The "better" good old days..........for me.

Showing my age..............35 years ago there was very few hogs in the hill country, you never saw one on the highway, never saw one at a deer feeder, never saw one out just driving around the pasture. The only sign you would find would be when some livestock was killed. Back then there was only one man in 100 miles of us that had hog dogs and maybe futher. No one used curs, or catch dogs; only full blood running Walkers. It was nothing to start a boar at daylight and kill him after dark that night, no tracking systems back then didnt help. In those days 1 good hog a week was doing great.

At about 18 I remember my dad telling us that it wouldnt be long and there would be as many hogs as whitetail deer in the hill country and i thought he was full of it. Of course he was right as dads usally are.

I hunt some of the same country we hunted 35 years ago and I can say without a doubt I catch to this day 10xs the hogs we caught back then. One a week was good back then...........my avg now is about 3 every time i turn out (11 in the last 3 hunts) on the same country.
Curs and catch dogs stoped those runs we had back then but keep in mind this is on country that not many have dogged.

What i see on ranches were several others have hunted before me is a lil different and i dont mean to step on toes here (cause i loose hogs too) but so many are running trashy worhtless dogs that they spoil the hogs. So that by the time you get on them with good dogs with some grit they know the game already. Running totally closed mouthed dogs has helped that for me.

The main problem is the number of hunters yes but most of all the number of hunters that dont have a clue about what they are doing.
I have had young men here tell me they had a hog run a dog to death.........after investigation find out the dog was on an audad the whole time and they didnt know what the dog was running and yes the dog over heated and died.

In my area I dont see the hogs changing in physical appearance but for sure getting smarter and most of it is from being trained by clueless hunters.

Maybe its just the difference in where I hunt but I catch more faster today than I ever have in 35 yrs, and I have used this type dog pack for the last 20 yrs.

Again I dont mean to step on toes or point so please no one take it that way.