Putting young in the woods

I will have already introduced the pup to pigs. When the pup is pig crazy I will then start having it use its nose to find what it wants without having seen it or even know that something is up. For all the pup knows on the first couple mock hunts by smell, the pups being taken to the pasture on just a normal outing. I take pups to the pasture a lot in order to let them get used to and learn to negotiate things such as cactus, fences, tall grass, cliffs, thickets, uneven ground (creeks, armadillo holes, depressions etc) hills are easy to see and go up but not easy to see at speed when they are heading to the edge. Raise a running dog in this sort of environment and it will normal live a long happy life. Don't raise it in this sort of environment and you will regret turning an older dog loose in it sometimes. Broken necks, picking cactus out for hours, lost game etc will be on the list of common occurances. So the pups spend lots of time in the woods exploring but when they get excited about hogs, I start making them hunt for them by smell.
Winding I normally work on after they have the trailing down. It helps prevent them from smelling the track and running around looking when first getting them trailing. I'll tell you a little about how I get them trailing but you need to PM me for the entire progression steps for this.
I always always always pay attention to wind direction. It's just something I do that I incorporate into my style of hunting. Makes sense to me in many ways but many people don't worry with it. However you hunt is up to you but in mock hunting, you need to pay attention to wind direction and your approach to the different mock hunts, as it makes or breaks the lesson. In scent trailing I will have dragged the pig the entire way with the wind at my back. I don't drag in a straight line either. I make the pup work to stay on track. When i guide the pup to the scent trail, it will be from the side of the trail and have the dog cross over it around the start of the trail. This way the dog can only smell the scent on the ground and not wind the pig from up wind as the pig isn't up wind, it's down wind from the dog. To find the pig this way, you are forcing the dog to work the scent on the ground. If your dog smells it and takes to running around looking and finds it just by stumbling over it, you need to make the scent drags a lot longer to force the dog to trail to find it. Most pups this won't be a problem, older dogs maybe so. After the pup finds the pig and gets to bay it, I let the pup know it's done a good job but do little interfering up to this point. Don't show the pup the pig, just let it work the trail out. If it takes setting around till your pup gets board and goes off exploring so be it. Leave the big ego at home as you don't have a constant flow of puppies at home. You have one or two pups to work with, in which to make the best dogs possible out of. Breeders should or might want to take a different approach but most of us aren't breeders. On the next time, make the scent drag a little farther and so on.
Winding is easier and less work on you. Simply drop decent size pig off in a trap or holding pen in the woods and not on the road either. Pig should be hidden from veiw. Go back and get your dog and walk the pup down wind of the pig and accross the scent being carried by the breeze. I'll normally start a couple hundred yards away to begin with. Again just let the pup do its thing and don't pay the pup any attention as in talking to it or petting it etc. When you see the pup catch the scent by perking up or throwing it's head up and stopping to look etc when you know you should be close to the scent stream, just be patient and let the pup try to work its way to the source. As the pup goes to the source you might want to follow a little ways behind. Same as in scent trailing in the begining. This helps the pups that take it for a little ways and keep coming back time and time again without getting much farther ahead each time. As you ease up as they are taking the scent trail or wind scent, your essentially encouraging the pup to continue on. In the beginning this to me isn't a big deal but several hunts in, you shouldn't have to encourage the pup to continue its way to the source. Don't do mock hunts in the same place twice either. Don't want your pup running straight to the pig from memory. You want it hunting the pig by smell.
Slim, if your imagination gets the better of you and you have more questions on top of this somewhat vague explanation from me, then we will have to talk off line so just PM me. Stuff like this is a good start to training but ain't the end. But you got to get to this point before you can take it any farther if wanting to take it further. However this is normally good enough and a better start than a lot of dogs get or people have time for. I like fiddling with pups though.