EAST TEXAS HOG DOGGERS FORUM

I've read a few posts and met a guy who had a huge amount of dogs on up to 50 and 60 dogs. Why do people do this and how do they feed them all? It'd take me 4 hours just to dump food to that many dogs not counting water and cleaning kennels etc. seems overwhelming.

man its crazy  ???               all a man needs is about 5-6 good yeller dogs  ;D

ive met people like that. They always seem to think that every dog they have is top notch hunting machine. if you have more than six dogs i dont know how you could ever do the dogs justice and keep them hunting enough to even know what they are or what they can do. I know its easy to aquire a bunch of dogs sometimes. I keep a certain number of runs so that cant happen anymore. Once the yards full its full.

I have like 25 but i have my old dogs for breeding and a few old dogs for hunting then i have younger dogs for huntin but i also raise and sell lots of pups

I've got 16 right now but that includes a few old retired dogs and some young dogs and it's a handfull. Thankfull I have two sons that are old enough to help and the dogs are part of their daily chores. My friend and his dad ( Linwood Durham ) who was an old dogman around Lufkin and Apple Springs area used to keep close to 100 dogs or more most of the time. Dean says takeing care of the dogs was a full time job and took half a day just to feed and water ! I can't even imagine haveing that many dogs.

Here are some of my thoughts on why and how to keep large packs:

Twenty years ago, lot's of deer and fox hunters in Florida and Alabama owned and hunted 50-100 hounds.  Now, the guys that are real serious still own 15-30 dogs.  There is no season limit and I know plenty of guys that still kill well over 20 deer per year.  Land leasing, Tree stand hunters, and unreasonable dog laws have changed the hunting culture in the South.
 
Dog food was cheap at one time, and there are still some low cost dog foods for maintenance.  There are other ways to keep dogs for less money.  I don't use all of these anymore, but sure some do.  Dogs can be fed every other day, with food scraps, restaurant scraps, game scraps, roadkill, fish, old bread, etc.  (See the cost has been cut by over 50% already) They can be given only basic vaccines and human meds.  A couple drops of bleach added to a water bowl rather than fresh water.  Small pens to reduce movement, or kept on short chains.  Kept skinny most of the year and gorged on fat and cream corn before hunting.  These methods seem harsh to some, but they have been used for many years around here.  Dogs are tougher than some people think.

For farm and business owners, there are ways to buy dog food and deduct it from taxes too ;)!!

There are some fox, and big game hunters that still own large packs.  In case you don't know, there is some big money involved in fox and big game hounds.

Selection is one reason to keep large packs.  I don't keep lot's of dogs anymore but did at one time.  It is rare for me to have more than 8 dogs now.  Of those only 1-3 will hunt regularly, the rest are on probation.  I have a "revolving door" and while I don't claim to have the best, I do have the best that I can find.  I don't sell dogs, and don't breed to try and make money back either.  I limit my dogs to pen space also.  My pens are numbered and so are the dogs.  It's better to live in pens #1,2,&3 than in 4&5.

Now, I feed small portions of the highest fat and protein content I can find, and some of the methods listed earlier.     

I know several folks with 40+ dogs and they breed and sell dogs. They spend a lot of time taking care of the dogs but they enjoy the dogs. They also hunt a lot to see what they have dog wise. One guy had over 100 dogs when he was younger. They buy dog food in bulk to save money.

don't know where your from dan but  thats the old dog jockey meathod of feeding bread and any thing but dog food  lol . due to the new laws i will not mention how many dogs i maintain and care for but each dog recieves DOG FOOD and medical attention every day  as needed  ;)


    but as for why some have so many dogs can only give my thoughts on it  ,,     some people look at their dogs and plan their weekend and some look at their dogs and plan on after they are dead and gone . people that i know with several dogs in the yard consist on several generations of just a couple dogs  .

i work with some guys that fox hunt over here in alabama and they told me they keep atleast 50 dogs. they told me they keep their dogs lean because they run all day on a fox or a coyote and one thats a little over weight wont last 2 years their ankles and joints will be blown from having to tote that weight all day. and from what i hear its a all day event running one of them critters with hounds. and i think they have so many because they can hunt about 20 at a time and if they run 10hours one day im sure they need another 20 to run the next day. to me i wouldnt like to own that many dogs but i guess for them thats fine because their being put to use. it would be nearly impossible to hog hunt all them dogs unless you had some help and hunted 7 days a week day and night. its alot of people out there that dont have enough sense to take care of them selves much less a dog and its some people out there that is capable of taking care of that many

Plenty of guys who aren't dog jockeys use these methods and more in order to keep dogs.  My perspective is more from the "poor-@$$ country boy" point of view.  
I don't completely agree with or practice all of the methods.

I know some guys in the competition fox hunting community too.   That's very different from hog hunting and a good dog man can actually make money (cash money).        

Why do you need so many dogs on the ground at once to chase the fox?

lol yeah i know bout that po boy perspective lol  i'm on a fixed income and make most than likely too many sacrifices to care for the dogs . been many a time i had to eat beans and rice for a month of sundays . but down here even the day old bread stores have gotten to high .   the horse people are buying it all up . you gotta hurry or they are sold out . we use to cook all our own feed for the dogs when i was a kid  [ dad was a butcher ] . but now they sell the bones to the pet industry and smoke them . i used to break even sellin a few pups and started dogs but since i moved into deer country those days are gone for now . but ol dog men will find a way . once i get these dogs finished with the line breeding and bring these families together , i'll sell down again and start fillin the yard back up with what i been working on the last 15 years . hell got to rambling on lol , i weren't dissin ya dan , just talkin bout feeding bread it would keep them dogs fat but when you bought one from them old men and put it on dog food they would drop down fast  lol took a while to get them lined out and put weight back on em .

far as dogs on the ground to run fox or deer or rabbits , it's all about that sweet hound music . build a fire sit and listen to em run

i dont think they have to have all them to run a fox. i think they just like to listen to the race and see what dogs the fastest and runs the longest. they dont kill the fox ,im not sure what they do all day. from what i get from talking to them its a few good friends with hounds that enjoy listening to hounds run and i guess the more hounds the merrier.

if you breed and raise your own dogs it seems that you have more dogs i have two main lines of curs i can go back 4 generations with one line and 5 generations with the other you can be dog poor if you dont watch it.

I have exactly 20 dogs. I have four finished, four young dogs turning out good( between year and a year and ahalf old), 5 pups( three already started, two that are three mnths old, three  CDs and four yard dogs/just pets. I have my A Team and B Team!

I agree with you 100 percent about your methods. I have fed old bread and scrap meat many many times waiting for pay day. Some ppl look down on these methods but the old timey ways still work if need be. You wanna see a dog get fat and slick go to feeding bread and hamburger meat.