Another dry run,...one of these days their luck will run out.

[firemedic]

Wife and I decided to give 'em a try again this morning. Got there right after light...went to where a buddy had seen some fresh rootin' a few days ago in a hollow that has some water in the branch in the bottom of it. Dropped Belle and Abby and they lit out.....up the hollow. They made a loop and checked in and were off again. 3 Loops later Belle shows back up and lays down in the branch to cool off....it's gettin' hot here, not going to be long before it'll be too hot and humid even at daylight.....and for those of you that don't know...I don't hunt at night, just don't care for it, doesn't bother me that most of y'all do.

Donna is feeling kinda poorly this morning so we decide to head back to the Ranger as soon as Abby gets back and go up to the wallow and let 'em lose there. Get to the wallow and dump 'em again....they head out into the pine thicket and down the hollow....now my dogs make about 200-250 yard runs and check in unless they hit a track.....this is what I want them to do, I don't need a dog that's gonna go to another zip code looking for a hog. I check the Garmin and they're at 360 yards which means they've hit a track....they take it down the hollow toward where we just came from....finally get to just over 500 yards and lose it.....soon as the track came up out of the hollow, they lost it, dry weather kills us here. Belle starts back and shows up shortly....we drive down the road we drove in on earlier and pick up Abby.

It's getting hot by now so we give it up, put the dogs back in the box and go move a feeder to a new location that has a pond and a good wallow and is cool most of the day. This is getting to be a habit it seems for me,...I keep thinking that the odds will swing in my favor sooner or later and I'll catch 'em at home in bed and give 'em a lesson. I'm getting some chocolate and other candy soon, buddy is supposed to get me a drum of it this week, soon as I get that and get it out, things may take a turn for the worse for the swine around there I'm hoping.

[Noah]

That's alright... just keep hardenin' them dogs up so they be ready when they do get their chance!!!

[firemedic]

That's what I plan on doing Noah,...man this has been a long dry spell. I remember a couple of years ago my buddy that I hunt with around here and I went 8 trips I think it was without a bark. Hogs get hard to come by around here sometimes. I can't fault Belle and Abby though, they've hunted their butts off for me, just nothing hot enough to run or nothing at all for a track. I'm really proud of Abby, she's coming into her own in the last year. She's about 4 I think, always would run a hog and bay up a storm but not a strike dog at all. She has really made a change this last season starting in south GA this January. Seems she just decided to hunt on her own a lot more, makes larger loops before checking in. She's also started catching more than she used to, she won't take one on by herself if it's much size, but will catch with the rest when need be. She was a bit gunshy for a long time after I got her, but this last season she finally got over that and understood that a gunshot meant swine, now when somebody in our crew shoots she's tuggin' on the lead and wanting to check it out. It's just a matter of time before she runs in on one and bays it up for me. Hey....glad Whaler is making a recovery buddy....you did good.

[Bo Pugh]

if you go unprepared you will get on a big one, leave your tying string or bullets in the truck and you will probably see a hog standing at your feeder when you pull up

[SwampHunter]

i  been having a dry spell it seems like 2 months

[firemedic]

It's funny that you mentioned that Bo,...I am ALMOST to that point. I'm not overly superstitious about anything, but I do know that if you go off halfcocked or leave something of importance at the truck....it'll happen for sure.

Swamp....I feel your pain man,....I just can't cross paths with these hogs. I'm hoping the candy will seal the deal.

[DangerZone]

I'm right there with ya. !!!!

[SwineHunter]

i dont have any trouble finding them just cant stop the damn things    is it my dogs r the hogs,  tried to bay with only one r two dog and tryed a dang truck load on them what to do

[Goatcher]

i dont have any trouble finding them just cant stop the damn things    is it my dogs r the hogs,  tried to bay with only one r two dog and tryed a dang truck load on them what to do

A lot of pollen and junk is in the air with spring green up.  It may be poor scent conditions that should go away by July.  I think the smart hogs know which weed fields and stinging nettle patches to run through to throw the dogs off season by season.  Over here in the swamp, the ferns are tossing out clouds of pollen dust and it even makes the men gag.  Other months of the year, dogs stick to hog scent trails like velcro.  This is always our worst trailing time of the year.

[firemedic]

Well dangerzone it's nice to know I'm not in this boat alone,...maybe one or both of us will figure out how to get out of it before it sinks!

Swinehunter,...I've come to a conclusion on these running hogs we all encounter now and then,...and my thoughts on it are as follows: .....if a hog wants to run, where I do most of my hunting, there's not much a dog can do to stop it, because it's so dang thick that the second it whirls to run, it's out of sight of the dogs and no dog can bite on a hog's a$$ that it can't see. I know that folks have or have seen a dog that would stop any hog that wanted to run, not saying that they don't exist, just kinda like a bigfoot, I ain't seen one yet.

Goatcher, the pollen hasn't been too bad here this year so far,....we got a good rain yesterday that will help tremendously with scent conditions for sure. Lets all pray real hard that we get out of our slumps and kill some hogs or catch them, whichever.

[Reuben]

Swinehunter,...I've come to a conclusion on these running hogs we all encounter now and then,...and my thoughts on it are as follows: .....if a hog wants to run, where I do most of my hunting, there's not much a dog can do to stop it, because it's so dang thick that the second it whirls to run, it's out of sight of the dogs and no dog can bite on a hog's a$$ that it can't see. I know that folks have or have seen a dog that would stop any hog that wanted to run, not saying that they don't exist, just kinda like a bigfoot, I ain't seen one yet.[/b

quote]

x2...

[CRD]

We have alot of barrs around where I live. Some of them have no run or fight in them, some of them have alot of fight and very lil run, and some of them have both. I think most of them that run and fight have been caught with dogs before and Remember what happened the first time they were caught with dogs. It just depends on the hog. I bayed a Barr last year that would not  run at all. He was standing in the middle of a road and the dogs were in the thicket. Every time a dog would come out he'd just run over them. He broke every rib in my old gyp and killed her. And bars don't have boar hog smell they smell like sows.

[CRD]

Sorry I posed this on the wrong threat.

[TexasHogDogs]

Don't feel bad man we have had them long long dry spells like that to.  Made me wonder if I would ever see a hog again.  Those hogs just move and move never know when they are going to show up are were . I think me and Tom hunted one time for six weeks straight one time two three times a week with out a hog.  I know when I was really training and hard set on getting these dogs right I hunted 11 days straight in the middle of Aug in central Tx hot hot hot I remember the 11th day going out to get the dogs and none of them would come out the dog house .  It was terriable humid and hot dry as a bone but boy when the dry spell ended those dogs even the loose baying dogs were like T Rexes on the first hog we got ahahahah that hog was going no were period i think every dog would have died that day before they let that hog go ahahahahah.