Not to say good or bad about their dogs, but Lea hit the nail square on the head when she said the dogs weren't used to the new terrain, as if being dropped on another planet. Very true. We forget, dogs senses are many time greater than ours in every way. So a dog that is used to the sights and smells of one place, when suddenly dumped out in another, it would be like dropping them on another planet.
My dogs aren't used to that much water. I've taken them to east Texas, basically Lousiana, and they didn't hunt worth a darn. They hated that much water and didn't know what to do. Then a buddy of mine brought his dogs from Lousiana and we went down to a 7000 acre ranch near Dilley and his dogs didn't hunt worth a darn. It was bone dry, sand & cactus, nothing like what they are used to. Everything smelled different, it looked different, and they came out of the brush at the end of the day loaded with thorns. He was disgusted and I thought he was gonna shoot the dogs. It wasn't their fault, they were really good dogs back home. They just didn't have time to adjust to the new environment.
Same as when I get an older dog, and I usually get mine from Lousiana or further east. It takes at least 6 - 8 weeks for them to get used to the area and the way that we hunt. For that first 4 weeks, I'm lucky if they will wander around my back yard, much less go look for a hog. Then about that 6th week, WHAM, they start coming around and get back to hunting.
So it surprised me none to see the dogs acting odd and not getting the hogs stopped. You go from desert to swamp in 24 hours and expect them to hunt like they always have? Not likely.
And going on horseback and jeep, through the swamp? To me, that was the dumbest part of all. 4 wheelers or utvs are the way to go, then long sleeve shirts to make it through the briars.
I just want Lea to join my team. I promise I won't cuss her and she can call all the shots for all I'd care.
