Bear Dog in Bear Camp

[Jerry Russell]

Another great year with Tradgang members in Bear camp. The weather was certainly tougher in week two but we still managed to put everyone in a position to kill a bear. That being a bear at 10 yards or less. Our youngest hunter was 20 and the oldest was 84 and on his last hunt.  I won’t tell the stories as I will leave that to the hunters but I will say it was a great camp, as always.
 
The star of the show was Bear Dog. This was his 5th bear camp and I simply can’t inagine a bear camp without a skilled blood dog. Even perfectly shot bears can be difficult to find and single lung shot bears or gut shot bears can be impossible to locate as they often travel 1/2 to 1.5 miles with little to no blood. These bears are most always lost and thought to be lightly wounded but Bear Dog finds them most every time. 

Besides his tracking skills, he has a personality that makes him the center of attention. His recovery skills have put many bears on the tailgate that were poorly hit when all hope was lost.

We track most every bear the morning following the shot. This keeps the baits from being boogered with people and is just simply safer for the dog as we find bears still alive on occasion.  12-24 hour tracks are no problem for a good dog. We tracked several bears this year in the 1/2 mile range with just a drop or two of blood.  One noteworthy track was a bear that bedded 12+ times over several hundred yards before entering a horribly thick bog. Bear Dog indicated he had found the bear and we couldn’t see it from 6’-8’ away. 

I will be producing a video of many of the tracks and a compilation of everyone’s pictures and videos.  I can promise you some crazy close encounters with several ground level kills at 5-7 yards. 

Here is a little sample of the hunt.  Looking forward to Tradgang Bear Hunt 2019!

[Jerry Russell]

[Jerry Russell]

[Jerry Russell]

[Jerry Russell]

[Jerry Russell]

Bears are extremely easy to kill with a well placed arrow but can go forever with a bad hit. A bad hit is pretty much anything less than a double lung.  This is a perfect example of a near perfect shot being off just a little bit and resulting in a difficult recovery in spite of the initial blood trail. This pictures shows a solid red blood line of a single lung shot bear with a pass through arrow. This line could be seen from 30 yards away and was well over 100 yards long.  At 250 yards the blood trail stopped cold and the bear entered a nasty swamp.  Without that dog the recovery would have been impossible.

[Jerry Russell]

OK I will stop with the pictures so I don't spoil the video, lol.  Just a couple more of the man (dog) of the hour...This dog has saved so many hunters, stopped so much waste and even reduced suffering of countless animals.  He means the world to me.
He is a HUGE part of Bear Camp.

 

[fmscan]

Jerry, thanks for the post, that guy with the Cubs hat is a stud... speaking of studs, Bear Dog is the best. He's even fun in camp keeping the chipmunks on their toes. Jerry and Bear Dog have a special relationship and love what they do! Somehow I'm going to do another bear camp with Jerry and Bear Dog, Mike and Janice are good people too... I'm still on a high...

[DocWolf]

Nothing like a four legged hunting companion.

[Etter]

I cannot tell you how many bears Ive lost and seen lost in Canadian camps that a good dog could easily find. I shot one three times with a .308 and lost it. I imagine that often we lose the blood and the dead bear is within 50 yards but impossible to locate.

[wapiti792]

I love that dang dog...Glad to say I was part of his first year when he was but a pup. He was a Rockstar then! Here's him in action a couple years after that.

[Sawpilot 75]

Great Pictures! There is nothing like the loyalty of a dog. That looks like a great time.


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[Bowguy67]

Great pics and great advise on the bear dog. Am gonna disagree w the even perfectly shot bears are hard to find. They weren’t hit perfectly if this is the case. A well shot bear, w archery tackle often goes down within sight or barely outside it.
I skinned for 2 bear camps and never saw one hit well go beyond 40, often as close as 10-15 and they were down

[Roy from Pa]

Nothing finer than a good dog in camp or the home..

Nice pictures.

[Cyclic-Rivers]

Good stuff Jerry. Looking forward to the video

[rastaman]

Awesome pictures Jerry, and I love a good dog.  Looks like you have one of the best!