I don't like ruff dogs either, and I hate dogs that come back after a mile or two knowing they was to sorry to keep going. I usually feed them to the worms or whatever's around. I have 1 ruff dog as we speak and only reason I still do is because certain people at my house like him so he's here to stay and he won't bay a hog he's either caught or laid over in the grass wondering if it's going to be his last breath. But that's just what I like and don't like. Most around here hunt loose dogs so one ruff dogs usually gets all them wrecked if it's a bad hog or makes it break and just have to run it longer. Like someone said earlier in the post if I had to feed a dog that quit after a mile id buy me some fishing tackle. I like a dog that when you let it go it kicks rocks and goes hunting and don't look back. I got a dog named Ben now I been letting my buddy hunt for a while, he's got to where when you pull up on the fourwhweler to cut him off a track to go home he will go around you and this dogs daddy was like that, their kinda aggravating for most people but it's what I like and he's loose unless it's several other dogs their then he gets ruff so we only try to hunt him with not many on the ground. yoy can find a dog that will run a hog 1 or 2 miles a dime a dozen. But one that will take a track work it out and put a hog on the end or stay after until your ready to go home is a needle in a hay stack.
Bo be careful, we can't take that kind of honesty around here. Lol
No all kiddin aside all I ever implied is that the "ruff, catch'em quick or come back" style of dogs are not true "hog dogs" IMO and its getting me killed on here. I love to bow hunt whitetail deer from time to time as well and if this country ever outlaws bow hunting I'm done with deer. I refuse to hunt with a gun it just doesn't do it for me. Same with hogs, its not just about "catchin a hog" to some of us. I credit this to having caught thousands of hogs in my life and killed several Pope&Young class bucks in my life and if having "been there before" makes me arrogant then I apologize. I used to help a guy do guided hog hunts in an enclosure and 15-18 years ago I LOVED IT but I soon realized two things were constant. First we was going to catch hogs EVERY day and very few on the dogs we were using could bay the tougher kind of hogs on the outside. And by "tougher kind" I mean most hogs are easy to catch with decent dogs but some require a MUCH higher class of dog. This realization turned me off eventually and I started to desire the upper class of dog. Now don't get me wrong I still love to catch an ol' nasty boar and I do it consistently with whatever dogs I have at the time but you'll never catch me on here saying "they produce so they must be hog dogs" or "they work for me and thats all that matters" Nope, I will say I caught a few damn nice hogs this week with mostly "junk" and a couple promising pups and Iif my hunting buddies ask me if I have a "hog dog" I'll say "nope, I have a dog that will bay a hog but not a hog dog" and they'll understand exactlt what I'm saying. If being honest with ourselves is so elusive then its no wonder a new guy getting into hog hunting can't find a decent dog to start with. Had a guy text me the other day and told me to keep an eye out for him a hog dog and I replied "hog dog or HOG DOG!" He then replied "you know." Yes I do!!!
On a side note, being honest with ourselves isn't always the case, some folks just don't know. Take care and I'm sorry for all tge toes I have stepped on.
