EAST TEXAS HOG DOGGERS FORUM

Most of you guys that know me, know that I don't hunt much in the summer anymore. I used to, but the older (and hopefully wiser) I get, I have decided its just not that much fun.  I hunt because I like to see a good dog work and like being out in the woods, especially when its cool. I don't care much for the 95 + degree days, skeeters, deer flies, snakes, gators, etc that go with summer hunting. And on top of that you have to worry about heatstroke for your dogs.

Well, my buddy Dave called this week, said there was sign of a good hog at his deer lease, but he wasn't going to any feeders and he didn't have any game camera pics of the hog, but the hog had a big track.  So , hearing about a good hog and Dave telling me the hog needed to go, made me get up at 3:30 AM this morning and drive two hours south to be there by daylight.

Got there, collared dogs up and turned out Monkey and the young dog Stitch. It was 78 degrees at daylight, should have told us how warm the day was going to get.......Anyway, we started heading towards the big swamp. Daves lease has about 600 acres of high ground and about 3500 acres of rough swamp with no roads.....so you can guess where the hogs stay. As we got close to the edge of the swamp, Monkey starting making big loops smelling, like he was trying to figure something out. He finally went off down in the swamp. stitch went for a while, then came back out. Monkey was gone maybe 15 minutes by himself, and he opened up bayed off down in the swamp a pretty good ways. As soon as he barked, Stitch tore out and went to him.  Just good daylight and Monkeys barks carried a long way . Dave and I headed that way and you could tell when Monkey didn't try to catch when Stitch got there,that  it was a bigger hog.

I had invited Noah on this hunt so he could bring a catch dog, but he had plans to go out in a boat in the gulf for some fishing and bikinis....so he begged off this hunt. Can't imagine why.... ;D

We have to kill the hogs on this place, so with no catch dog, Dave had a pistol and I had my .22 magnum. ....just in case. We got close to Monkey and Stitch baying and saw that the hog was backed up under the roots of a fallen tree in the swamp. Lots of vegetation and hard to even see the dogs let alone the hog.  I tried to ease around so I could see the hog and Dave got up on the fallen tree and walked down it to the root ball. He could look down on the hog and it was a good one. You could smell boar hog too. I backed off as I didn't want to be the other side of the hog if Dave shot. I got up on the tree and came up behind Dave just about the time he shot. Monkey tried the hog and got slung about 20 feet. The hog broke out but it got too hot on him and he came right back where we were. I like a biting dog when a hog breaks... ;D

Dave got off the tree and eased around to the side. He could see the hog, took careful aim and shot again. This time the hog broke out, came around the tree to Dave, and I mean TO Dave, like he was going to hurt somebody! And Dave was popping off rounds so fast it sounded like a string of firecrackers going off!! Dave could have reached out and touched the hog as he blew past. Hog almost got Dave too, if Monkey hadn't been eating on his rear end he may have stopped to work on Dave!

Hog was leaving town and you could hear Monkey applying brakes now and then. Monkey would bite the hog, hog would spin and stop and Monkey would bay. Stitch didn't know what to think of all the shooting and had backed off but now was back with Monkey. They were moving on and getting away from us. Bite, stop bay, run. Bite , stop, bay and run....repeat. The hog knew we were there and Dave had shot at him several times so he wanted no part of us now. I thought Dave had a big pistol when we left the truck, turns out all he had was a .22 pistol!

I would have never thought it, but the hog actually came out of the swamp to high ground. We can't figure out why he would do that with miles of swamp the other way, but fortunately for us, he did. He ran down a creek bottom with the dogs fighting him the whole way. Crossed an overgrown pasture with briars and sage grass and into another creek bottom. Monkey stopped him in the creek bottom for a few seconds, long enough for us to hot foot it to them....dang its getting warm now.....and the hog breaks out into another overgrown field headed to another swamp. I cross the creek bottom where he had stopped and came out in the next field just in time to see Monkey try him again and get slung off.

Dave is to my left and I see Monkey try the hog and get slung off. So at about 60-70 yards I take aim with my .22 magnum and POP. Hog stumbles, goes down on the front end, then gets back up. Monkey catches and we run in and leg the hog. Stitch made the whole trip, just wasn't too keen on the gun. It is now REAL hot, about 8:30 am or so, and we head to the trucks to cool the dogs off. Dave took some pics and I took some pics so I will post more later but here is a pic Dave took with my phone. Good hog.

We moved later and turned Spur and Scarlet out and made a loop through another block, but all we saw were deer flies....LOTS of deer flies!

Here is the one pic, I will post more tommorrow. I sure wish I had someone with a video camera with us today...LISA.... ;D
(http://i621.photobucket.com/albums/tt293/MarkFreddy/june11a.jpg)

Good hunt and good tusk

what a toofh!

Good gosh Mark. That's a lot of work for a Saturday.   :D

Dandy hog with a JP kind of shank. Congrats!!!!

D-D-D-D-D-D-A-A-A-M-M-M-N-N-N-N-  ??? ??? ??? ???  Ok mark we need some better pics of that tooth!!

x2 looks like a dang good boar/barr!

What a hunt you boys had Crackerc,....you can bet I'm gonna give Noah a hard time about missing this hunt. That's a heck of a hog bud....glad you guys got him without too much damage to y'all or the dogs. I agree that we need some more pics of that ole' boy.

I am in the same boat with you about the heat, flies, poison ivy and a snake now and then...we havven't had a cool morning here in several weeks. Summer is just not my favorite time at all. Congrats on a nice hog though.

Okay, Dave sent me a few pics he took on his camera. I will tell you guys one thing, it got some kind of hot yesterday.....that may have been my last hurrah until cooler weather. I seriously need to get on the treadmill this summer.Too many hours at work and not enough time in the woods and I am waaayyyy out of shape. Trying to keep up with the running fight yesterday showed me just how out of shape I am. And my 4 wheeler was on the trailer back at the truck! Hopefully next year my CD pup will be cranking and I can shorten a few of those running fights.... ;D

Bad thing is I will be 52 years old in August and Dave is 8 or 9 years older than me....where are all the young guys when you need one??  Some of the young hunters around here have started calling Dave and I "Team Geritol" as we hunt quite a bit together and seem to always manage to catch a hog or two. Okay MOST of the time we catch a hog.... :o I was kidding Dave and told him we needed to add a 25-28 year old to our  hunting team. Dave said that was fine as long as it was a FEMALE.....so you can see we aren't THAT old yet!  ;D

Dave, Monkey and the hog. See Monkey doesn't hate everybody..... :o
(http://i621.photobucket.com/albums/tt293/MarkFreddy/june11f.jpg)

Another pic of me, Monkey and the hog.

(http://i621.photobucket.com/albums/tt293/MarkFreddy/june11b.jpg)

Yup, very nice hog indeed.  ;D

very nice hog ....... like that yeller dog

Good hog ! Thats one big Tooth!

NICE HOG  :o AND CUTTERS :o :o

Man those or that is one crazy cutter.  Nice hog

Do yall have any head on pictures of that hog?  Really nice tooth on this side and good hog!

good hog and sounds like an action packed hunt. congrats. dont sound like yall are the ones that need any help? heck yall are catching big bad bo hogs...

x2

I liked the story...sounds like Monkey is a real hog dog. :)

Is that a breaking stick in that boars mouth?

i love the story but i hav 1 question lol does anybody kno how big the tooth was?

Crackerc, don't fall into that" I'm getting old" trap! We just do things alittle different from the young guys! If the Lord leaves me here til October, I'll be 65; just getting started.

 
  ???....Those aren't cutter! Those are freakin swords!!!!!!!!!!!  ??? Congrats!

Trophy Boar Hog!  ;D Congrats

Mark is in shape.  Round is a shape isn't it.    :-)

I told him to move his treadmill to "in front of the refrigerator".

Monkey did well as usual and it was a pretty good hog, good hunt, with some real excitement.  Always enjoy the hunts.

Noah hunted with us at the same place a while back.  That was the infamous Noah's Kung Fu Move Hunt.  That was loads of fun and lots of laughs.  As I remember it, the dogs had the big hog caught when Noah and I got to them, Noah legged the hog, and I thought he had the hog under control so I got my camera out for a few photos and about that time the hog, somehow, flipped Noah off his feet and he ended up on top of the hog.  I should have dropped the camera and helped, but Mark got there about that time to help so I kept taking pictures.  I still laugh when I think about that hunt.

Saturday Hog:
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0703/Dave1/IMG_2095.jpg)

The Kung Fu Hog:
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0703/Dave1/IMG_1969.jpg)

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0703/Dave1/IMG_1968.jpg)

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0703/Dave1/IMG_1967.jpg)

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0703/Dave1/IMG_1959.jpg)

Dave

hahah thats good stuff right there  :D :D

One of these days your gonna need someone to pick ya'll up from the nursing home so you can go hunt ;D



Helluva job team geritol!

Good hog mark, I thought that was a rope around his snout in the first pic.

Mark,

I aint buying this "old man" stuff from you and Dave any more. Y'all aint fooling anybody!

Great story! I enjoyed the heck out of it! Thats is a real trophy! They really do look like break sticks hanging out of his mouth Reuben! LOL

Good looking dog and nice hog, good job!

Allen, I sent Chance a local hunting magazine that had some pics of their hunt down here in it. If you get by their place take a look at it.  Sure hope its cooler where you guys are than it is here........

I will mention it to him the next time Im over for a visit. Its been blasted hot and dry out my way also Mark. Sure makes the hunting tough but its tough on everyone right now. Even the hogs.

Nice cutter! Good pic with him on the top of that pig

nice hog know what u mean about the temp. went to Arcadia sat> to fill the feeders and couldn't resist on turning the dog loose.
to dang hot!