Word of Advise .

[reatj81]

Its all changing, the hogs run more, get chased more, and they are smarter.  I used to hunt 1 or 2 dogs that would catch smaller ones, shut down and bay bigger ones.  Now seems as soon as one bark, hogs run before they can even be stoped, and will run straight threw another group of hogs.  There are so many hogs now they can easily run to another group of hogs, and break the dogs up.  Just when you think you have the right mix of bottom, stop, and bay, something happens and I am back to figuering where I lacking at in dogs.  One dog can make or ruin a hunt, too much ruff, or not enough, and trying to match the dogs up for the perfect combo.  I have one dog hurt rite now, and without him the races have increased.  But when he is in the game, if you add one more ruff, thats too much and they catch hogs that they shouldnt, and stand a greater chanch of getting hurt.  When I have added ruff, it also made the looser ones ruffer, they feed on one another.   If I put all the ruff ones together, I would only be going to a pile of leftovers.   And yes im hoping the get the super dog that has it all, but untill then its about a pack complimenting one another, easier said than done!

[halfbreed]

i here ya pain tex . i'm headed in with a longer legged hound cross this year but they still seem gritty enough to shut one down [i hope ] . but i never gave up my hard hitters just in case . i'll allways have a few of them ruff as cobb cats around . i was supposed to have dun bin at it but mom got sick on me poor oll gal had to spend her 80th birth day in the hospital . she's home now and much better so we'll see what the new dogs got this weekend or next

[cantexduck]

Jimmy, not the same guy.


 Good post Richard.

[TexasHogDogs]

reatj81,

Yeah man its tuff real tuff to get it right it can take years and years to perfect and then one wrong move and you are rubbing your head again.  I think for sure Iam gonna take that little black male and get him bred to Blu .  T.H. says the stop is there in them dogs and that has been the plan for me all along to cross mine with his .  When it comes to hog dogs T.H.'s words are as solid as a 100 year old Oak Tree he  knows his dogs inside and out and then some , so yeah think I might just do that.

 halfbreed
Thats what I have done I have put some of that stuff up and back for a rainny day man you never know when you gonna need some thing like that I always got the real stuff deal close close just in case .

[reatj81]

Jimmy i def think we are on the correct page.  And yes these pups have it all.

[Bump]

  I know of a hunter not far from you at all. He has some real loose dogs, with lots of bottom. That mexican piles up the pork.

How dare you call him a mexican...he is Italian. I just broke the news to his brother a few weeks ago and he hasn't spoke to me since.

[buddylee]

QUOTE from MIKE  "You ever think it's the other way around? The hogs are running so bad because they learn to adapt from years of dogs biting and chewing on their a$$?"

Might need to breed more "run" into the dogs to keep up with the hogs.

The problem is biting and chewing, not catching and holding. If dogs are gonna catch, they need to commit and hang on. If they bite and chew without catching they only educate the hogs.

[buddylee]

Another point about the catchy dogs. I sometimes hunt with a very well known and very knowledgeable hog dog hunter. He made an interesting commit about me wanting catchy dogs. He stated basically that I would get more injuries but would catch more hogs in the same time period than he could with his bottomless curs. I saw this first hand when we hunted both dogs. While he was busy following his dogs to a bay, we had two hogs already tied before he ever found his dogs and their bayed hog.

[Reuben]

Its all changing, the hogs run more, get chased more, and they are smarter.  I used to hunt 1 or 2 dogs that would catch smaller ones, shut down and bay bigger ones.  Now seems as soon as one bark, hogs run before they can even be stoped, and will run straight threw another group of hogs.  There are so many hogs now they can easily run to another group of hogs, and break the dogs up.  Just when you think you have the right mix of bottom, stop, and bay, something happens and I am back to figuering where I lacking at in dogs.  One dog can make or ruin a hunt, too much ruff, or not enough, and trying to match the dogs up for the perfect combo.  I have one dog hurt rite now, and without him the races have increased.  But when he is in the game, if you add one more ruff, thats too much and they catch hogs that they shouldnt, and stand a greater chanch of getting hurt.  When I have added ruff, it also made the looser ones ruffer, they feed on one another.   If I put all the ruff ones together, I would only be going to a pile of leftovers.   And yes im hoping the get the super dog that has it all, but untill then its about a pack complimenting one another, easier said than done!

x1000... ;DIMO this has been the biggest challenge when it comes to hog dogging...we might have the right dogs for one type of terrain, move the same dogs to a different terrain and they are the wrong dogs for that area...sometimes a good (specialty type) me too dog added to the pack is what will get the job done...most of the time a me too dog can't find a hog on its own but will follow the strike dog to hell and back...

[Bar W]

This is just me and the kind of country we hunt Iam sure there is different types of dogs for different types of country .  Over here if you ain't got the right amount of grit stop and some catch in them they gonna run all day long .  I knocked the catch out of mine and look whats happened and apparently when you talk about knocking the catch out of dog you are also sacrificing a ton of stop power the two kinda running neck and neck .  Knock one out and you gonna knock some of the other also that is what has hurt me .

  I know of a hunter not far from you at all. He has some real loose dogs, with lots of bottom. That mexican piles up the pork.

There is just something I admire about dogs that will truly strike, stick with, bay, and work a hog.

Different strokes for different folks……

Most of the oltimers I started out hunting with, wouldn’t hunt a dog that would put their mouth on a hog or tear one up.

I always thought that mentality came from a different perspective, where people used their dogs to work their animals, whether that be to round up, mark, or sell. Most couldn’t afford to have their livestock tore up.

Some of the ol guys in my area still talk about what it was like to free-range and ear mark hogs. That’s always an enjoyable, but often a one sided conversation where I rarely speak, but listen for all my ears are worth.

Either way times are changing, use what works for you and enjoy your hunts…

JMO…

This is what my grandpa said about dogs back in the 30 and 40's he would use one or two dogs to bay up groups of hogs and ride his horse in and pick up the shoats with a rope cut em and mark em and the dog would never have to touch the hogs. The horse would watch for the sows and put a foot in her ribs if she got to close. This was around Woodville Livingston area. If a dog put teeth on hog he culled it.

[Kessling Kennels]

Back in the late 70's and 80's there were alot of doggers that worked hogs (catch,cut) and only harvested what they needed.
When i was a kid I never had a tracking system just plain old school ears and eyes.
When dogs would bay we would walk in and catch what we wanted. I don't remember having all these hogs running like today.
Our dogs were gritty but mainly bayed tight.
The old timer that I started dogging with would  not go for a dog that was straight catch unless he was on a lead.

Now what I've noticed over the last 15 years is there is alot more new doggers hitting the woods with not the OLD TIMER beside them teaching them the better ways to handle dogs and the woods.

Todays world most doggers are harvesting every hog they catch,Over time (IMO)this has educated the hog population.
We have caught the majority of the old school stand,bay,fight,etc......hogs and the ones that have adapted to running to no end have survived.
I have the amount of dogs that I do because I have ruff,loose,straight catch, and Im always trying to add to the pot and everytime I get outrun I go hours on end the try and figure out a new  stratagy.
If we all had everything figured out it would not be any fun,This is what keeps our intrest up is how are we going to produce the perfect hog machine.
When someone figures it out please advise

[Kessling Kennels]

I had a couple of young doggers I met over the weekend at the local feed store and got to talking hog doggin and they were very arrogant young men.
They proceeded to tell me that they never have been out run by a hog and catch 5 to 6 hogs average every night they hunt
I sure hope they don't think Im that stupid the believe that BS.

I just gave up, they were probably 18 to 20 yrs old and knew everything and have seen everything in the woods.
I learned when I was young that you learned alot more by keeping your eyes and ears open and the big mouth shut.

Just thought it was funny.

[SCHitemHard]

I had a couple of young doggers I met over the weekend at the local feed store and got to talking hog doggin and they were very arrogant young men.
They proceeded to tell me that they never have been out run by a hog and catch 5 to 6 hogs average every night they hunt
I sure hope they don't think Im that stupid the believe that BS.

I just gave up, they were probably 18 to 20 yrs old and knew everything and have seen everything in the woods.
I learned when I was young that you learned alot more by keeping your eyes and ears open and the big mouth shut.

Just thought it was funny.

makes me sad to live in that generation, hope you fellas dont think that of me

[RyanTBH]

I had a couple of young doggers I met over the weekend at the local feed store and got to talking hog doggin and they were very arrogant young men.
They proceeded to tell me that they never have been out run by a hog and catch 5 to 6 hogs average every night they hunt
I sure hope they don't think Im that stupid the believe that BS.

I just gave up, they were probably 18 to 20 yrs old and knew everything and have seen everything in the woods.
I learned when I was young that you learned alot more by keeping your eyes and ears open and the big mouth shut.

Just thought it was funny.

Fixing that only comes from years of putting your foot in your mouth. Lol! After a while you just learn to shut up and listen. This is a great post, and my eyes are open and busy.

[Kessling Kennels]

Let me say I have also met and hunted with a few young men and ladies that show the upmost respect and really want to learn.
These are the type young hunters I will go over and above to make sure they are heading on the right path.

I gave away more dogs that these kids could not afford because I knew they would be treated and hunted with respect of the sport.

Not all the older hunters know everything but most have seen alot more and can maybe get the younger hunters going in the best way.
I still learn something everytime I unload my dogs.

[jhy]

I have been both routes and ended up keeping a pack of each for a while. The looser dogs always seem to outlast the rough dogs in the end though.

Joey

[TexasHogDogs]

There is just about as many different ways and different dogs as there is different people.  This post was put here to try and help some people that might find it useful when they are thinking of going different ways when they already have good dogs and are catching tieing big hogs.  The pasture is not always greener on the other side and it only takes one slip to mess up what great stuff you already had maybe not mess it up but put a dent in what you already had that was a close to flawless and you imagined .  I bred dogs for a long long time not cur dogs but bulldogs and I can tell you it only takes one breeding to pull out the good things just as much as one breeding can put in good things and most the times if you are not careful even with hard studied and much thought about breedings things can throw you big time curves.

Breeding dogs over the years I have found out that its not so much the bloodlines to worry about but it is about finding the right and correct clicks between two dogs once you find those clicks you need to breed them to the wheels fall off because this is were it is at .  I doubt very serisouly if a man ever has but maybe one perfect dog in his life time I know I have had some great ones but only one stands out as the perfect dog and the catch to the story is I didnt even know how he was bred and no one else did either !  He was found at a road side park sitting on a picnic table the greatest damn hog dog I ever owned are seen and becaue I didnt know how he was bred I never even got a damn pup out of him because I didnt want to breed him into my lines of dogs even tho he would burn every damn great bred dogs ass up in my yard when it came to finding baying holding and shutting down any size of hog he found hogs with other dogs could not  !  I have kicked my self in the ass ever since to damn proud and stubborn to take a chance might be the biggest mistake I have ever made !  He died  on the run stuck in the neck  under the cut collar chasing a big 275 lb boar hog that it took me two years to catch after he got killed !  Needless to say he taught me a golden lessen breed to the dog not the paper and if you got something good dont mess with it  !

[uglydog]

This is what my grandpa said about dogs back in the 30 and 40's he would use one or two dogs to bay up groups of hogs and ride his horse in and pick up the shoats with a rope cut em and mark em and the dog would never have to touch the hogs. The horse would watch for the sows and put a foot in her ribs if she got to close. This was around Woodville Livingston area. If a dog put teeth on hog he culled it.

BarW, my Grandpa tells me the same about them Free ranging hogs in the lufkin area when 59 was a one lane road. a piggin string is what they used to pick up the pigs from the ground into saddle. He also has other good stories too!

[cantexduck]

Italian my butt.


     I Wouod rather loose a few hogs then have to doctor dogs all the time. Rough dogs get hurt.

[TexasHogDogs]

I sure like watching dogs working hogs its a pretty site spinning hogs .  I imagine the hogs back in the ole days were not near as bad as they are today with everybody and their cousins chasing them.  Times changed shorter land bigger badder meaner running hogs because we are not trying to herd them are drive them but catch and tie them are shoot them and so the hogs change with times with that being said as the hogs change and adapt also being culled by everything from mother nature to all of us chasing and culling them the hogs get stronger faster meaner and everything else so  the dogs have to change to adapt to the hogs in order to stop them bay them and catch them.  Am not saying ruff gritty catchy dogs are better than any great loose baying dogs but I like them better and for my situtation shorter land to hunt pissed off farmers I have to have them plus Iam 50 years old and dont want to go on long races if I dont have to. If I had 10,000 acres to hunt it still would not change for me I still would not want loose baying dogs and long races and thats just me Iam sure others feel the oppsite and have different situations there is not a thing wrong with it at all.


Its just the times .