 100 other peoples honey hole too.

[Noah]

I gots a spot down here you'd have a blast in....    .... Legal to run the handful of hogs there but you can throw a stick and hit a bear!!!

[SCHitemHard]

Tom i found a buddy of a buddy who has private land with some small black bears, hes bout 15 miles from Helen,GA

no hunters on this land at all and he says theres hogs and bears everywhere

[tnhillbilly]

I gots a spot down here you'd have a blast in....    .... Legal to run the handful of hogs there but you can throw a stick and hit a bear!!!

I may just have to take you up on that noah, i got some kin not too far from you, and my wife absolutly loves fla. She would move down there if i would, just too crowded for me.

Tom i found a buddy of a buddy who has private land with some small black bears, hes bout 15 miles from Helen,GA

no hunters on this land at all and he says theres hogs and bears everywhere

Im all ears 

[jdt]

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Im all ears 
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 me too , tom holler if you need some help , i'll bring you a horse !

[tnhillbilly]

Im all ears 
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 me too , tom holler if you need some help , i'll bring you a horse !
[/quote]
Bring me some good dogs too, lol

jdt  give me a holler, your too hard to get ahold of

[Wmwendler]

There is a book Big Thicket Legacy it was published about 1977. The entire book is interviews with old timers that settled in the Big Thicket of east Texas in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Some of the language wouldn't be politically correct today but it is in their own words. Several of them talk about using their cur dogs  for hogs , cattle, bear and panthers. These people didn't just go hunting 3 or 4 times a month. They used their dogs every day. I think that is the key. Knowing your dogs and them knowing you. JMO

Hmm. The bear and cat was all but hunted out of that country by the mid 1900s. Says a lot to me about those East Texas cur dogs and the men that bred and hunted them.

Amen to that. 

I've always thought treeing came natural to any dog.  I've never owned a cur that would'nt tree.

Waylon

[firemedic]

I'm with Tom on the bear hunting in TN.....waaaaay too much BS, too much riding around, too much talking on the radio, too much of the political crap and the little 'clicks' that develop and not near enough bear killin' for me. I'm not new to this bear vs hog thing boys, it's been going on forever and probably will be when I've turned in my dog lead. TN bear are a hard hunted, smart, long winded lot and don't tree just 'cause the wind changed directions. I have just the same as given it up....I'd much rather hunt hogs, not to say I wouldn't hunt bear again if given the chance to go with some jam up, bear treeing, mouth foaming, slobber slingin' bear dogs, but I ain't holding my breath 'til it happens.

[tnhillbilly]

There is a difference between a dog that will bark at something it can see in a tree, and a dog that that will trail and locate, and bark treed on something that it can not see.  By scent only.

 I have seen several "tree dogs" that wouldnt tree a lick.  Ive seen them watch game go up a tree, and not tree.

I dont believe every dog is a natural tree dog, i do believe that most dogs can be "trained" to tree.