Legendary Bear Hounds Pt. 46

Bear Pen Song Of The South

In part 46 of our Legendary Bear Dogs series, the Author tells the story of "Singer". A bear dog of bear dogs.
"I discovered black bear hunting years ago when I was invited to come to West Virginia. I went bear hunting with a friend who had hounds and ever since then it has been in my blood!"
The Author hunts the coastal NC region with hounds, and finds success with a giant.
Wisconsin bear hunter Joyce Kratz transfers their tag to 7 year old SJ for the opportunity to get his first bear with his hound.

64 Years a Bear Hunter

A Lifetime of Hunting Bears with Hounds

In his younger years, bears were scarce in the mountains around their home. Bear hunting with hounds also looked very different than it does today. The modern technology that has become essential was nonexistent. A lot of people didn’t even have a 4-wheel drive truck and hunted out of cars or cattle trucks. Charlie had an old cattle truck to haul his hounds and sons around. The Hensleys would start a bear hunt in the morning with a good breakfast cooked by Wayne’s mother, Minerva. Anyone hunting with them that day was expected to be there for breakfast and Minerva took offense if they weren’t. Charlie would then decide where the group would hunt that day and most often it was the roughest areas in the mountains. Wayne recalls walking until striking a bear and then following them afoot, always trying to keep them in earshot. Pete taught Wayne to stay high on the mountain above the hounds in order to keep up with the chase.