EAST TEXAS HOG DOGGERS FORUM

What's do y'all think about a hog dog that barks on track? Pros and cons?

Lots of info on this....just had a thread..."open curs"
Or something. Anyway.... Trust me....it's beat to death. Just search "open dogs" etc.....plenty of threads.

We don't run open dogs down here because these hogs hear a dog dark on a track they head for the hill and were old men and can't run that far no more
     
       -5    safe hunting

 Best dogs I have seen were open on track. Dogs barking or not the hogs know you are there long before a dog finds them.  Hell some of the people who hunt east Texas and run the same property time after time run open dogs. These people catch more hogs , big hogs , in a few months then most in a year.

Just like some people assume a long-range hunting dog is one who flies out the box and never stops running until he hits a mile, folks assume an open track dog is a slow, methodical dog that will trail a hog from here to the east coast but will always be a mile behind.

If a dog can flat smoke a track, it really makes no difference...more just personal preference.  I'd bet 95% of the people who will come on here and tell you an open dog will clear the country are just repeating what they heard somewhere along the way.

I will throw out there that an open tracking dog probably won't get you many invites to go hunting with your buddies though...haha

I agree Mr. Bryant, alot of common misconceptions out there involving dogs. I prefer silent dogs simply because I don't care much to listen to a dog opening much on track but it doesn't have anything to do with that dog pushing the hog. In my honest opinion a good open dog is as good as a good silent dog.  I just personally prefer silent dogs myself. Now if we are talkin about chasing corn bandits around the tree tops i'll listen to an ol bawl mouth hound all night long and love every minute of it!

I'm with ya on the hounds bawlin there Justin!! Music for sure!!

And yes, this hear topic has been beat to heck on many a thread... But to answer your question, we've got curs that are open on track.  I hunted horseback this last weekend, and we were hunting a field with broom weed, so I had a clear vision of what all was going on on top of my horse, which was really neat.  We've got a gyp, Roxy, that I talk about alot who is open on track.  She yips on track and barks once the hog stops.  Now obviously, it helps me know what's going on (I usually don't have the garmin to look at).  She's works a trail fast and yips while she's going.  This weekend the hog ran RIGHT in front of us, and Roxy relies solidly on her nose. She won't look up and chase the hog and she never has.  (as you can imagine, I'm on my horse, yelling at Roxy and pointing at the hog like she knows what the heck I'm talking about, lol, but I couldn't help it!) Instead, she's nose to the ground, weaving in and out, working that trail... and I'm watching that hog boot scoot.  Once she hits open grass, she figures out it's a straight shot, and she goes to yippin again and boot scootin too, and draws the other dogs to her. She's our top dog, so in my eyes, they are learning from her. 

So to get to the straight 'n' narrow, (sorry, I like to talk alot, lol):
I love open dogs.  Pros and cons?
Pros: -Draws our other dogs to her while she's working a trail, teaching them what we're out there for
        -We know what's going on
        -To be honest, I just like it

Cons: I couldn't tell you of any, because this is what works for us, and our style. 

I have had quite a few open dogs and only one that would work the track almost track for track and she was fast but not as fast as I would like...but all the other were fast and ran with their head up looking for the hog as they ran...I good cur dog should cut and slash looking for the best tracks...

In any of these post like these the one point that is stated over and over and missed a lot is this. MOVES A TRACK FAST. If a dog will do this open or silent makes no difference. A hogs nose can smell u hundreds of yards away depending on wind. That hog isn't gonna run till it is sure it is the target. If not every hog in the area would skin out after the first bay.


Shotgun
Arkansas

x2...many hogs will lay low until they know they are the target and then they will run like a scalded ape...seen it a few times...

My best dog was a semi open dog. N my opinion as long as the dog has lotta bottom that hog is gonna get tired of running and defend his turf but now always!

I'll lend my 2 cents!!   I've been hog hunting 17 years and the first 15 years I ran only silent dogs, if it made a peep it was a goner.  The last 2 years I've went to all Plotts, open as can be, and I have noticed absolutely no difference in the hogs running AT ALL!!!!   The one thing I have noticed is I catch MORE hogs.  Now anyone can get on here and make their claim for silent dogs all they want but it will never change what I've seen with my own two eyes.

   Is all personal preference so hunt what you like, but don't get mad when you watch your cur dog wiggle his tail and stand on his head over a COLD hog track.

I don't care for wide open dogs but semi open I prefer over silent dogs...and when they can take a fairly cold track and put a hog on the other end...or wind hogs a mile away and go to them...or...running a hog at a good speed off the wind currents about 25 yards to the downwind side...that's what good cur dogs do...I wouldn't cull a hog dog like that because it was open...

A MILE is a long ways, Reuben!

yes it is...if the wind is just right and channeling a good dog can and will do it...I don't hunt much right now and when I do we don't have that opportunity because it is mostly woods with lots of palmettoes but out in those big ranches that have woods and open meadows a hog scent can carry far...but I also watch my dogs and if I see one pick up his nose to the wind and then they go into the brush and make a circle and come back out I will look and see why the dog can't go to the hog... sometimes the wind is carrying the scent over the brush so when the dog goes in he loses it...dogs don't reason like we do so as the handler I go deeper into the wind and brush until the dog picks up on the scent again and goes to the hog/hogs...the mile winding was unassisted only happen one but it is a feat one won't ever forget...

one day we were headed back from a long hunt and one of my pups picked his nose up into the wind and way out there was a patch of cane directly upwind and I knew it had to be holding hogs but my wheeler was acting up so had to make it to the truck...but that one is still on my mind...just won't know for sure on that one...but his bloodline is right for that type of winding ability...

 I am only echoing what has already been stated but adding another point to it....I cant stand any dog that runs every inch of a track like a track babbling blue tick. open or not I like a dog that drift tracks, they are much faster. I like a silent mouth dog myself but open or not i love looking at a dog go on the garmin like a little torpedo running a fast track. 10,9,8......... I think open or not drift tracking versus a plodder makes the difference. still yet i like a silent dog best. open dogs just remind me of tree dogs to much and i'm not in to tree dogs.

I used to hood hunt quit a bit and several times I seen dogs come off the hood and go a mile or further and get bayed.  I can assure you my dogs didn't "wind" a hog that far.  In fact I'm sure they winded sign or a track and "trailed" the majority of the distance.   

open or silent dogs? it is possible the dogs jumped the hog and brought it to bay at a mile...just saying on account you are sure the dogs did not wind that far....or like you said, they winded the track scent and then took the track from there...


some of the old line kemmer curs with the Gold Nugget line have great winding ability...more of a natural trait it seems...

I just said "my dogs" couldn't wind a hog that far.   I'm on my couch right now but I bet I'm within a MILE of a hog!!!  I could see how dogs like you describe would be a valuable asset to a hog hunting operation.

Here's my input

I have bayed hogs with my open dog he ran track 300 yards from truck got bayed then rolled off when catch dog caught bayed at 100 then repeat , bayed at 200

An I have also had him run a hog all night
So depends on the hog

Not how much noise the dog makes

Y'all ever been hobbling a hog an looked up an had hog standing there looking at you ? With all the dogs barking an such ?

I think speed is the key I got a dog that is super fast on a track he will wind track don't matter he will go miles to get one bayed we recently Added a plot to the mix he is good dog but here is what I see wrong you need one or the other open or not both unless you are willing to go threw the pain of adjustment that is required to take these dogs on there path to a team. Really I don't mind either way I just ain't into running pigs 10 miles 2 or so is ok jmo

Hell Jason....I say 2 is too far  ;D

Yep that's a long ways on a old fat guy lol