When I was hunting I rather have a dog that stayed busy in the headlights or just a tad further and find hogs on a regular basis then one that took off like its tail was on fire before it started hunting. I have seen it many times where the dogs that took off several hundred yards or more before they started hunting were out struck by the dogs that hunted in closer but stayed busy. There was many a time the "long range dog" was bayed up over a mile away once he found and bayed up a hog and we caught hogs with the "short range" dogs going to them. There were even times we had to track to the long range dog because we could not hear it baying and caught hogs going to it as well. IMHO shorter range busy dogs will produce more hogs then long range get out of the country type dogs, however if the hogs are scarce in your area I can see the need for a go yonder type dog as well.
A wide hunting dog that passes up hogs is just as sorry a dog as a short range dog that doesn't find anything at all. Only difference between the two should be that when a shorter type dog has made a round and returns back, that the longer dog is still hunting deeper. It shouldn't have anything to do with which can find hogs that are close. I'll cull a dog that leaves the box and runs a 1/2 mile before it starts hunting just as quick as I'll cull one that won't leave the box at all.
I'll never say that one type or the other is a better dog, just a personal preference of what you choose to hunt.
I agree 100 percent with both...
I like dogs that hunt with me but at the same time are independent enough to range out and catch hogs...I like a dog that covers about 3 hundred yards in all directions and hunts in loops...that dog is covering a radius of 6 hundred yards and with a good winding and tracking nose this dog can and will find hogs...there are dogs that are brush beaters who can't find a hog unless they stumble on them and there are dogs that have that knack in finding hogs and these dogs can and will make it look easy...
Range...like already mentioned a longer ranging dog can usually be made to hunt closer if he is not too independent...yep...a dog can be too independent, to a fault, and this dog can be a pain in the rear...making a longer ranging dog hunt closer can be as simple as traveling a little faster on the wheeler...and shorter ranging dogs can be made to range further if we stop or slow down often...same with teaching the dogs to take colder tracks...when they start smelling around on hog scent shut it down and let the dogs work until they give it up or work it out before moving...if you want the dogs to work hotter tracks then don't wait on the dogs and move on...
I like a dog that when I see decent hog sign there is no doubt in my mind that the dog will be baying in 10 minutes or less and it could be a 1/4 mile or a mile away...as leaders of the pack we always need to be thinking about what is best for the the pack... and then we must do what we can to set them up for success...
