This is a hog I will remember that I thought was pretty special because he evaded us for so long.
About 11 years ago a friend of mine, Dalton called me & told me his best traildog(Lemon) & his pitbull got killed by a big black & white boar that day. He told me where & Richard Jones & myself went there the following weekend. As soon as we pulled up we saw big hog tracks in the 4 wheeler trail & we walked them out to where he left the trail in the canes. I put Blackie, Hawk, & Belle 11 out & they started trailing. Richard put 2 of his dogs out & they went the wrong way. Anyway after a 1/2 mile they bayed the hog in his bed. Richard & I went in & cut my catchdog Tank loose. You could hear him when they made the catch & all the plotts had caught. We could not hear anything but the canes being beat down by the hog & dogs. We
got in there & caught the hog & thru him on his side & got the dogs off. We thought it would be funny to turn him back loose & let him keep the competition cut down. He was roughly about 300 lbs. with 2 inch cutters on him.He had the wool that is so charachteristic of russian hogs but he had a white list on his side. We were going to take pictures of him but during the transaction of me getting off him to let Richard get on him he thru us both off & took off. we were very lucky that he decided to leave as we were in thick canes with no trees handy. No big deal as we were going to turn him loose anyway.
When we would hunt that area we would avoid the area we knew he stayed in.This man Herman who takes every hog out that he catches lost 2 of his blackmouth curs to this hog & one of his catchdogs. well this hog started getting educated about dogs. When he was jumped he would run to the canes(about 200 acres of roso cane that is hell on dogs & hunters) He would only bay long enough to catch his wind & then break bay.
We were running a hog with Blackie & Belle 11 & they ran it thru the canes & split up. Blackie stayed with her hog & we heard Belle baying. A friend of mine got there first(Todd Demster) & dumped his 1/2 plott-cur cross named Rob into the bay. When he got there it got western as they say out west. We heard the dogs really getting pounded & we got there getting ready to turn the catchdog loose when the hog broke & crossed the levy right by us. It was the same hog Richard & I had caught a few months earlier. When Belle crossed she was dragging a foot of intestine & we bare got her caught as she was still trying to run. We went in & found Rob with his jugular cut laying down. We clamped it off & got both dogs to the vet right away leaving Blackie. Rob made it altho he only has 1 jugular now & Belle died 3 weeks later from infection. Well the war was on now as it had got personell. We went back & got Blackie later.
Talking to my friends about the hog I suggested that everybody kick a $100.oo in the pot for whoever caught the hog would defintely have to pay vet bills.We'll nobody kicked in but the name stuck. He was the BOUNTY HOG. We got on him several times but he would run all day. He would bay but he kept breaking & we would see him crossing the levy several times. We packed fresh dogs on him but it is amazing how far ahead he would get when he would cross the levy again. When dogs would get close he would stay in the canes & he could trot & the dogs would have to fight their way thru. On one of these bays my hunting buddy Pat Meyers got his good dog Bandit all cut up. He had a hair lip that hung down quite aways. Another time this same dog got cut up by the bounty hog & destroyed his sheath. The vets coud not repair it & if Pat wants to breed Bandit it is by artificial insemination. My Hawk dog looked like Frankenstine after that hog got thru with him.
This went on for about 3 years with a couple more dogs going down.
About a year ago Pat, His son Bubba, and a friends 12 year old son came hunting with me. Bubba called me on the radio & told me he found a big track. I put Trapper & lil Blackie on it & they started it. Pat put his dogs down & they went in & split. Pat & Bubba stayed with there dogs & the kid(I forgot his name) & I stayed with my dogs. We heard them jump & the hog was running parallel with the levy. We got ahead of the dogs by a 1/4 mile & stopped to listen. The hog bayed up right along side of us & I went to get the catchdog out of the box & Skinner(plott) hit the door so hard he knocked me back. Skinner, Tank(bulldog), ran to the bay but the hog broke.I told the kid to come on because now we had a bad situation with the catchdog loose running with the hounds. They ran him only about a 1/2 mile & caught him. I yelled at the kid to bring the dog leashes & headed in. As soon as I saw the hog I knew what boar it was. He was dk. brown with brindle dogs all over. I grabbesd him by the back legs & thru him down. I tied his back legs off to a tree & started getting dogs off. The kid made it in & we started tying dogs back. I then tied his front feet & we had him secure. All i could do is stare at the size of him. There was no doubt it was the Bounty Hog as he had the same white list on a dk. brown & black body. He was 375 to 400 lbs. by my estimate with 3" cutters. I called Pat & told him to hurry up that I had the bounty hog tied up & he just laughed until he heard the dogs baying over the radio.Pat & Bubba came on the run & we decide we were going to kill him & not turn him back loose.Pat & Bubba are big men that are 6'3" or better & It still took all of us to load this boar. Three of the dogs were cut pretty good but nothing serious. Who knows, we will be hunting Bounty Jr. in the future.My son was devasted that he was not on this hunt as he saw this hog several times when he would cross. One time we were right on him & Travis was afraid I would ride him over with the 4 wheeler & he hollared: dont do it Dad, he is too big.
Mike
