A good breed for Ohio free ranging pigs

[jassenswisher1974]

Hello everyone,
My name is swish. I live in northern Appalachia in southeast Ohio. We have a lot of hills and small mountains here. We have a small feral hog population due to some hunting ranches turning pigs loose. Been hunting these hogs for two years w/ little success. A month ago I aquired two pig dogs; My bay dog is a Florida cur male, My catch is a half cat/ half pit gyp. Both hunt ok but when I get them on a fresh track guessing about 8 hours old they they cant smell the track. We do not have the volume of pigs in texas. The terrain is rough so if a dog bays a couple of ridges over you wont hear them. I am looking for a dog that will hunt 200 yards, has a very cold nose, still has grit... Any suggestions?
thanx
swish

[coyote hunter]

catahoulas buddy 

[Coady Curbow]

A dog that can take an eight hour track is fairly cold-nosed in my opinion.  A really cold nosed dog is going to hunt a heck of a lot farther than 200 yards though.  With a limited hog population I would think you would need a long range dog (something that will make half mile circles).  We use plotts and curs that range out deep, but we have to run tracking systems on them.

[bailey508]

need something long winded and buy a garmin

[blakebh]

Get you a couple big game hounds! They should have a colder nose than the curs and typically have a little more range. You also should have no problem hearing them! LOL

[jassenswisher1974]

We do need a garmin, last night we hunted and our dogs hunt silent and every time we hunt one time they go deep. Last night they went for an hour. For us that was exciting considering we are in ohio and they might be running a hog. We havent bayed a pig yet with our dogs but we are close. I called the original owner of our dogs and he bought them in georgia.
swish

[jassenswisher1974]

Get you a couple big game hounds! They should have a colder nose than the curs and typically have a little more range. You also should have no problem hearing them! LOL

We have some half bluetick half boxer pups, Does that sound like something to start with?
swish

[blakebh]

Yea they are worth a shot! There are alot of good bear and cat hounds up north. Look at the UKC classifieds website and you should find alot of nicely bred hounds.

[jassenswisher1974]

The biggest disadvantage we have here is that there is no community of hunters. Ive made a few hunting buddies w/ dogs but the few with pig dogs here wont share the gold. Also the terrain here is so rough that people from georgia and florida have no concept of our situation. They can drive their dog 50 yards from the road on an atv and have a pig bayed in a couple minutes, Ohio is a different deal. I greatly appreciate the feedback. This is a brand new sport here and it seems you guys from texas got a great idea of dog hunting that works.
thanx
swish

[Coady Curbow]

I made friends with some guys that had good dogs when I started hunting.  When you go with someone there are some unwritten rules that must be followed.  Never bring your own dogs unless they mention it.  Never go to one of their places without them.  Let them make the decisions.  When the work starts be helpful.

Hunters are funny, if they like you they will give you a good dog.  If they don't like you, they wouldn't sell you the same dog for any amount of money.

I would find someone that has been breeding a line of hog dogs for several years and see if they would let me tag along.  Trying any and every dog you find that isn't out of hunting stock will cost you a bunch of wasted trips and a bunch of .22 bullets.

[T-Bob Parker]

Welcome aboard! Your gonna go thru some dogs in the first few years, but you'll get it, and believe it or not, no community of hunters isn't a bad thing. Its like I say at thanksgiving when everybody else falls sleep, more for me.

[firemedic]

I do understand your predicament....I'm just about in the same boat here in north Bama.....not many hogs to hunt and some rough territory to boot. I agree with T-Bob....you're going to go though some dogs and maybe some hunting 'buddies'.....but the cream will rise to the top and you will make it happen. I will give you this bit of advice, don't get in too big of a hurry to have the best dogs and kill a bunch of hogs.....take it easy and let it happen for you. You've made a good step in the right direction by joining this forum....there's a wealth of info for you to tap into here.....so use it and enjoy your new found sport. You can find a cold nosed dog in just about any breed....having some hound in one doesn't hurt though. Good luck and hope this helps you out.

[jassenswisher1974]

The last 2 months have been incredible actually. My buddy and I have been hunting hogs here about 2 years together. When deer season came in last fall we took a break cuz of burnout. We hadn't killed a pig and didn't realize how bad we needed a dog. We had some nice feeder setups but on state land we were getting stuff stolen. Well 6 weeks ago it all began to happen, A guy about 2 hours from us in KY had some pig dogs and needed some one to hunt with and found me  thru a hunting forum. Well 4 weeks ago I stumbled on two pig dogs for free and the guy didnt have time to fool with em so we took them. Made a lot of progress in a short time. This forum is the best one hands down. A guy from Virginia refered me to this and he was right, Its all you need. Right now were in the chaotic spring of Ohio and need some heat so the pigs will hit the wallers.
swish

[Bo Pugh]

if i didnt have many hogs to hunt i would look at getting me a hound and it would proabably be a plott, because if i did find where some had been i would want to have a cold nose dog to be able to run it and most currs in my experience aint gonna take a 8 hr old track, good luck

[Amokabs]

i'm in the same situation in central Bama, cept I aint got public land issues. Just gotta get my garmins and i'll be in pretty good shape. Good luck to ya, that sucks u have trash stealing cameras and such, thats how i keep up with wats coming through and if i'm doing the right things to keep em around

[SCHitemHard]

hey swish im in the cleveland, OH area, dont have my dogs with me they are down in SC.

run plotts or mt. curs they are terrain tuff

[tnhillbilly]

Hey swish, welcome aboard.

[SCHitemHard]

Wild boars have been reported in southeastern Ohio counties of Athens, Belmont, Gallia, Guernsey, Lawrence, Monroe, Morgan, Noble, Ross, Scioto, Vinton, and Washington

you around any of these places i wanna hit em up

[YELLOWBLACKMASK]

Get you a couple big game hounds! They should have a colder nose than the curs and typically have a little more range. You also should have no problem hearing them! LOL

X2
Very Rarely see me goin with anything but Yeller cur dog. But sounds like a hound is what you need for your terrain and small hog population. 

[tnhillbilly]

I have hog hunted all over, and for that kind of terrain, i find that the 1/2 hound 1/2 curs, or full hounds work the best. The right curs will work "if" you know where the hogs are.  I have only owned one mt cur and he didnt have any better nose than the curs i have now.  Not saying they are all like that just the one i had.

It is rare to find a full hound that will run an 8 hour old track these days too.