the woods i hunt most of the time u crawl through briars or catclaw vines and it sucks, now back to the original point, when a good help dog runs with a good strike/bay dog we almost always catch all the hogs we have bayed and can usually crawl right up to the bay to cut the catch dog loose. i belive the terrain u hunt and the pressure on the hogs u hunt play a big role in all this also. but it works good for me so i like to have a good help dog aROUND
i belive the terrain u hunt and the pressure on the hogs u hunt play a big role in all this also. but it works good for me so i like to have a good help dog aROUND..
it was worth repeating...I have seen this system work...
A friend of mine had a dog that might find a hog once in a blue moon and if the hog broke he probably couldn't trail it much less find it...but when running with the pack, and he would make every step the pack made...he was the help dog that specialized in stopping a hog...
glad to know i aint the only one that thinks a good help dog is worth his feed
if i hunted places the hogs didnt break and run on then i would understand not wanting to feed a help dog, but to many independent dogs just dont cut it where i hunt...
Where do you hunt?
Have y'all ever heard the term, "self fulfilling prophecy"? In breeding and raising hunting dogs, you will eventually reap what you've sewn. I think some people elevate a strike dog to some lofty post and accept many faults in dogs simply because they can find a hog. That's certainly not what I'm after.
Tshelly used the term "hog dog" earlier and that's my opinion as well. If we'd quit breaking dogs down into specialties and raise our expectations, you'd find that one of days, every dog you feed will be a hog dog.
Now as far as independence goes, every dog should honor the strike of it's pack mates, or shut its hog down awful quick. A few weeks back one of my gyps bayed a sow behind the house, and the other one had one bayed not a minute later. I went towards the younger dog first and as I glanced at the garmin I saw the older one moving slowly towards me but I figured she'd left her hog. After I legged that sow, I heard both gyps baying 40 yards from me. The older one had moved her sow toward the original bay! I didn't breed these, and I take no credit, but they've taught me that HIGH standards produce great results
