EAST TEXAS HOG DOGGERS FORUM

Until recently, we've had to pretty much kill every hog we catch on ranch land... they don't like hogs much... ;)

Yesterday, however... the one who I never thought would say it did... as we came out of a bottom after killin' another one he was sitting against a pine "a thinkin' "...

"Ya know...... haven't seen the pastures tore up in a good while" he said... "I think I'll have yall start barrin' the boars and turnin' them a loose"....

........Music to my ears ;D


But then I got to thinkin'....(always a dangerous thing...) and I got to wondering about whether or not I want to worry about turnin' loose a bad hog that's already whooped my dogs once... just so he can grow bigger(and smarter) to do a better job of it the next go-round...

I've always killed this kind... once I whip a good one once, I don't like givin' him the chance to get even....

What are yall's thoughts?

Noah, I've been pretty lucky and brought up in some barrow rich woods! Probably caught 30+ in the last 4 years with the guys that introduced me to hog hunting... In that time most bayed up pretty quick and were usually pretty easy to catch! We've even caught a few 300+ that were caught with just the cur dogs and squealed like little girls!!! There have been a couple barr's  though that ran a good ways and they were always the ranker ones to catch

Got to cut them to catch them.. We cut 11 this last weekend

I agree totally, I find that the barrs bay up quicker and wont run as long... Now as far the size that they come to be and they sure learn how to work those extra inches of teeth too....  Good luckk rolleyes

I say change em out and cut em loose unless they actually kill a dog. I would have a hard time allowing that to happen.

Barrs can grow enormous tusk but they dont seem to work the dogs over like the boars do................usually.
Thats a sweet deal Noah!

Bar hogs have low testosterone, so that makes them fat and slower and less aggressive. Also their teeth grow longer because they are not having to fight for the sows with other boars. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.  8)

That 200lb boar we caught Friday, we kept him for a night in a trailer and then barred him and turned him loose by my buddies house. He has got a lot of National Forest by him. He is gonna be a bad dude but he sure will be some good eatin if we can get back on him. We dont have much farmland around so we usually relocate them and turn them loose for future hunts.

cut em.... dont even think twice about it  ;D ;D

Weve cuts lots and lots of boar hogs, and caught a ton of barr hogs,, and it all depends on the hog.. he chooses if he wants to be bad or not. caught some sho-nuff bad barr hogs... dont think they aint rough...

however i have cut only one boar hog that i actually hope i dont meet again... lol... i'll post a pic of him.

and i cut every boar i get a chance to no matter how bad they are or how bad they put a whoopin on the dogs.. we usally dont tie em up either... we just hold em down long enough to cut em and then we stand up and let em go..

here is the bad boar..
(http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff87/clintcp9/DSCN0981.jpg)
(http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff87/clintcp9/DSCN0970.jpg)

i would be mad to if you done that to me i would bit your finger of  ;D

Around here we rarely take them alive, unless its to train some younger dogs. I say kill him, all of them. Of course my grandfather is a rancher and a farmer, and I work on his place and our hog population is here to stay. Ive seen too much of the destructive side of the hogs. They tear up farm land, and slaughter our turkey population.  Doesnt make sense to me to catch a dog killer and turn him loose. I like my dogs too much to loose them on a hog that we have already taken down once. Hog hunters would barr way less hogs if their lives depended on the crops that they raised!!!!!

Cut em' that's what I do every chance I get.

I have seen farmers quit farming at certain locations because the hogs eat at least half the crops. The fields I am talking about were located next to forrest land that didn't allow any kind of hunting.

Where we hunt if the rancher or farmer found out that we turned the hogs loose we would be kicked out. We do not bar a hog we take them out.

I dont turn hogs back out in farm country at all. There is a job to do around grain fields and releasing hogs will get you run out of the county if your caught and you will get black listed! On a place like Noah refers to is fine as long as the land owner is good with it. Deer leases, some river bottoms, and heavily wooded places are perfect for it.
I know two rancher that are long time hog hunters that change out the boars they catch and release them on their property. They raise sure enough dogs and enjoy managing the barrs that are kept on their places. They can take care of an issue with them in a hurry when they need to should a number of hogs move in.
They enjoy making and eating good sausage also!

I like to cut em whenever I can, unless they kill a dog.. But some of the farm land we hunt I just won't do it. When a farmer calls it's usually because we were referred by another farmer and we are there to do a job.. Now in a perfect world I would cut em all..

I had a hog kill my favorite catch dog behind my house one time she was running loose in the yard and I herd my old cur baying back there I was sitting on the porch then she herd him baying and headed to him so I firgued I better follow her she did not have a suit on because she was just running loose in the yard!!I got there and she had been cut to pieces I caught the hog and my wife brought me a tie rope!! She died right there!! I took the hog and relocated him to one of my other properties and was going to cut him when I took the first nut out he started bleeding real bad so I let him go with one nut!! I caught him a year later and took the other nut out of him!!

So yes I will turn the bad ones back loose!!

Alot of the place's around here want the hogs they love them to hunt!! They ask us to bob the tails so that the deer hunters can see it from the deer stands!!

But understand about the farmers we hunt alot of farm land also!!!

I'm no barr hog expert, but it is my understanding that if you bust out the whetters the tusks will curl back and are somewhat less of a danger to dogs in the future. I guess that's if you give the hog a decent amount of time between catchings. I would be tempted to throw a rasp in the mule and if I cared enough I could blunt the end of the tusks. If they aren't fighting, it's likely the blunted tip may be there the next time you catch him. Just food for thought.

Cheers
M

Most of the hogs we catch get cut, marked and released. The only time we kill one is if somebody needs meat.  ;)

Heck, turning them loose is way more fun than catching them...my grandma can stick a hog, thats too easy...but she dang sure cant get up off a big nasty to turn him loose.

Oh yea thats some real fun!! It can sure get western in a hurry!

I've got several places that I can hunt that are basically managed trophy hog properties... bunches and bunches of big toothy boar and barrs.... doesn't matter how good your dogs are, you keep droppin' your dogs in the middle of this type of hog regular and you chit is gonna get wrecked.   Needless to say, I refuse to run my dogs on these spots.... To quote Arnold, "so you peeked the bunch of us up and dropped us into a meat grinder..."  ;D..... not my dogs.

Reminds me of a good conversation I had with a respected friend a few wks ago... I was tellin' him about a bad hog I'd run into down is way that had boogered me a little...  When I asked him if he was plannin' on tryin' the same hog to "show me how it was done"... he quickly replied "now why the hell would I go lookin' for a fight that's gonna leave my dogs wrecked even if I win it?".........

Have to admit, the answer caught me by suprise....

He went on to say, "I've caught every "bad" hog there is to catch, and I've got nothin' to prove to nobody"...  "If I happen to get on a bad one, I'll catch him... but I don't go lookin' for them no more because I like my dogs... takes too long to rebuild..."

I like catchin' big hogs as much as anybody, but for now.... Call me a puss(just not to my face ;) )... but, I'll continue to kill the bad ones...

.... please, God, tell me that's not "maturity" I feel slippin' up on me..... rolleyes ;D

Noah thats not maturity thats your girl panties on a little tight!! ;D

come on noah... it always makes me feel better when you catch a big boar and turn him loose knowing that he is just goin to get bigger...


i agree with that.. anybody can walk up to a hog with a catchdog holding it and put a knife in it and step back... it is a rodeo to wrestle him down and cut him and turn him loose and get away from him before he gets you lol...

Ha Ha ;D ... where's the middle finger smiley when you need it ??  ;D....

Noah,

As long as I am catching hogs I could care less if I ever caught another one over 200 pounds. I can recall a few time when I was getting on nothing but big nasties and I was saying out load, "why cant I just catch a sow or a shaolt every now and then!?" However;!................ I still wouldn’t hesitate to turn my dogs out in those trophy properties you refer too though! Im not sure that I can grow out of a challenge when I come across one! For nobody else but me! I know my dogs can’t. ;D
Im funny like that!

Just let me know when... I can point you in the right direction!

I dont know about yall but I aint never been disappointed by catchin any hog, i aint got to have my dogs cut to pieces to have a good hunt.. But that might be my billfold talking :laugh: ;D

That dont mean I want to go there every day! lol

     We cut and mark all of them on our property, just something I was taught by my grandpa. On the peanut farms the farmers would probally be removing mine if he seen we let one loose. If one ever kills a dog there aint no thinking about it I'm killem graveyard dead.

I live in the pineywoods of La.No farmland close by.We cut & mark every boar we catch.We do hunt farmland pretty often, and catch & tie the hogs we catch there & bring them home & "range deliver" them in our hunting ground.Don't remember the last time I killed a hog in the woods (all cut & release or catch & tie).We bring a few bars out for meat hogs.