Ben I'm just a likeable guy. But seriously as you know I was oppossed to the live stream. I voiced my concern but I have no problem with delayed. I do believe though that utube and pictures of hogs with ears chewed of have added alot of fuel to the fire. Years ago when 5 or 6 of us first started TDHA here in Groesbeck we went to Austin and defeated a bill that would have shut down our sport (woods and pen). On that morning we went to the capitol not knowing what to expect but, quickly learned how our political wheels turn.The thing that started this whole mess was ONE short video clip, agood bay with One nip to stop a running hog. If they had the pictures and video that we now have, I do believe we would have sunk
If that's true then we all might as well pack it in right now.I'd rather be honest about what I'm doing then try to lie about it and do it in secret constantly worrying about getting "caught" like some paranoid criminal.
We are hog-dogging, not baking cookies. It is what it is, and I'm not ashamed... I'm proud of what we do for conservation, and I'm proud of the integral part our dogs serve in that effort.
Instead of trying to hide, we should be more vocal about the reality, and benefit the hog-dogger offers to the community. It's not rocket science... you only need to understand two realities:
1) Feral swine populations are profoundly destructive and are growing... and the rate of growth is accelerating.
2) Private land holdings are getting smaller, not larger. In this increasingly broken and parceled landscape, we can't have races that go on for endless miles across 20 different properties. And it's only going to get worse as more and more of rural America turns into subdivisions, strip malls, and office complexes. That means we are going to have to run bay dogs that will put the stop on hog. That means putting teeth on a hog to turn it around or sit it down.
This is the reality. There is no point in trying to hide from that reality, again, it is what it is. Hog numbers are increasing and land holdings are getting smaller. Now more than ever, we need our bay dogs to keep races as short as possible. There is very little point in trying to hide the truth... sooner or later the truth will always out anyway. I'm not saying we need to go out of our way to advertise the fact that some dogs have some grit at every opportunity... of course it makes sense to avoid handing the enemies of animal-ownership and animal-use any ammunition in their battle against us, but we don't need to be ashamed of it or bend-over-backwards trying to hide it either.
