Ben this Ben that.......

[airduster29]

your also welcome to come out this way and try to nose one up in the sand maybe we can do both some day I started hunting in east tx 15 yrs ago an I will be quick to tell anyone hunting is way easier on the hunter out in this country an posible the dogs to an yes they like to run here to but dont have all that brush and water to fool with just sand hill after sand hill and see a hot track turn cold in minutes

[TexasHogDogs]

One thing I've learned in all the years I've hunted is this... if a hog wants to run, it's gonna run. Just hope your dogs the bottom to stick with it until it bays.

Thats it in a nut shell .  We was on a big spotted boar this morning .  The dogs hit soon as they hit the ground he went 1000 yds across and cotton feild threw one creek and then two more before he bayed and soon as he got wind of us he was headed for the hills and there was no stopping him .  Atleast my ole whimpy dogs could not get it done.  This is the third time this has happened with the same hog in the last three hunts over there.  He is big enuff to walk with your dogs once he gets far enuff from humans if he wants to and he is big nuff to cut the living hell out of them if he wants to ,  so far he aint messed up but he will just a matter of time .

[Reuben]

I know the perfect bay dog is one that does all it can to stop a hog when it breaks...once the hog turns back to the bunched up hogs then this dog will windmill or set back and bay...it doesn't matter if it is one dog or 5 dogs...

I also have seen dogs that get close enough to the hog and talk to him...it seems that the hog understands that if he runs he will be hammered so he figures not moving is the safest thing to do...at least that is how I interpret the bay...this is my second choice of dogs...


I like grit and plenty of stopping power...one dog alone might bay and hold the bay and in rare cases 2 will hold a bay...but 3 dogs will put teeth on a big boar and 4 or 5 will hold a 3 hundred pound hog...with this style of dogs thick cover works in favor of the hog because he will out run the dogs...so busted bays do happen...these dogs work best in open woods or in the winter from about end of December and on until early April when the weeds are still down due to winter...these dogs do not get cut as bad because they catch a little while and let go but the hog will be exhausted by the time I get there...I have a choice with this type of dog...do I give the command to catch or do I tell them to get back...at the beginning I liked for them to catch and in that minute it took to get in and stick the hog I could have a dog cut and/or crippled or killed...so I started carrying a gun and always chose to shoot the boar...The only way the dogs caught recklessly was when they were just let out of the box and they would catch one close up when the dogs were fresh and chomping at the bit to get gone...sows and shoats were just caught...that is the style of dog I like...a little more grit will be OK as well...so eventually a running vest will be needed...that is the plan...

I once hunted with a good looking reddish gold colored bmc out of South Texas. This dog was culled because he busted up bays...he was a good hunting dog and he could stop a hog...he was the best stop dog I have seen...he and another dog had a big boar sitting on his jewelry because he couldn't run...

On the next hunt he winded and trailed a bunch of hogs and he busted the bay...but within and hour we caught 5 sows from the same herd with him relaying...caught them with him and an Airedale...they were all about 175 to 200 pound sows...he barked 3 times when starting a track and he could move one...the next time you heard the dog he was bayed solid nose to nose and the hog was backed up to a stump or tree taking care of her behind...he wasn't a long range hunting dog but he had a good nose for winding and trailing and he could find, bay, and catch hogs...Nugget was his name and was not a Ben bred dog...

bottom line...I like bay busters that catch hogs...

[hogrunner]

The Cowboy dog I own is grandson to Ben, but he very well could have gotten some of his great genetics from TLS Delight his mom or his Dad Rathke's Reno which was owned by Ed Rathke.  It's just that the Ben dog has been advertised to death and it's very easy to refer to the dogs as the Ben line, but there have been a many of dog created by crossing out to various different strains.  I was told Delight was breed 14 times and she herself is credited with starting a fine line of dogs, it always aint the male...

[T-Bob Parker]

Tbob, did the dog you have come from three rivers, of something else?  Was it registered? I only ask to try and kind of pin point what kind of dog you had as far as breeding. And that was my point about a runner, while some will stop fairly quickly on their own others have no interest in stopping, and I don't have a use for a dog that won't stop one as quickly as possible. 
Anthony

The three rivers dog is out of Ramon and Gato or Chato or something and a bunch of yellow jacket and hornet

Not being snobby or mean brother, like I said it ain't that he is useless, Its just that I was given a shot at owning  some gyps that blew my mind and changed not just what I like, but what I'm aiming towards and flat out, the Ben dogs I've hunted with, even the ones who are successful hog dogs, just aren't where I'm headed anymore.


Please consider that performance wise, comparing MY Ben dogs to MY woodruff ones is like comparing labs to collies. It's really not fair becuase they are not the same thing. Maybe a better comparison is to say its like taking a great ballerina and forming an opinion of ballerinas based on her performance in a bull riding competion.

[AnthonyB]

Waylon, no ill will from my side either, that question was more of an FYI for me, I like to keep track of crosses that are performing or not just for my own knowledge, was just curious as to how the dog was bred. 

Mike, yes, I know not every hog will stop and some may take your dogs miles to get, but what I am referring to is taking one set of dogs and running a pig a mile with nothing to show for it, and taking another set of dogs and stopping the same hog faster and actually getting the hog. Do I think that will happen every time, no, but that doesn't mean that it hasn't happened before. One place I hunt has been run with dogs for about 25 years that I know of, and another for 30, so running a place that has been dogged forever is nothing new, but it does make for some good work for the dogs. As for hunting in your area, maybe Airduster and I can team up, might take both of our dogs to run one of you places and catch a pig. Lol. J/k. I'm up for it, any excuse to kill pigs is a good one to me. 
Anthony

[Wmwendler]

Anthony B...........ten-4....no hard feeling here either.

Your last post got me to wondering.  I wonder how many places haven't been hunted for a long time.  Most of the ones I know have been hunted from the begining since there were hogs there to hunt.  Shoot..I can think of some that were hunted before they actually had hogs there, if you know what I mean.

Waylon

[AnthonyB]

Yea, I think about the same thing sometimes. I will only put down a time those places have been hunted for hogs that I know for sure, but before there where pigs there they were run for deer, yotes, and javalina. (before it was illegal) seems to me that they just switched to whatever game moved in during that time period, and trained dogs accordingly. Lots of huntin that's for sure.
Anthony