loosing or quitting ?

[halfbreed]

thats when it comes down to quitting or looseing my worst problem spots were ready for harvest wheat fields . there dry dusty and are murder on dogs and i know the dogs quit [dont blame em ] but they would come back in and load up and we would drive around the edges or walk on smaller feilds and they would pick it up and go on . but i know they didn't loose the scent that wheat is hell on their eyes . but none the less at the end of the day as good a dog as they were they quit a track .

[Reuben]

thats when it comes down to quitting or looseing my worst problem spots were ready for harvest wheat fields . there dry dusty and are murder on dogs and i know the dogs quit [dont blame em ] but they would come back in and load up and we would drive around the edges or walk on smaller feilds and they would pick it up and go on . but i know they didn't loose the scent that wheat is hell on their eyes . but none the less at the end of the day as good a dog as they were they quit a track .

That's why it is called hog hunting... :)sometimes we catch em and sometimes not...But it is a good game and we have to go back to the drawing board and come up with a better plan of attack...


My favorite time of the year to dog the hogs is just after deer season when it is cold or cool and all the weeds are dead/down. The dogs don't over heat and they can eventually catch up and stop a running hog. The weeds don't become a problem here until mid to late April.

[firemedic]

Here's my thoughts....until we can smell what our dogs do...we will never actually understand what it is to run a hog through the woods by smell ....we can speculate all we want...but that's all it really is....just guessing. We will never know.

[Reuben]

Here's my thoughts....until we can smell what our dogs do...we will never actually understand what it is to run a hog through the woods by smell ....we can speculate all we want...but that's all it really is....just guessing. We will never know.

speculating, analyzing, telling the story as it unfolds is a big part of the game.
It just makes us better dogmen.

[BarrNinja]

I agree Reuben. Trying to figure out what didn't go right and making excuses are two different things.

[muddogger98]

i always thought that the hog was running for his life and knew what time it was.. not so much dog smart. but that he dont care about nothing but running threw everything to save his life...and getting away.. we just say he ran for his life.. and the dam dogs just was not fast enough..jmo

[halfbreed]

it used to be funny watchin the dogs out in the wheat . the hog scent would be so strong but the dogs couldn't see squat . they would be jumpin like kangaroos lookin for the hog of course he'd done made his way out of the field .thats when i'd call em in and work the outside to pick em up again .

[Florida Curdog]

You trying to hurt peoples feelings?  If they think about your question they might get hurt.

.   
 
Haha, only hurts people's feelings who like a dog with limitless bottom... For those of us that don't have the luxury of hunting massive properties, a dog with too much bottom is a liability... A dog that knows when to quit one, however, is actually sought after where I'm from

I agree with Noah. I like a dog that will run one 30 minutes to an hour at the most.
I am there to hunt hogs not dogs 

[brad s]

X2 I would rather the dog come back after a little while and try catching another one. Instead of spending half a day to maybe catch that "one that got away". Jmo

[halfbreed]

thats ok for recriational hunting . but when you are trying to get that big boar hog thats been terrorizin the farmers tryin to grow crops to make a living . IT BECOMES PERSONAL TO ME !!  now i could cheat and bait out a spot and shoot him [ but then why am i feeding dogs ? ] and thats in my opinion why  all these hogs have started running like deer , because they know that if they never stand their ground the dogs will quit them. and thats the main reason for me breeding into the runnin dogs . lookin for more bottom and nose  and GRIT . now i may live to regret it but i'm in it to win it . i keep enough food in my truck when i go a huntin to last a couple of days . BUT I WANT BIG OL NASTY DEAD DEAD DEAD . i got in this to kill hogs . anymore it ain;t fun it's work but i still have fun doing it .all i here on here mostly is about bottom but it seems the general consenses is we only want about an hour and a half to two hours worth of bottom . correct me if i'm wrong . i'd rather get on here and talk about dogs and breeding and tactics than about the weather so excuse me. not knockin anybodys dogs mine dang sure ain't perfect YET  but i'll never quit tryin just lookin for a discussion about your personal expiriences . i've only hunted with about three other people did most all of my hunting  solo  for years .

[Reuben]

I think that a dog with no quit and can stop a hog in 1 hour is a good dog or pack of dogs. The hogs know to hit the thick stuff and they know a dog can not keep up in this kind of thick vegetation so that is where they go hide or run in. They also learn that most dogs will give up looking when they hide in the real thick briar patches.

If the weeds are down the dogs should stop the hog pretty quick, there shouldn't be any excuses...just good reasoning to improve on.

I agree with HalfBreed...

[BIG CHRIS]

these are just my thoughts. i know some hogs will just flat out run! not trien step on any toes. these dogs with all that bottom do bay up hogs. but from what i have seen and hunted with, these dogs run one till it just cant go any further. do these dogs lack the grit to turn and make it stand and by up? do they live for the chase? and i realize the variables, thick brush ETC. it seems like everyone wants running bottom. the bottom i want is the kind that makes a dog stick with hog for hours bayed up till i get there. to me thats real bottom not given up till the hogs caught once it`s stopped and bayed. i may very well be in over my head on this one.

[halfbreed]

chris it would have to get pretty deep to get over your head big as you are    but in all honesty they can't bay up what they can;t catch up to . i don't have much trouble with broken bays got enough grit and bottom to hold just about anything. and i said just about, not all i've been whooped a few times . but when they strike a hog i expect em to finish it !! i can't see them loosing a stinkin boar hogs trail when most times even us poor nosed humans can smell it . this is just a discusison on opinions i'll allways give mine . thats how we learn ,after 12 years doing this i'm not above learning from more exp. hog hunters . now you wanna talk treehounds you're talkin to a fence post    

[Reuben]

I agree with Chris and HalfBreed...

can't stop what the dogs can't catch up to. But I like a dog that when he catches up to do all he can to stop the hog. The goal is to breed better dogs that can stop a hog as quick as possible...But at the same time have the bottom to run for hours as needed.

A dog that runs for hours as needed is a dog that will make you worry and possibly get you in trouble. I have wrestled with this for many years...I like grit and I like for the dog to stick until he catches what is on the other end of the tracks...ain't sayin we will catch all but that is the goal.

So if I like all that bottom and stick, and a dog that can stop a hog then it makes sense to breed rough dogs...a rough dog that will go as far as needed but will stop the hog the first chance he gets...

might be wrong but that is how I see it...I just don't care for a dog that quits a track and looks for an easier hog to catch...that is a cull in my book...

OH ???and then when the dog is to gritty and makes the hog bay I get conused and wonder if loose baying is better.......I have wrestled with that one too but have decided rougher until it works...

am I confused or what?

[halfbreed]

does get perplexing don't it . kinda like christmas and you're told you can have any one item what do you want.

[BIG CHRIS]

thats an easy one! i want a super star hog dog! i want him to strike, stop, bay till i get there and catch on commmand! i think that is the one dog on all our list.

[Reuben]

thats an easy one! i want a super star hog dog! i want him to strike, stop, bay till i get there and catch on commmand! i think that is the one dog on all our list.

or back up if I decide to shoot...

[TShelly]

I've seen even the best hog dogs lOse one in these conditions. They don't make a habit of it, but occasionally they just act like they can't find it anymore. The hog simply ram the scent out from under them in this desert we're hunting in lately. I also think alot of people's dogs quit a track early simply as a lack of bottom, and people mistake it for losing the hog

[halfbreed]

now we are getting somewhere . thanks shelly i didn't wanna come out and say it . but lets all just take a deep breath ,relax , and admit it sometimes my dogs quit a bad hog to go and find an easyier one . and as a result that paticular hog when pressed by dogs the next time will never even  think about slowing down.  if i ever thought my dogs noses was so bad that they couldn't work out and restart a hog i'd trash my whole breeding theory and start over useing nothing but bloodhounds .

[Reuben]

good track dogs usually do not lose a track but might give it up if out of shape and over heating. Some won't cross a wide river and some will give up if the hog is sitting in the middle of a thick briar patch that is 10-20 acres in size and a dog has trouble trying to go in. Just some of this things I have seen.

I also believe that dog handling styles has a lot to do with how a dog hunts, including stick/bottom...