Anyone get into it?


I'm considering gettin a Treeing Walker Coonhound. Would these be a good breed to get for trailing lions and bear as well?


Just how hard and expensive is it? For about $500 I can get a pup who's already trained on coons. Is this jump to big game going to be huge?


What other costs should I be looking at? I know a GPS collar is happening. What other training equipment may be necessary?


I'd really like to get a lion and after years of talking to other experienced hunters it sounds like hounds are the only way to go as many people go their whole lives without ever having an opportunity to shoot a lion otherwise.

I'm 80 now, and been runnin' dogs since my teenage years in the Appalachians...........'coons and such....my start out dog was a mixed breed with heavy Walker background....run and tree anything, from squirrels on up.   I still have seven Walkers, but they're trained and used on deer, but will push a bear at a moments notice if the opportunity presents....unfortunately it's not legal here in Florida...for that matter even finding a spot to run dogs is a major problem anymore................just too, too many damn people.   Anyway, my suggestion to  you is to link up with a knowledgable hound hunter......get a real feel for the practice, you'll find a lot of opinions as to the "best" type of dog and gear.    I use a Garmin Alpha and would not run a dog without it, especially here with so may people and roadways.   Walkers are a great breed, notably fast as hell and once turned on are real stick to it types..........Bluetics/Redbones/English/Black and tans, in my experience have far better tracking ability, I have ran both types and at the same time.....in my experience the Walkers ALWAYS took the lead in the chase...........However, those same burn 'em up's were never the ones to work out a long, tedious and cold track.

I wish you good hunting, good luck and I hope you experience the thrills I have in my lifetime dog running................truly tho, it much appears to be a dieing method, and for no truly good reason at that!



It occurs to me that I really ought to add that the kill is truly anticlimatic in dog hunting..........the real reward is the chase it's self..........that and the knowledge that YOU trained and raised those dogs................I envy you tho, in where you are and in what game you have available to you!

I don't hunt with hounds, but I do have two OMCBA curs. Hunting with dogs is probably the best thing I have ever done. If you ever watched that Mountain Men show that came on discovery, there was a guy on there that used Walker's for hunting Mountain Lions. Do you know the pedigree of the dog you are looking at? If you do get a pup, the big things to start with are basic obedience training. Bonding with the dog and getting the dog to trust you. You get the dog to trust you and they will do almost anything you want them to.

A guy you can try and get in touch with is Clay Newcomb. He hunts bears with hounds and publishes Bear Hunting Magazine. I can almost guarantee that he can get you in touch with someone who breeds dogs for bear and lions. [email protected]

Also Brent Reaves, https://www.facebook.com/brent.reaves.3 . He has been filming a lot of bear hunts and things like that. Brent is mostly coon hunts with his Walker, but he would be another great resource to reach out to about bear/lion dogs that can put you in touch with folks.

As far as equipment, as was mentioned, Garmin Alpha is pretty much the standard for tracking and training collars. I use Dogtra Pathfinder for my curs for the simple reason I had a bunch of Cabela's bucks and Cabela's was out of Garmin Alpha's when I was looking to buy my tracking/training system. Sportdog Tek series is another good one.

Houndsman XP is a podcast that deals mostly in hounds. Some of the recent podcast episodes were about lion hunting. Its a great podcast.

100% this!

I own hounds, specifically Bloodhounds, that we use to recover wounded big game....... They are a handful to work with and kind of stubborn.... But when they are "on", there's nothing like hearing a hound... or better yet a group of hounds working...... I've never hunted over them, only tracking. Another breed of hounds to look at are Plott Hounds....

The Garmin line are absolutely the best collars for tracking the dogs, and don't go cheap on their care. Well performing dogs need alot of care in the field and off......

Some folks like Walkers.... but they will chase a dang car to the other side of the country if you don't have them trained up right. Of course they don't check in every 5 minutes either.