Barrs

[Lance]

Clayton, I make barrs because I like to catch them later and butcher them and I've ate everyone I've caught. It is something I was taught to do and have always done and so do most of the other hunters in my area. I also enjoy catching a good barr because it is not something you do everyday and I find a 400 pound barr more challenging and fun than a 250 pound boar or a bunch of sows and pigs. I don't release boars or sows, just barrs. I had a great time at your tournament last year and bragged about yall and your tournament to everyone that would listen and if I did'nt have to work this year then I would'nt miss it for any other tournament because I would like to visit with yall again. It's just differences of opinions. You might like a Chevy and I might like a Ford but I would drive a Chevy for the right price. I just prefer a Ford because that is what I grew up with and I like barrs for the same reason.

[TShelly]

Clayton,

We cut Barrs for two reasons. #1 and by far most important is Sausage!!! It has long been a tradition of our ancestors to cut hogs, turn them out for the year and then go collect your hogs for winter so the family can eat. Obviously times have changed but we still carry on this age-old custom. I don't know  about y'all or anyone else but we don't eat boar hogs.you can take and cut a boar and within 2-3 months his boar taint is gone. Then for however much longer he lives he starts to marble and get fat within the meat. Which all equals some of the best table fare you could ever ask for!! The fried back straps are a pieces of heaven on Earth.  #2 we do it for the trophy aspect. We trophy deer hunt in the winter, trophy hog hunt in the spring, & fish in the summer. It's adrenaline rush to continuously year after year catch huge teethed, 300+# hogs that you can then turn around and eat.

That being said we hunt totally different country. Where most of our barring takes place we pay for deer lease memberships or the people that own the property want their hogs "worked". So that takes alot of the angry owner/rancher/ farmer issues out of it. For the most part our country is endless miles of pine plantation, youpon thickets and oak flats. The damage from the hogs is minimal vs. y'all's country where most of the land is family owned, ranched or farmed.

Where my gripe on it is say you have a hunt that happened to them mike & big e last year where we bay 4 barrs, dogs get totally wrecked, punctured lungs, kills mikes Tweety dog and so on. But the dogs did work and sucked all 4 hogs up and got them in the trailer. There were 258, 264, 301, & 406# in the group, and plus its all on video. Now most hog hunters would give their left nut to be on a hunt like this. Then we show up for a tournament and the tournament won't take the hogs because "the majority" of the weekend warrior hog hunters now don't practice this old custom. It's not a big deal to y'all or other people because y'all don't ever do any of the extra work cutting hogs, therefor don't have them in your hunting areas. People that think its no big deal to rule them out for the most part don't ever catch Barrs. Therefore feel slighted when other people bring them in by the trailer full.

Didn't y'all have a Barr in y'all's stringer last year that won TDHA??

In the 10+ tournaments we've been involved in we've only ever caught Barrs once and actually got 2nd that time lol so it's not really a huge deal to us. We would rather keep them to eat anyway

[fatboy outfitters]

Tony,
Sorry we had 4 boar hogs and 1 sow that we turned in. We actually had one more sow on the trailer that was about 200 too. I have nothing against traditions that have been passed down. Talked to my grandpa about this and he said that some used to do that, but most weren't picky at all. He said that they didn't have the money turn a Barr hog loose in country to let get bigger. What ever they trapped or caught they ate. Didn't matter if it was a boar sow or piglet.  It was a meal for them. 

[boarwild]

Thank you to the person for starting this post.  I am on the board of TDHA and i do have a part in the rules being written.  This is as Paul T. noted is an on going fight we are having.  We get a bunch more people that complain about Barr's being entered then the other way around.  I am very much against cutting hogs and "re-catching" them on a personal level only becuase i wouldn't have a place to hunt if i did it.  I am not gonna go into my views on this becuase its besides the point.  However, i have been hunting a contest and caught a barr that no one had any idea where it came from.  We entered it and we won.  Would i be very mad if the rules didn't allow for it, yes your dang right, becuase i (or anyone i know) did not cut that boar.  

We are the final hunt of trail of tears and for that contest you are not allowed to enter a barr.  We are currently throwing around many different ideas and i am glad this subject has been brought up on here so we can monitor responses.  I highly encourage all of you that hunt contest to respond to this post with your views.  

We are writing rules right now and this is a very HIGH input topic right now.  

[boarwild]

i forgot to mention at the end of the day we totally realize it is impossible to please everyone, but we will do our best to make it as right as we can. 

[cward]

We are in Texas and we are one as dog hunters. Where we live we Barr hogs where ya'll live ya'll don't. It is the Texas dog hunters association not the Texas dog Hunter association with no Barr dogs. We hunt hogs as a tradition and would prefer hog over deer. Everyone with in 30 miles of me Barr hogs. We are not farmers most of us are ranchers there is a difference. These cowboys and ranchers work hogs on there own ranches  I understand ya'll are not allowed to work hogs but we are different. Im afraid that if y'all take barrs out it will separate US. Matter afact I know it will. Someone will start putting on competition that allow them locally  

[T-Bob Parker]

Here's my input.

Barrs are hogs too, I can't very well "train" the dogs not to "trash" on barrs can I?

It's the same thing as you writing a rule that no listed boars will be allowed in the stringer and that all red boars get a 5 pound deduction.

Just kinda silly when you think on it huh?



I've cut a few this year specifically because I want to be able to catch big ol trophy Barr hogs in the future. Matter of fact I know of a dang nice boar right down the road that I'm about to go drop on his track and if I catch him, his balls are coming out whether it hurts me in the contests or not.

[Mike]

Matt, barr hogs have always been allowed on the TDHA hunts... no need to change the rules now?

The polygraph should cover any issues on people releasing hogs for contests... whether it be boar, barr or sow.

[boarwild]

We are in Texas and we are one as dog hunters. Where we live we Barr hogs where ya'll live ya'll don't. It is the Texas dog hunters association not the Texas dog Hunter association with no Barr dogs. We hunt hogs as a tradition and would prefer hog over deer. Everyone with in 30 miles of me Barr hogs. We are not farmers most of us are ranchers there is a difference. These cowboys and ranchers work hogs on there own ranches  I understand ya'll are not allowed to work hogs but we are different. Im afraid that if y'all take barrs out it will separate US. Matter afact I know it will. Someone will start putting on competition that allow them locally  

We are Texas Dog Hunters Association as in protection for all dog hunters.  Its not just about the hog hunting.  I totally agree with you in difference in locations and like or dislikes when it comes to hunting.  That is why i have to throw out my personal opinion and be here for everyone.  Its like trying to force a democrat to become a republican or vice versa.  We all have our own beleifs but at the end of the day i hope you and everyone else supports TDHA support what you/we love to do.  It should not always be about the money, the prizes, and everything else that comes with the win.  To me its about the contribution to the cause.  Your helping TDHA lobby for you, your enjoying some good hunting with friends, all while in some way helping someone who is less fortunate then us to always have food on the table.  I don't come home and tell my wife hey look at all the money i just won.  I come home and say i took part in something that brought in close to 30000 lbs of food for the needy or helped give money to someone to go buy that food.  That should be what makes you feel all warm in fuzzy inside.  

We will do our best and i will make that promise to you (or at least i will fight for that) even if it means more work for the so few they volunteer to help for this hunt.  

[boarwild]

Matt, barr hogs have always been allowed on the TDHA hunts... no need to change the rules now?

The polygraph should cover any issues on people releasing hogs for contests... whether it be boar, barr or sow.

Mike i would agree with you.  The polygraph should take a lot of the grey area out.  I am taking this to the board while im posting on here.  I don't want to post my purposal until it has been discussed with the TDHA board, but i do believe there is a way to make this work for everyone.  It does mean a little more time, work, and effort on our part, but it can be done. 

[cward]

I do believe there were two contest held on the same weekend last year did it hurt the numbers yes it did. I know of two teams that hunted the high fence hunt instead of the tdha. If we keep busting hunts on the same weekend then it separates us as one that is my point. I would rather us stand as one group than split are par over New rules.

[boarwild]

I do believe there were two contest held on the same weekend last year did it hurt the numbers yes it did. I know of two teams that hunted the high fence hunt instead of the tdha. If we keep busting hunts on the same weekend then it separates us as one that is my point. I would rather us stand as one group than split are par over New rules.

Awesome post. 

i commmend los cazadores for working with us this year and not having it the same time and atascosa has done the same.  It is my bias belief that TDHA hunt should be something special to everyone and if Lonestar is a part of one or starts one on there own i think it should be held as special and not stepped on.  I worry every year that some silly law will be passed to where this will be all over but the crying for us.  We do need to stand together and keep fighting this battle.  On hands on deck is so much better then just a few.

I am and TDHA is here for all of you guy and gals and i want to fight and fight hard. 

If anyone wants to discuss any ideas on this please PM me and i will pass my number along to talk with anyone. 

[Mike]

Matt, barr hogs have always been allowed on the TDHA hunts... no need to change the rules now?

The polygraph should cover any issues on people releasing hogs for contests... whether it be boar, barr or sow.

Mike i would agree with you.  The polygraph should take a lot of the grey area out.  I am taking this to the board while im posting on here.  I don't want to post my purposal until it has been discussed with the TDHA board, but i do believe there is a way to make this work for everyone.  It does mean a little more time, work, and effort on our part, but it can be done. 

What's to be discussed with the board? The rules have been in place for years and have always worked fine.

[cward]

Boarwild thanks for looking into this. Im glad that we seen the rule in Texasj best of the best before it just got slipped into the other competition with out the opinions of others. I seen somewhere where there were complaints on the Barr hogs being in the competition. I was never ask and it looks like several others were never ask only ones were heard were the complainers.

[boarwild]

Well we have to make it where we comply with HDTT as we have already agreed to be apart of.  We had to revamp rules because of the change from from live back to dead.  So we are going back to the 2011 rules.  

So when hunters come to the weigh in we will have to seperate our hunt from HDTT or just be the same.  If we just coincide with HDTT and have the exact same rules then the weigh in is easy.  If we have our rules with differenct stringer rules like allowing barrs we have to find a way to run it through at the same time and be efficient at doing so.  

So say your team Mike brings in 4 hogs and in that is 1 barr.  We would have to weigh your 3 pigs without the BARR for the HDTT hunt and then take away your smallest boar and add back your barr for our hunt.  Hopefully i am making sense.  Its hard to type what i am wanting to say.  And/or when your team comes up you say you are not in the HDTT hunt and then it won't matter, but with all that takes a good system to make it work.  Mike if i make no sense at all and you still have my number give me a call or i can call you around lunch and maybe i can explain better over the phone.  

[Mike]

Do what???

HDTT needs to comply with the rules of the contests that have been going on and working well for many years... not the other way around.

[boarwild]

Boarwild thanks for looking into this. Im glad that we seen the rule in Texasj best of the best before it just got slipped into the other competition with out the opinions of others. I seen somewhere where there were complaints on the Barr hogs being in the competition. I was never ask and it looks like several others were never ask only ones were heard were the complainers.

The complainers are most often the ones being heard .  

By the way in case no one knows me as i don't post many pictures or anything on boards.  I am Matt Martinez from Devine, TX.  I hunt from Pearsall to Carrizo Springs and run mostly mutts that catch half dead, broken back pigs only when they find them sleeping.  I am not just someone that sits on a board and not hunt.  I hunt at least 4 times a week and being a banker i am lucky enough to have more land they i can run.  I am here for all of ya'll and myself.  Chance i am a rancher myself.  We run around 500 head of registered brahman cattle, but yes i do hunt mostly for farmers and i don't get the luxury of cutting me a boar and making him nice and fat to eat.  I do run a 22000 acre place in batesville and maybe i should start doing that there.    

I will report back ASAP on this subject per the TDHA Hunt.

[boarwild]

Do what???

HDTT needs to comply with the rules of the contests that have been going on and working well for many years... not the other way around.

Mike we felt that with as much work that Josh Gregory has done and with his trail of tears becoming a big deal we try and make it easier on everyone including the hog hunters themselves.  Its all about efficiency, and it becomes hard becuase it is so hard to get help.  I brought 3 guys with me in 2011 to help that would have rather been hunting the contest but if we didn't have them a few others that were there it would have been a nightmare for all hunters and helpers.   

I am VERY confident this will be a non issue Mike.  The TDHA board will make it a non issue. 

[cward]

Boarwild thanks again for listening. We have hunted the tdha for awhile had plans on hunting it again this year.  Im standing for the rights as a Barr Hunter that is what im trying to do. I will yell you this when we catch a Barr we hate to turn it in during the competition do to the fact we like our barrs that much. But competing we do it so we can win.

[boarwild]

all i can do is try.  I am reasonable but i also know either way someone will be mad.  lol

Thanks for the topic