A few questions for the more experienced

[Gibson]

I have only been in the dog game for a couple of years now so i know i have a lot to learn so i thought i'd throw out a couple of questions.

1. Why do some people see it necessary to run so many dogs? I'm talking like dropping 7 or 8 out every hunt. Do more dogs help keep a hog bayed to some people?

2. Why are so many people shoveling out so much cash for "started" dogs? In my opinion i would never pay several hundred for a dog unless it had proven it's self time after time.. especially catch dogs. I just can't justify to myself spending that kind of money on an investment that could get whacked the next night.

3. Why do some hunters keep so many dogs around? I understand the need for replacements or different crews such as the loose crew and rough crew but i hate to see some dogs just wasting away on a chain. And it looks bad on all hog hunters when 1 person gets caught up with malnourished dogs

These are just my opinions, I'm not trying to stir the pot with anyone, just trying to see what others have to say.

[Judge peel]

1. Not all but most guys run a lot of dogs cuz they lack confidence in there dogs or they run a bunch of  semi rough dogs                                                             2. I would pay what I thought the dog was worth the worst thing you can do is go cheap on a catch dog.       3. I have ten hog dogs I hunt yr round and have dogs I use when it's hot and rough vs loose and so on. If I was a smoker drinker or another vise I would spend the same or more to keep my dogs so I chose dogs lol


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[Shotgun wg]

I have both loose and rough dogs. I have 2 experienced loose dogs and 2 pups and 1 young unstarted dog. I will put the young dogs in with the older dogs and may run 4 or so on the ground depending on how the young dogs act. I have 3 rough dogs and a young dog that is gonna be rough. I will run them together. I have been known to dump the boxes. Sometimes u just say letem run. Lol. Why a person would always drop 7 dogs or more I don't know. 4 can be headache enough at times. At one point I had 3 dogs total and caught hogs. After a bad hunt I had 1 that wasn't sidelined. To avoid being in that spot I was gonna get 1 or 2 more. Ended up with 11 total. I need to thin the ranks but I won't. I will run what I got as much as I can. Sure is nice having options depending on environment u may hunt.


Shotgun
Arkansas

[l.h.cracker]

I have 9 dogs at the time 6 grown dogs and 3 young dogs and 2 of the young ones are going to be culls I believe.I run 4-6 dogs on the ground and the reason being my dogs are ruff as cobs.If they bust a pack I like them to have help and most times they will pair up and stop a couple. Also I don't lead dogs very often and I feel that it's safer to have a few ruff dogs on the ground at once.

As far as being cheap I feel you're going to get what you pay for because you damn sure ain't coming in my yard and getting a dog that's proven for a couple hundred bucks.There's a lot of blood sweat and tears in a proven dog not to mention the expenses feed monthly wormer heart worm treatment flea treatment shots and what if that dogs been cut down beyond home repair and had to get put together by the vet.It takes a lot of work and time to get dog to the level that youre saying.Then there are proven lines of dogs that you pay for because the men who worked their tails off to get that line of dogs just right that deserves some sorta compensation. I ain't been in the game all that long but I know one things for sure it ain't cheap but I ain't satisfied with junk either.

[Gibson]

I completely get spending the big bucks for the right dog. Im talking more along the lines of how you see people selling off their dogs that haven't even been in the woods but will bay in a pen and asking 300. I'm not trying to sound cheap this is dang sure an expensive hobby lol

[Hutch33]

1. Like Judge said, when I see people run a ton of dogs its bcuz they lack confidence in running less dogs. They either haven't put the time and effort into training dogs or they have huge places, running a lot of dogs give your a higher probability of one of those dogs bumping into a hog.
2. This is personal preference, like you said your dogs are an investment. Raising or making a pack of hog dogs takes a lot of time and effort to train them. Not all, but most guys don't last long going on a lot of dry runs with young dogs.  They would rather pay money for a started dog, and you get what you pay for. The dog trade is becoming a sickness for some, and a lot of new guys starting off are not willing to wait and  train their own dogs. They will hand out stacks of cash for a pack of dogs and there's plenty of people willing to fill the market with dogs and sell to them.
3. This lands on the dog owner, it can depend on how much they hunt and how they hunt (like running 10 dogs on the ground).  I don't think you should have to own 15 half way decent dogs to run hogs. I'd rather pour all my effort into a handful of dogs and make them great.
It's all about your own style of hunting.

[Cajun]

  On questions 1 and 2, I ask myself that all the time. lol On # 1 when a few of my friends & i get together, we normally have to many dogs out, 5 or 6. We might only have one or two finished dogs out and the rest are young dogs. Has nothing to do with me not having confidence in my dogs baying a hog. If they are old enough for me to start taking, I have every confidence in the world that they can bay their own hog if the opportunity arrises. Also, I have people that come and hunt with me a lot and a lot of times their dogs might start with mine but they fall out before they bay it.
  I have at least twenty head out there and it is hard to hunt them all. I have  a 9 yr. old, 7 yr. old, & a 5 yr. old gyps that are finished dogs and I rarely hunt them because I am always  taking young dogs with me. Of course I get a lot of dogs on injured reserve & they can and will step up when I need them. Really all you need is one good bay dog & a Catchdog and you can catch plenty of hogs but then, I would never hear a race. Also, if you see any of my dogs malnourished or starving to death, I will give you 1000.00 a dog. Most of my dogs that I run are extremely fit, but not skinny. The other reason I have so many is that I like starting dogs and it is my decision on how many I want to feed.

[Cajun]

  On questions 1 and 2, I ask myself that all the time. lol On # 1 when a few of my friends & i get together, we normally have to many dogs out, 5 or 6. We might only have one or two finished dogs out and the rest are young dogs. Has nothing to do with me not having confidence in my dogs baying a hog. If they are old enough for me to start taking, I have every confidence in the world that they can bay their own hog if the opportunity arrises. Also, I have people that come and hunt with me a lot and a lot of times their dogs might start with mine but they fall out before they bay it.
  I have at least twenty head out there and it is hard to hunt them all. I have  a 9 yr. old, 7 yr. old, & a 5 yr. old gyps that are finished dogs and I rarely hunt them because I am always  taking young dogs with me. Of course I get a lot of dogs on injured reserve & they can and will step up when I need them. Really all you need is one good bay dog & a Catchdog and you can catch plenty of hogs but then, I would never hear a race. Also, if you see any of my dogs malnourished or starving to death, I will give you 1000.00 a dog. Most of my dogs that I run are extremely fit, but not skinny. The other reason I have so many is that I like starting dogs and it is my decision on how many I want to feed.

[Judge peel]

Lol Cajun I am talking bout the fools that take the same 7 or 8 dogs every hunt and think they have rough dogs or good bay dogs lol. I am all for taking two good dogs and few unestablished dogs to see what they got. And I am sure most folks have went and had to many dogs lol


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[warrent423]

No more than 3 cur dogs on the ground at once where I'm from and they had better not make a sound unless they are looking one in it"s eye's ; Any one of those 3 will be capable of being hunted alone and catch hogs. No pitbull dogs and no guns.

[Georgia-Hawgs]

To me the perfect pack would be 3 solid bay dogs that would back up and bay as long as the hog wasn't running. And a  good solid lead in catch dog. The rest of the dogs should help catch once me and the bulldog got there.

[bignasty]

i hunt alone most of the time and run 1 or 2 dogs max thats all i can handle.have 10 to choose from,always fresh that way.

[K-Bar]

I think it's a sickness we all share and try to justify it to ourselves and each other. 

[dallas22]

There some midol for all these opinions.

Lol!!!!

[Reuben]

1 good bay dog and 2 lead in catch dogs...will probably catch more hogs that way and way shorter races...but I like hunting dogs way more than catching every hog started...

[l.h.cracker]

Lol Its dang sure your choice on how many dogs you want to feed Cajun.I also hunt with a buddy most of the time and he brings a couple and so do I.

As far as confidence it has nothing to do with that I also would never feed a dog that I don't have confidence in. How many dogs on the ground is to many 3 4 5 6?

[Curcross1987]

One dog and a pup is what I like to hunt but when you go hunt with a couple people and every one has a dog or two that winds up on the ground

[halfbreed]

I completely get spending the big bucks for the right dog. Im talking more along the lines of how you see people selling off their dogs that haven't even been in the woods but will bay in a pen and asking 300. I'm not trying to sound cheap this is dang sure an expensive hobby lol

  owning a hunting dog is NOT  a hobby son it's a life style collecting dolls is a hobby

[Txmason]

You buy dogs or you buy a blood line.
Run up to three bay dogs and a lead in catch dog, just what I like, when have friends might get to four or 5 dogs but most times swap out.
Most people don't need pups they need to start with a good started dog because of price and expose to get a better dog.  JMO

[Slim9797]

To me the perfect pack would be 3 solid bay dogs that would back up and bay as long as the hog wasn't running. And a  good solid lead in catch dog. The rest of the dogs should help catch once me and the bulldog got there.

Fine tuning is still got a ways to go but the above quote is my goal. I Have 1 tried and true 6 yr gyp med range strike. A pup that's making strides every hunt. And a mid range started 16 month black mouth whose found a couple. Along with an unstarted cat gyp whose comes from a proven line of working dogs here in SE CenTex and a rock solid lead in red nose pit