Dog Care and Numbers?

I am "down" to 9 cur dogs. No bulldogs here. Of course, two of my cur dogs are 11+ years old and retired. Two are 6 months old and not even started yet. One had a broken jaw and I was told by the vet to NOT hunt her again as the jaw was broken in several places and is liable to break again if hunted. He also said if she re-breaks her jaw, I might as well shoot her in the woods as he can't fix it again. So I hope to raise a litter from her this winter.

Thats five out of the nine on the feed bill that don't get hunted. That leaves me my Monkey dog, my 3 year old male Spur, my female Red (mother of the 6 months old pups) and Cricket, my year old female. The 6 month old pups will get put in the woods this winter, so that will give me a few more to mess with. I rarely hunt more than two dogs on the ground at any given time. My philosophy about that is, if my two dogs can't find, stop, and bay (and usually catch) a hog, I don't need MORE dogs I need BETTER dogs.........

I went over two months this summer without going to the woods. Once it cools off I normally go about twice a week, sometimes more. We also get a few guys together and do 3-4 day hunts in a row, just rotate dogs.