Old boar

[Hollowpoint]

I got an invite to run the dogs at a friend from church’s ranch just north of the Red River. We get the buggy loaded and we’re off, we check a couple pastures that’ve been getting hit for nothing, then move to another area where they like to travel through and spend time in. As we approach our creek crossing the land owner spots a hog above us on the opposite side of the creek (this is the moment I realize I left my pistol in the truck), my initial assessment is he’s a big one and I don’t know if this young pack can hold him for me to stick. Too late, the sequence of events is unfolding and there ain’t no turning back now. If they can’t hold him I’ll be relegated to throwing rocks and sticks. He starts leaving and all I see is a glimpse of him going out of sight over the hill.

We get to where he was and the four older dogs take up the trail, and the young catahoula pup is doing her own thing before she joins the others. Things happened kind of fast so my recollection might be skewed a bit. They hit 400, then 500 and shortly after I hear barking. We drive back down the way we came in, cross the stream and get as close as we can to the action.

They’re 200 yards and the fight is on, they’re on the neighbors place and I get over the fence and am hustling to the action. My friend is calling the neighbor but I’m confident he will find us. As I get closer I can hear dogs caught and those who aren’t are barking, I pick my way through the briers and cedars I can see they got control of him. I can’t get behind him like I want because he’s backed up against some rocks and trees (I wait just a second to see if he tries to shake the dogs off when he sees me coming in). The dogs still got him so I make my move and run in front of him and get to the rear, grab his tail and finish it.

The old warrior had some bald spots from rubbing, scars from fighting and missing his bottom cutters, he still had his uppers. None of the dogs got hurt and the land owner was less one hog on his ranch. We go to another lease of his right up the road, this place is covered in honey locust, cedars and briers, I mean thorns galore. We drop the dogs and they’re going in the brush, it’s not long and we hear bacon bits getting stretched, bigger hogs grunting and general chaos. We get to them and find the baby they grabbed up, saw one little escapee run off and my plott brought one to us like a retriever. I see my Pete dog got cut right next to his McNuggets. I don’t know if there was a boar in the mix or if it was a sow attacking him in the rally, got him home and doctored him up.

All in all a great day for us.

[NLAhunter]

Sounds like them dogs is working for you good hunt

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[t-dog]

Hollowpoint your dogs sound like they have made hog dogs. They will continue to get better with experience but they’ve figured out their style and they know what they are there for. Keep feeding them hog tracks. I’m glad that hog didn’t have the teeth to hurt anything. We don’t carry a side arm but we keep a 30/30 on the buggy for the mallard wannabe’s. I keep a couple pair of handcuffs on me and they have saved my not so bright self. I caught a boar about 230ish the day after I had a plate and screws put in my left wrist. I was solo with two bay dog pups and a GREEN bulldog. It was full blown summer and dry dry. Those pups bayed the boar and out of reflex I sent the bulldog. I was just exploring a spot and letting the pups get out while worked on the bulldogs handle. He caught and as soon as I grabbed the hog I knew I had made a mistake. We had a heck of a wrestling match for what seemed like the rest of the day but was probably 15-20 minutes. I didn’t have the ability to throw him with one arm. I didn’t have the ability to stick him with my broke arm while holding a leg with the other. The bulldog was tired and hot. The hog was hot and MAD. I was hot, tired and wondering how I was gonna do this. My knife was kicked out of my bad hand and stomped down into the dry creek bed sand so deep I couldn’t find it. Then I remembered I had hand cuffs. I pushed him into the bank, reached over and cuffed the opposite front leg and was able to get him over then used my knee to push his hind leg up close enough to cuff it. Then I snapped a lead to the cuffs and ran it up over a root high on the bank to keep his feet up. I got the bulldog back and dug my knife up that was easily a foot deep and stuck the hog. I got my cuffs off and myself and all 3 dogs went to a pond and laid in the water for a while. Those cuffs were a blessing! I don’t mean to hijack your thread, just an example of how they helped me. We don’t carry a gun on person for several reasons. Many of our land owners allow us to hunt because we don’t shoot so they don’t have to worry about cattle, people, or deer being shot. The other part is that every now and then the dogs get on a spot that we just can’t get ahold of the landowner and we had to go get dogs. If you are caught in there they could press trespassing charges on you but if you have a firearm on you it gets way more serious. That isn’t as much of an issue now with being able to tone dogs but it could happen still.


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[Hollowpoint]

Thanks NLA and t dog. The dogs suit me ok, they’re not everybody’s cup of tea but I’ll keep feeding them. T dog, that’s a wild story. I’m not in my 30’s anymore and often alone in the woods, the pistol has helped when situations went a little sideways. It is not my primary, but an insurance policy like the handcuffs. I might look into a set of those, there are times when I could hobble and release or transport a hog.

[make-em-squeel]

good dog wk

[WayOutWest]

That's a real good outcome for that hunt, those dogs are hooking up.

[The Old Man]

 That was a scruffy looking hog for sure. Do you vest all your dogs?

[Hollowpoint]

Old man, no just the ones I know that are gonna catch. The old boy I got the plott from never ran one on him, but when I took him he asked me to put one on him. So I did to honor his request, those short vests don’t seem to hamper them from what I can tell. I do watch them to see if they’re getting too hot.

When I first started the two young brothers I just had collars on them, when they got to the point where they started catching hogs on their own, they were catching and not baying (unless it was a big boar that would make them). So in the interest of keeping them alive, I bought them the Aussie style vests.