How do you hunt?

[cantexduck]

 I am re thinking about how I want my young pups to hunt. If you wouldnt mind could you please post the way you hunt and the reason why you do it that way?

[bghogdogtx]

My dad and i like getting out and walking behind the dogs. Simply because we injoy being out there with the dogs. watching them Work, gett in the woods ,and getting my Fat butt some excursie .  But dont get me wrong we do take a four wheeler for when they leave the county or we need to get a hog out.

[elliscountyhog]

the biggest factor is what dogs u are hunting them with is usually how they will turn out. I generally dont walk hunt my dogs it tends to make them wanna check back in too often or not range as far but that is what some people like. I will hunt one pup at a time because if u get one or two together they tend to play too much.

[cantexduck]

Ellis,
 I should of put this in the first post. I have two pups right now. I will start working with them in a few months. The gyp is out of a long range dog, I havent seen the sire/dam hunt but from what I have been told by a few people is that they sometimes hate to hunt with the dam, she just gets out there. I have only roaded most dogs, I like the idea of dropping at a feeder or sign and sitting back letting th dogs do the work. But I also like walking and letting teh dogs work that way as well. Is there a happy med. where I can have alittle of both worlds? Meaning, drop dogs and take off walking. Or if I dont feel like walking put them out and wait?
  Also, by roading a dog am I going to shorten its range? The one I am worried about is a young dog,10 or so months. He showed a crap load of hunt while training. He has been on a real hunt one time, a few nights ago.

[Noah]

This is what works for me in fairly thick terrain in Florida using fairly rough/med. range curs.   

I like short races(under a mile), I'm not after bottom, but I want 110% heat on that first run.  If they can't get it done, fine, come back and we'll go somewhere else and try it again.   I prefer to rotate pairs to keep that explosiveness fresh that I feel stops the runners.  Quiet mouth (till bay) dogs are a must.  Speed/explosiveness is my most desired trait in a dog.

I walk, road, cast, hood, you name it.   Whatever I have to do to get them to the sign I'll do.   When possible, I prefer to put them in downwind of where the hogs should be.  I prefer 1 strike dog(usually straight bay) and 1 hard dog(mostly bay, but will catch under 150#,  this is my anchor dog) that will just honor that lead dog.

What I watch for is when they leave out, if they're gone more than 5 minutes, it's time to head that way... because the bay is not far away.  I always have at least one carry in CD and usually a help dog to send in if the hog breaks.

My best success seems to be keeping within a 1/4-1/2 mi. of the dogs and being ready to cut in a help dog and get to the bay quick.  I hunt with pretty rough dogs and if you're too far away, things get messed up quick.

I don't like to run too many dogs at the same time, it creates too much noise and dogs seem to end up chasing each other's sound rather than maintaining heat on the hog.  Not to mention catching out of range and getting torn up.

This is my typical style.... I do, however, adjust my style depending on the conditions of the hunt.

On the subject of your pups eventual range, bottom is bottom imo, and I don't think you can change it much if it's in the dog's genetics.  I hate those dogs that just won't quit... 10hrs later they pop out on the road 15miles away from where you put in... look at you briefly as you're calling them... put their head down and continue to trot off into the horizon... You can have that

[Noah]

Great topic by the way, I hope everybody puts their 3cents in

[elliscountyhog]

I would start them out the way u hunt most of the time. I would change the way u hunt to train a dog just keep doing what ur used to and make sure the dog will make it that way, then work with it in diffrent hunting styles. Simply because if u try and make it hunt diffrent then u normally do then u will never like the dog and the way it will hunt.

As far as having both i would say that is kinda tuff. Cause by droping the dogs at the feeder and having them hunt and find hog will make them get out and find em, if u start walking them too much they will get acustom to returning and being closer to u. Hunt the way u hunt and be sure to have them hunt with a dog u really like and the way it hunts, best way to train a pup imo.

[keyserdawg]

I dont really agree with walking your dogs gets them acustomed to checking in.  But just my opinion with the dogs i have owned.  i like to walk them.  In my experience if you walk slow and stop often giving them time to get out and work an area before moving on to the next and so on.  A lot of the people i have road hunted with road too fast in my opinion.  The dogs end up worrying about the truck and staying ahead a lot dont get the time or take the time to work something up they might have at a slower speed.  But i guess with the road hunting you can cover more ground and in a lot shorter time.  I guess i mostly hike with the dogs because the places i hunt are thick and have no roads.  Just rambling.
Ben

[craig]

Great Topic.

 this is the reason you will see me hunting all over the country.(texas,arkansas,oklahoma,kansas,misouri), i take every oportunity to hunt with different people i can get.
i like to see alot of different hunting styles.

my style for hunting in Oklahoma Horse back:
#1 dog :silent on track and a really loose baying dog but one that will snag a running hog and make it bay up, a dog that has got alot of stay im talking about 2 or 3 hrs or longer till i can get there. a dog that will bay a 50#er if the dog is by its self.
a dog that can take some fresh sign and leave out and find a hog, long range dog.i dont want this dog to even want to catch a hog. reason:longer life i can hunt a dog like this till they get to old to hunt.
#2 dog : silent, a dog that will complement the first dog,alot of the same traits,not a rough or catchy dog, one that will turn a hog, but back up and bay. this dog dosent have to have as good a nose cause they are usually on the same hog, but have enough independance to split bay if needed.
2- catch dogs following me on horse
now thats my perfect pack.

but as you all know, we all have hunting partners, so if i add dogs (4 bay dogs total) to this they need to fit in and not get catchy cause it might take me a while to get caught up to them.
and a catchy dog is going to cause the hog to break, or cause the other dogs to catch, and this could be a wreck if its a big hog.

that my .02 it dosent fit even alot of the guys i hunt with but ,after 12yrs of hog doggin this is what i have now and wouldnt change a thing.

lets hear some more hunting styles  !!

[Silverton Boar Dogs]

I like to road and cast dogs, This is what I do.

I drive slow enough that the dogs are swinging loops of several minutes, when I see the dogs get gamey or pick up some sent I kill the truck and will not start it again and move untill all the dogs have returned to the truck or I have a bay. This teaches the dogs that they do not have to worry about me when they pick up a track, they can spend as long as they need to work it out. If a dog gets tired and comes back to the truck and just follows I will load it and put down a fresh one. My dogs never get used to trotting along with the truck that way. When I am casting dogs I will drive to a spot and drop my dogs and let them hunt, when a dog returnes it gets loaded. I have some plott/catahoula dogs that will cover about a square mile when cast, 45 min to 1 hour loop. My catahoulas are about half that.

[cantexduck]

Paul,
 So when the nose hits the ground you stop the truck? Sounds like you are doing what I would like to do. Alittle of both worlds.

  To pick your brain alittle, with a young dog how do you go about training it?

 Also, I have no older dog to hunt 100% with my young ones. I know, thats a problem but what am I going to do?

[elliscountyhog]

That is what we try to do as well Silverton but for some reason when we start up to leave the dogs run back in? So we figured we just wait em out.

[Boardog]

To me it all depends on how the dogs like to hunt most of my dogs are walk hunt dogs but when i take a select few i can road em. I do have a dog that i will pull up to tanks and kick out and wait and if he dont strike i will put em back in the truck and move on to the next tank or brush pile but you just gotta hunt the way the dogs feel comfortable hunting.

Michael Conatser

[Silverton Boar Dogs]

cantex, thats harder. Here is what I would do. Stake out a pig and drive up down wind. When they get a whif kill the truck jump out and follow them to the hog. As they get the hang of it stake the hog farther so they must hunt to find the smell in the air. They will learn that the hogs are out there and not at the truck. I would not road them much at all just drop them and then walk them out to a set up pig. and go from there.

[shawn]

walk, walk, walk, untill there is some fresh sign....set, stand, bs, smoke, whatever, wait for the dogs to come back or start wondering where they are, ask Micheal to pull out the tracker (I refuse to learn how to use them,lol) wait till you hear the sweet sound of a bay...most of the time followed by a squeal unless its big, then just barking, take off in that direction. get it over with as quick as possible to avoid to much damage to the pig, dogs, ourselves, etc. 

We're not really to scientific, either theres fresh sign or not, theres hogs there, or not.

[McCoy]

I like to walk watch the dogs work don't spook the hogs feels like it keeps the races shorter ain't nothin better that 5 miles of river bottom on full moon night

[Wmwendler]

Pual......640 acres is allot ....big loops for big country. 

Cantex......I hunt daytime off 4-wheeler and walk hunt Curs only.  I like 4 dogs on the ground at a time.  I can cover more ground faster on the 4-wheeler which works good during grain season I can go around the fields and find where the hogs are hitting them quicker.  But I do most of the hunting while walking.  When I walk hunt the dogs make bigger loops, and stay gone longer.  I like to read sign and do some hunting my self so I dont prefer a dog that hunts without me.  They might make 10-15 min loops and If they are gone longer than that with out checking in I know they are working something hot.  Some of my dogs you have to pay attention in thick stuff they will check in but you might not see them so you have to listen for them as they go by.  Allot of times, If the sign tells me there are not any hogs around and the dogs are making bigger loops than they need and are slowing me down I can wistle at them and they will hunt in closer or If I change my direction of travel in a big set of woods I will wistle them in so they will hunt out in the direction I go.  To me this is the most effecient way of hunting, the dogs dont have to hunt out places where there is no sign we just scoot right on through.  It also requires me to read the dogs and read the sign, which is part of the fun for me.  I can easily cover a couple thousand acres of 50/50 mixed woods and pasture in a morning and I will know there was not any hogs there If I don'f find any.

Waylon

[jhy]

We, Chuck and I, usually run 4 dogs, all will strike a hog by themselves but usually they pair up and work an area over  pretty good. None of them are rough or catchy and 2 Bulldogs. We hunt all ways there is that I can think of. Road, boat, walk, truck, cast, horseback ,etc.  All depends on terrain, landowners, weather, etc.  We run dogs with bottom, which is a better choice for us since we are in a semi hog populated area with runners around every bend.

Joey

[cowcountryhogdogger]

All of my dogs are short to medium range dogs and they all hunt different when walk hunting compared to casting or roading.  My dogs seem to get out farther and cover more country when they are roaded as compared to walk in hunted.  They will go either way, but mainly it depends on the country i'm hunting and the amount of land that I have permission to hunt on in one chunk.  More country means I'll road dogs and less country i'll walk hunt.  Seem to produce more hogs when roading and can cover more country.  When roading or walking and see a dog strike off on a track I wait for the dog to come back into sight before I move on.  Sometimes its a big wait depending on the country but they'll either turn up a pig or come back and we can move on.