i have two good coon dogs and would like to train them on bear how do i go about it?thanks

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Put em on a fresh bear track and head down the trail. Keep at it. You will soon know if they like the scent of bear. A good many dogs that can whip a coon, will turn tail and run on the first bear who bluffs and stands it's ground. Some really get turned on by it. If their running coon good, I suspect they will take a good bear track. It helps to have em in TOP running shape as well, because a bear can show them a LOT of country in pretty short order. Also be prepared to walk your hind end off just to look at a treed coon. It happens with coon dogs. Some folks really get mad. I don't mind it too much when it does happen with mine. But I am not a hard core bear hunter.

The best bear hound I have seen started out as a worthless coon hound. He was coonhound bred didn't have any of the big game lines in his pedigree. But boy was he a darn good bear hound.

Like LCK said find a track they will take it just go with them they will either stay or run.But i do want to let you know a lot of these dogs that stay we call suicide dogs they don't know how to handle a bear so they try the same way as a coon and you know what happens next.

I have a bear dog that im trying to put on coon but if you put those dogs on a bear you might not get them to hunt coon as good and the boys i hunt with say a bear dog will run a coyote so thats in the picture to.Bring them hunting with some good dogs to show them what to do and be ready to pay a vet bill in case one of them gets hurt because the first time i took mine the best dog in the pack got killed and all the other ones got scratched up real bad.(you have to be ready for some tragedies in the dogs life because bear hunting is not the safest thing and it has some overhead...alot of it) Keep those dogs in the pack once they get the hold of it and sooner or later you'll have yourself some bear dogs.

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"PR Crowe's Rusty"

I've always heard the line, you can make a good bear dog into a coon dog, but you can't make a good coon dog into a bear dog. However, i believe this is only because most good coon dogs are very straight and when put on a bear track they think it is trash. If you keep puttin them on bear tracks and run with expierence bear dogs they will eventualy get the picture. Just as everyone else says though, hopefully they don't dive in like they would a coon.

so should i keep my coon dogs on coon and buy other dogs?i got a walker male in a package deal the other day that i was told a good coon dog he isnt that great of one should i train him on bear?thanks for your time guys

Whatever you want to do with him would be fine if he aint that good on coon.Its your decision and your dog,put him on what you want him to run.

how should i go about training him on bear?

All i ever did was run mine with good bear dogs and let him get in on the fight and get scratched up a litte bit and he would run one as far as it went from then on out.You need to run him with other dogs first and see if he will pack with them and just keep running him with other dogs until he gets the hang of it because at first he wont know what to do but he should figure it out after a few good races.

As far as getting them going, do what LCK said. If you're hunting with 2 dogs on bears and they hunt together on coons you'll probably find they won't get hurt by the bear. I personally believe that a majority of dogs killed by "bears" were either killed by other dogs or killed because there were to many dogs and they couldn't get out of the way. I've been bear/coon/lion hunting for 15 years and know of more dogs falling off rocks lion hunting than dogs killed by a confirmed bear. Its always the same group of guys getting dogs killed by "bears" and alot of times they're the same guys who's dogs bail as soon as the bear turns and winks at them.

As far as bear dogs running coyotes? Not around here, with the exception of LCK. The dogs know the difference and coyotes are trash to most bear hunters out west, anyway. Also, who ever heard of bears ruining a coon dog? Coons are 80 million times easier to catch than a normal bear. A bear race may make your dogs want to run with their noses up as opposed to on the ground but they figure it out in a hurry.

im goimg to try and train him on bear thanks.

ok i have been trying him on bear(havnt been able to find any bears),joined a coon club and he was intersted in the coon,i was thinking of buying the training scent and doing some drags will this work or?thanks

I havnt heard many good things about these scents, they say its not the same. I got two pretty good bear dogs i would trade for a good coon dog. lol you said you couldnt find a track, thats part of bear hunting. like the other feller said, lot of walking, lot of looking, lot of money, lot of time, lot of...... just keep looking you are bound to find one, and if your dogs stick their noses in it and pull on the lead and whine a little, then pet em up real good and turn em loose.
JMO if i had a sure nuf good coon dog I would keep it a coon dog. GOOD LUCK!!!

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Give GOD the glory!!!!