I don't get on here much anymore but wanted to post something as a tribute to my old Dixie female. She passed away last night at the age of 17. She had actually turned 17 back on March 23. Just hope I remember how to post pics.
Dixie was, without a doubt, the best find and bay dog I have ever seen in the woods, and I have seen a pile of dogs in my time. She could wind a hog a mile away it seemed and I could never figure out how she could do that with tied live hogs on the flatbed truck, within two feet of her. She would never touch the tied hogs either. Once you tied them and loaded them she would jump on or off the truck and never even look at the hogs fighting the mule tape trying to get loose. No matter how they squealed or bounced around, she never paid them any mind.
She had an exceptional nose. We have put "good" dogs out in sign and have them trail around and leave, then come back. We would load them, turn Dixie out (without moving) and she would run the track like she was looking at the hog and wind up bayed......somewhere.
I always hunted her by herself as she would get catchy with another dog. She showed me what a true one out dog is capable of. She was my find and bay dog and her littermate brother Rock was my lead in catch dog. I hunted this way for about 9 years. Once, when I lived on the ranch and acorns were falling, we caught, cut and turned loose 43 BOAR hogs in two weeks with just those two dogs. And some were GOOD boar hogs. It just seemed that once Dixie knew we were looking for boar hogs, that's what she was hunting! And when Rock got there, they were both caught on the hog.
I am pretty picky about my dogs. I will cull one that doesn't suit me. And I have culled quite a few. Dixie was the ONLY dog I couldn't fault. I just couldn't find anything about her I didn't like. Guys that hunted with her regularly used to say I could take her to Central Park in NYC and she would bay a hog SOMEWHERE! She just seemed to be able to pull a rabbit (or in this case, hog) out of a hat when other dogs had given up.
I regret never breeding her. She was my main dog and we hunted about 4 nights a week. The only time I ever knew her to quit a bay was when she was in heat, I was hunting her (there were no dogs on the ranch but mine) and a couple coyotes went to her and got to messing with her. She quit the bay and came to the truck with the coyotes right on her tail. And they weren't looking to fight! I just never found a male dog that was her equal and I refused to breed to something that wasn't as good as she was.
I didn't even have a tracking collar back then. She would leave and we would just drive around and stop and listen until you heard her bayed. Sometimes she would have been bayed for hours and be hoarse from baying so long! One night she jumped off the truck heading west. We waited a while then drove that way... and drove... and drove....after about two miles and not hearing anything I said, lets go back east of where we started and listen. We went to our SE corner and if you stood on the dog box, on one leg and stuck your tongue out, you could just BARELY hear her bayed on the adjoining ranch. We had permission to go, but no gates so we walked in to just catch her. I had two guys with me, one was a young guy that hadn't been much. His daddy was the local game warden and I thought it might be good PR work to take him hunting..
Anyway, we walk like 30 minutes, middle of the night, and get there and she has a GOOD spotted barr hog bayed. And he is mad! No gun, CD back at the truck, Dixie is hot and tired, been bayed for like two hours by herself, middle of the summer. So we turn around, walk back to the truck, get Rock, walk 30 minutes back to Dixie, and catch the hog. There were no worries about her leaving the hog and following us out. She was there until you caught the hog, or shot it. Course, the young guy got a good taste of hog DRAGGING that night!
I could go on and on, but most guys wouldn't believe the things I have seen Dixie do. It just showed me what a GOOD dog is capable of. She got cancer about 7-8 years ago and had to be spayed. The vet didn't think she would survive the surgery as she had cancer bad. I retired her and she has been living on the screen porch for years.
Last night the cancer finally got the best of her. Rest in peace old girl, it was one Hell of a ride.
Dixie on the old flatbed we hunted off of. She was about 2 years old in this pic.
The type of hogs we regularly bayed with her. We actually roped this hog and wound up choking him before we could gte him tied. The funniest thing about Dixie was, she would bay a 2 lb pig. Then you could catch it and put it in the dog box with her and she would ride all night with it and never mess with it.
Dixie about a month ago showing the miles and years.
