great topic T-bob........
Ok first let me say that, in my opinion, barking and baying are two differnt things. Barking does not = baying. A dog can bark at a hog and not even come close to baying it. At most, barking is just a small part of what baying a hog is. But its not even a necessary part. A dog could certainly bay a hog without barking at it. To me barking is something the dogs do which allows me to locate the bay, and it helps mask my noise when I slip in to shoot the hog......Or when the catch dog comes in. Now when a hog settles to bay the dogs should settle down with it and when they do they will naturaly bark less. I've seen old dogs that have been bayed across the river for hours and toward the end they may only bark once it a while like only a few times a minute. For one thing they are tired and its a matter of conserving energy. A dog thats barking very intensly will not be able to endure a long bay as well as one that slows down the barking.
Its a hard thing to put into words what my ideal bay is. But I will say, really love to see groups of hogs bayed. They best way I can describe it is to tell about some ideal bays that I remember. There are a few particular bays that stick out in my mind. Some of them have happened years ago and the fact that I remember them is a testament to kind of imprint they made on me.
The first one I will mention I was about 7 or 8 years old. Which was almost 19 years ago My grandpa had a ranch leased on the Burleson-Milam county line between Caldwell and Milano. It was a big place over 2500 acres, with big brushy wooded pastures. The lease was up and grandpa was cleaning the place out. The cattle that were left were ofcourse the wildest ones, the ones that have escaped being gathere for who know how long. The kind that you usually have rope and tie to get out. He had some cowboys doing the clean up and I cant remember who it was but they had some top notch cow dogs. I remember there was just two guys and two dogs. Once they got the cattle located they let the dogs bay for a long time, it must have been over an hour. I remember my grandpa becoming unpatient about the whole deal. He drove up close to where they were honking his horn and one of them had to come out and tell him what they were doing. He never really understood the dog thing, and always cusses the dogs saying the cattle would work better without them. Funny thing is he always hires guys that use dogs. Finally, they drove them out of of the brush, through a gate, into the open pasture that leads to the pens. There was about a half dozen cows and a few yearlins on them. To see the dogs work and lead the cattle to the pens was so amazing to me at a young age. The two dogs knew exactly where they were going and they were leading the cattle right to the pens. Watching from the passenger seat, it was like a half mile fury of hooves and horns trying to stomp and hook the dogs all the way to the lot. Their wildness being used against them. A wildness that usually served to keep them out of captivity was now serving to get them there all thanks to the top notch cow dogs.
Now, Hogs.
I use to have a gyp named Lana. She had a little sqeaky bark that was hard to hear at a distance. One hunt, she had been gone a while and I was trying to locate her. When I finally found her it was over an hour later, and she was bayed in a milo patch which was about neck high and almost ready to harvest. When I got close I crawled down the row to close the distance and saw she had a boar hog bayed. The hog was lying down facing away from me and Lana was lying down on the other side baying from about 10 yards It was around late June and hot. I did not want to shoot the hog in the but, and could not take the shot anyway with her being on the other side. So here we were, all 3 of us laying down in a hot milo field, wating for something new to happen. I was lying thier, sweating, and pondering my next move, when I realized this could go on for a long time if I just layed there. But I could not make a move or risk spooking the hog. So I just layed there. That was the moment I really became aware of and came to understand how a hog and dog could settle to a bay. Eventually, Lana must have noticed me and moved around and got inbetween me and the hog at which time the hog stood and turned to face her. But I still did not have a shot due to her being in the way. Lana is a small dog and most much to hide behind so I was worried he would see me and spook. But he just rooted a few times and layed back down. I crawled up to her thinking she would move to the next row over when I pressured her to get closer, but she just stood there so I raked her into the next row with my gun barrel. And Mr. Boar hog was supprised to see me draw a bead on him
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Another time Paris and Joe came bayed on a group of hogs. Paris and Joe have two different baying styles, but seem to compliment each other when they are hunted together. Paris is very loose baying, and Joe bays very tight. When they are together they seem to meet in the middle, Paris will tighten up and Joe will back up a bit. Well they struck these hogs on a creek bank, very near where I was and when I got to the bay Paris was looping out wide and Joe was baying the few sows with pigs. He was bayed tight on the lead sow. Paris had crossed the creek and I wondered what she was up to. Then she opened up again like she was looking at hogs. In a bit I heard some splashing in the creek and here came another sow with a half dozen shoats and Paris in tow. Joe looped out to bring/let them in and my bay just doubled in size.
. Paris then took up post at the lead when the new hogs piled in. Joe looped a few times around the whole lot. They then took turns, one dog out front while the the other windmilling I let them bay a while and the hogs settled. After a while, one of the sows rooted a fat boar shoat out of the pile, like she was offering him up for scrifice. So i shot him.
What happened next was less sucessfull, they rolled with the hogs but never got anything else shut down. There are a hand full of things I like to see at a bay and it all came together on that one. That sort of of awarness of the "herd" that stock bred cur dogs have and the desire to get them all gathered up is something I love to see in dogs. Paris' tendancy to loop out from a bay if she knows more hogs are there and Joe's tendancy to bay tight showed true. But at the same time Joe showed me finess, more than I thought he had at the time, by looping out to bring the other hogs in and looping around when Paris took lead. Seing the teamwork between the two dogs baying a group of hogs that eventually settled to a nice bay was about as ideal as it gets for me. The fact that they bay grew was a bonus.
Waylon
