EAST TEXAS HOG DOGGERS FORUM

Well we had some folks contact us that had a hay meadow getting torn up. So a couple weeks ago we hit. The place doesn’t have much for woods except for along the wet season creek that runs through it. The woods aren’t very thick either but the briar thickets all up and down each side are pretty bad. So the first hunt the nephew and I each took two bay dogs and a catch dog a piece. We cast and maybe a minute or two they were baying a huge rally of hogs. Again the briar thicket they were bedded in was insane. We sent catch dogs and hogs went everywhere. Some running out some piling up bouncing the catch dogs. We ended up catching 6 sows ranging from a wet 80 lbs. all the way up 291 lbs. A couple about 150-160 another couple about 200 and the last one was about 100 give or take. Lots of 200+ pound hogs in the group.  The last one we caught across the county road and they were bayed on her a good while because we trying to get ahold of the land owner to get the ok to go in there. Had he said no we would’ve toned them out but he was really nice and gave us the go ahead. Told anytime the dogs get over in there to just go ahead. All he asks is that we give a heads up the day before that we are gonna be in the neighborhood. I figure that’s easy enough. The hogs came back a few days later so we did too. We caught 6 more this morning, 3 hims and 3 hers. Younger group of hogs this time and not nearly as many. With the exception of small pigs and a couple of shoats, I think we caught most of this group. It was a good hunt for our dogs and us. No injuries and plenty of fast and furious action. I took my Hope puppy this morning for he first time. She’d only seen one hog prior to today. She was with the older dogs from start to finish. I think she got left behind when the dogs relayed after the third hog but she trailed out on her own and was there when we go to the next one. I was proud of her for that.(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20221117/80a261c4adda92fd520045d35204b6f8.jpg)
Today
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Ole big momma from the first trip


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 Dang T dog, Y'all loaded up. I bet you have one happy hay farmer and sure nice of the other land owner to give you the go ahead. It will not take long for that pup to finish out when you can put her in those kind of numbers. Great hunts.

Sounds like some good hunts with some good dog work

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I sure hope she makes it Cajun. If you only knew the adversity that little gyp has overcome to even be able to hunt. Everyone that ever met her said the same thing, she had that “it” factor. I hope they’re right. Her name is Hope, as in I HOPE she makes a hog dog. She for sure has tons of brains. To the point that she gets into a lot of trouble around the house lol. Maybe having a job will help.


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Thanks NLA. They were both fun. The kind of fun that will spoil you. Spoil you as in you can drive the buggy up on top of the briars right to the hog to load it lol.


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Man, that's whackin and stackin Thomas. Glad to see Hope getting a good start. You and Deputy Dawg gettin it done!

Nice work Thomas. Nice little chunk of change for some dog food money too if you’re selling them.

Stackin em up like cord wood! Heck of a couple hunts man. Baying groups that rally and bay dogs relaying are my favorite aspects of the game. Good luck with Hope.


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WOW, Deputy Dawg is the help you want when it’s time to load’em lol. It’s also pretty nice to be hand the hog off to him and say here, hold this while I get the dogs lol. They don’t drag that anchor like they do me., 220 vs 320!

Jsh, I don’t know what they’re bringing where you are but the good hogs are bringing 40 cents around here. That definitely makes it worth tying as long as you don’t let them get tore up of course.

Shotgun, how fast do your dogs relay? My Ava gyp leaves as soon as she sees me there. Outlaw is younger and has more bite so he likes to make sure I have it god and secured before he leaves lol. He’s real good about leaving as soon as I tell him caught hog get ahead. We get a lot of split bays after a group busts. I like that too. I like to see if the individual fog is going to stay hooked solo when another hog is caught or if they are going to leave to come to the squeal. So far so good lol. I also like to leave them bayed sometimes and take my time getting there. They learn a little stay and gain confidence that I’m coming just keep working.


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Sounds like a fun hunt Thomas, it’s hard to beat a hunt with a lot of relays where both you and the dogs get to stay busy. I bet that farmer was sure happy to have you out there catching numbers like that!


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You got me to thinking now Shotgun. Just on these two hunts there were so many good watching moments. Like on the first hunt, when the sounder busted I could hear and see briars shaking and breaking and could tell whatever it was, dog or hog, that it was going to come out just 10-15’ from me. Turned out it was a sow and right on her behind was Outlaw. She realized as soon as she hit the open that she wasn’t going to make it across to the next thicket and turned towards me down the edge of the thicket she just left. He was hustling so hard to get to her that he went airborne. He looked like a flying alligator with his mouth being wide open and in the air. Just before he got ahold her ham she cut left and back into the thicket. He landed and was most naturally slinging dirt trying to corner and get back up on her. 15 yards in she was bayed and that’s where her ship sank. It was really neat seeing how hard he was getting through the briars after her and how bad he wanted to stop her. This last hunt, hog #5 was a sow about 180 class. Her and some hogs were in a briar thicket that had overtaken a draw that funnels into a big pond (we call them tanks around here lol). When I walked up to see what we needed to do, I could see that the dogs were at my 11 o’clock angle closer to the opposite side. Hope was baying at my 3 o’clock angle solo. She wasn’t but about 20’ from me but I couldn’t see her to be able to tell what she was actually doing. I started climbing up on the briars to walk on top of them and nearly stepped on a good hog. It broke straight towards Hope and stopped. She never checked up baying. About that same time Ranger(Outlaws brother) was trying to circle around behind the hog  the rest of them were baying and saw the sow. She had to have cut right across his face as he was coming around. So he is now baying with Hope. A hog, because I don’t know where the hog was that Hope was originally baying was, broke and came right back in towards me. Ranger hustled up behind it and grabbed and turned it. Instead of getting back when the hog turned I guess his momentum must’ve carried him on through and to the other side of the hog. So the hog turned to face him again and rushed him. He couldn’t side pass to avoid it and had to eat on her nose to keep her off of him. He was baying but she had him cornered and standing about 2’ from him. At this point I can only tell it’s a decent hog so I told Deputy Dawg to send his JJ dog. He came in a went for the hog but was greeted by a wall of briars. She tried to break but got tangled herself and reversed her direction and ran right to the other dogs that were still bayed. JJ and Ranger were already on her hip when she stopped and they all stretched her. Their hog broke and left. I assume it was him we caught about 350 yards later down at the creek as soon as they relayed.  He was about 200. If that sow had been a bad boar, ole Ranger might have been in trouble. It was for sure good watching though. I love to see my dogs do it the way I like it to be done. Makes ya feel like a proud poppa.


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Sold three today 101, 85 and 140  brought  right at $200.   Sold 148lb boar yesterday he was $64.

Lots of people never get to see groups of hogs bayed like that

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Two of my dogs will relay as soon as the catch dogs hook up IF both catch dogs are there. My Red male dog will anchor the other ear and leave on command if there’s only 1 catch dog. My leopard female leaves out as soon as a catch dog connects.
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Sounders are such good learning opportunities for hunter and dogs. You can learn so much about how hogs react to pressure - some sows with pigs tend to squat & stay in cover. Boars tend to look for an exit while the dogs are distracted. Sometimes on big groups the mature sows & boars will put the pigs in the middle and make a stand. You see how fast and violent a boar can explode at dogs when they decide to. You see firsthand the difference between pressured/educated hogs and hogs that have never been dogged.
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As a hunter you get a true sense of how much the intensity ratchets up when dogs are in hogs. You see first hand how hard it is on the dogs. How difficult it can be on a dog when hogs and hog scent are literally all around them. It can be overwhelming for a young dog the first time or two. It’s also a good opportunity for a young dog to bust off and bay their first hog. You realize why a lot of bay dogs quit barking for a moment when they hear catch dogs crashing brush towards them.


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Those are true scenarios. It’s interesting to me to see how many dogs figure out to go back to the starting point after you catch a hog from a busted sounder. Some of them will relay but never go back where the squatters are. This is understandable if they re-bay more than one at a time out of the sounder. They are going to relay on the hogs out the smaller group. Lots of times if I get to my young dog after a sounder busts, I will cast them back through where the sounder was when they busted. But it all depends on if they can hear another bay or where and what the other dogs are doing. You are right though, it’s fun to see hog and dog IQ in these situations. Years ago I had a big spotted boar that was really intelligent. Instead of being out front like most dominant hogs, he would understand where the pressure was coming from and be standing completely to the opposite side of it. Catch dogs would catch and the sounder would bust. Bay dogs would scatter trying to stop another and when you looked up he would just be standing still letting everyone else have all the furious attention. By the time you got your hog tied he would be walking off across a pasture headed to his retreat. A few times the dogs got on him but he had such a head start by then that it was a heck of a race. It was always the same route too. He was a bad dude solo. Every time he left dogs hammered at each spot he stopped. We finally got caught him slipping and bayed him without the sounder. It was something to see how smart and educated he was and how he would use the other hogs.


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Good hunt t-dog, and fingers crossed that the young female makes one you will remember.

Thanks Austesus and Old Man


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looking good