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Went again yesterday, old dog struck one of the young dogs was with him they left out, two of the youngest dogs came by us going towards them but didn't get far and pulled up bayed, we listened a little bit and they broke and bayed a couple more times close to the first bay before staying bayed. We went to them and they were in a terrible pile of briars, sent the bulldog and it broke just before he got there, race is on again, they didn't bay right away again. We rode to the top of the hill where the other two dogs had gone over and they were 900 and something on over show bayed then move but always in a small area, on the map showed a pond. I figured they were in and out of the pond so started on over that way, just me, my mule, and the bulldog. I was riding through tear through brush so stopped to listen and didn't hear them so looked on the tracker and they were running directly away from me. I rode on to where they'd been for so long and when I popped up on the pond bank there were 3 hogs standing just off the bank on the other side, I sicced the bulldog and he saw them, he broke for them but they weren't real scared after having been bayed for over an hour but still when he got close they started to run but one of the boars turned to fight,Ol' Blue caught him, just 125 lbs or so. I hobbled him got Blue off and ear marked and barred him, he was a pretty good kind mostly black with a little brown mixed in bu the had a tightly curled tail,
'we're particular about our herd boars haha". By then Adam came on over there and I left him with Blue and the hog to go get the other two they were next to the interstate fence, I wanted them away from there. During all this Adam's older dog and the two pups were bayed on the other side of the hill so we started back to them. Got there and they had what appeared to be the same spotted hog that had broke bay earlier. Sent the bulldog and he plain missed. On the way out of that area we came across 2 dead piglets, I would guess that spotted hog was a sow and had a bed of pigs is why she didn't leave out initially.
Ol'Blue has dropped the ball, there was a couple of hogs caught where there wasn't an ear available and he caught the jowl or the side of the face between the jowl and the corner of the mouth. I guess since that since thats all he could get he thinks that's his spot. He caught that loose boar the same way. Next hog we catch if he's not on the ear I'm gonna break him off and put him on the ear so he can see that is better, maybe that will work, I don't know, but he needs to grab that handle it there is one there. I believe that's why he missed that sow the pups had bayed the second time. I am not a catch dog guru but all of them I have fooled with liked to catch wherever they first had a successful catch and the first few for him was ear only.
I can't begrudge the thermal hunters because they take a lot of hogs and they are detrimental to all ag processes but they have hampered our hog population.
There are some places that I promised landowners we'd kill or take and dispose of what we caught and we do, Adam even sends them some pics for PR purposes. But there are places that don't contain that agreement in which case we manage hogs.
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