a good hunt, the topper being that fried catfish, you’re rolling in good company Cajun

I love the post tdog, I needed a good laugh after this week. That’s a big sow for sure, thats  what I’ve been getting into lately.

Due to my inability to make friends I find myself hunting alone most of the time, I get nervous sometimes but I’m kind of used to it now.

I’m with everyone else on here, hate that you have to go thru that with sketch. I’ve enjoyed reading about your adventures with her.

Looks like he had a big black mane, I would’ve liked to see him bristled up.

Just looking at the pics of that rose hedge, would make me want to sell the dogs and get a fishing boat.

That’s a fine looking knife, I don’t think I’ve seen the finger guard like that, I like it.

Sounds like the dogs did good, there’s going to be tough days like that. At the end of a tough day, your dogs got you the bacon and that’s what counts.

Good looking pup Slim

That’s a pretty good showing, your dogs got some range, that would probably be the end of me trying to keep up with them on foot.

That cane grass looks like it favors the hogs, I really don’t like going to the dogs when they’re in stuff like that, but that’s where those old boars tend to go when the heat is on. Those dogs will be ready to get after him again soon enough. Good hunt for sure.

My condolences, sounds like your dad gave you a lifetime of good memories.

Took the dogs out this morning, got in the woods and they’re getting busy. I can’t remember all the details because they spent most of their time split up and running everywhere with me trying to stay in range. I did hear my April gyp bay three different times, every time I’d get within about 300 yards, she’d go quiet and be moving again.

I did catch a couple of the youngsters bumping deer, I try not to get too hard on the pups for that considering it’s the first time I’ve actually witnessed them doing that. After about an hour and a half of us chasing each others tails, Dan ended up by the truck so I gathered them up and roaded them to the next drop spot.

Get parked and start walking, dogs are moving about, there’s some recent rooting in the Bermuda pastures but not getting on anything hot yet. Do a little sweep around the edge of the small lake for nothing, then proceed to the next patch of woods. The dogs are working around and of course, they’re split in two groups. As we’re coming to the field edge, Dan, April and Lacy head out, Hondo and Pete are to my left working another area. Now I hear bacon bits getting smashed and the voice of an angry sow at about 210 yards. I start to them while toning Hondo and Pete, I’m about 100 from the scene of the crime and I see Pete at a full run heading to the action then Hondo.

I get there and they’ve got an old sow caught up, so I help her enter into eternity. It would be nice to brag about how they shut down some crafty runners, but they didn’t. So we get the easier lay ups, the bedded down sows and such, I’m not salty I’ll take them however we get them. Dogs got their hog, nobody got injured or arrested, it was a good day to be alive in Gods glorious creation.

Those are the kind of days I like, dogs worked hard for you, caught hogs they could handle and didn’t get wrecked. Young catch dog doing good, starting at 10:00am, you sound like me.

I think it’s a good sign, in my opinion I’d be pretty confident they’ll graduate to larger game naturally. Wait till they get a nose full of stinking’ boar hog and bear, they’ll leave the country like their hair is on fire.

Old man, no just the ones I know that are gonna catch. The old boy I got the plott from never ran one on him, but when I took him he asked me to put one on him. So I did to honor his request, those short vests don’t seem to hamper them from what I can tell. I do watch them to see if they’re getting too hot.

When I first started the two young brothers I just had collars on them, when they got to the point where they started catching hogs on their own, they were catching and not baying (unless it was a big boar that would make them). So in the interest of keeping them alive, I bought them the Aussie style vests.

Thanks NLA and t dog. The dogs suit me ok, they’re not everybody’s cup of tea but I’ll keep feeding them. T dog, that’s a wild story. I’m not in my 30’s anymore and often alone in the woods, the pistol has helped when situations went a little sideways. It is not my primary, but an insurance policy like the handcuffs. I might look into a set of those, there are times when I could hobble and release or transport a hog.

I got an invite to run the dogs at a friend from church’s ranch just north of the Red River. We get the buggy loaded and we’re off, we check a couple pastures that’ve been getting hit for nothing, then move to another area where they like to travel through and spend time in. As we approach our creek crossing the land owner spots a hog above us on the opposite side of the creek (this is the moment I realize I left my pistol in the truck), my initial assessment is he’s a big one and I don’t know if this young pack can hold him for me to stick. Too late, the sequence of events is unfolding and there ain’t no turning back now. If they can’t hold him I’ll be relegated to throwing rocks and sticks. He starts leaving and all I see is a glimpse of him going out of sight over the hill.

We get to where he was and the four older dogs take up the trail, and the young catahoula pup is doing her own thing before she joins the others. Things happened kind of fast so my recollection might be skewed a bit. They hit 400, then 500 and shortly after I hear barking. We drive back down the way we came in, cross the stream and get as close as we can to the action.

They’re 200 yards and the fight is on, they’re on the neighbors place and I get over the fence and am hustling to the action. My friend is calling the neighbor but I’m confident he will find us. As I get closer I can hear dogs caught and those who aren’t are barking, I pick my way through the briers and cedars I can see they got control of him. I can’t get behind him like I want because he’s backed up against some rocks and trees (I wait just a second to see if he tries to shake the dogs off when he sees me coming in). The dogs still got him so I make my move and run in front of him and get to the rear, grab his tail and finish it.

The old warrior had some bald spots from rubbing, scars from fighting and missing his bottom cutters, he still had his uppers. None of the dogs got hurt and the land owner was less one hog on his ranch. We go to another lease of his right up the road, this place is covered in honey locust, cedars and briers, I mean thorns galore. We drop the dogs and they’re going in the brush, it’s not long and we hear bacon bits getting stretched, bigger hogs grunting and general chaos. We get to them and find the baby they grabbed up, saw one little escapee run off and my plott brought one to us like a retriever. I see my Pete dog got cut right next to his McNuggets. I don’t know if there was a boar in the mix or if it was a sow attacking him in the rally, got him home and doctored him up.

All in all a great day for us.

Good looking dogs for sure, sounds like a hard days work when I hear cedars and briers. That stuff is hard to get through.

The man on the mule used to hog hunt, but at 79 he’s gone towards coon and squirrel hunting. He did a have a Stephens/walker cross he says runs hog, coon and will tree squirrel. I’d give that dog a chance if the opportunity came about. Ol’ boy has a lot of knowledge of the local terrain and game.

Cajun, I don’t know what it is about that one spot, it seems the hogs leave there for a while then return. Might have something to do with the burn they just did, but we had just caught a couple boars in there post burn. I’m left scratching my head sometimes

Last week we loaded the buggy, trucks and a gaggle of dogs and hit the new private spot I acquired. We proceed to get the buggy off the trailer, let the dogs out to do their bathroom business and get the party started. As we start loading dogs on the buggy we notice a few are MIA. They winded some hogs and were in the 600 range by the time we noticed.

We take what’s left and get going, we got to the edge of a field when a hog comes running out and stops about 20 yards from us. He’s lop eared about 130-150 lb variety, we dump some dogs on him. The dogs split and the closest is a shoat that got scooped up and dispatched. The next is my Dan dog and an old gyp and they’re a good ways off. It takes us a bit to cover the distance, we get there and it’s a boar about 140 or so. The old gyp doesn’t have enough teeth to chew ice cream and Dan was fighting him the whole time. The rest of the dogs get there and tag him out, he’s spent and I was wondering if he was done for the day.

We got to see some good dog work after that fiasco, but they couldn’t put the brakes on any of them. Today I went to my usual public spot, road the dogs to an area I want to check, not much going on so I start walking them in a loop to see if we can cut a track. We go maybe 300 yards and I hear dogs barking and b they ain’t mine. The dogs start going to them, I’m trying to convince them to come with me, I succeed in getting three of the five. Shortly after my phone is ringing, gentleman tells me where he’s parked and I get there, he comes out of the woods riding this tall mule and I was instantly jealous.

We visited for a while, talked dogs and went our ways. I dropped at another spot, nothing but old sign and no action. I load up and go to another place I know, start walking the dogs down this high line road. We get a few hundred yards in and the dogs dip into the woods. They go about 370 +/-, they start to filter back except Disco Dan. He’s still working that area so I just watch him on the garmin. After a bit he stops moving at about 360, we start to him as a precaution, we get to about 170 and I hear him barking.  Dan is not a barking dog so I’m thinking we got us a Dozer boys. The other dogs get on scene and they got it caught up, I make my way in and grab legs, not a dozer but plenty good enough for the day we were having. Turned out to be a good size sow that appeared to be feeding in that area.

Dan and Pete take turns showing off their skills they’re learning, I was a proud papa today.