EAST TEXAS HOG DOGGERS FORUM

working nights and getting bored, thought I would start a new topic.

What does everybody prefer,  Dogs that back up and bay with a catch dog or a rifle, or a pack of some catchy dogs that will bay until they all get there and then catch?

I think there is different instances where either pack is advantagous, therefore I have some of both.  It seems in my experience that with catchy dogs, if you get on hogs you almost always catch at least one.  Then if your dogs are good enough they can keep rolling on the pack until you get tired.  However with one or two back up and bay dogs ( I am talking about 20 feet back) you might bay up the whole pack and then either send in a bulldog or unleash the .44 mag and get as many as you can.

I have a dog that bays way back, he is a jam up dog, but when I used a bull dog the bull dog had problems getting to the hog before it broke because he bayed so loose.  The strike dog will not put a mouth on a hog, therefore you were off to the races sometimes.  That is why my new catchdog with him is a .44.  Not looking for advice, just thought I would see what everybody else had to say.

I like mine to bay tight, I dont mind if they catch when the bull dogs get there. but would rather they didn't try to catch on their own. they cant bark if they are bighting, and if they aint barking i cant find them. ;)

I prefer a loose baying dog.  Lots of times I'm hunting alone so I like to get a look at the situation first and make a decision on the 30-30 or the bulldogs.  Besides - I'm not the greatest field vet and it saves some vet bills hunting this way. 

I got a .357 mag and some strike dogs we don't use CDs Every time cause u better know how to heal a cut fast or ur dogs guna be in trouble if it's a bad cut

Catchy pack for me. : )

1000% bay.... but that sure doesn't mean I don't want them to put teeth on a hog to set him down and bay tight(when necessary)....  just don't catch his a$$!

 O0

i use to have some real rough dogs and not to many hogs ran on us, but they were always hacked up. i got one that if he sees his shadow hes caught. but hes either always cut up oor getting some one else cut . give me a good bayin dog that will stay till you get there. eventually a hog will find a saw briar thicket or a creek to stop in and fight . i got some pits that dont care about anything but catchin a hog

I like for mine to back up and bay. I have two that I can shoot over anyday of the week. Most will catch with the bulldogs.

A natural catching cur dog ( at least East Texas kind of BMC dogs ) on  livestock didn’t live long in the Big thicket back in the day and still don’t among most sincere cur dog breeders and hunters who care about them and understands what a true cur dog is, suppose to be, how he is suppose to work, the correct style for the breed and characteristics that say he is a true cur dog, doing what he was bred to do from the get go.  Same can be said for people raising cur dogs, hunting them and working livestock all over Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana and New Mexico. Catching was and is a fault that usually automatically carried the death penalty. It still isn’t tolerated today by ranchers, cowboys working cattle as well as the hog hunters and breeders who care about breeding, raising, hunting and keeping a true cur dog what he is and was bred to do
 If I want a catch dog, or some catchy dogs or pack dogs, then it don’t matter, just what ever you will find that tickle ya fancy. Lots and lots of them around cheep.
To me, it’s about more than laying a pig or numbers of pigs on the ground and taking a tailgate shot. If that’s the object, I’d get a gun, some bait and hunt em that way.. To me success is more than that, it’s equally the dog work and a display of many years of breeding and a dog doing what he was bred to do, Like he was bred to do it, long before my time on earth.
But, to each his own and what ever makes him happy.
JMO

all rough  ;D

 My bay dogs find and keep the hogs distracted until the CD gets there then they go find more hogs. My bay dogs will denut a boar if he does not turn around to fight but back off and bay after he is stopped and bay until I get there no matter how long that takes. They will also help catch if they are needed.

 This last week we were in the mountains boar hunting and I could here the bay at over 2 miles several times. Where I normally hunt this would only be 10 to 15 minutes for me to get there but in The mountains and a foot of snow it took us hours to find ways off of the ridges to get there. Every time we would get to the bay the dogs had huge groups bayed up. It was fun to watch the dogs work the hogs and if they were to gritty before we had gotton there the groups would have split up. These hogs had never seen people before much less dogs. They would just stand there and one at a time would charge at us stopping at about 10 yards in front of us.  we brought in 3 dogos and Pulo. We let the CDs go one at a time when the hogs would charge us. It was very cool to watch each cd caught there own hog and every bay dog I had caught their own hogs. We ended up catching 15 hogs the biggest a 300 pound sow. It was like this all week. It is fun to watch my bay dogs work they prey, but I do expect them to help catch or roll out when needed

I like loose baying gyps. Nothing wrong with a rough dog that knows when
to be rough. There's a fine line with that. A rough dog will push a hog 3 miles away in some stuff you pray you don't have to get into.

i like to have both depends on the hog with my lead dogs if they bay or catch whatever it takes to get it  and i keep some helper dogs that are prety much catch but have been known to bay a time or two

I guess i need too buy a pistol and sale my catch dogs.  Never carried anthing with me while hog hunting
seems im missing something I thought you were suppossed 2 tie em up alive. Get u some good tight baying dogs a two smash face pits and u wont need too shoot over ur dogs :-*

I might be interested in that pistol. lol ;D

Most of our dogs are catchy,but we also run a few straight bay dogs.A catchy dog is great on smaller hogs,but they usually
get cut by the bigger ones.We wont run our dogs w/o the bay dogs because a catchy dog is pretty hard to hear with
the hogs ear in his mouth. The dogs that catch also burn alot of energy fightin the hogs.                                                                          We started out shootin the hogs we caught,but its alot more fun to stick em.We usually let
some newby to the sport stick em now,but then they get the addiction and you end up with a crowd of buddys wantin
to go every time out. State law here in Mo. requires us to kill everything we catch,one of these days they'll realize that
total extermination of the hogs isnt gonna happen.

It is awesome to see dogs just stand back and bay though.

I guess i need too buy a pistol and sale my catch dogs.  Never carried anthing with me while hog hunting
seems im missing something I thought you were suppossed 2 tie em up alive. Get u some good tight baying dogs a two smash face pits and u wont need too shoot over ur dogs  
I dont know where yall are hunting but where we hunt the landowners want the hogs gone.  Some places if you leave with a live hog you probably wont be asked back.  I used to tie em but that was when they were bringing more money, now they arent bringing chit and I personally am not going to drag a 250# hog out, take the risk of them getting stressed and dieing, for 30 bucks.  It would cost me that to get the hog to the buyers.  It might not happen soon but if you keep hunting one of these days you will be in a situation where you wished you had a rifle or pistol.  Catch dogs get killed, lost, an assortment of situations.  Also I am not going to lead a catchdog anymore.  Went through that and got tired of me going left and dog going right with a tree in the middle, among other things.  I will take a pack of catchy curr dogs over a bull dog anyday.  Different strokes for different folks, no right or wrong way as long as you are catching hogs.

austin it has been a long time since u sold a hog because a 250 pound hog will bring between 75 to 100 dollars i guess too rich folks that aint no money.

Well like I said before different strokes for different folks.  It has been awhile since I sold a hog, and will be alot longer before I sell one. Not rich just dont wanna fool with it. 

come on austin...just admit it...you're too lazy now to drag any hogs out to sell em.  LOL   ;D  I'm right there with ya on not sellin em unless its easy acess to get to em.  I run gritty catchy baydogs and I use cds too.  Works for me.  Sometimes it saves my cd a few extra runs during the hunt.  I've got a dog thats just a little over a yr and he still won't bark on a hog.  Hasn't started striking his own yet so we'll see how he does then.  As of now he's just straight catch.  So I guess I kinda fall under both categories.

Hell yeah I am too lazy. lol  I got a pup or two if that one doesnt work out.  I should be out of here in a few days, We need to get together and go hunting like we have been talking about. 

i like a dog 2 bay  nothin else  the fight is the pits job   our bmc and cat roll out when they see us show up 2 the bay  thats how i like it  thx 4 lettin me share my opinion 

Austin, we have been sticking just about everything lately too. Like you said, these landowners are ticked off and you will not be asked back to hunt if you not solving the problem. Hog numbers over here double every six months it seems. I just picked up 3300 acres because the other guy wasn't getting it done. The landowner said, and I quote "he just isn't bringing my numbers down at all." "all my pastures are rooted to hell!" I said well don't tell the guy your giving me permission. He said it doesn't matter what he thinks or says, he's not killing enough to make a difference. I want these hogs gone, dead, out of here!!!! At this point his face was red and he was breathing fire.

I like whatever produces caught hogs and that depends a lot on where you're hunting. I love to hear a good bay but some places around here the hogs run so bad that if the dogs don't catch him within the first 10 or 15 seconds when they find him he'll run and never stop again. If you huntin a lot of open places the dogs get the chance to make him stop but in these briar patches and cutovers around here a hog has all the advantage, if he gets a 30 yard jump on the dogs in a 50 acre briar patch, they may never see him again..  We use catch dogs because 95% of the time there is no way you will get close enough to a hog to shoot him. You would have to get within 10 feet or closer to even see him and there is no way they will stand there long enough for you to get that close. If you don't have a good catch dog you won't catch or see many hogs a year around here..

I like catchy dogs to a certain point but I'd also like for em to back up and bay the group. You must be pretty bored up there Austin

you have no idea, Blaine.  I almost got this well finished though. About 800 more feet.

The only true way too bring the numbers down are by trapping or helicopter you cant catch enough in a days time too do any damage too the hog numbers.  If you can I own 6000 acres and I would like you too show me how you wipe the heard out. It aint going too happen.  I dont care if you trap, shoot, dog em u will never hurt the population, not here in central texas.

Austin give me a call when you know about what day you'll be gettin off and we'll sure try to make a hunt...your country or mine..either one just give me a call and lets go run some

if the dog doesnt put some teeth on the hog ,the hog will never stop running ;D ;Dstop worring so much

 i hunt by myself most of the time so i like mine to back up and bay, till i get there with catch dog, my bay dogs will stay with a hog till the end and stay bayed for hours at a time or they anint in my pack, but it took years to get a pack like that, i used to have really rough dogs but i couldnt hunt as much cause they were always healin up, as far as my catch dogs go- i will letem go on any size hog, if they cant handle the HEAT, i dont needem ...... if i didnt have to hunt by myself all the time i would not even have a catch dog, i would prefer someone else have the catch dogs, but alot of the time my huntin buds cant go when i am ready to roll ... so away i go....no guns on my hunt, just a knife

i prefer bay dogs.. you dont have to wait all that time for those catchy dogs to heal from cuts.

Chainrated must hunt where I hunt! LOL Thats all our hogs do.  What ever produces hogs! Personal preference.