To shoot or to catch, that is the question

I have done the bay and shoot way and I have done the bay, shoot, catch way and now I do the catch way. When I was mad at the hogs we put up numbers. Some will call BS but the truth is, my buddy and I hunted or trained young dogs every day providing it wasn't Christmas or mother nature didn't keep us in. This was almost 30 years ago. People would ask how many hogs we were catching or killing. We got curious ourselves so we started recording it. At one point we were killing and catching 350 to 400 hogs a year with dogs. We were young and when we went to bed at night were in a hurry for the sun to come up so we could do it all again. My mentors that basically molded me were old enough to be a father or grandfather to me. They all shot what they bayed so naturally that was our first style. Then we decided that we were tough enough that we needed the challenge of catching them alive. Before too long it got to be that we were doing both on the same hunt. Our mentors got to where they wanted us bring watch dogs because they let us do all that dirty work and they would do the shooting. If it was where they couldn't get a shot then again, send your catch dog. We put up some consistent big numbers back then. It was a common hunt to shoot and catch 15 to 25 a hunt. I remember one hunt that one mentor and myself killed 15 just he and I. He was old and broke down pretty good, but if he pointed that fire stick at something, it was likely drawing it's last breath. We bayed the hogs in the brush on the river bank. After that first shot they broke. He was out in the plowed ground waiting. He started shooting and I started sticking. I killed 6 and shot the first one. He killed the other 8 quick enough to come back watch me stick the last couple. I cleaned all 15 of those hogs that day by myself, not one under a 125 pounds. That's the biggest reason I remember it so well. Eventually all those buddies were gone or couldn't hunt anymore because of health. Guns eventually became an only if necessary option. Now it's pretty much only if we are at or around the river. I want to mention one other thing I saw happen a hand full of times. Because nobody is a 100% marksman and EVERY situation is different, every shot isn't a kill shot. I have seen hogs get shot and it knock them in the dirt. As soon as they bottomed out the dogs would run up and start grabbing and pulling because they thought bang, dead hog. All of a sudden what they thought was dead was up and handing them their butts. I saw that happen once and the guys best dog payed the ultimate price. His words were I should've let you send that catch dog, I knew I couldn't get a clean shot! He was sick and totally blamed himself. That dog was with him all day everyday hunting or just going to town. Felt bad for him and it had a whole lot to do with why I catch instead of shoot. That being said the reason I like the style of catch dog I use was also molded by circumstances that happened using a different style or type. Like mentioned earlier by cajun I think it was, I had a really good dog that would catch when the catch dog caught. I was using a smaller catch dog at the time. He didn't have enough weight to get any dead weight leverage and therefore like so many smaller catch dogs I've hunted with, could only slow the hog down and not control it. My cur dog got caught by a caught hog. A couple more small catch dog issues and I decided that I was going to have to do something different and evolved from there to where I am now. There's no doubt that there are styles that work better as a whole in different terrains, but whatever floats your boat is what you should be doing. Same with dogs, if this style or breed is what you like then that's what you should use. You pay the feed bill and take care of them. There isn't a right or wrong, just my way and your way so to speak.

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