Training Pups

Good topic Reuben, I always enjoy these discussions. When I first started hunting I had no option but to walk. Even if I had a buggy or a four wheeler it wouldn’t have done me much good. The guy that taught me how to hunt only walk hunts and so that’s how he taught me, and he ended up taking a break from hunting for almost two years and he gave me permission for all of his land. The majority of that land had no access to anything but feet, there were too many creeks and flooded areas that you had to cross to be able to get any vehicle back there.

This past year I joined a club for the first time, about 2k acres with some nice roads. Now this is a deer dog club and so there’s a lot of dog pressure, and during deer season I can only hunt from after dark until about 3-4am. The hogs are not staying on that property and they come through after sunrise so I’ve been missing them every time I’ve went, which has been about 25 times this year.

With that being said, I’ve been roading my young dogs in there this year and have thoroughly enjoyed hunting that way. I have not yet had them catch a hog with that style, but it’s at no fault of their own. I start by getting them out of the box, bringing them to the front of the truck and giving them the command “get ahead”. It didn’t take but a few times for them to learn that when i say “get ahead” I mean go out and hunt in the direction I’m sending you. I will ride with my foot on the brake so I’m moving slow, and the dogs will typically trot in front of the truck, out at the edge of the headlights. When I first started hunting them like that they’d blow down the road out to 300-400yds, but now that they’ve gotten more hunts like that, they’re hanging closer. They will typically trot head up trying to wind, and will occasionally stop and check tracks. When they stop I immediately stop the truck and watch them, I’ll wait for them to come back out to the road and start going again before I move. I’ve had them trash on a few armadillos like this, so even though they haven’t caught hogs like that I know they’re hunting. When I walk, these dogs usually hunt between 200-400yds out. They’ll cast about that far and then will continue to range out if I don’t pick them up and move when they check back in.

I have a 2022 Ranger SP570-4 on order that should be here in a few weeks. I’m looking forward to hunting out of that and doing a lot more roading and rigging. It’s looking like I’ll have a few more spots this year that I’ll be able to hunt by buggy.

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