EAST TEXAS HOG DOGGERS FORUM

I'll admit I'm completely ignorant to the subject of open dogs in general. I'd just like to hear some opinions on hunting open dog/dogs in an area where hogs are consistent on running when they know dogs are in the area


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If a hog wants to run its gonna run regardless if a silent dog or an open dog is chasing it.

Only a completely silent dog can bay a hog unless the hog is old and crippled.

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Don't listen to this goofy guy...open dogs prolly couldn't even bay that old crippled hog  :D

I'm not trying to stomp on your question or anyone else's answer but, instead of asking for opinions, I recommend you go hunt with the guys that have consistently run open dogs if you are truly serious about finding an answer.  If you are just asking for curiosity, check back in a couple days on this site and there will be 100 replies- most of which come from people that judge an open dog based on the couple culls that they actually saw.

This topic has been beat to death on this site and there are good open dogs that catch/bay hogs, you just have to find them.

A good dog is a good dog open or not I have ran both ways with good out comes ether you like them or ya don't. Know the wrong open dog can cauz problems but for the most part I see no difference other than the open dog may go further to stop it but I think in most cases it just becuz the open dog opened way back giving the pig a alert that something is coming for him the rest is on the quality of the dog

I got one of each that I run together so it works out perfect!   ;D

I would not listen to either of these guys. You can always tell a rookie. Everybody knows a hog has to be deaf for a open mouth dog to bay it. ;)

    lol  lots of wisdom on this one .

there good ones both ways I like hunting silent dogs but man there is something about a real good open dog that I just love nothing like hearing a loud hound or cur

Open or closed is less important than fast with bottom. If the dog can't catch up he can't bay. Once that hog moves he is gonna run till he decides to stop on his terms unless they get close enough to decide running ain't working. A hog has a nose far better than a dog. They will smell that dog before they hear or see him.


Shotgun
Arkansas

Open or closed is less important than fast with bottom.
Agreed

If you don't have anything that will stick with that runner, then it doesn't matter if he's dead silent or a bark every breath kind of dog you won't catch it. At least that's what I've found out

Hahaha I love this topic I like to let one know I'm coming for his ass  but I like them silent tell the bay breaks I don't want them blowing up the place on a track that was there from this morning


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All joking aside. I do believe you can catch more hogs with one silent dog out then you will with open dogs. (did I just say that :o) I used to have this place to hunt & the hogs were good russian hogs & they were runners. I told a friend about this place & he told me if he got the hog jumped with his plots they would run the hog down so I said bring them on. Bottom line, we ran hogs all weekend & never caught a hog. In the same place, I caught 32 hogs that winter with just one silent dog out. That is not all I bayed but what I caught with that one dog out & a bulldog. I have caught plenty of hogs in that area with the Plotts but I caught way more in that area with that one cur.
  That being said, I have had Plotts out by there selves & they have bayed plenty of hogs for me while opening, cold trailing to the hog.I really believe some dogs just have the knack for getting bayed & not busting the bay whether they are open or silent. There are so many factors that determine if a hog will stay bayed or run & I believe the biggest factor is how much the hogs are dogged.
  Getting back to that cur dog, he was dead silent & the only way he would bark is if the hog was facing him bayed & I have seen him run 4-6 hours & the hog might stop & I would hear 3 or 4 barks & the hog would break & the race would be on again & that is with a silent dog.
  Like said above if a hog breaks, speed & endurance is what you need & it does not matter if a dog is open or not, once the hog breaks.
  It all boils down to personal preference & how much land you have to hunt. I want a dog to put a effort in to catching a hog & if we do not catch him,I love to hear the race but that is just me.

    I agree Cajun .  and I believe that MOST hogs and that's right I said most hogs  don't pay any attention to the sound of dogs barking just like deer that are ran on deer leases till a dog gets right on them .  hogs and deer alike hear dogs barking all the time from farm dogs to the little yipper yappers that they root right up to in the neighborhoods . and I find it hard to believe a hog could tell the difference of weather they were being trailed or if it was just a house dog barking or somebody working cattle . I know the hogs and deer never pay any attention to the sound of my dogs raising hell when they are rooting and grazing right behind the house here . I've seen too many times where a big boar hog was busted out of his bed after laying there listening to the dogs trail right up to him . if all these hogs and deer took off running every time they heard a dog bark they would run their selves to death .

I agree Cajun, but also I have guys I hunt with that have good curs that catch hogs. But often times we go out and they turn there dogs out and I leave mine in the box. After a hour or so they say it's a dry run no hogs in the area, I will turn my dogs out and 2-3 hours we have bayed up hogs. The part about a dog barking making hogs run may be true, but look at it this way that hog could have come threw 10-12 hours earlier and be that far in front of the dogs when they get the track, the hog might not be running but be 10-12 hours in front of the dog.

If i could find a silent cur with the drive and nose of my hounds i would feed it. I always think of it like this, you cant bay them if you cant find them. :)

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I agree with most of what has been said on the last four posts unless someone posts after peachcreek...

I do believe a hog knows when a dog is running a hog track but they will lay low and hope it is another hog that is being tracked...I have seen the dogs strike and run a hog and I am waiting to see which way they will take the hog...once some time passes I have seen hogs get up and slink away in the other direction...

in open woods the hogs get stopped and caught with good dogs...thick briars, brush, palmettoes. and it can be a long day...the dogs just can't catch up...

I have seen many a silent dog that didn't have the bottom or the nose but put a good dog in front of them and they become pretty good dogs...not saying there aren't good silent dogs just seem to be a higher percentage with these traits in the silent dogs...like Juan mentioned...let the silent dogs out and when they come out at the other end let the semi silent or open dogs out and in 15 minutes you will have a strike...seen it many times over the years...

I like the old style mt cur because they are fast to strike and don't take very old tracks but they have the knack to find game quickly...but nowadays too many are feisty looking such as very small with the short ears and too hot of a nose etc...etc...I do has some 1/2 mt cur with a little pitbull and am in the process of 1/2 plott in the oven now...I just didn't know who has the type of mt cur I wanted so had to go with the big game plott hound in the mix...I hope to keep a few pups that can wind one a good ways and to track a decent track and be mostly silent until it is a smoking hot track or the hog is jumped...

I do believe when hunting in the thick briars that one dog is best with 2 walk in catch dogs...the strike dog to be gritty and to stand back if the hog is facing him and grab the jewelry if the hog turns to run...it don't take long for a hog to figure out what type of bay dog he is facing...I have known this but I prefer to run more dogs...

This question is as old as the sport of hog hunting with dogs is.  Honestly like most have said its a total personal preference.  I have hunted with both and at the end of the day I like them silent.  Not saying that silent dogs are better by no means but I like mine silent.  I dont have 5000 acres in one spot to run, I prefer a silent dog that will get out and find a hog and catch it fairly quickly.  Some of you will scoff at the next statement but in my 9 years of hog hunting I have only walked into one true baying.  All my dogs catch. 

Grounds keeper that's how we roll I like caught hogs lol hard to bay with a mouth full of hog lol

Most of the time the only way I know we got a caught hog is for teh squealing or because all the dogs show treed on the garmin.   I do have a few young ones most of the time that will let a holla out when they get excited. 

I agree 100% Mike and me and you have talked before and I would like to add that I personally feel like the number of dogs has a great impact on the hogs breaking and not staying bayed.    I have an area as you described around me too and I never turn but one dog down at a time in this particular spot.   Its always an open plott and the hogs seem to stand and fight one more often times than not even though they can hear him coming.   If I dropped two or more it would be daylight before I got them all rounded up.  LOL

Oconee...I do believe one gritty bay dog usually will not put enough pressure on a boar hog to make him have to run...but 2 or more dogs will...one will circle to the back and put enough mouth on a hog to make him nervous enough to break and run...

Ruben I agree on that but if I got 3 gritty dogs on the ground and looking at the hog most of the time it's caught no matter the size. Now busting the bay is another story anything can set the hog off to run. IMO I do think the barking makes them run more but like I said before a open dog usually open befor he is on top of the hog. Some bay right off some don't comes down to what a fella likes not what some one else thinks is right or wrong. I just hunt my way cuz that's what I do not that it better or not just my way. Open or not if they can get the job done they get my stamp

Just a question but what do ya'll that run 100%silent dogs do while the dogs are working? Ain't nothing quite like the sound of a good hound!


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We do the same as the open guys look at the garmin and tell lies lol

HaHa. aint that the truth..  I'll tell you one more thing too. When somebody says ole so & so bayed that hog & then the garmin says different.lol
Ocenee said:
I agree 100% Mike and me and you have talked before and I would like to add that I personally feel like the number of dogs has a great impact on the hogs breaking and not staying bayed.    I have an area as you described around me too and I never turn but one dog down at a time in this particular spot.   Its always an open plott and the hogs seem to stand and fight one more often times than not even though they can hear him coming.   If I dropped two or more it would be daylight before I got them all rounded up.  LOL
Posted on: April 08, 2015, 11:13:00 am

Alvin, I agree. I really think it is the amount of dogs on a hog that makes them break. Of course, I have had them break with one dog also. They either have to be tough enough to hold them or back up & bay.

There is probably more truth in this statement than any other on this topic! Lol


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Diazyl, Just out of curiosity what part on this post would you say is not the truth. I don't think it is a matter of truth but just everybody has their own opinion on what works for them.

I run all silent gritty dogs that catch.I also got a couple that bay by themselves but as soon as another dog shows up they catch.That being said I have really been thinking about getting a colder nosed dog like a plot because of those frustrating hunts where all the signs just a little to old for my dogs to take.

    lol   carefull what you wish for cracker , a sounder of hogs can go a loooong way in a couple of hours  . and an old boar hog even further  .  I have put a couple of my cur hound crosses and my old plott gyp down on a fresh looking track at the hog crossing only to have to go back and get  the truck and head them off and pick them up  lol  .

wasn't saying that any of it was a lye just that this is probably something that every one could agree with!


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This topic is a good one tho. I can go to ether side and have a good time. Some people get to caught up in there style or thinking is right. Well guess what it ain't lol in this game one day your team is the best the next time out can't get it right. That's the challenge and what makes it what it is to me

I still like my silent teams chances better  >:D

Lol I hear you halfbreed but you got em in your arsenal.Just outa curiosity what are your crosses?

   Catahoula crossed on either walker or plott ,in anywhere from 50/50 to 3/4  hound . the 50/50's tended to remain silent while the 3/4 were more apt to be open dogs

Thanks halfbreed

I get a ear full from my wife every day. That is why i run silent dogs, to get some peace and quite untill the bay.

So you fellas think I could catch more coyotes with silent dogs