two sows this morning

[catchrcall]

Went out this morning, and dropped dogs at about five thirty or so.  The first turnout was uneventful; the dogs stayed gone about twenty minutes, and came up empty, so I went to turn out by my feeder.  I stopped a little short so the dogs would have the wind in their favor, and turned out.  I watched all three dogs run under the feeder and take a ninety degree right all at the same time.  Not long later I heard the strike dogs open, and then squealing.  I cut the catch dog Chico, out from the pickup and followed into the brush.  The dogs had caught a nice young sow, and my older strike dog, Betty, had already rolled out on another one.  Once I started dealing with the caught hog, my other strike dog, Blue, rolled out as well.  I stuck the first hog, drug her to the road and loaded up the catch dog and my “help” dog Belle, hearing Betty bay up again as I was loading up.  I drove closer and stopped to listen, I could hear the hogs rally, and could see Betty bouncing in and out of the brush keeping them grouped together.  I heard a loud “BAROOROOROO” bawl, when Blue (half bluetick) arrived on the other side of the trees.   I cut Belle and Chico from the pickup and all four dogs ganged up on another sow.  I grabbed the strike dogs as soon as I came in; it was going to get too hot to let them roll out again,  and I was happy to quit for the morning with two hogs and no hot or cut dogs.  As is typical with my luck with cameras, both the video camera, and the digital were out of batteries. 

[ETHHunters]

Sounds like a good hunt! That sounds like my luck with cameras.

[Noah]

Good hunt!

[catchrcall]

thanks guys, I'd really hoped the cameras would be working, but no such luck.  i'll have to be a little more careful next time.

[crackerc]

Just curious, if the other dogs were caught and the pig was squealing, why turn the catch dog loose?

We never turn a catch dog to a squealing pig as its already caught by the other dog (s) and not a big or bad hog.

I was just curious as thats something different than what we do.

[catchrcall]

I was pretty sure there was a group of hogs, so i turned my catch dog loose to hold the hog, so the strike dogs could roll back out.  On a smaller hog like that, my old gyp will roll out as soon as the catch dog has it under control, the other one rolls out basically when the hog is on it's side, I was hoping to get them moving on other hogs sooner by sending him in. 

[ETHHunters]

Thats the same way I would have handled that situation.

[crackerc]

Just different than what we normally do so I had to ask.......

If my dogs catch they will usually relay on another hog (if there is one) as soon as I roll the hog over. If I sent a catch dog in, they would not leave the caught hog until I got there and rolled the hog, so I guess thats why I don't do that.

Like I said, just different ways of doing the same thing and what your dogs are used to.....

[ESTEBAN_B]

good hunt!