EAST TEXAS HOG DOGGERS FORUM

All this talk about a decent dog finding hogs anywhere got me thinking of some of the toughest places I've hunted. I've been fortunate enough to travel some and hunt in a few different states and see some different country. I believe some country will make or break a dog, and usually your better dogs will be right down the road from you cuz they're bred for the country you hunt in.

I'm curious to know what's the hardest place you've ever hunted and why was it so hard...Terrain, accessibility, bad running hogs, bad rank hogs, low hog population? This is just something alil different to get a picture of some tough places.

I get a kick out of these east tx boys coming out to my country and leaving with there tails tucked wondering what happened

Toughest place i have hunted is down in the catcus country I hate it. Don't have a problem catching hogs in it I just hate it.

Didn't even know you was still kicking on here JP!

These Southern Appalachian Mountains are a bitch to hunt, especially for this South Florida boy. West Texas(canyon country) ain't no walk in the park neither.

Lol JP I'm still ready to come down there... Don't mind having my butt handed to me or my meat dogs! Just makes it a little easier the next time around! ;D

I have never said I have the best dogs... Ever. But I do like my dogs and wouldn't feed them if I didn't think they were worth feeding, or they didn't get their job done...

I'd say either South Sulphur river bottoms up here in NETX, or the Tawakoni lake bottoms we have to hunt are some of the hardest hunting I've been through. Doesn't matter what property we hunt we have to find the hogs... We never know where they are going to be. Almost all hogs around here have been dogged before and run like track stars... And the population seems to have gone down quite a bit as well in recent years.

When we hunt the lake bottoms you never know what kind of terrain you'll end up in... Cat claw thickets, regular thorn thickets, ankle to knee to waist deep water, mangrol tree thickets, crossing deep creeks, waist high lake bottom brush that you can't see through, and the list goes on... Then you add 20-40 degree weather in winter or 110 degree summer hunting and it starts to get interesting. We normally put down anywhere from 4-10 miles on foot on most good hunts... So that's tough in itself.

I've been lucky enough to be able to run dogs all over this state, and when it gets thick anywhere it's never easy... But I will say, the dogs tend to have a harder time in dry piney woods than anything. Idk whether it's because they are just not used to it at all, or don't have a cold enough nose to follow an older dryer track, or what... But it just seemed to give them more trouble. Nonetheless, my dogs seem to have done fairly well no matter where I drop them at. Really can't expect anymore out of them honestly. Not currently feeding anything that I don't like, so I guess that's a good thing I think. I'm always up for any challenge for my dogs and I though...

Well the roughest on the legs was bloody Madison county NC got to be a billy goat. Next the big island of Hawaii. Every where else is bout the same might have more rock or cactus bigger briar patch bout the same. It's only hard if it's not fun lol


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A thick sorghum field. I don't like not being able to see 2 foot in front of me.  Seems the rocks south of mason ate my dogs feet up quicker than where I usually hunt.

For me so far it Palo pinto  County but there a lot of places I haven't been

The worst place I've ever hunted was on an island near Matagorda... I don't ever care to go back haha!

  It's all relative. The older you get the tougher it gets. lol I think every state has it's tough places & easier places. Some parts of Fla. & Ga. are thick & wet & you have to chop your way in. The mountains have always been tough. 3-6 year cutovers are no pick nick. The marsh that I hunt now is hands down the easiest place I have hunted.

haha yea right mike I have seen u out here almost $hitting blood and casping for air and screaming I ain't never coming back to MF ing hills. !

Was that hog island  your talikg about

Haha... but I love the hills!!! That's just my old, out of shape ass talking trying to keep up with you.

I hated that damn island.

We hunt some pretty thick sh@t thick thick stick Marsh,switch grass,palmettos,briar thickets and pepper berries I've caught a hog 800yds in a endless coastal pepper berry patch at low tide and we had to crawl in and out the whole way they grow so thick that above the water line was impenetrable but even those catches are still fun and if there are hogs there then it's a good place to hunt in my book.We have a ton of deer doggers here and the hogs are dog smart but I'm sure it's the same everywhere hogs go to the thickest nastiest place they can find.I just want to catch hogs.

Not sure,  we went out there with Mr. jimmy. I believe he owned it or was part owner in it. He said they won't even hunt it after February cause the rattlesnakes are so bad... and gators.

Ive heard of it and heard people say the same thing about the snakes and gators theres  a beach in freeport that ive heard theres alot of hogs but it has alot of snakes too and alot of bush. Anyhow just caught my eye when u said Matagorda

That beach in Freeport is no hill for a climber. Worst part of it is the occasional rattlesnake that has wandered up a salt cedar around neck high.  :D

I've hunted in varied terrains none of them were "bad" just all different. If you have hogs, hog dogs oughta find em, if you have a terrible sparse population then it just requires more time. Have a friend living in Snyder now who has loads of land with minimal hogs, we always end up catching hogs and having fun, just some trips take longer than others

Appalachian mountains is probably one of the toughest places. Literally will break a man and his dogs.

I have a 400 acre pine clearcut on my property that just absolutely sucked trying to get in or out of. Just full of briars wore the dogs ears off. Hogs would just sprint for that clearcut if they were within a mile of it. Had a small creek that ran through it just full of cattails and briars.

The worst place is an island in  a swamp area that literally  shredded a thick carhartt coat. In the summer its was horrible always left with an ear full of briars. Always On my belly trying to get to dogs. One time it took us almost an hour to go 60 yards. Fell in a gator hole out there bout gave me heart attack. Hogs would always seem to be trying to go out the way i was going in on my belly. Every hog in that river bottom would always take you to that island tryin to lose the dogs.

That was me. Haha. That place is sure pretty but hard on a fat man.

We followed the Dogs through some real thick saw briars and clear cuts for hours one night. Everybody including the dogs was ripped up when we called it a night. The dogs would get bayed and by the time we got there the hog or hogs would bust out and head for another type of hell. On another hunt in North Florida (madison) they have some dumb ass bushes that they call ty-ty's , son of a $#!% that was rough on this north Georgia fat boy. Not to mention the damn water moccasins on every other tree limb and the occasional alligator.  Tons of hogs but that was a place where if you got bit by a moccasin or rattlesnake you better pray and call your family cause it ain't gonna be good. Also when I used to competition coon hunt we hunted all over the place. And anybody knows that with a cold nosed , full blooded hound you better have your walking shoes on !!! Mountains are no fun at 1 in the morning!!! Any of yall Florida boys know about those ty-ty's ? Yall need to band together and get rid of them suckers !!!

I've been fortunate enough to hunt all over the state of tx and a few in Oklahoma. I think the toughest place I've hunted was 30 minutes down the road from my house in gatesville. Hunter a place with some big box canyons and the hogs ran and ran. Caught plenty of hogs there but it's tough on me. Always run into something though lol. Rocks in the hill country, everything pokes you in south tx, the green briars in my country around strphenville, and the tumbleweeds in the panhandle. Yes I said tumble weeds.... They're miserable when you finally find a patch of brush out there the tumble weeds will be THICK thick from where the tumbleweeds have been blown up against the brush over the years and it's hard for a dog to get one caught. There's some steep canyons up there but I can deal wth that. But the combination of those canyons, cactus, undergrowth, and green briars on that particular place in gatesville was definitely the most challenging place.

Judge you still hunt NC any?

Kflippin I have not been a hillbilly since 04 but I got family up there. I will get back up there some day lol bloody Madison lol do you live in that area


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Dang kflippen I wandered what happened to ya! glad your still on here 

Judge I'm from Dobson I plan on hunting pisgah when season opens there's a hog or 2 close to me but land owners don't mind them so getting permission hasn't worked out they stay in the timber aren't tearing up fields I guess when they get destructive it'll change lol may try to hit murphy a time or 2

Georgia hawgs I'm still here mostly reading post trying to beat the heat finally cooling off some been awful hot for here this summer

Been smoking hot here to, It is cooling off though, finally.  I'm about to finish up a good sized bay pen. If you still have my number give me holler and come fish and work some dogs here at the house. Do you still have that big ass stag hound ?

I'll try to come down and work some got a few young dogs I've still got the stag she's caught a couple domestic run aways lol working on getting a male stag now

That dog was pretty slick. I'd sure like to see a stag type dog get lined out on a hog in a wide open field !!

I guess the lease I'm on right now is probably the hardest place I've hunted. Pine sappling thicket, briar patch thickets, boggy sloughs, not many hogs and when you do find one the race is on. But I feel fortunate to have it.

X100
I have seen a good number of "jam up" hog dogs and even more Hog Doggers come back to the truck with their tails between there legs cover up in cactus thorns. In my opinion it takes a pretty hard dog with some brains to stick with a runner it some of the big cactus country around here. Especially with the weeds being head high and can't see 3 feet in front of you.

Hardest place I've hunted is a corp property. Never an issue of not finding hogs...The dogs have struck almost every time I've hunted it. It's just the terrain. There are 2 deep creeks with steep banks that run parallel to each other the entire length of the property, all the way to the lake...I'd say they are sepperated by a distance of 50-100 yards the entire stretch. The first third of the property is mostly hard wood bottoms with the occasional briar patch and that's a pleasure...just a walk in the woods...lots of shade...it's honestly just beautiful...BUT....the place gets dogged a lot, so...inevitably the hogs will make a beeline towards the lake. The 2nd 2/3's of the property is mostly yupon thickets and good lord...it's terrible. For those of you familiar with mangroves...well...it's basically the same thing. Your crawling under, climbing over, contorting your body in all manner of way moving through that stuff. Now...that's bad enough, but imagine doing it with a lead in, lol. These thickets are 150 to 300 yards wide and I promise you...it ain't fun. Last time I hunted there it took us 30 minutes to go 75 yards, ridiculous.

We hunt a lot of places like that from Matagorda to Freeport. Some rough terrain for sure.

Like someone else said when you get around 60 degree averages during the day its time to stop hunting out there due to all the snakes.

Throckmorton counties  some of the nastiest cactus country around... takes a tuff dog to make it out here