Hogs do save their own...

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Shane Tuttle

Staff
How are the dogs used? I've never seen hog dogging in action and didn't know if they're used like a lab to help retrieve, a pointer to locate, or a hound to flush out...
 
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hogdogs

Staff In Memoriam
For the type hunt we do we have 2 types of dog on every hunt.
1)the bay dog (in OZ and NZ they call them bailers) or finder stopper dog.
Their job is to take a trail (different dogs take older or fresher tracks) get to the hog and bay it up. Baying it up is different for different hogs. Some want to run others want to fight. The runner needs to be stopped so the dog will bite the rump (polite way to say it) and the hog will usually turn and "sit down" backed up to a tree etc. The one that wants to fight will just quit the run and go to "fighting" and it is up to the dog in both cases to put enuff pressure on the hog so he don't walk off nor get into a real fight so they get injured or force the hog to run (broken bay)...
2)Is a catch dog which is typically a bulldog breed. I prefer the American bulldog pitbull cross. Once we hear the bay dogs "sat down singing" we lead in the bulldog/s on leash and get as close as condition allows (under 100 yards is nice but within sight is preferred) and "drop snap/s" the bulldog gets an ear of jowl and hangs tuff while we do the leggin of the hog and "tip" it as was seen in the vid. Once tipped the dogs are put to trees and the hog is hobbled or dispatched and hauled out.
In the vid I see just one dog so it may be what we call a "running catch dog" which finds and catches all alone. Those are hard to get much of the time and may have a lower life span due to risks of battling a warrior from too far away for the human to save them...
The real rare hog dog is a catch on command running catch dog that will find and bay and when told to "sic 'em sam" catch as well as a bull dog.
We rely on the dogs alot for safety. If they release as we go in for the back legs it could get ugly real fast.
I use 2 or 3 baying dogs and one bulldog for the most part.
Brent
 
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hogdogs

Staff In Memoriam
OOPS... Bay dogs are different than retriever or hounds... they are different than both... yellow curr, yellow black mouth curr, kemmer curr, mountain curr are some as are the catahoula dogs...
Plott hound and a few strains of walker hounds are about all we use as for "hound" type. Generally hounds are "open on track" or bawling on the scent trail which results in the hog staying too far ahead to be stopped. They also tend to take older tracks so the hog is already too far gone to find. Both typical "real" hounds and retriever breeds are not generally up for the abuse a hog may hand out when bayed up. Blunt trauma from head butts and cuts from the tusks are routine and just like humans it takes a special individual to hang tuff like a boxer, mixed martial arts fighter or even a street brawler.
Brent
 
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SavageSniper

New member
Ya know HD, My Daddy used to swear that if you get a Hound, ie. black and tan, walker, etc, that would catch he was better than any bull or plott. We had some good one. Ever have a catch hound?
 
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hogdogs

Staff In Memoriam
I know alot of curr dogs that are real ruff and find and catch but generally the hounds will get off too far which includes crossing highways and/or property lines of which we may not have permission to. Back when in the day property lines were not worried about as folks allowed that sort of thing and highways were not abundant in the south east but modern times ruined it in both cases. A good plott is as gritty as we need but still risky on the git gone. I like a close workin' dog as many of our spots are 400 or under in acreage. And bein' po folk I can't afford to lose dogs as I have already poured alot of feed to them and can't afford the fee for most pups... I am after the one man's junk... kind of maybe stuff.
Brent
 
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bswiv

New member
How often do you lose dogs to the hogs?

And I'm guessing that even the best dog has a relatively short term in number of years he can hunt?

As he ages his reflexes slow down( Just like us OLD humans.) therefore he tends to get hurt???

So how do you know when it's time to quit hunting him?

And are they like bird dogs in that when they see you loading up to go to the woods they get all excited and the old ones that can't go.......they must hate to see the truck leave the yard without them?
 
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thallub

New member
Hogs have a distress call that will bring in every hog within hearing. Have seen it in action three different times. While sitting in a tree stand i saw a bobcat hassling a sow and her pigs: The sow let out a bloodcurdling scream and about one minute later huge boar charged in and hit the cat, tossing it about 15 feet into the air. The cat was dead when it hit the ground. That cat was torn from behind the ribs all the way through the shoulder.
 
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hogdogs

Staff In Memoriam
Personally I have not lost a dog of my own as I tend to have "looser" baying dogs others often cull out to me.
And smarts has helped many dogs... Some bull dogs run straight to the hogs face and try to climb to the ear and that is suicide by pig. A good clean catching bulldog, given terrain allows, will get the ear and "lay to" along side and the hog doesn't get much chance to work them over. One of my bulldogs goofed up and let a front toe about get bit off and it now sticks up a little bit as she had a bottom tendon clipped.
The bay dogs can hunt until 8-10 so long as injuries never got them maimed. Had a buddy with a dog that had a cut achilles tendon and he did okay for years with just a stubbed toe now and then but got retired when he spent more and more steps with his knuckles down. But the average would be 4-6 years I am guessing and that isn't old age reflexes going away. The dogs actually get sharper minded with experience until then at least. It is too many punctured lungs, broke ribs, cut hamstrings and lost teeth that retire the best dogs.

And to answer my favorite question...
Heck Yes these dogs are freaking out when the truck rolls to the back yard to load the dog box!!! Some are leaping 3 feet off the ground while one of my dopey bulldogs stands on her back legs doin "dancey dance" while pawing the air doin' the happy howl... I get goose bumps hearing and seeing this but choked up thinkin' about it as I see their love for the hunt, catch and for Junior and I knowin' they get hammered with love love when they succeed!
Thanks for askin' guys!
Brent
 
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Dingoboyx

New member
Hey HogDogs

cool vid. Why were you catching and releasing hogs? You werent hunting them obviously?

next tim you should get the camera dude up a tree or something :D where did you go? did you just run for it? :eek:

You're a brave man, hogs kin git nasty........ :eek:

Muzza
 
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hogdogs

Staff In Memoriam
I try not to release any! That ain't me in the vid but my first trip back to the woods after I messed up my arm, I couldn't hold the rear leg on a 200+ boar and he stood up under me. Lucky for me and the other fella and dogs he chose to haul the mail rather than turn and let us know he was unhappy with the previous several minutes of his life!:eek:
Brent
 
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hogdogs

Staff In Memoriam
Dingo, That is one method but we prefer to tie them up (hog tied) and haul them out and pen them to feed for a couple or 3 weeks at least. The hogs have a better chance of having the "gamey" taste when using dogs as adrenaline rushes in both sows and boars and testosterone aids the boar in fighting too. After a week or 2 in the pen they will come to the feed trough and when ready to butcher I use my air rifle or .22lr to dispatch them.
Brent
 
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Dingoboyx

New member
Oh, ok

Over here we just run 'em down on our bikes and blow their heads off.:D I used to build and fly Gyrocopters and out west we would fly around and find them and flush them towards the shooters on the ground, they blasted them. One of the guys outback tried shooting them from a 2 seater gyro, they never thought about the empty cases going back into the prop :eek: Took the leading edge off the prop (split it) and had a forced landing:eek::D No damage or injuries, but rather inconvenient :eek: Had to leave the machine there for 2 weeks while getting a new prop to fly out (couldn't get a vehicle in to trailer it out)

Muzza
 
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ZeroJunk

New member
Over here we just run 'em down on our bikes and blow their heads off. I used to build and fly Gyrocopters and out west we would fly around and find them and flush them towards the shooters on the ground, they blasted them. One of the guys outback tried shooting them from a 2 seater gyro, they never thought about the empty cases going back into the prop Took the leading edge off the prop (split it) and had a forced landing No damage or injuries, but rather inconvenient Had to leave the machine there for 2 weeks while getting a new prop to fly out (couldn't get a vehicle in to trailer it out)
Click to expand...


I like that story.:)
 
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Dingoboyx

New member
I know what you mean, that gamey taste....

I think if you set your dogs after me, then hog tied me and feed me grain for a couple of weeks...... I'd taste like sh .... well yea, gamey would cover it, I guess :eek::D

You might need some flava beans and a nice kiante, ft ft ft (might help) ;):D

Muzza
 
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hogdogs

Staff In Memoriam
Now the penning removes the possibility of gamey taste... Super good eating pork!!! But I also feel most gamey meat was due to spoilage from too slow from death to freezer increased by high temps... I prefer to butcher in the night as it is cooler and no green flys swarming in...
Brent
 
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SavageSniper

New member
Brent, have you ever been cut by a hog? I was many years ago. Close quarters, broke from the dogs knocked me down and got me in the "buttocks sir" as Forrest Gump said. I got him too. The shotgun wadding was in him, that close. Funny thing, he was only about 125 lbs. Glad it wasnt a 250+ pig.
 
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