All joking aside. I do believe you can catch more hogs with one silent dog out then you will with open dogs. (did I just say that
) I used to have this place to hunt & the hogs were good russian hogs & they were runners. I told a friend about this place & he told me if he got the hog jumped with his plots they would run the hog down so I said bring them on. Bottom line, we ran hogs all weekend & never caught a hog. In the same place, I caught 32 hogs that winter with just one silent dog out. That is not all I bayed but what I caught with that one dog out & a bulldog. I have caught plenty of hogs in that area with the Plotts but I caught way more in that area with that one cur.
That being said, I have had Plotts out by there selves & they have bayed plenty of hogs for me while opening, cold trailing to the hog.I really believe some dogs just have the knack for getting bayed & not busting the bay whether they are open or silent. There are so many factors that determine if a hog will stay bayed or run & I believe the biggest factor is how much the hogs are dogged.
Getting back to that cur dog, he was dead silent & the only way he would bark is if the hog was facing him bayed & I have seen him run 4-6 hours & the hog might stop & I would hear 3 or 4 barks & the hog would break & the race would be on again & that is with a silent dog.
Like said above if a hog breaks, speed & endurance is what you need & it does not matter if a dog is open or not, once the hog breaks.
It all boils down to personal preference & how much land you have to hunt. I want a dog to put a effort in to catching a hog & if we do not catch him,I love to hear the race but that is just me.
I agree 100% Mike and me and you have talked before and I would like to add that I personally feel like the number of dogs has a great impact on the hogs breaking and not staying bayed. I have an area as you described around me too and I never turn but one dog down at a time in this particular spot. Its always an open plott and the hogs seem to stand and fight one more often times than not even though they can hear him coming. If I dropped two or more it would be daylight before I got them all rounded up. LOL
