mock hunt ideas lets hear em

[Texashog26]

Been wanting to do a mock hunt with our young dogs, of course we all have different ways of doing things so let me hear yalls way.

[KevinN]

Some use cages ...I just tie a leg....let the pig kinda run on his own..I give a little gentle guidance to get him moving the direction I want  But just let him walk till I get him where I want him then tie him out to a tree.

Let the pups loose and walk him towards the general area I started letting the pig walk at...wait for them to hit his track. If they don't take it I'll walk them a little further... Eventually they will pick it up. Then sit back and watch.

[catlin]

I have in the past hooked a Garmin collar to a regular collar to make it long enough to fit around a shoats body and turned it loose in a small block surrounded by county roads.  First time I usually give the hog a 2 min head start. But that is just with young pups first time or 2. After that I usually give 30 mins or more. I like to make my pups use their nose young. It is neat to watch the hog and young dogs on Garmin at same time. Have a good dog in truck incase pups can't get your collar back and duck tape around it to protect it from when ur young dogs bite it. Mine like to bite anything they can get their teeth on.

[pooldustin]

I like hanging a towel in the pen for two or three days and when I tie the hog out I will drag the towel on the ground back to the road to give the pups a little more sent for the first couple of times. Then I will just walk the hog in after that.

[redriverslim]

When pups are around 16 weeks old, put a small pig in their pen and let them bay it, chew it, etc.  Let them get some fur in their mouth and get a good taste for it so they darn sure know what one smells like.  Keep the sessions short, never let the pups get bored or lose interest.  Always stop the session when the pups are screaming for more.  In other words, the pups ALWAYS need to win the game.  Never let the pups get trashed or run over by the pig when they are this young, so make sure the pig is small enough they can dominate it.  Praise them real good immediately afterwards.  Now they will do it for themselves and do it for you too.   Do this a few times, maybe once per month, but don't overdo it.  When the pups are around 6 months old, put a medium size hog in a cage.  Let young dogs bay it from outside the cage.  If you have a big enough pen, let them bay and work a loose hog in a pen, but once again, make sure the pig is not going to trash the young dogs.  Do this a few times, always stopping the session short while the pups still want more.  When they get a little older (you decide) take a medium size hog and hobble it.  Go to the woods, and drag the hog a pretty good ways, laying a sent on the ground.  Now at this point, some people tie the hog.  Another way Ive seen it done is to shoot the hog in both front feet with a .22.  Im not saying I would do this, but it works.  Turn the dogs loose back at the starting point of the drag line and let them go to the hog.  When they get there, they got a hog standing there for them that cant run, and they can just stand back and bay it.  Do this a few times.  Each time, make it take a while longer for you to get to them, this will teach them to stay until you get there.  When they get old enough to keep up with grown dogs, just turn a young pup loose with a couple of finished dogs.  From this point, all you can do is keep them in the woods and let them figure it out for themselves.  NEVER turn more than one young dog out at a time.  Two young dogs will play with each other and distract each other.  They will also pick up bad habits from older dogs and other pups that have bad habits.  When I hunted a lot, I always turned out ONLY one young dog with two good dogs.

I aint no trainer, but this method worked for me on starting young dogs.           

[KevinN]

^ good advice on not letting pups get wrecked..one of the worse mistakes you can make.

[Bonnie_Clyde]

Red river slim, I really like your style... I am a true believer in letting pups get wrecked up pretty good from time to time, that will give a dog the best chance to survive in the real woods.

[Rocking Y]

Some use cages ...I just tie a leg....let the pig kinda run on his own..I give a little gentle guidance to get him moving the direction I want  But just let him walk till I get him where I want him then tie him out to a tree.

Let the pups loose and walk him towards the general area I started letting the pig walk at...wait for them to hit his track. If they don't take it I'll walk them a little further... Eventually they will pick it up. Then sit back and watch.

KevinN I do the same thing.  I've Never thought of the Garmin collar idea like catlin but it sound like it would be pretty cool

[Texashog26]

Yea guys I've just been watchin and readin everyones response and wish I'd posted it earlier. I've got/had a very well started gyp.  At 6 months she was goin step for step with very good dogs and would bay the hair off a hog. But she didn't really have the know how to work a hog. 1st good hog tore the artery out her neck, couple hundred later and a late night vet trip she was good. Got her healed and sure enough first good hog hits her on the other side, nothin bad small cut but a sign. Last week I took her with us and she got run over by a hog, broken leg. She had worked in a pen a couple times, but not to much. As soon as she wanted to go with the big dogs we let her and I wish now I had worked her more in a pen or on mock hunts, just to learn how to handle a hog, when to be rough, and when to get away. Time will tell on her, if all fails she is a pretty little thing so we will breed her to something good and hope for the best on the next go round.

[Reuben]

Yea guys I've just been watchin and readin everyones response and wish I'd posted it earlier. I've got/had a very well started gyp.  At 6 months she was goin step for step with very good dogs and would bay the hair off a hog. But she didn't really have the know how to work a hog. 1st good hog tore the artery out her neck, couple hundred later and a late night vet trip she was good. Got her healed and sure enough first good hog hits her on the other side, nothin bad small cut but a sign. Last week I took her with us and she got run over by a hog, broken leg. She had worked in a pen a couple times, but not to much. As soon as she wanted to go with the big dogs we let her and I wish now I had worked her more in a pen or on mock hunts, just to learn how to handle a hog, when to be rough, and when to get away. Time will tell on her, if all fails she is a pretty little thing so we will breed her to something good and hope for the best on the next go round.

in the bay pen a pup can learn quite a bit including grown dogs...but if the pup is getting rough on a shoat then you need to put a bigger pig in the bay pen...you want the pup to also respect the hog because if the pup thinks it can dominate all hogs without having to protect itself it will do the same the first time on a big boar in the woods...I learned that one the hard way...

[Wmwendler]

I've been cooking up the idea of putting a heavy duty run between two trees about 50 feet apart (like a dog run).  Basically a long heavy cable stretched between two trees with a pully and a rope  attached to a hog down below via Harness.  That way the hog can run full speed the full 50 feet and I can push the hog and make the pups keep him bayed.

Any one ever successfully used a harness on a hog where they cant get out of it.

Waylon

[Rocking Y]

I've been cooking up the idea of putting a heavy duty run between two trees about 50 feet apart (like a dog run).  Basically a long heavy cable stretched between two trees with a pully and a rope  attached to a hog down below via Harness.  That way the hog can run full speed the full 50 feet and I can push the hog and make the pups keep him bayed.

Any one ever successfully used a harness on a hog where they cant get out of it.

Waylon

Well Waylon we used a horse halter a few years ago but I can't quite remember how we had it on there where it wouldn't come off

[charles]

 I bought a dog harness for a shoat, put a garmin collar on him and tied a 2x4 to the harness and let him go in my field and then he headed to the tree line and then into a harvested corn field. the pups did good, i noticed the hog was sitting still for way to long, so i headed to him with the pups in trail. get to where the collar is showing, didn't hear any grunting or squealing and found the booger slipped the harness and popped smoke and left the country. even though the shoat got away, it was a successful mock up, except him slipping the harness. next time i gotta find a way to keep the harness on the hog and tie the 2x4 to the hog, not the harness.

[Wmwendler]

A horse halter might work good if modified.

[reatj81]

Crate I get from work put it on skids, enclose  and off I go.  Can really challenge dogs, in total  control of the track I lay? How old it is, can place where they can wind.  Just real easy & fast to have a little mock hunt.  Don't even have to get dirty.

[Bowhunter1994]

Thanks for the ideas folks