I was thinking about booking a bear with hounds hunt for myself and dad. I was curious how this hunt plays out, how often are the bears treed vs trying to fight or flee, what distance will shoting be at, is it fun? How many days would it take to get to good sized bears? I was thinking about booking next year, maybe in maine. Any good outfitters to recommend? Or are there other places that may be better. I picked maine cause it is close to driving distance from northern New Jersey.

I hear there are good sized bear in New Jersey.I have run bear with hounds in Wisconsin.You have to be in good shape to follow them trough the brush.Lots of bear here but tags are by lottery.Every bear you tree will not be a shooter bear.Black bears are not hard to kill.The shots will be close so a 30/30 or 357 mag Revolver would work just fine.If you are not in super good shape,hunting over bait is a good option.That way you can judge the size and know you are not shooting a sow with cubs.Give P Dog shooter a PM.He is very versed in running bare with dogs. Pun intended.

Jersey does not currently have a season. The state is not very hunter friendly. They opened the season a few years ago when a baby was killed by a black bear but was quickly closed due to pressure from activists. My dad did get a medium size bear that year. We are in pretty good shape, we climb 14ers in Colorado from time to time. We enjoy hunting boar in florida with dogs and figured bear would be even more exciting.

NJ does have a bear season and it has been in place for several years. Just last year the new Dem Governor banned bear hunting on state land so that severely limited options.

We have two words for a Governor that would do that.ONE TERM!!!

I can only give you my "limited" experience as I have only hunted bear once with hounds and once hunted mountain lion with hounds.

I was told by the Lion outfitter (that runs bears as well) that bears do not hold near as well in trees and will run. The bear my son shot holed up in a cave and that was a rodeo (story for another day).

We are going with the same Outfitter again as my other son drew a Utah tag for the same area. We will be bear hunting in about 3 weeks.

I love hunting bear with hounds. Seeing the dogs in action is a great experience.

If you ever decide to hunt up this way, let me know and I can give you the contact info for this Outfitter.

Hound hunting bears is a lot of fun, but depending on where you're hunting, it can be incredibly physical. I hunted the Selway in Idaho with Mike Richie of Richie Outfitters (excellent outfit!). I took two bears, a big eight year old black boar and a seven year old chocolate female (no cubs). We chased somewhere around 12 or 13 different bears and managed to tree three of them.

The Selway is notoriously rugged country, so not all hound hunts are probably as difficult, but I would rate a day of chasing hounds in that country as more difficult than a day of sheep hunting in Alaska but not quite as bad as running a marathon. Somewhere in the middle.

From a shooting perspective, anything from a .22 Mag revolver on up will get the job done. It's like shooting a really big porcupine out of a tree.

Doug McMann, who posts here as Chilcotin Hillbilly, has a great reputation as a houndsman.

If you’re dog hunting ME you will tree more bears then you bay on the ground by about 15 to 1.
Size expectation there is 150-225 pound range for a mature bear. Occasional bigger bears are killed but 180 lbs is about the average. Most hound guides run 100% on mature bears and it usually gets done in 1-3 days.

Do your homework and ask questions. Some outfits are in good road network areas with minimal walking necessary and others you might need to be able to walk in 5-10 miles to get to the dogs.

NC is a viable hound hunt destination too, but very different experience than ME.
Eastern NC you will bay bear as much or more then you tree them. There are some true giants there but the terrain can be insanely thick and swampy. Walking a mile feels like 10 there.
Western NC has smaller bears averaging in the 200 lb range. It’s more open woods but some steep terrain.

In summary, in the East;
ME gives you the best bang for your buck
Eastern NC is where you go if you want a big bear
Western NC is the best bet if you want photo/video opps

There are some great places in the West and Canada too if you want to travel.

PM me if you want more detail about a specific region.

I haven't hunted bears in Maine, but I have in the Adirondack Mountains of upstate New York. They tend to be bigger and more plentiful than the black bears in Colorado. My sons and I hunted bears with dogs in New Mexico. It was a hoot! It can be physically very demanding. My younger son's bear, shot at 30 feet with a 375 H&H (way too much gun).

I would recommend bear hunting with hounds it is great fun.

I rank it no one for excitement.

Number 2 spot and stalk.

Number 3 bait hunting.

I have killed bears doing all three but I'll take a good hound hunt over the others.

But like any hunt it can be highly variable.

I seen hounds dropped and a bear up a tree in less then 15 min less then 50 yards walk from the truck.

I seen them run for hours and then had to crawl through brush so thick you could barely see 20 feet.

Where they were fighting with the dogs.

Nothing like getting down on one hands and knees to shoot a mad 500lb bear just off the muzzle.

Gets the heart pumping for sure.

If you have the time and money I would think a hound hunt with our own chilcotin hillbilly in BC would be a fantastic hunt.

He runs a ad here often.

I've been told and read some about the
huge bears in Virginia.

Know nothing about the hunting there.
Might be worth checking there too.

Good luck and have fun,

George

I am willing to go west if the bears are of better quality. I have just always heard the bear where better on the east coast.

There’s two ways its done out here in NM:

Most common way is the houndsman loads his dogs onto his truck and along with the client drives the forest roads in a likely area until the dogs strike on a scent. He then he lets the dogs run until they either lose the scent or tree a bear. If they’ve treed a bear, using telemetry collars to locate the hounds, he leads the client through the woods to the tree where they determine if its a shootable bear.

In the second method the houndsman hauls his dogs and mules/horses to a likely area and he and the client follow the dogs through the area as they cover ground looking for a scent trail. You cover a lot of ground and get to watch the dogs work.

I’ve done both and hunting with dogs on the back of a mule or horse is far, far more fun. Even if you don’t cross a bear track you’ll enjoy watching the dogs and seeing the country. Treeing and shooting the bear is second to the experience. If you’re interested in this kind of hunt I can put you in contact.

quote:

Originally posted by steel:
I am willing to go west if the bears are of better quality. I have just always heard the bear where better on the east coast.

SC with Capt. Purvis some huge bears there.

I think every big game hunter should try hound hunting at least once in their life. The whole experience watching the skilled houndsmen and hounds interact and perform, is an an art all to it’s own. It is far from just shooting from the bottom of a tree. One percent or less, you will get lucky and get one close. The norm is, you will chase the hounds through the worst terrain in the area. The bears are athletic with plenty of endurance that will shock most. They will go through the thickest brush to help them fight the hounds who are biting their hind end to stop them and slow the chase. Bears are smart and the hounds are expensive. You can see it in the houndsman’s eyes being worried about their hounds getting seriously hurt. You feel obligated to push beyond your limit to get there as fast as you can and to see what kind of a bear is waiting for you. Don’t take your pretty rifle. Take the one that surely will get abused. Most have .44 mag. Ruger single action 7 1/2” barrel. No reason to drag a rifle or slugged shotgun. Be in good endurance shape.

It is important to decide what you want to do with the bear after you get one. A rug can cost serious money never mind the shoulder or full body mount, $2-5k depending on your locale and skill of the taxidermist.
Bears will rub their body on anything to relieve whatever is causing their itch. Many have sections of hair missing. Pick a late season hunt where the hide is in it’s prime.
Pick an area with large sized bear. A few years ago I was looking at the Boone and Crocket record book of big game and was surprised to find Arizona on average having the record size skulls, Washington state not far behind. CA. has record size bears but no hounds. Do a good search and find a place with consistent and recent large size harvest. Not old photos from years ago.
I hunted them for years with much older grizzled friends. They lived to chase bear. They chased lion in Nevada for the feds. To thin the population in the Ruby Mountains etc.. they were particular about their hounds. Usually Plotts, red bones and blue ticks. Some liked the smaller walkers. Sadly, they are all gone.
Good luck to you and hope you experience it like you should and build friends and memories.

Western bears will give you the opportunity of a color phased bear. Bears back east are only black. If you want size then go with Capt. Purvis. You can hunt over bait in WY and they take some big boars in WY. MT is all spot and stalk. You can run bears in Idaho with dogs and good chance of a color phase. Hunting with dogs can be a walk in the park or a knock down and drag out death march. You never know. I run bears with my dogs and usually the bigger bears do not tend to tree . Which means lots of walking to get up on the bear. Pistol is plenty gun for a bear or 35 whelen or 30-30. New Mexico in the Gila has a good population of bears and lots of outfitters use mules or horses to tool around.

Running dogs with horses sounds like a lot more fun than jumping in the back of a pick up truck. Sounds like out west is where they run with horses and dogs. .

With our smaller bears (less than 400) every one is different. Some run while others tree. Sows tend to tree more than boars. One thing for sure is that our big Coastal Black Bears will stay and fight. Once they get bit a few times by the dogs they are going to charge. Important to have skilled dogs that know how to bay without getting killed. As far as guns I like a 4570. What ever you are going to use get some practice with it. Be sure to get use to shooting with an elevated heart rate.

My bear hunting has been in Idaho and Mexico in my youth..We hunted horse back with hounds, we shot 30-30s, 300 and 250 SAvages, and I shot a 25-35, all carbine 94s and 99s. Totally different than most hunts, ride the rimrocks and jump shoot the bear. The last Mexican Grizzly was killed in the Big Bend of Texas by the Adams family if Im not mistaken, Dad had one kill some goats and it left the country before they could kill it...Hunted Coues and Mule deer the same way, and still do.

I have shot bear in Idaho from a blind to a feeder..Not much of a blind hunter, its boring, usually uncomfortable, wish I could hunt in Mexico again but the climate has changed dramatically where we hunted back them..

As to rifles and calibers, I never found the 30-30, 30-06, 300 and 250s lacking on black bear. The 25-35 served me very well but I never shot a bear at over maybe 75 yards back then, or an elk at past 150 probably..

A bear out of hibernation and thin will run a long ways before it trees, A fat bear on berrys when jumped looks for the nearest tree, to fat to run..Same with a Lion..fat ones tree. with dogs most bear Ive shot or seen shot were 25 ft. up in a tree, any gun works, I know dog men that use a 22 pistol shoot them in the heart and wait for them to die in the tree and fall out dead, so they don't fall into the dogs, and injure or kill a $2000 dog.., seems to work..Ive been on many bear hunts but havn't killed many bears, maybe half a dozen or less. That ain't many when your 84 years old, but I never cared for bear hunting anyway..

I have been hunting with dogs in my youth, mostly racoon hunting. I can't help but feel bear hunting is the same program with a much larger animal. I have been on bear hunts where hunters elected to use dogs to hunt and have even traveled along with them and observed. I can say, it is not for me. I much prefer spot and stalk and baiting for bear hunting. I enjoy relaxing and listening and seeing nature vs listening to a bunch of barking, yelping dogs and running like crazy through the countryside to keep up with dogs. Only to shoot a bear looking down a pine tree at 25 yards. Quite anti climatic!

North Carolina, Virginia , and Tennessee all produce good bears. The coast of North Carolina can produce 7-800lbers. All 3 states mentioned if you have a week or so to hunt should be possible to kill a 300 plus pound bear. Unlike western states no possibility of a color phase.