20" barrels. I've only shot a box and a half of shells with it at an indoor range once and have never taken it out in the field. For all intents and purposes, it is brand new. Had a custom recoil pad installed a while back.

I paid $399 and am asking $300 for it. Am also willing to trade for a good quality 20-gauge pump gun.

Bought it for home defense a while back but don't need it anymore. I do need a pump gun for hunting, though.

Well, the first and foremost strangest danged thing would have to be what I saw last November, while deer hunting near Gatesville. Right around sunset, I saw two does and a coyote come up to the feeder. Together. As a group. Then, after sticking around for a few seconds, they all left peacefully as a group, headed in the same direction, one after the other.

The other was the time I saw a water moccasin swallowing a 2-3lb catfish head first in a pond.

But the scariest thing was something I posted a while back under "scary hunting stories" or something like that. I won't repost, but man, it was pretty creepy and I still don't know what the heck that critter was.

Hey folks. Looks like I'm about to get a house and finally some dogs, so I have a question or two:

How would you keep your dogs from digging underneath a regular chain-link fence? I want to let them run loose on the property since it's completely fenced, but am concerned about them digging out. Is there something I can rig up on the bottom of the fence? Or would it be best just to build a kennel?

I ask this 'cause I'd strongly prefer them be able to be loose. I'm stuck at work during the week and would only be able to hunt them on weekends. I don't want them to get stir crazy with just a walk and an hour or so of exercise each day, especially if they are stuck in a kennel while I'm gone. Besides, they are better crime deterrents if they aren't confined to a cage. 

Thanks

Newbie question here: how do you guys reprimand dogs for getting out of line? Harsh words? A smack on the butt? Ive always been able to keep the peace by just raisin my voice with the occasional whuppin for serious transgressions, but then again ive never owned a hunting dog, just a boxer and a pug. Will a dog turn on you if you spank it? Thats what some folks say, but i dont neccessarily agree.

Trophytakers: Dang...looks like the national forest did well for you.


I'm just trying to get started, so really just need a patch of woods that I can go to whenever I want. The Sam Houston NF is a bit of a drive, but I gotta do what I gotta do.  

Oooh, well I knew you needed the public hunt permit...but I thought it was a year-long thing since there's no season for hogs. Dang. 

Like many of you guys, I too am at the mercy of friends/family/co-workers/sheer luck when it comes to finding land to hunt. I've never wanted to hunt public land during deer season for fear of being shot by some careless idjit, but I think off-season might be a bit safer. It's free, and I don't need anyone's permission! That said, does anyone know some good public spots to run dogs?

Oh, and to be clear, I'm referring to places where one can LEGALLY hunt on public land.   

Thanks to the advice you fellas gave me, I know a lot more about what to look for in a dog (bloodline rather than breed). I've done a little thinking about the types of places where I will likely be doing most of my hunting, and so I've figured out the following:

1) I will be looking at getting 2-4 dogs; BMC or Cats.
2) I want a short/medium range dog that I can hunt on the ground and from a truckbed. I want them to be able to find their own trails but if need be, to be able to walk-and-stalk and put them on hog sign that I see.
3) Since I'm not planning on getting a bulldog, I want the dogs to be able to catch small hogs themselves, but bay loose on anything larger or more dangerous so they don't get tore up (and so I can get a shot off).

Is this feasible? What are your thoughts?

Just tryin to educate myself as best I can so I have some idea of what the heck I'm doin...I don't want to end up in the middle of the woods with one dog stuck to my hip, one following a trail in the next county, and one trying to latch on to a 400# boar all by himself...

Hows about: "Hmm, I wonder if Cabela's sells polyester jumpsuits in Mossy Oak woodland pattern  "

Thanks guys! So bloodline is much more important than general breed, got it. Now I'll be doing some research about the different lines within those two breeds. I have an idea of what kind of dog I'm gonna need based on the type/size of land I'll most likely be hunting. 

Lord willing, I'll be moving out of the city this year and onto a little patch of land where I can finally get a few dogs. Based on my somewhat limited experience and tons of research, I've decided that I want to go with BMCs, and possibly Catahoulas.  I realize all that nature vs. nurture, every dog is different, etc...but GENERALLY speaking, what are some main differences between these dogs, temperament-wise?

Also, I have a fairly good idea of how they are different in their hunting styles, but I'm not so foolish as to think I know more than the folks on this forum, so if someone wants to offer a few opinions in that regard, that'd be appreciated too.

Thanks

Does anyone know of a small tract of land for sale (1-2 acres) outside of Houston (Rosenberg,Needville, Cypress,Crosby, etc. etc.)? Raw land would be good, but if it had a small house/double wide/mobile home on it with septic/water in place, that'd be better.

Thanks

Anyone have any close-call  stories to share? Theyre scary as all heck when it's happening, but sure do make for some good storytelling once your hands stop shaking long enough to hold a beer. I’m new to dogging, but I'll start with a couple of recent ones, one of them fairly hair-raising and the other more mysterious.

A few months back, I was with a friend on his uncle's property. It was a few hundred acres of mostly cattle pasture, but the back acreage went down into some nasty, thick swamp bottom where we had previously seen plenty of hog sign, including some whopper tracks. Well, this night I had gone out there with my .243 to try and take a few coyotes, but the critters had managed to outsmart us, howling at us just out of eyeshot. I think the full moon gave us away, no matter how quiet we were. Anyhow, we're giving it one more shot...creeping around the property, trying to see if we can salvage the night and at least take a small hog to put on the grill tomorrow. On our way to the swamps, we are crossing one of the cattle pastures, kinda hugging the fenceline or whatnot when my buddy sees two dark shapes about a hundred yards away, one small, one large. I look through the scope and confirm that while the small dark shape is part of an oil drum, the large one is a big ol’ hog. I swear, it looked like a VW bug that someone had covered in black hair (ok not really, but we guessed him to go 300# easy.)  Well he’s so busy rooting up the pasture that I manage to creep to within 50 yards of him and try to get a shot off. At this point I should mention that when I rifle hunt for hogs, I usually bring my trusty .30-06 and use 180grain pills. With that size bullet, I’ve never had to worry about trying for neckshots…I’ve always been able to shoot them like I would a deer;  hold just above the shoulder. Well, I have all the time in the world here, I’m peepin through my scope and trying to figure out if that little .243 will go through a shoulder. I decide to go for a neckshot to be safe, so I hold those crosshairs steady on his neck and fire on off.  He squeals, then drops like a log, and I know I’ve hit him solid. I see his legs twitch for a few seconds, and then he’s still. I chamber another round just in case, click on the safety, and pat my back pocket to make sure my digital camera is still in there so I can get a picture of my trophy. I hear my friend quietly whisper a profanity, so I look up and see that the boar has resurrected like Lazarus and is staring right at us. Half a second later, he is running full-steam toward us with not a tree in sight. We both high tail it to the barbed wire fence a few yards away and climb on to it. The boar crashes through the fence just inches below us like it isn’t even there. A few angry grunts and tusk pops later, he takes off toward the creek bottom and disappears. Out of obligation but against better judgment, we try to track him for a few hours, but find no sign. I’m just glad the barbed-wire fence was so sturdy. Fun times.

The Mysterious Disappearing Hog-Thing:

Same general area, different property and different night. I was hunting the Brazos bottom (if you’ve ever hunted this particular stretch, you know that it’s not really a bottom, just a bunch of sandy beach with a huge freakin’  dropoff down  to the river). I was surrounded by the most hog sign I’ve ever seen.  I was following one particularly large set of tracks that kind of meandered about. Now, this was perfect conditions for tracking…soft sand, almost a full moon, and what little wind there was was in my favor. Next to the river was a big pasture, and not much in the way of vegetation, save for one really out-of-place tangle of trees and brush just off the beach . As luck would have it, though the tracks didn’t lead right to it, they did disappear in the general vicinity of this tangled, thorny-looking patch about a 1/5 acre in size. Safety and common sense would dictate this to be a good time for a handgun, but me being me, I’ve been putting off getting my concealed permit for years and so never drive with or carry my sidearm on me. So, I have the .30-06 and a tiny MagLite in my hands as I’m staring at this patch of brush in the middle of God’s darkest nowhere.  I’m trying to figure out if it’s even a good idea to try and go after this pig, and I hear some rustling in the brush. I’m thinking…ok, he’s definitely in there. Best to get ready if he decides to make a fight of it. So I take the rifle off my shoulder and flip the safety off. Then I wait for a while, but don’t hear anything, so I figure I’ll just leave him be and go after an easier  mark. Well, this is when things get really, really weird.  I start to walk away when I hear the brush rustling again, but this time it’s full-on snapping twigs and stuff like it’s running. There’s nowhere for me to run (seems to happen a lot…I need to start hunting around more trees), so I turn and shoulder the rifle…and then I hear the weirdest dang sound I’ve ever heard. I’ve heard most any kind of sound a hog/deer/raccoon/critter can make, but danged if I can tell you what I heard that night. It was like a cross between a bark from a big dog and a guttural yell. Man, I’m freaked out now, but I convince myself that it has to be a hog.  After a few minutes of silence, I grow a pair and pick up a rock and throw it in there. Nothing.  I have no idea where this hog/mystery critter could have gone, because I would have seen him had it ran in any direction. Behind me was the river, and in front was a moonlit pasture. I could see for a few hundred yards with no problem. At that point, I’m pretty freaked out, and even the hot can of Red Bull I drank earlier and the rifle in my hand don’t do much to make me feel safe, so I quickly walk the mile or so back to the car, looking behind me every few steps. I’ve had a couple of odd experiences out there while hunting that could be explained through some or another theory, but man, I still can’t tell you what that was. I’m pretty certain it wasn’t any hog(unless this hog somehow swallowed alive a bulldog that somehow swallowed a multi-grunt buck call).

Thanks Mike, that'd be great.

I dunno mley...I kinda like those big rank ones myself. They usually smell like the dickens,  but with enough dry rub and pecan smoke...they end up pretty tasty more often than not. 

Is there anyone 'round these parts (Houston/Brazoria/SE Tx/etc.) who wouldn't mind having a newbie tag along on their next hunt? I'm trying like heck to meet folks around here to hunt with and get out in the woods every weekend. I'm a long-time rifle hunter who is looking to get into dogging after getting bit by the bug a little while back. Thanks

That's about the lowest thing ever. I hope the scum who did that gets jail time. That's no way for a hunting dog to die.

Well guys, I guess y'all confirmed it for me then. I like the looks of the base model 4-cylinder Tacoma they got out this year. It's small, but it'll hold two people and some gear in the back. I don't figure I've really ever needed a 4wd though...especially now that I don't go surf fishing nearly as much as before.

That's good...I was kinda scared about the quality of truck that I'd be looking at for only a couple thousand. I've done enough repairwork on old junkers to last me a lifetime.

Ok guys, heres the deal:

After my trusty, battered old Chevy died a few years back, I got ahold of an old little car  and have been hunting/fishing without a truck ever since. It's all but impossible at times to adapt a four door sedan to some of the situations I've faced in the great outdoors.

How well does a Toyota Corolla do in powdery sand when trying to get to San Luis Pass? Not too well. Do you know how bad it smells when an ice chest full of hog meat leaks all over your cloth seats during the summertime? Very, very bad. Needless to say, I need a darn truck again because I'm tired of all this.

Anyhow, my question is this. I'm not swimming in cash, so should I:

A) Buy another little car to save on gas (I'm gonna be moving out of the city soon and will have a good commute to work) and then try to find an old, used pickup truck for cheap

or

B)Buy a smaller, more gas-efficient truck (4 or 6 cylinder) as both an everyday driver and a hunting truck.

What would you do?

bmoney, I sent you a message with my cell number. Lemme know if you didn't get it for some reason.

Thanks for the warm welcome, everyone, it's much appreciated. You all seem like a nice group of people. I'm lookin' forward to meeting some new folks and gettin out in the woods as often as possible.

Don't suppose anyone here knows word-of-mouth about a place in Brazoria county or maybe up near Crosby/Liberty where I could take a few pigs?

Howdy everyone. I've been browsing here a bit, and decided to join up. I'm stuck in Houston for the moment, but I'm trying like heck to move down to Brazoria county if I can get ahold of a patch of land.


Anyhow, I've been rifle hunting hogs for a good while, but went dogging for the first time a few weeks back and found myself addicted..BIG time. You know how it goes sometimes, though. I know a person or two who'll let me take a deer off their place, but my hog contacts are pretty minimal, if any. I'm looking to make some new friends around the Houston/SE Texas area and maybe find some people to hunt pigs with regularly. Anyone mind a tag along? With dogs/knives, with guns, it don't matter to me. I don't have a dog to contribute (yet), but I'm good for gas money and/or beer, and I respect the land and the animals that I hunt with all my heart.

Thanks,

Carlos