shooting over dogs

[Jabo]

I use a 35 Remington when I'm hound hunting. With the cur dogs also some of the time. Like Cutter, I tell them to back up & then take the shot. Important to make a good shot the first time though. I shot a boar we had bayed bout a year ago and didnt make a good shot. When i shot he went down and the hounds piled on, then he came back up and went to wreckin. Wasnt a pretty sight but live & learn I guess

[Cutter Bay Kennels]

I use a 35 Remington when I'm hound hunting. With the cur dogs also some of the time. Like Cutter, I tell them to back up & then take the shot. Important to make a good shot the first time though. I shot a boar we had bayed bout a year ago and didnt make a good shot. When i shot he went down and the hounds piled on, then he came back up and went to wreckin. Wasnt a pretty sight but live & learn I guess

I completely agree with shot placement being the key. 

[Dexter]

Craig
 Like  we have shot over the catahoulas  several times   they might  catch right after the shot and sometime have hauled ass  and circled back in ,, most of the time I hunt alone and I try to carry  "thumper" with me  and also carry it with me when hunting with others  and most of the time no one everknows i have it on me 
 but hammering down on the 50 mark and a bad motorcycle wreck  I have to stand my ground cause running  is not a option
so i carry a .45/410 FMJ derringer made in Ducktown, TN and  its saved me and my dogs several times. have shot  hog in the head ear and my favorite  is right between the shoulder blades and take out the spine
  o yeah other times we used a 30/30
 Dexter
heres a picture of Thumper and it will thump your know what if your a limp wrist

[craig]

i bet that sucker will make your ears ring.

cool gun..

[Dexter]

thats a understatement
 but i paid 75 dollars for it back in 86 I think from a pawn shop bought it for a snake gun and found out  you better shoot #4 or bigger if your shooting a big rattler even at  6-8 feet it will really upset them , o yeah
 if anyone gets one of these ALWAYS have the safty on when loading or hold thehammer back when pulling the barrel back in place  you slam it hard and the hammer is down it will go boom

[Jared H.]

Anytime I hunt by my self I shoot over my dogs.  I finally got my own catch dog but he's only 6 months old right now.  I've always enjoyed it because it seems if my dogs get one bayed good enough for me to ease in and get a shot it seems you can watch the bay longer.  Its nice to sit back and watch em bay. 
 I bought a dog one time that turned out to be very gun shy and she was waiting for me at the truck about a mile away after I shot.  But she was also 5yrs old.  My dogs now don't seem bothered by it and they are all curs except one which is part redbone.  I usually use a 45 or a 6.8spc which is similar to a 243.

[DangerZone]

My pups first hog last year happened kinda like Bryant is saying ,, I had three dogs on the ground 2 pups and a 9 yr old pup trainer, it was off  to the races with all three dog , put the old dog and the rough cur up and let my redtick bay it up and got it shot no big deal. I don't have a catchdog and I keep wavering back and forth on getting one.

[jwdeltx]

The ranch I take care of feeds corn year round so after deer season when everyone else stops I start watching for hog sign. About a week ago I found hog tracks around one of the feeders and rooting down in the gravel pit holes, then Sunday I found were he rooted close to the barn. I think this hog has to die, so early Monday morning I took the hound gang in,Patches,Squeak,and Mollie.I turned them out and in a short time the had him bayed ,I took my time walking in and even sat up top watching them bay for awhile .I had to make sure I got in close because I knocked the back sight of my 357mg. When squeak started turning on the heat I decided to shoot the hog before he broke. Made a good lung shot even with the sight missing. Luck was with me this day!!! HUNT'UM UP!!

[slick]

i shoot over my cat's at the moment with a 30-30 but once my permit comes in for my .22 ill just use that. i also train them by firing a few shots at feed time or when they are running next to the bike for exercise. i tell them "OUT" and they give me room to take the shot. they go mental now when they hear me open the gun lockup.

 i train detection dogs too so i own a starters gun for when i go looking for new recruits to test them for gun shyness. its a good training tool.

just dont start too close, work your way in.

[craig]

seems like alot of guys shooting have hounds.  

[craig]

thanks, Slick

[Cutter Bay Kennels]

seems like alot of guys shooting have hounds.  

That's because curs are better dogs. They can do it all. Especially those reversed black mouthed ones. They're really good. You can train most of them to only find boars. Just saying. 

[treeingratterrier]

 I have always had a mailbox with a 22 short in it loaded and shoot it every time i went out to feed dogs, weather coonhounds, terriers, wolf dogs, cat dogs or hog or jvelina dogs, i thought everybody did this until i went hunting with some hog doggers,  I saw hand cannons that blasted into peeps foreheads after one shoot, shot a flame throwed into the air that scared me and the dogs off a hog bay and lead to a horrible dog gutting when they came back after an idiot shot a 44 mag pistol into a pack baying loose and scattered the hog an dogs right into us in a brush tunnel..  I will only take a 22 or 25 raven old autoloader i still have a bunch of hot loaded by hand loads for, the reason is it the raven will fit in my pockets and brush wont get into it, plus it you have to crawl in brush or up a tree to get a shot at a hog being bayed that has been breaking when it sees you its easier to get a eye shot or ear.  Plus if you lose it no big deal at the pawn shop.  WE shot over everything with the 22 long or 25 autoloader and the dogs never got ears blasted or flamethrowered off the bay up, also when i quit hunting if you were dumb enuff to shoot a rife especially a blaster off a fence jumping mule at night that did not like it you were likey to walk home or be dragged or bucked into a cctus patch from hell.  Another thing is ammo is cheap and easy to get unlike those hand cannons all the sports use to try to bring on paid hunts at the ranch, i never let them bring thieri guns and made them wait and use mine or the helpers same pistol afyrt i gave per,ission after looking it over good, i think the mules i had would let u shoot maybe a 35 o5 something like that in a rifle if u showrf it to them and woahed them some like a heads up, better not miss and try it nite or another shot either, but if u had a 22 that was always kept in the saddle bag in the same place time agte time they learn that it is the same gun and not to fear it, many many times i stood up in the saddle and shined with a Nitelight coonhunting type light that lit up the hog ot bobcat  and held a mesquite limb with one hand and the pistol with theother with dogs treeing under and all around the mules feet, the cat would fall out after a shot or2 and no cicus rodeo, hogs were kinda the same way, I tried a 41 smith no work either and also a 38 smith, we went back to old school 22s and forget i he has one  got to have one because i saw it in a magazine, plus it wont got thru most hogs and kill a person or a dog, it makes u slow down and take one good kill shot to the ear or eye or even the heart if u dont have dog on other side or someidot from newyork as a paid hunterlol

[tnhillbilly]

I see your point, but i do alot of bear hunting, and dont carry a gun hog hunting 99.9% of the time but when i do i carry 454 casul,  now if you were to bring a 22 to shoot a bear the idiot term would be reversed.   

I have shot hogs with bow, pistol, with dogs. no dogs hurt.  Most of the bears we shot last year were on the ground with anywhere from 5 to 15 or more dogs baying and were shot with flame throwing cannons,  dead bear, no dogs or people shot.

Now would i shoot a 454 off a mule while standing in the saddle? certainly not.  It just all boils down to the dogs at hand and just like breeds,  personal preferance.

I cant say if it effects curs more just know that it doesnt bother 90 - 95% of hounds.  Now if my dogs think they hear a gun shot wether it be a backfire or fire cracker, they go nutts.  which makes it hard to sleep around the 4th of july and new yrs eve.

 
Just different strokes for different folks.  I just prefer catch and tie, but like it all as long as theres dogs involved

[catchrcall]

so here's a question for ya.  I used to have dogs that did not really care if you shot a gun around them.  Then a while ago I had a dove hunter on the next property pepper my kennels with birdshot.  He hit a couple dogs, and me ( I was cleaning kennels at the time).  Nothing serious just stung them. Still made me pretty mad.  Now if they hear a shot they are headed for the pickup.  How would you go about curing that?  Same as you would starting one out?  I don't plan on baying and shooting a lot, but i would like to be able to throw one dog in the back of the pickup when I go fill feeders or something and just let them loose to hunt while i do. 

I'm concerned that if I shoot a hog in front of the gunshy dogs they're gonna get spooked every time I get close to a bay thinking they're gonna get peppered again.

[bulldogger]

The first time I hunted hogs with dogs about 10 years ago a couple buddies and myself were invited by a real nice cowboy whose family has ran cows in Florida for generation and has lots of ranches.  He took us out and we used a Cracker Cur.  Only brought two and only one on ground at time.  He brought the son of the female we hunted all day just as backup. We all were in a jeep and he was on a horse.  The dog would range out hunting and then he would radio us on jeep where the bay was, we could hear bay typically.  He did a great job of how this hunt was going to go down and where to aim on hog before we ever headed out to hunt.  I have read on hear were others have had problems with guest and I thought everything went great because he did a great job of preparing everyone.  He let us know that when we got a solid bay the shooter and him would get up close and to never have finger on trigger until he said you can put finger on trigger and take your shot.  The biggest hog we got that day broke but the dog took out as well as him on the horse and we followed and it got stopped about 400 yards away.  The cur was gritty and caught the two about 100-125 pound hogs and was real impressed cause he would just say"bay, bay, bay" and the dog would let go and back up and bark and then he would say put finger on trigger and take shot.  He let us know that if the hog moved at all or dog moved in to hog to immediately take finger off trigger.  On the caliber of gun he said we could use whatever just as long as it was strong enough to take hog down.  He said he had never hunted with a catchdog and always just ran one at a time unless he was training younger dog or not hunting with guest.  The female he had, had great handle and it probably was safest way to not have a bunch of other dogs to bay up and gives distance to take shot.  SInce then I have only hunted with a Catchdog but really enjoyed the hunt to watch this one dog hunt all day and we shot 5 by lunch and it was hot that day as well.  I have never brought even a knife on hunt only rope since hunting in Texas and love that the best because I really enjoy bulldogs.

[craig]

Mr. knightstock

  i shure enjoy reading your post,     beeing a dumb country boy i can shure get alot out of what you say or how you say it i guess.

for about 5 years in a row i would go to uncle earls in louiisana and set for hours visiting with Cowboy Williams, as i read your posts i hear alot of wisdom and expereance just like i did listening to Cowboy Williams.   me and Cowboy would talk about mules, dogs and cows, then back to dogs this would go on for hours. 

you have said more in 3 or 4 post then most guys will learn in a lifetime...  thanks for the imput..

[matt_aggie04]

I'm concerned that if I shoot a hog in front of the gunshy dogs they're gonna get spooked every time I get close to a bay thinking they're gonna get peppered again.

When I first started hunting I had two dogs and lever action .44 and I killed hogs just fine.  I have a male that never ever changes his barking at the shot of a rifle.  Now the female that I have had never been shot around and after a few hogs that I shot she would get to where she would watch for me and when she saw me coming close to the bay she would get real loose and then leave out right when the hammer dropped.  I enjoyed it but I found in thick country with alot of youpon it is extremely hard to get in close enough for a shot without breaking the bay.

[Reuben]

Craig i start shooting around my dogs when they are pups usually start out with a 22 walking around with them in the pasture shooting if i get one that is nervous or scared of it i put them on a about a 20 ft rope and lead them and shoot and pull them to me and pet them afterwards and they usually get over it in a day or two. All my dogs will catch after i shoot but the hog hits the dirt after they are shot i use a 41 mag or 30-30 when i am hunting i never pay attention to the wind when you got 5 or 6 dogs baying the hell out of one he is not worried about what you are doin i just ease in there and watch a good bay and bust that ass when he gives me a good shot i hav seen it with just one or two dogs its a liittle harder to sneak in and get a shot

x2, Tie shy pups up close and pet.

I use a 22 cap pistol around the pups at feeding time and pet them up. I use a 22 mag pistol with solid bullets when hunting and if the hog is bayed will command the dogs to back up and then shoot and the dogs usually catch unless told otherwise.

[craig]

i think a 22mag, with the right placement, should handle most situations.