I’ve had much better hunts as far as size and numbers but can’t recall one more enjoyable, it’s been far to long since me and my good buddy Billy and my little boy have been able to slip off and hunt by our selves like we used to, started out Saturday morning and found some tracks crossing a road, turned a few dogs out and wasn’t long had two races going, baydogs caught one shoat that we didn’t go in to get, they roll out and jump another and we catch two more little gilts, as we were coming out of the woods another group of hunters rolled up on us that were good friends with and were all talking a carrying on listening to a race they have going across the road from us, in the meantime our dogs catch up on another one so we go to them and they’ve got another shoat stretched out, we get everything rounded up and get a call that the other guys have one going so we got meet them just as their dogs are crossing a black top road, me and Billy both dump a dog in the race to only find out shortly after that it’s a deer, I noticed something wasn’t right because my Ben dog just wouldn’t push the track hard and really wasn’t going anywhere with a smoking hot track and this dog normally flies on a hot track, I check the tracks in the dirt and realized it was a deer, they got quiet for a moment and I was able to holler him out without any trouble, I had pulled around to another road to put the hogs in a creek and let the dogs cool off and get a call that some bigger hogs had been seen crossing the road, I get over there 30 minutes later and put Ben down on a covered track, I notice on the garmin he singles off by himself and it wasn’t long he was bayed, we go in a catch a smaller boar, after that we call it a day being as it was around 2pm and had done got a little warm...
As we were heading to turn out that morning it was a beautiful sunrise and I looked over at my little boy sitting there and for some reason a flood of emotions ran through me and I could vividly recall being that little boy sitting over there going to run deer dogs with my dad, I had to stop and soak it all in and thank the good lord for this blessing, no matter the outcome of the day my soul had already been deeply soothed and satisfied already, aside from the good dog work I had brought a young completely green gyp along that morning, she had NEVER been messed with or even seen a hog, she fell right in like she knew what she was doing the whole time, now she did get slung out of the races but I couldn’t have been more pleased with her performance and overall want to and gameness that she showed, then running into the other guys, some I haven’t seen or hunted with in years and a few I had just met, you know most groups would’ve been all beside themselves for having to share hunting grounds but there wasn’t a tense moment all day, it felt good knowing that we all could get along and that we all had the same mentality and respect for each other and the land we were hunting, they didn’t get a hog that day so we give them one of ours and everybody went home happy, it was one of those days where everything didn’t go as planned and we didn’t get the hog we were after but at the end of if it, all seemed to work itself out just fine...
Well used trail where the hogs are going in to feed behind some cattle...
He thinks he is hot stuff...
He thinks that Red Rider will kill an elephant, this B&T gyp Bell is the one that really impressed me, she’s off a cross SwineStalker and Semmes put together...
For some reason ever since the moment these two laid eyes on each other, Bell took a strong liking to Talon and handles so much better for him than me...
Ben, one of my first f1 walker/cur crosses and is making a dang nice dog so far...
There’s never a dull moment with this one here and he keeps everyone on their toes...
His little butt was dragging from Saturday and was still asleep in the truck Sunday morning even after the commotion of load and unloading the dogs on the first cast of the day, it seems like yesterday I was doing the same thing with my daddy running beagles on rabbits or walkers on deer...
I made a video but couldn’t see the hog in the camera as it crossed, I looked up and this is what I saw, he was telling us to get quiet so he could get a shot off, lol, great times for sure
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