EAST TEXAS HOG DOGGERS FORUM

 My older dog and my youngest dog got struck and left driving, my older young dog, Adam's older dog and his pup were all 3 behind but went that way. They went over the hill, when we topped out the front two dogs came bayed, the other 3 arrived shortly. We rode to them and caught a good sow.
  Led the dogs about 75 yards away from the bay site, got the mules and continued on, hadn't gotten far and the 2 pups struck, older dogs drifted their way and put in behind them. The pups had ran north of us and did a 180 and were coming back to the south up on the hill from us running really hard, the other 3 dogs went on a little farther than where the pups did the 180 and came bayed, we caught another good sow.
  After that those 3 dogs sort of all went their own direction, Adam's older dog wound up 1.3 mi east and bayed, our 2 pups and my older young dog were on the next hill over and were no longer driving, couldn't tell if they had made a bad bobble or were fighting a jungle of briars. I got my older dog gathered up and we decided to go gather the pups as they were between us and the truck, then go to the Bayed dog east of us. We weren't within hearing of the 3 young dogs and were just going up the hill through some thick stuff, when we topped out and hit a little open spot I got the tracker out and discovered they had went from 700 yds north of us to 700 south of us in a very short time and were still going. We elected to leave them running and go on to Adam's bayed dog, we got pretty close to the truck and I got a hit on the young dogs bayed 3/4 mile from us. Adam says lets go to them first, we arrive and they have a better than average boar bayed in a briar pile, we tied the mules up leashed the bulldogs and walked a few steps closer now we are 40 feet away and there's 2 dogs in a small clean spot half the size of a pick-up bed, we cut the bulldogs and just before they got there the hog blew out of the briars and ran through those two bay dogs, catch dogs didn't have a chance. The boar and now 4 dogs (Adam's bulldog got away with them) leave for parts unknown.
  We went to Adam's dog caught another good sow and headed back to find the other dogs, Adam's pup and my youngest dog had not made it out of the country with my older 2, I finally got a hit on them 4 miles from where they had been bayed, over 5 miles from where that hog was struck, I believe that hog went home, he ran in some real big, outstanding hog country. That goes to show how far boars will range sometimes.
  I figured he'd scrub them off  on some sows, when I got a signal on them one was hung up 1.8 mi from the truck and the other had lost coms on past that. We rode in and found my older dog had quit he was cut between the hind legs just missed castration, hobbling around. Went on to find the other dog he was not bayed nor running very well I made him come in.
  We went back to try to find Adam's Bulldog, in the same section they had been bayed in, split up riding and calling didn't find him. I got to studying the tracker following where they had went into the next section, and about a mile from the baysite I saw that it looked like they had bayed there before I lost coms with them. We rode in there and sure enough there was the bulldog, had been cut in the stifle and carrying the leg.
  Had a good day, younger dogs gained some ground, rode 14 miles total, I'm confident the injured dogs will be fine soon.
  I probably should have just said, caught 3 sows and bayed a good boar but didn't get him caught, instead or writing this book.   

Sounds like a good hunt. We like to hear about the ones got and the ones that got away! :)

That was a busy hunt. I like hearing the details. Those details are what us slower learners use to try and learn from. I hope the dogs are ok soon. Those dang stifle cuts can be aggravating. That big bend there can make it hard to keep together and they can sure hit a tendon right there real easy.


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That’s quite an adventure, you seem to get good reception with your tracker. Here where I hunt sometimes I do and most times I don’t, I get question marks usually around 500 yards give or take.

Great dog work

 I have a long range antenna hooked to an old 320 I leave in the truck, but under the right conditions (from high elevations with no obstructions between me and the dog) I have gotten them over 10 miles, the exception rather than the rule. Once in WV I had a dog out of pocket from a split race and while trying to find him I got a signal from 20 some odd miles, I knew that couldn't be my dog, but zooming out to pin point where that signal was coming from, it was on a distant mountain top and I was up on another.
 By the same token if they are over a sharp high spot, or off in a deep hole sometimes 500 yds will not show them.   

  That 500 yds and not getting them is also the exception rather than the rule.

You need to rig you up some sort of holster on the back of your horse/mules head stall or your saddle horn for one of those drive tracks. It wouldn’t matter at that point if you were good or bad at the sport, you’d look like you knew what you’re doing and I hear that’s 90% of it. They’d be calling you a pioneer. The man that represents where the past meets the present.


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  HAha, really I travel pretty light on the mule or on foot, no chest harness, no fanny packs, no snacks, once in a while I might put one bottle of water in the small cantle bag on the saddle (that I carry dog leashes in so I don't get hung up with them around my shoulder in case of a wreck of some sort). Usually I just leave the truck with a bellyful of water, and on my belt I have my hunting knife, 2 sets of hobbles, spare batteries for the handheld (which with the 300I you don't need as they don't use nearly as much battery as the old ones even though it is the same battery), and the handheld in a case on the belt.
  If they are way way over there and I can't track them on the hand held, I just look where they are or where they last were on the long range and head that way. I'll give you a tip that you may or may not know about looking for dogs that have gotten completely out of comm range, click your pointer on the dog in question, zoom in to 100 yds or less and if you happen to get one quick bump when you aren't looking at the screen, when you do look there will be a straight line leading off the screen, zoom out until you see the dog in question.  You can drive without constantly staring at the screen, or walk/ride through tough stuff until it is convenient to look. Sometimes if dogs are way off in rough country you might just pass through a small window of comms and could miss it other wise.

  Oh and so far for how I hunt I haven't found any use for an expensive drive track.

t-dog we ain't going camping or on no picnic we're huntin.

Lol


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Old man. That is good range. I would love to get half of that here.

In this flat country, With a handheld it is a struggle to consistently get 500-800 yds.  I have a garmin that I keep on the truck/buggy with the long range antenna and I have only gotten 2 miles once or twice. typically 1.6-1.8 you start loosing comm on them. In Tn you get easily get 10 miles easily across the mountains with just a handheld.

 About the only elevation change here is stand in a hog waller or step up on a tree stump!

  Dang, I can't picture 5-800 being the norm for the handheld. I'd say .7 to 1.2 is probably the norm here, not a constant signal but going in and out often enough to go to them. With the hound recovery long range antenna 3 to 4 miles is common.
  I'm told they "could" be made with unlimited range (like a sat phone) but the fcc won't allow it, on one hand that seems great, on the other there may not be enough frequencies to make it work, but then there are millions of cell phones. I guess could make software, a filter or something to be range adjustable. Otherwise you'd be picking up numerous dogs constantly. I am dumb as a rock when it comes to this tech stuff, born  a few generations ago. I can't even do all the handhelds are capable of.

Sounds like those young dogs are really putting the effort in. Real good hunt.