Registered: Jun 2003
Location: Lawrenceburg, Ky
Posts: 418

I took my first serious bear hunt this year (W.Va early season) and really enjoyed it. Went with a friend that uses mostly english dogs that they have used for about 15 years or so.
After coon hunting for over 35 years and breeding my own dogs nearly that long, I was surprised by a few things and left scratching my head over others. I know a man can't learn everything about bear hunting in just a few days, so I still have a lot of unanswered questions in my head.
Anyway, the question is this,
What treeing walker blood are you using to successfully tree bear with?
And I'd really like to know specifics, not just "house blood" or "Sackett Jr stuff". I'd like to know what dogs are close up in the best dogs pedigree or what cross produced the best litters of bear dogs. And I'm talking bear dog from rig to bay or tree and everything in between.
PM me if you like, not looking to start a war, knowing what I know about coonhunters is everyone has a little different opinion about what makes a great dog.
Thanks!

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Registered: Nov 2009
Location: western north carolina
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I HAD ALOT OF LUCK WITH PAC MAN AND SACKETT(SR.), SINCE THEN I HAVE CROSS THEM WITH YADKIN RIVER. THE HEAVY YADKIN RIVERS DOGS SEEM TO HAVE ALOT OF DRIVE ON THE TRACK.
COWEE CREEK CLINT SEEMED TO PRODUCE GOOD FOR ME ALSO, STARTS SHOWING INTEREST AT A YOUNG AGE.
ROCK RIVER CORD SEEMS TO BE REPRODUCING BEAR DOGS.
BUT FOR ME I TRY TO FIND GOOD DOGS CLOSE TO HOME AND DOGS I HAVE SEEN GETTING THE JOB DONE.

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Registered: Jun 2003
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bear_n_down, thanks fo the reply.
It makes good sense to use dogs from stock that you personaly witnessed getting the job done. Your comment also makes me wonder about what I'll call regional ability, if dogs do well in N.C., can they perform in Wisconsin as well, or Idaho?
I have the same blood that you listed in my kennel now, Heavy Sackett Jr and Yadkin River with some Lipper blood, no Pacman stuff though, I've been hunting the House and Yadkin River blood since I started.
Can you be more specific about the Yadkin River blood?
In several blood lines, I think there are different stains, or traits, that have shown up, for example, I like Sackett Jr blood but I'm not a fan of the Rat Attack stuff. I like the old Yadkin River blood but prefer the Champ and Tree Blaster blood over the Tar Rattler and Chico stuff.
I've heard that the Rock River Tuck dogs can make bear dogs but not so much with the Tell Sackett dogs.
Are the Clint dogs to big to make great bear dogs?

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Registered: Nov 2009
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i sent you a pm with my phone number feel free to give me a call

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I have tried everything that bear_n_down
has, but I have found for me that the Bozo blood is better, getting it thru the Stone Moutain Steel side. It is hard to come by anymore but I have a bunch of it in my kennel.

Last edited by Chaos on 10-08-2011 at 08:33 PM

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Registered: Nov 2009
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ITS HARD TO SAY THAT BOZO BLOOD IS BETTER, ITS HARD TO SAY ONE IS BETTER THAN ANOTHER. ITS ALL ABOUT WHAT WORKS FOR YOU AND WHAT U HAVE ACCESS TO. SOME PEOPLE LOOKS FOR DIFFERENT THINGS IN THERE PERFORMANCE, I LIKE SPEED AN GRIT, GET IN QUICK AND LET OLE BLACKY KNOW YOUR THERE. I WILL BREED TO A DOG I KNOW BEFORE ONE THAT I DONT.

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Easy, easy. That is what I said ...For me they are better.

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Registered: Jun 2003
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Chaos, I like a shot of the Bozo blood for coonhunting, but it is hard to find close up any more. I've hunted with a few out of Stone Mt Steel that could tree a coon, they were very independant. I would think that would be a bad thing for bear hunting but maybe they're not all like that. They didn't open much on track either, is that a good thing for bear?

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FOR ME I WANT A DOG THAT OPENS ENOUGH THAT I CAN TELL WHAT HE IS DOING AND WHERE HE IS GOING. DONT MIND MY LEAD DOG BEING A LITTLE INDEPENANT BUT MOSTLY I WANT MY DOGS WORKING TOGETHER.

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bear_n_down, got you pm, I'll give you a call when I can.
I agree with you, hard to say which is better as I know what works for one may not suit the next guy. Same in coonhunting, some my get the coon treed, just not my style doing it.
I'm just trying to get an idea about what has worked well for each hunter and why. I would think most bear hunters breed to, or try pups out of dogs that they have personal knowledge of.
I think more coonhunters should try that and they might have a higher percentage of pups that turn out.
Good information men, thanks!
I've gotten a few pm's also with some specific dogs named, please keep the comments coming. I really want to learn more about what you all look for in a bear dog and what blood it carries.

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I DID HUNT WITH A DOG THAT WAS OUT STONE MTN. DRUM CROSSED WITH HOUSE BREED FEMALE, HE WAS GOOD HOUND. BUT THATS THE ONLY STONE MTN. DOG I CAN RECALL

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Registered: Jun 2003
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We we're both typing at the same time I reckon.

quote:

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Originally posted by bear_n_down
FOR ME I WANT A DOG THAT OPENS ENOUGH THAT I CAN TELL WHAT HE IS DOING AND WHERE HE IS GOING. DONT MIND MY LEAD DOG BEING A LITTLE INDEPENANT BUT MOSTLY I WANT MY DOGS WORKING TOGETHER.

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I LIKE A LOUD MOUTH DOG BUT THE ONE BITING HIS A$$ IS GOING TO MAKE HIM TREE FASTER

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Doug, I have the closest living dog to Bozo in the country now, but she is getting up there in age, I am hoping for one last litter this year.
All my Bozo dogs are very INDEPENANT, with big mouths, Cold nose, Great rig dogs,very hard tree dogs with alot of grit.
I liked the Lipper dogs too, they were just a little slower to catch on but very nice track dogs. We had a dog directly out of Lipper and a Lipper bred female.
I hated the Bam Bam dogs, very very slow starting dogs but if they fired they were OK.
The Pac man dogs were too agressive and mostly towards other dogs, but also on the bear too and usually came away with big vet bills. More of a pack dog.
Finely River dogs, I just never had any luck with them.
But those are just what I have had , I am sure there are some good ones, I just never got the right ones.
I hunt bear 4 to 5 months out of the year everyday. And cats the rest of the year, I have to have a dog that will hold up that long.

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WHAT PART THE COUNTRY ARE YOU FROM CHAOS

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I live in North West Colorado.

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Registered: Jun 2003
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Chaos, sounds like you have a line of dogs that are getting the job done for you. I have a few questions about your line of Bozo bred dogs. If I recall correctly Bozo was out of the original Hickory Nut Harry and Rutuns Bear Creek Princess. To my knowledge old Harry usually threw more of a medium to hot nosed type dog but the cross on Princess that produced Bozo had much better noses.
My question is, what else have you put into your dogs to maintain that colder nose or have you just doubled up on Bozo?
Secondly, do you use the same dogs on cats as you do on bear?

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quote:

---

Originally posted by Chaos

I liked the Lipper dogs too, they were just a little slower to catch on but very nice track dogs. We had a dog directly out of Lipper and a Lipper bred female.
I hated the Bam Bam dogs, very very slow starting dogs but if they fired they were OK.
The Pac man dogs were too agressive and mostly towards other dogs, but also on the bear too and usually came away with big vet bills. More of a pack dog.
Finely River dogs, I just never had any luck with them.
But those are just what I have had , I am sure there are some good ones, I just never got the right ones.

---

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bear_n_down , When I bred my dogs on the Clover ( Wild Card, Logan's Wild Clover)side , getting the Bozo thur that line , I was not happy with the nose, I would concider them to be more on the hot side. When I started breeding on the Stone Mountain Steel side and some of those dogs from Mike Walz , like the Truth dog and the Sis dog, then I got the cold nose I wanted. I just started line breeding from there.
The way I figured it out was...I had a pretty nice dog that was bred Wild Card on top and the Stone Mountain Steel on the Bottom, so I started getting dogs that were bred Wild Card and Clover , I thought that was the quickest way to get to ole Bozo, I quickly dicovered that the nose was not there and was not Happy with the dogs, so I went to the Botom side and cut all the Clover blood out that I could.....I had great results.
Doug, I had alot of Lipper dogs start early then they would be hot one day and duds the next day or hot for a while and duds for a while, never got them steady at it till they were well over a year old. Then when I went to run them on cats I had a hard time getting them to settle down on a track and run a cold track slower so that thye could run it, this did come for them but it was in the 2 year old range. I jsut cant wait that long to see what I have or don't have.
I run my same dogs on Bear, Lion and Bobcat. Most of my cats are run in snow but I run a few cats from time to time in the summer or fall months.
By no means are these the greatest dogs and I am always looking for something better. I take in dogs during the summer to run for guys and I have not seen anything I would trade these dogs for yet.

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I STARTED WITH GOOD NOSES THROUGH SACKETT AND I KEPT BREEDING IT BACK INTO THEM. BUT I ALSO ADDED THE TRACK DRIVE AND GRIT. IM NOT SAYING THAT SOME PAC MAN ARE NOT ILL, BUT I HAD LUCK WITH MINE BEING GRITTY BUT NOT ILL. IT WAS GOOD CROSSES THAT HAVE WORKED WELL.

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I have learned over the years to be very open minded to what someone else has. If you don't you will never know what you are missing out on.

The old saying " get a dog from the area you hunt in, that is getting it done, it will be the best" That doesn't work for me, I want the best dog and no matter where I go it better preform great, or it will be culled. And if someone else has something better that is what I want .

Dogs are like Race cars, someone will always have something faster, stronger, better. If you don't keep on the top of the game you will be the looser.

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Seems I have made an outstanding cross at 7 mnths old my pups are on the tree with the older dogs. at a year old they are catching and pulling hair. My male is Hardwood out of wild clover. my female is stylish grand daughter of stylish hickory nut harry. These pups are getting it done

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quote:

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Originally posted by Chaos

Dogs are like Race cars, someone will always have something faster, stronger, better. If you don't keep on the top of the game you will be the looser.

---

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quote:

---

Originally posted by Chaos
I have learned over the years to be very open minded to what someone else has. If you don't you will never know what you are missing out on.

The old saying " get a dog from the area you hunt in, that is getting it done, it will be the best" That doesn't work for me, I want the best dog and no matter where I go it better preform great, or it will be culled. And if someone else has something better that is what I want .

Dogs are like Race cars, someone will always have something faster, stronger, better. If you don't keep on the top of the game you will be the looser.

---

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quote:

---

Originally posted by Chaos
I have learned over the years to be very open minded to what someone else has. If you don't you will never know what you are missing out on.

The old saying " get a dog from the area you hunt in, that is getting it done, it will be the best" That doesn't work for me, I want the best dog and no matter where I go it better preform great, or it will be culled. And if someone else has something better that is what I want .

Dogs are like Race cars, someone will always have something faster, stronger, better. If you don't keep on the top of the game you will be the looser.

---

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