EAST TEXAS HOG DOGGERS FORUM

I know this has probably been discussed but I would like to hear what type of dog you hunt and how old a track can they take.
I got curs with a dash of English hound mixed in they are what I think would be called warm or hot nosed I don't think they can take track over 2-3 hrs old I have watched them over the years closely I remember I hit a feeder one morning and it had rained around 3am I follow a good set of tracks down a trail for about a half mile the dogs didn't start acting froggy until we were about 200yards from where he had bedded down they winded him from the trail and went to him . Recently I added a full Red Tick to our pack I am not a hound guy but the price was right and she sure hates a hog my thinking was if she makes a good dog I could cross her and get a little more nose but so far she hunts a lot like my dogs the only difference is she hits a coon now and then I got some work to do with her on trailing I hope in the end she will be able to get these curs on a few more hogs, where I hunt there isn't a hog problem for sure if the don't get out and hunt or have a good nose they aren't going to be too successful.
So lets hear what you got and how they hunt.

Tracks are hard to judge honestly without game cameras out, and every situation is different depending on when it rained last, the type of country you're hunting, wind, and anything else you can imagine. Where  I hunt, especially this time of year, I might ride around and not find where a big hog walked til sometime in the afternoon like noon to 2 pm. Common sense will tell you that hog didn't walk through there 30 mins ago when it's hot as it is, but I won't sit here and try and put a number on him. Regardless of when I find that track, I expect my cur dog to take that track and I expect him to bay it. He struggles sometimes in them short pine plantations that's grew up into briar patch jungles or in a clear cut, but I still expect to bay that hog.

One thing though on track hunting...if you wanna be successful, in my opinion, you have to pass up the small hog sign and starve your dog on cold tracks. Your numbers will go down, and it'll be frustrating for quite awhile, but it pays off in the end. You have to do your part and walk a track out, and give him a decent opportunity at it by trying to judge if it was done last night or two days ago.

It's a good feeling to find a track late in the day and watch a dog walk it out and bay that hog.

I can only remember a hand full of times my dogs were bayed and I couldn't hear them I don't even try hunting midday anymore I hunt daylight and sack it up around 10-11 am then roll out again at dark may hunt till 3 am my dogs do good for me and I like them but if I had a little more nose it sure wouldn't hurt my feelings my oldest dog is 7 and by far the best at working them out I got a male that's 2 1/2 I think hes going to out do her easy in another year or two if I can keep getting him on hogs.

I think it mostly depends on if the dog has the want to in it. Like baiv said lot depends on weather.

And it also comes with age and experience... I've seen a lot of dogs get colder and colder the older they got. Or maybe they just got smarter, learned to slow down and really work a track.

Mike, my opinion is that they get wiser through experience, and the nose hot or cold and all in between, they are born with...

I like medium nosed dogs...I don't want a cold nosed dog that will grind out an old track for 2-4 hours to jump a hog...I like a dog that call smell old sign and go to hunting wider to locate those hogs...and finding can be winding a hog to taking a decent track to find a hog...

I don't care for a hot nosed dog that just about has to be on top of a hog to trail it...most of the time these type of dogs don't trail much unless they jump a hog...

I like knowing that if there is a hog in the wooded area we are hunting that more than likely the hogs will be found...

quite a bit on how the dogs hunt and use their noses has to do with how we hunt them...

if we are hunting fast on the wheelers and not paying much attention to the dogs they will usually learn to work hotter tracks...if we continually watch the dogs and when they act interested then we stop and encourage them to work it and we actually get down and walk the track with the dogs...and once the dogs take the track wait and see if they can finish it...if they come back continue moving on...to me that is about the best way to hunt medium nosed dogs...

This is a subject that has fascinated me for years. I have heard & read that all dogs can smell the same thing. Well if that is the case it comes down to desire & brains on what that scent does to dogs and their ability to process it.
  I agree with every bodies opinions that have already been listed. There are so many variables when it cones down to trailing, wind, sun, age of the track & dry conditions all take away from the scent. Dry leaves & sand are tough trailing conditions. Standing water holds scent & I will tell you why. We have seen our hounds when we were bear hunting in Canada trail across a island & the nearest island might be a 1/2 mile away. I have seen dogs start swimming & they are opening as they are swimming because they are catching scent off the water. These were cold tracks to start with & by no means hot.
  Like Mike said, age & experience will help a dog altho I have seen young hounds that their first time to the woods, they can take a track & just go with it. When a dog puts his nose down & you can hear him sucking in the scent, that is a dog that will be cold nose & he is trying his best to get whatever scent he can smell.
  I think all dogs just process scent in different ways. How many of you have been hog hunting & you are in fresh rooting & your bulldog is going crazy because he can smell the hog scent but your bay dogs cannot trail it out. Your thinking, I know this is fresh because my bulldog can smell it but the trail dogs cannot.
  Now the difference between hounds & curs. On average it is much easier getting a cold nose hound but there are cold nose curs out there. I am talking about finding a track & putting your dogs on it & they ail take it or at least put in a good effort. Curs & hounds are just bred different & most curs just don't want to fool with a older track. I think on a lot of curs, they are smarter then a hound & will just start making circles until they warm it up enough where they can trail it out. I used to have a couple, not at the same time (Grandfather & Grandson). These two Catahoulas could make monkeys out of most hounds. I wish I would have had a Garmin back then & I might have know how they did it but they would always be bayed ahead of the plots.
  I like to catch big hogs so numbers are not important to me so I will pass up a lot of smaller sign looking for a big track. I want a dog that can take it or at least put in a good effort. Nothing would piss me off more then finding a good track later on in the day & my dogs standing on their head wondering, what you want me to take that track.

This is a great topic, agree with most of what has been said. I had a Kemmer gyp 20 years ago that would work a track that some of the walkers and blue ticks I was hunting with couldnt warm up. Looking back I dont think her nose was "better" she just had the desire and will and confidence that she could work it. By the time she took it where the other dogs were interested in it, she usually would be bayed. Back then we didnt have enough hogs around to be picky with a hot or cold track all we wanted was some good dog work and some hogs at the end of it. If the dogs split the track, you could bet 100% of the time she would be bayed with the biggest boar of the bunch, I think they can all tell what is what with enough time and she liked the big nasty ones. I got her from a dog trader because she was so "trashy", shoot I just thought she was one game heifer boys. Took me 4 years and a lot of effort, but I finally smartened up enough to make her 95% straight. She forced me to buy a traking system and just shocking her didnt work, if there werent hogs around she was gonna make game. Some of the guys I hunted with would say shock her she cant smell a track them hounds cant smell or work, I agree, she just had the determination and heart to do something with those tracks. Brains, desire and heart, man I will take that combo any day. Most of the ones with the brains to take those tracks and produce hogs at the end, a lot of people arent smart enough to handle. Im like Cajun, If you think its too cold push them up and move them out, if you think its hot let them work it. Just stay out of the way and dont muddy the water.

I said Cajun, meant Reuben, sorry. I liked both opinions.

Good thread. Cold nose or hot don't matter to me if they get it done. From what I have seen a cold nose dog won't pull off for a bigger hog but a hot nose dog will. In hog hunting I think it's best to be very diverse in your pack and don't be afraid to mix dogs up to get the job done. As far as working a track a hound will spend more time grinding it out and start farther back and curs don't on average from my experience. That's why I say mix and match your dogs it can better your chances imo. But I enjoy catching pigs they don't have to all be big. And I never set out to try and find big ones I don't hunt tracks I let the dogs chose the track or wind the hog on there own if we get em we high five if not no biggie. But I do respect a good track dog that you can drop on a track and end up with that pig

it used to be we had these discussions on here on a regular basis...hope some of the newer guys will get them going again...

JP...having a diverse dog pack is not a bad idea...a couple of good strike dogs to find a hog and a couple of great stop dogs running with the pack can be a good thing...some of these stop dogs can't find a hog on there own or run one for long but sure will run with the pack for however long it takes...

I bought a female Florida cur when I first started getting dogs I bought her for $150 from a damn fool. One of them guys that you don't like the second you meet him. His reason for selling was that he couldn't catch her up.Molly could work a track where no other dog could I don't really cast hunt but Molly would cast.She would work it out bay the hog if it broke and ran another 3 miles she'd work it out and bay the hog again so on and so forth.I then followed in the other damn fools footsteps and sold Molly because I walk hunt generally and she will punish you for walking. The curs I hunt now are younger faster ruffer and they get the job done but there ain't a day goes by that I don't kick my self in the butt for selling old Molly. I didn't know then how hard it is to find a dog like her.The fellow who bought her loves her and we stay in touch hopefully one day he'll let me breed her and who knows....

Molly dog she's got the brains and nose you fellas speak of(http://i338.photobucket.com/albums/n432/itsacaseytime/Mobile%20Uploads/2015-01/IMG_20150117_151321.jpg) (http://s338.photobucket.com/user/itsacaseytime/media/Mobile%20Uploads/2015-01/IMG_20150117_151321.jpg.html)

I sold my curs and went with hounds (Blueticks and Walkers) because I only cast hunt and the curs don't work deep enough. I don't have trails on which I can take a vehicle. Many hog hunters have a "silent" fetish that predisposes them to claim they don't like hounds because they're "open." The reality is all dogs are open to varying degrees. Any sensible hound can be trained to only open when the track is really hot, which is what you want anyway. "Checking the Garmin" doesn't get it. If a dog doesn't get at least 800-1000 yards, then it misses too much. If it takes the dog more than a few minutes to get that deep, it's the same thing--problem. If the dog only goes deep with other dogs, it's a problem. I have a young Bluetick gyp that will go over 1000 yards in a few minutes. When she strikes a good track, she opens. The other dogs hear and go to her to bay the hog.

Biguns

Did you sell the curs just because they didn't get deep enough or did they not have enough nose for you too ? What would you consider the nose your dogs have cold, warm, medium ? I know there are a lot of variables to consider im just using ball park averages.

The curs didn't hunt deep enough, fast enough. The cold, hot, warm nose deal is hard to say. For example, I have a Walker grnitech female that would be described as hot nosed by most people. As best I can tell, however, it's not that she can't work a cold track but rather that she keeps moving until she strikes a track that she can hook on and tree quickly. If there isn't a fresh track available (and she'll go two miles looking for one), she'll circle back and work a colder track. I prefer her working style to a "cold" nosed dog that takes the first track it comes to and works the track for an hour. That's what I mean by getting deep fast. A good dog will find a good track and do so quickly without wasting time.

My Bluetick gyp that I use on hogs and coons is a head up, fast track dog. She can take a pretty cold track (couple hours maybe) and warm it up fast because she runs the track with her head up. She's much tighter on hogs than coons. She has yet to develop into a hard treeing dog, and she may never be a real hard tree dog, but she is a true hunting dog, a real track driver. She's only 11 months and still makes mistakes, but she is a real track dog.

I like a cur dog that works out from my feet outwards.  The. Deep hunting dogs that get gone in a blink of an eye makes a body proud when you turn em loose til you catch three or four hogs going to him bayed a mile out. They tend to miss running like that. Not saying that's the case for your dogs, but I've been around a bunch of em and they tend to miss the close hogs quite often.

BA-IV...I like the same...I have seen some walkers get way out there quickly and then see the curs strike right where the hound just crossed...I like a cur that circles out and then gets deeper as needed...I don't like a dog that hunts a straight line...

back in the 70's-80's the big talk was the hunters bad mouthing field trialers of all sorts...the lab folks were saying the field trials created dogs that were hard to manage, too high strung, the English pointer folks were saying the trials were making dogs that hunted too deep and for themselves...the hound folks were saying the trialers were ruining the hounds by breeding dogs that hunted for themselves and would pass up good track to find a smoking hot track and went too deep...I like dogs that don miss if there is one there to be found...

I agree with the judge and I have just that a variety of hunting styles in my dogs a couple are longer range and a couple are shorter to medium range and they seem to get it done.I don't think that you can group all cur dogs and say that they don't hunt deep cause that dang sure ain't the case.I don't hunt hounds simply because I have cur dogs and I would never knock anyone who runs hounds.I would like to hear how you train a dog not to open on track though. All mine are silent and I didn't know you can teach that.

The hounds split and work their own track. When they open, the other dogs will go to the bay if they haven't struck their own track yet. If you have get gone, deep hunting dog that other dogs are strikings good tracks behind, then you have a problem.

All the curs I've ever had wanted to hunt together. You couldn't get them to split if your life depended on it. Some hunters likes this, just as some hunters like rig riding dogs. But I don't mind walking (or running), and I won't feed a track dog that doesn't work its own track and won't hunt at least half a mile deep on its own.

Once again I disagree mine are always in 4 different directions alone and I am constantly having to choose which one to go to and they're all ruff dogs that are gonna try the hog and if 2 are there together it makes me feel better on my walk run swim crawl to them but I do agree every mans got a different style of hunting and so does every dog.I would never say that hounds do this or curs do that because each and every dog from every bloodline was bred to suit the man who was breeding them at the time.

I am very lucky in having found a group of dogs that suit me pretty well. They're pretty versatile in my opinion.

My lead dog winds well, and will cast pretty decent, but I have him cuz I can put him on a track at noon or later and he will walk and grind it out and bay that hog a lot of times. They're independent, if you get a few of these dogs on the ground, you'll probably be walking to a few different bays.  It's just how I hunt. Most people don't just cast dogs when they pull up to a spot. They are constantly looking for some sort of sign whether tracks, rooting, wallows, or so on, and putting dogs in sign is WAY DIFFERENT, then pulling up to a block and putting your dogs down, and expecting them to get bayed.

I like a real cold, and I mean COLD cur dog. I could always improve on my dogs nose now. I'd be happy if the hog walked last night and be able to pull up that next evening and put a dog down and them go bay that hog. That's what I strive for.

Each dog has its own way of working, but if there weren't similarities, then there would be no such thing as different breeds of dog. A pure bred dog is supposed to breed true to type, which is what distinguishes it from dogs of a different breed.

That said, personal preference on the part of the hunter basically determines what kind of dog he likes. Since I hunt on foot, I have no use for rig riding scent dogs that only run hot tracks and hunt together. I also don't want a dog that's so independent that it splits just to get alone. The dog needs to work the best track regardless of what other dogs are doing.

My experience tells me that the cold or hot nose business is probably overrated. You need a dog that puts game on the end of the track. In east Texas that generally means you need a fast track dog. Hogs can move quick and so can coons, and the coons aren't real thick here like they are in the upper Midwest.

when I say I like curs I am talking about the ones I bred and raised for about 29 years...I forget every dog in my yard right now has hound crossed in there and I hope the 4 week old pups I have now will hunt how I like...they are 1/2 plot, 1/4 mt cur . 1/8th redbone and 1/8 pitbull of the leggy type...

typo...20 years not 29...

I sure do appreciate you guys posting up these types of posts...I like a good hunting story when it involves excellent dog work...but I like open discussions on the working dogs natural abilities and different working styles...

a good hunting dogs ability is natural...and a good handler can bring out the best in a dog or dog pack...

some hunters are always in a hurry and their dogs tend to look for hotter tracks because of it... and these will usually be shorter range dogs while hunting...

others want their dogs to have the time to work out tracks and work/encourage their dogs to work them and that pack of dogs will work colder tracks and tend to hunt further out...

and lets say both type of hunting styles are dogs of the exact same breeding and natural ability...so yes I do believe we can change some of the dogs style by how we hunt them...but we can not train a dog to hunt if it is not in them...and we cannot teach a dog to take a very cold track if it is not in him to want to do so...

Most of this stuff I take with a grain of salt no dog is 100% or is any method of hunting. I truly feel like my dogs can hold there own against any dogs for what there good at. I met with a farmer I hunt for while we where seeing the lay of the land this lady showed up on a buggy and said what are y'all doing. So I told her and she said I can show the biggest track we have ever seen on our place I said ok. The track was good size I would say 250 area pig. She said that track was from that morning as she goes to that pond every morning. So we get there unload the dogs we are on foot go for few min see a bigger track on the edge of wheat field and is going in to the tree line the track looked like it was a weak old from the last rain dogs are out few hundred and really speed up go bout a mile and split up then we here my dog baying broke and bay went on for two hrs then as where on a corn field we see a bigger track it was one heck of a track and it is on path of the dogs had to go back to the truck around 5 hrs later we get to the bay my dog has been baying for two hrs plus dump some dogs to him he broke two dogs picked him back up at this point we where totally whore out cut the dogs off in the truck at the wheat field the dogs had 16 miles on Garmin and the cd had 9 miles that's what we had walked we never got the hog. So what does this story mean that where all chasing bacon there is no right or wrong go with the flow adapt and find what works


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When it comes to tracking I want a dog that can pick up a track that may be a few hours old and move it fast. I want a dog that will search for that track 3 to 500 yards out. I want a dog that has the drive to go after it at full tilt. A dog that wants to put teeth in the producer of the track. I actually like them trashy dogs. They tend to have my drive to me. I prefer them to focus on the desired prey as much as possible. But they do get bored when they have that drive.


Shotgun
Arkansas

I have seen a curdog leave from a feeder and bay the hog that was there 6 hours earlier according to game camera pics. He might take older I don't know this just happen to be one time the camera was checked.
I want to hear how to make a open dog silent also.

Reuben

I agree with you about giving a dog time I know we have bayed a few hogs when we just stop and shoot the crap next thing you know Garmin says treed 2 miles away ha-ha.
I have a few hogs not many like I said earlier I consider my dogs nose warm or hot depends on who you talk to but they will hunt out 500-600 yards in no sign but if I stay put after they check in a couple times they will move out farther I know most hog hunters want to keep moving but sometimes it pays to stop and have a cool one and see what happens. I almost never turn out in sign cause there isn't any I hunt one place that has a lot of feeders I cast them at the feeders if a hog had hit it in a reasonable time they will jump them up. Now I got curs but they are mixed with English hound but they look and act more like a cur. As far as I can tell from my limited experience and what I have read here on hounds is they don't always have a better nose than a strait cur what they do have is the ability to focus on scent where a cur sometimes wont it may be my dogs smell where hogs have been 12 hours ago but the desire isn't there to work the scent when its that faint. If I could have one thing it would be a good dog that I could cut loose as a last ditch effort to find pork the kind of dog your buddy's say aw Lord and look at their watches when you turn it out I thought this dog would be a hound but now I aint so sure.

People brag on there dogs just as they do their children and rightfully so because it just shows that you love them.It's my understanding that most cur dogs got some hound in them down the line one way or another some further back but most have it but different curs are made of different concoctions so it's really impossible to generalize the cur dog.Now if you break it down to a specific cur then you can get a better round about of the style and nose on them.I researched dogs that fit the way I hunt found lines from hunters I respected and raised dogs I keep some and cull some.In my yard for example I have some cracker dogs and some Cambell dogs mine compliment each other well my cracker's are shorter to medium range 100-500 and my Campbell's longer range 300-1000  but all will get gone if one don't want to stop but in general they stop them with a mouth full of ear.I to like dogs that you can stop and let the dog hunt I want the dog to find the sign not me I don't track hunt but I have confidence that my dogs could because they hunt to find the track then work it out.

Cracker I agree with that most any dog if dropped on a decent track will do some thing. I just don't hunt that way. That's like dropping a kid off at the mall there going to get something lol. A good hound is worth its weight in gold if it's what you want I wish I had one. My flash dog is pretty well rounded runs a track very fast big bottom and a very good nose if only he had his man hood :(


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A hound's tracking ability is more refined than that of a cur. Nose, instinct or whatever it may be, a good hound can lock onto a track and move it in a way I've never seen a cur do. If you look at studies on the subject, curs are said to use a mixture of scent, sight and sound, whereas hounds track almost solely by scent. If this is true, then one could say that hounds have a better nose than curs, individual variation notwithstanding.

I prefer the front end stopping ability of an old timey stock bred cur dog, over the mile deep tracking ability of a straight hound myself. When I'm hunting hogs, I'm only concerned with the ones that are close ;D As for being open, my curs had better not make a friggin sound, unless they are looking a hog in its eyes. ;) Lots of different styles of hog huntin these days though. To each their own.

Warrent423 ya I like that to but it's nice to know that you can go ether way the more tools you have in your bag the better your chances. One certain way don't always work that's why we all miss hogs at times


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My dogs and I are old school and only go "one" way. ;D Like I said though, lots of different styles. Living here in the SE Tennessee mountains for the past 10 years, I've become friends with some local old timers who are bear hunters. The Plott dogs they feed are number 1 grade. Their ability to "rig" from the box is second to none. Complete dogs that will rig, run, and tree bears on their own.

I don't agree with that at all after watching countless dogs work. Track hunting to me is an art and having a dog that can do it with style is rare. I guess it all boils down to the country you hunt in. You can't free cast in this pine timber I hunt a lot of times because you will flat wear a dog out before the first hog is ever jumped. It might take half a day of free casting to get on em.

Track hunting for a specific big hog is more like sending a kid into a sporting goods store and telling him to go get you a specific ball outta the many that's in there and not giving him much help on anything else.  If I had a spot where it was a few thousand acres and the hogs had one spot to where they'd be laid up, I'd be more apt to start raising a more specific cur dog geared towards purely free casting, BUT I like my cur dogs to be well rounded and do it all, just be geared more towards track hunting and really like BIG hogs.

Warrent that's cool I got family all thru the smokies I lived in Mars hill NC. I worked in maryville and sweet water sure is pretty country up in there. Wish I did have a set of them plots. But what I got now ain't to bad.   
 Ba iv when I say any dog I mean any old guys best dog some are better some are worse



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I have one full hound amd the rest are curr dogs. A couple of the currs I got will take a track my hound didn't even know was there. My hound is one of my favorite dogs cause shes young and has plenty of bottom she will be there til the end type dog. She don't hunt out real far and will rig out of the box off my four wheeler. The currs I have been fooling with lately are pretty much based off one dog. He's criplle now in his front leg but he was the type dog that you had to make plans to hunt. He won't let you cut him off a track or come to you when you call him you usually had to catch him at the hog before you grabbed the hog or he's be gone again. I bought him the day I bought him I turned him on some sign at 1pm he got it jumped in about 30 minutes and I caught the hog at 9:15 that night in a bad thicket and according to the track Id say it was the same hog. He won't road hunt you put him on a track or free cast him and he kicks rocks and coming back is the last thing on his mind. I got 3 pups off him now out of 2 different litters. The oldest pup was a fast starter and has out lasted the dad in races a couple times when I first started him. The other two I haven't hunted quiet as much but when I let them go coming back is the last thing on thier mind too so that trait was definetly passed down. One of them I was going to let a buddy hunt for me and he told me to come get him he had to much go to him he said he didn't look back til he hit two miles but that's what I wanted in these dogs I hate turning a dog loose and seeing that dog looking up at me. I haven't hinted much lately due to some stuff I got going on but I'm planning to start getting back going here pretty soon and getting these two littermates on some tracks and hope fully making some track dogs out of them. I want a dog like baiv described. One I can load up and ride and look for a big hog and no matter within reason how old it is put that dog on his track and find him bayed somewhere even if it is 8 hours later. I don't care nothing about catching a 100lb sow or little boar any dog can do that I like to catch big hogs. So I guess I like a dog with a ton of bottom a lot of "go" and a better than other dogs nose. 

Bo Pugh that's awesome sounds like you got some awesome dogs. I will say this it's easier for a dog to run a big hog track due to the stronger sent I would say if a dog can run a 100 lb sow track for a long time would be more impressive to me on tracking ability vs a big ol stinky boar now getting him stopped and bayed and caught is a different story imo


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No their far from being awesome or even close to that. Right now their all about 20lbs over weight and haven't been out of the pen but a couple times this year. If I hunted them like I use to they would definetly be a lot better. And believe me I have had my fair share of feeding sorry dogs it took me about 10 years to get some dogs I really liked and was proud raise. I am definetly not a good dog trainer I have prob ruined more dogs than I have made lol so I had to find some that had a natural ability cause the training wasn't working out for me for what I wanted in a dog. I enjoy reading about everyone's dogs and how they hunt

I run treeing walkers an plott hounds we always go the night before the hunt which is mostly weekends an cover up sign an tracks an go back the next day if theres a track made that night can put the hounds on it an will find that hog no matter how far it traveled that night they will stick until the end...we hunt bear the same way find tracks an put a strike dog out most of the time the tracks could be 12 or more hours old put a cold nose dog on that track an let him warm it up then start packing in the others

Always an interesting topic to me especially now bc this is what I'm working on now adding into my line of dogs, not just a nose but selecting those individuals who know how to use their nose, I believe this is just as much a learned trait as it is a genetic trait, reason for saying that is I've seen one or two sure enough cold nose dogs in my time that couldn't throw a pup with enough nose to smell cracklings cooking. I've seen some really cold nose dogs that couldn't move a track even if it was attached to them. There's a big difference in having a cold nose dog and a good track dog.

Goose87 I agree with that the nose has to be there but so does the noodle


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I want a dog to find what I put them on.

Also, If its a sounder I want them all cuaght before the dog quits.









These don't happen as often as I'd like and that's why my wife and kids don't often remember the names of the dogs are eating our gravy train till their kinda gray faced. Lol

I know what you mean T-Bob, the kids and grandkids use to name everything around here, now they don't get one till they sure enough make the final cut. I was running out of good names and started getting mixed up myself.  ;)  >:D

I have seen one dog do that and he wasn't mine...

I ain't never seen a dog that finds everything you put them on and dang sure ain't seen one that'll find everyone in the pack I'd sell everything in my yard for one of them robot dogs.

You can dream


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To make a track dog, you HAVE to starve them on cold tracks, and feed him a bunch of em. You have to challenge the dog, and that's what starving him on cold tracks does, so you won't find every hog you put him on in the beginning. But if you call a dog a track dog, and he's 4 years old or older, then any track you put him on that you think he can smell oughta be a found hog, no doubt about it. That's a track dog deluxe.

As far as rallies, there is dogs out there that you would swear could count, and if you bay 6 hogs, you dang well can expect to catch all 6 with them type of dogs. That's the stock dog sense coming out in them stock bred cur dogs some people are raising!

way back  I had the pleasure of hunting behind a dog that was a decent strike dog...he was a bay buster but I saw him track down 5 big hogs...as soon as we caught the first one he rolled over and got on the next after the forth one I was wanting to catch the dog and then the hog but he got away before I could get my hands on him...we caught the 5 with just him and one Airedale...once he caught up and cut a hog out the hog could not get away they would be backed up to a tree or a log protecting their back end...that dog had been culled because he was a bay buster and this guy picked him up for 325...I could of had that dog for 325 as well but I passed up...that is one that got away that shouldn't have...he had a chop mouth that could be heard pretty far...and when you got to the bay he was nose to nose...it was around November and the woods was fairly open...the conditions were right for that dog to excel as he did...

I've not had one yet who found everything I put it on or bayed every hog in the sounder before quiting, but the one who came the closest to that goal sure aint going anywhere and she can live out the rest of her natural life in front of my fireplace. Had one on track to best her but he died a few months back, and I've got one young one now who will probably be better than her.
It really aint dreaming so much as setting a goal and not coming off it, but I see what y'all mean.

I always say, you'll end up with what you put up with

yep...it is all in the breeding...hold to a high standard...and keep them related...the hardest part is finding good dogs to start out with...after 3 or 4 generations they will actually be better than what we start with, and the percentage of good pups produced goes up...breeding is half of the equation, selecting the right pups to keep is the other half...

tracking ability...breed and select for the all around hunting dog...

test the pups for winding, finding and tracking...I start testing at 6-8 weeks...I look for natural ability and I turn the pups out and watch them most every day to see what they do and how they do it...I try to figure out how the pups are mentally wired...natural ability begets more natural ability...

most of the time we turn the dogs loose and it won't be long they will have one jumped and running in these thick palmettoes...

I like hunting best when the dogs have to hunt hard to find a hog...in the woods I like excellent dog work above most everything else...but the properties just aren't big enough for the kind of dogs I like...

there are curs out there that will run a track pretty fast and lots of times when the wind is blowing and the hog is running cross wind the dogs are running with their heads up and running off the wind currents of the track 10 or twenty yards downwind of the track...usually a hot track when they are running it this way...the few hounds I have seen that get gone quick pass up many good tracks and tend to look for hotter tracks...

good cur dogs make it look easy in finding hogs...the same dogs will rig off the wheeler, can be free casted or can be roaded...stop too long and a good cur will cover lots of ground fast meaning make a loop and then loop further out...a good cur dogs brain is wired to take a track and also work the wind currents...they are looking to strike pretty quick...they cut and slash to find the hot end of a track...we as  dog handlers will teach our dogs to hunt their best or not...by how we hunt them...more so with the type of dogs that want to hunt with us...I like dogs that want to hunt with me to a certain extent...IMO we should do our part in molding the dogs style of hunting...by casting them into the wind... when roading stop when they look interested...and get out and help them with the track especially young dogs if needed...if they take it wait to see if they come back or if they line it out...the dogs will learn you will wait on them and they will work it harder and be more thorough about it because they know you are waiting on them...if they line it out they couldn't care less if you waited on them or not because that is how their brain is wired...if one of the dogs picks his nose up into the wind and goes into the thick briars and comes back then it is up to us to where that scent is coming from...is it channeling through a dry creek or an open meadow 3 or 4 hundred yards away???as good dog handlers we will steer the dogs in that direction when roading...sometimes the scent is coming over the briars and when the dog gets in the thick briars he loses the scent...when we hunt this way we are bringing out the best in our dogs...and good dogs will only get better...I call this hunting with my dogs...and not...my dogs hunting with me...I like an all around dog and that includes good tracking ability...quite a bit of how a dog works has to do with how we hunt...we have to be in tune with our dogs...

Reuben I think knowing your dogs and how to hunt them is key. And just knowing how your dogs work can add a lot in there production. Nose range bottom how they work is key. Knowledge of these thing can make a lesser dog out do a better dog on the production side of it. It's all really simple we as people screw it up lol


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