Post by Houndmomma on Jul 25, 2006 10:57:05 GMT -5
Gonna take me a few posts to recap our last season. Treed a bunch of small ones first. This is the first taken bear of the season. He was about 200 or so.
i14.photobucket.com/albums/a314/houndaddy1/Hunting%2005/bear1-205.jpg[/img]
Ken at the truck with Radar.
The season continued on a pretty high note with bears treed every time out. Mid November our friend Ray's really aggressive blue tick was thrown down a cave by a bear. They had to leave her until they could get a caver to go down to get her. When they got there the next day they expected to find her dead. The caver went in and Belle was in the cave on top of the bears head. He rigged her up to pull her out and then went down. He said the bear was too big to pull out and was rotten already. Said with his legs folded under he was 6 foot or more.
This is the caver going in after Belle
There were others, then another cave. The race was on. The dogs bayed up in a cave. The guys got there and only saw a few dogs on the outside of the cave. They could hear barking inside. They feared the worse, a pile of dead dogs inside. One guy went in and shot the bear in the cave (what was he thinking!) Anyway, there were only three dogs inside the cave and all were alive. A little worse for wear, but all ok. Then they heard the dogs treeing over on the next ridge. They took off to find them and the rest of the pack had a 400 pound bear in the top of a tree. Two for the day.
This is the second cave and the guys pulling out the bear.
These are of the bear in the tree.
Packing out the bears
Everyone and the two bears at the truck\
The hunt where they got the last two bears was Ken's second to the last hunt of the season. He had been injured at work climbing on the tractor bucket and scraped the front of his right shin. He showed it to me on Friday and I told him it might look infected. He worked Friday and Saturday night he felt sick. Had chills and thought he was getting the flu. I tried to talk him out of going hunting. NO WAY! He got up at 3:00 am and loaded the dogs. His son was here from Westwood (about 3 hours away) and he was going! I got a call at about 5:00 pm to meet them at the hospital that they were rushing him to the ER. When I got there they wouldn't let me in at first. His temp was 105 and he was incoherent. I was pretty persistent (some of you know me) and they let me in. They found that he had a blood clot travel from his injured leg to his lungs and they were trying to dissolve it. He was on oxygen and had too many scans to count. The last one showed the clot was gone. Then they started on his leg, which by now was 3 to 4 times its normal size. He had an antibiotic resistant staff infection. They moved him into cardiac intensive care for three days. During those three days his leg continued to swell. They were talking about amputation. Meanwhile, we were fighting with his boss about a comp claim. They finally found an antibiotic that was affecting the infection and the swelling started going down. The cost of the meds were $300 per iv bag! They moved him to the pulmonary care unit for 5 days and the leg continued to improve, though they found the infection had moved into the bone. We spent Thanksgiving in the hospital. He was released from the hospital on day 9 with an allergic reaction to the antibiotics they tried to send him home with. He was a pretty sick puppy, but now is as feisty as ever. He missed the final few weeks of the season though because the Doctors wouldn't release him to go. I think he was more upset about not being able to hunt than from almost losing his leg!
Belle, the dog that was thrown down the first cave, was killed a couple of weekends following weekend after Ken got sick. She jumpped on a bear and he bit her and broke her back. Belle was Radar's mother. The guy that took the bear had a rug made. He told the guy not to repair the ear that she tore. That is his tribute to her. Here is a pic of her with the litter of pups that Radar came from.
Ken is making up for missing the last half of the season by coon hunting at least once a weekend, twice when he can.
Here are a couple more pics from the season.
This is Gene, one of Ken's hunting partners and a bunchof the dogs.
Radar and Lightening on top of Ken's Explorer. Wierd looking I know, but it works!
i14.photobucket.com/albums/a314/houndaddy1/Hunting%2005/bear1-205.jpg[/img]
Ken at the truck with Radar.
The season continued on a pretty high note with bears treed every time out. Mid November our friend Ray's really aggressive blue tick was thrown down a cave by a bear. They had to leave her until they could get a caver to go down to get her. When they got there the next day they expected to find her dead. The caver went in and Belle was in the cave on top of the bears head. He rigged her up to pull her out and then went down. He said the bear was too big to pull out and was rotten already. Said with his legs folded under he was 6 foot or more.
This is the caver going in after Belle
There were others, then another cave. The race was on. The dogs bayed up in a cave. The guys got there and only saw a few dogs on the outside of the cave. They could hear barking inside. They feared the worse, a pile of dead dogs inside. One guy went in and shot the bear in the cave (what was he thinking!) Anyway, there were only three dogs inside the cave and all were alive. A little worse for wear, but all ok. Then they heard the dogs treeing over on the next ridge. They took off to find them and the rest of the pack had a 400 pound bear in the top of a tree. Two for the day.
This is the second cave and the guys pulling out the bear.
These are of the bear in the tree.
Packing out the bears
Everyone and the two bears at the truck\
The hunt where they got the last two bears was Ken's second to the last hunt of the season. He had been injured at work climbing on the tractor bucket and scraped the front of his right shin. He showed it to me on Friday and I told him it might look infected. He worked Friday and Saturday night he felt sick. Had chills and thought he was getting the flu. I tried to talk him out of going hunting. NO WAY! He got up at 3:00 am and loaded the dogs. His son was here from Westwood (about 3 hours away) and he was going! I got a call at about 5:00 pm to meet them at the hospital that they were rushing him to the ER. When I got there they wouldn't let me in at first. His temp was 105 and he was incoherent. I was pretty persistent (some of you know me) and they let me in. They found that he had a blood clot travel from his injured leg to his lungs and they were trying to dissolve it. He was on oxygen and had too many scans to count. The last one showed the clot was gone. Then they started on his leg, which by now was 3 to 4 times its normal size. He had an antibiotic resistant staff infection. They moved him into cardiac intensive care for three days. During those three days his leg continued to swell. They were talking about amputation. Meanwhile, we were fighting with his boss about a comp claim. They finally found an antibiotic that was affecting the infection and the swelling started going down. The cost of the meds were $300 per iv bag! They moved him to the pulmonary care unit for 5 days and the leg continued to improve, though they found the infection had moved into the bone. We spent Thanksgiving in the hospital. He was released from the hospital on day 9 with an allergic reaction to the antibiotics they tried to send him home with. He was a pretty sick puppy, but now is as feisty as ever. He missed the final few weeks of the season though because the Doctors wouldn't release him to go. I think he was more upset about not being able to hunt than from almost losing his leg!
Belle, the dog that was thrown down the first cave, was killed a couple of weekends following weekend after Ken got sick. She jumpped on a bear and he bit her and broke her back. Belle was Radar's mother. The guy that took the bear had a rug made. He told the guy not to repair the ear that she tore. That is his tribute to her. Here is a pic of her with the litter of pups that Radar came from.
Ken is making up for missing the last half of the season by coon hunting at least once a weekend, twice when he can.
Here are a couple more pics from the season.
This is Gene, one of Ken's hunting partners and a bunchof the dogs.
Radar and Lightening on top of Ken's Explorer. Wierd looking I know, but it works!