Big numbers?

[Circle C]

I see some people that catch a good number of hogs in a hunt, and it has me thinking.  Is it the dogs, the land, or a combination?

Now, I have never caught a large number of hogs on one outing, my personal best is 10 hogs in one night. Next best was 8 hogs in a night.  The night with 10 hogs was a feedlot that we hunted in central Texas, and while it was dogged fairly often, it had free choice feed and the hogs came in every night and fed. We didn't have much in the way of dogs, we just dropped plenty on the ground, and often had multiple bays on that place.    Next place we caught plenty on, was a place that had never been dogged, we went in there, cleaned house a few times, then the hogs learned pretty quick that they better put it in high gear once they heard a dog.

I would have to say that in both of these cases, it was the land that produced the numbers, not the dogs. These days I have better dogs, and worse properties   I would love to be able to hit the feedlot place with today's dogs, but that is not possible since some guys went in there with puppies and ran a bunch of cattle through the fences.

Take the best hunt you have had, based on number of hogs caught, and was it a new property? one that consistently held hogs? A place that is dogged often?

Here's a pic of the feedlot hogs

[matt_aggie04]

Honey holes are named that for a reason, of the few times I have cought over 5 in a day I would say it had a lot to do with where I was hunting than what I was hunting.... 

Chris how would you hunt there today?  Dogs 1.7 miles away while you are looking at 10 eating around a crib feeder haha    You would need to borrow my dogs so they would quite and come back to where the hogs are haha.  When hogs are thick like that I would want a couple of loose dog that would keep the hogs bunched and settled and a lot of bulldogs and helping hands....

[Circle C]

Chris how would you hunt there today?  Dogs 1.7 miles away while you are looking at 10 eating around a crib feeder haha

Leave it to a friend to cut you deep!

I would hope the dogs I have today have the sense to look for hogs close in too.  Hunted Annie and Brandy yesterday and they never went past a mile. Heck, they even had a nice group bayed in the open a couple hundred yards from us, until the spotted sow decided to leave the group. 



I guess the honey hole, would be the spot that consistently holds large numbers of hogs?  regardless of the dogging influence?

I thought of the Fort Bend place last year as a honey hole, but even there we only caught 5+ a time or two. I think if I can consistently catch hogs at a place, then I consider it a honey hole, but I have never given much consideration to the number of hogs caught.

[Monteria]

I would bet that both influence the outcome. Having the correct style of dogs on any particular property should maximize productivity. That being said, I would guess that most of our high number hunts were a product of the property more so than the dogs; being that we always hunt the same dogs or types of dogs.

Steve

[elliscountyhog]

It is all about the land to me, most of the land that we hunt there is a good number of hogs but it will take you a while to even find a fresh track, you could go one day and not catch a thing and go the next and catch 5 or 6.. I have one place that is a honey hole and we could catch 4-8 hogs in a hunt and turn around and go down the road and not catch notta. It is like deeer hunting, you can hunt one place all year and not see a deer and then go to another and they are like rats

[Mike]

It's called "honey holes"... loaded with hogs. I've had and had the pleasure of hunting many of those... they don't last long when the pressure is put on them. Places you could go with puppies and pile hogs up like cord wood... good dogs will shine like internet super stars.

[Cutter Bay Kennels]

It's called "honey holes"... loaded with hogs. I've had and had the pleasure of hunting many of those... they don't last long when the pressure is put on them. Places you could go with puppies and pile hogs up like cord wood... good dogs will shine like internet super stars.

Words of wisdom.  Preach it brother Mike!

[DanS]

I've always said "Hog hunting is 60% land, 30% Dogs, and 10% handler".......

The guys i know that catch PILES of hogs....don't want a dog that needs a tracking collar....They see no reason to wait for a dog when they can just go around the corner and throw out on another pack......

[raider54]

I believe it is a combination of both! if you dont have any hogs you arent going to catch any, that being said I remember a time 2 years ago I took a friend to Oklahoma to 10k acres that has more hogs than you can imagine. We hunted his 4 dogs all weekend and after seeing well over a hundred hogs and catching none I told him we were never going to catch a hog with these dogs. He went home and got rid of everything he had and started over.

[chainrated]

It's all about WHERE you are hunting.. Some places you can catch hogs with any ol dog.. Some places it takes a little better dog or a different type dog, depending on how you look at it.
The most I've ever caught in one day was 16 but that don't happen very often..

[sfboarbuster]

It is mostly the land.
Most I have ever caught in a day was 22. But there was alot of dogs and alot of people and it was on a management area.

[Txhoghunter]

Its all about where you hunt...a lot of folks think they have bad @ss dogs because they hunt where the hogs are. I can get a dog at the pound that will bay a hog if I turn out on top of them. 

[scdogman]

I believe that it's a combination of both sometimes, but I believe that the Land or area has waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay moreeeeeeeeeeeeee to do with it.

[t.wilbanks]

Its all about where you hunt...a lot of folks think they have bad @ss dogs because they hunt where the hogs are. I can get a dog at the pound that will bay a hog if I turn out on top of them.  

Isnt that were you usually try to hunt is where the hogs are     If the hogs are there, and the dogs are doing what they are suppose to, i would be happy with them. Granted, its going to take more hunt and work to find them in places the hogs are scarce. Its not the dogs fault there are alot of hogs in that area. The dog may not be bad @ss to some, but like its been said many many times, it all depends on what you like, how and where you hunt. Those dogs may be bad @ss in that hunting style and not be worth a nickel in others. JMO  

by the way, if you know where some dogs are at the pound that will turn out and find hogs, let me know and i will take them!! that will save me alot of money on dogs!!  

[elliscountyhog]

Which is why i always said, i would rather have a dog that hunts in a lessor populated area and finding hogs than one that hunts in the most populated area and find hogs, and to answer your question twilebanks there is some at the dallas pound if you are seriously intersted and hunt in a area that is loaded with pigs i have bought a few from there and many of them will BAY(which is what he said) a hog read my signature they just dont hunt most of the time but bay a hog they will, i had one guy call me for a dog once and i told him i had a stike dog for sale and he said he didnt need one to find the hogs he knew were the hogs were just need a dog to bark at em

[t.wilbanks]

Which is why i always said, i would rather have a dog that hunts in a lessor populated area and finding hogs than one that hunts in the most populated area and find hogs, and to answer your question twilebanks there is some at the dallas pound if you are seriously intersted and hunt in a area that is loaded with pigs i have bought a few from there and many of them will BAY(which is what he said) a hog read my signature they just dont hunt most of the time but bay a hog they will, i had one guy call me for a dog once and i told him i had a stike dog for sale and he said he didnt need one to find the hogs he knew were the hogs were just need a dog to bark at em

lol . i think my wife would kick me out if i got anymore dogs  . I was just expressing a opinion, i know exactly what he is talking about. I dont hunt many places that are hog heavy, but i know people that do and they may not have the best dogs but they are getting the job done. places like that are good to hunt especially for young dogs ( and those dogs from the pound ) 

[t.wilbanks]

elliscounty, by the way, i like your signature, i know ive wasted time and money on dogs like that 
I would have been better off getting dogs from the pound 

[Txhoghunter]

t, Im not saying there is anything wrong with turning out on top of hogs..a lot of the places i hunt I go there because Ive seen fresh sign and know the hogs are in the area...I just meant that you cant do that and then claim to have great dogs, because they didnt do anything special.  Maybe this makes more sense...if you hunt where the hogs are(I mean a lot of hogs), the dogs are supposed to find them, they do the job they were born (or bought) to do, thats nothing special or worth bragging about in my book, thats expected from a hog dog.  

Or maybe my standards are too high  

[t.wilbanks]

t, Im not saying there is anything wrong with turning out on top of hogs..a lot of the places i hunt I go there because Ive seen fresh sign and know the hogs are in the area...I just meant that you cant do that and then claim to have great dogs, because they didnt do anything special.  Maybe this makes more sense...if you hunt where the hogs are, the dogs are supposed to find them, they do the job they were born (or bought) to do, thats nothing special or worth bragging about in my book, thats expected from a hog dog.  

 im with you on that one  

[kds308]

The most I have caught is 11 in one day. The place that I was on never have been hunted at all. Man I tell you I was one tired person after the last hog we got.