How many dogs needed ?

[rawhide]

 I am very new to the sport and don't know sh*t bout nothing.The question I have is how many dogs make a decent Pack? I am thinking a GOOD strike dog,3or4 good solid bay dogs,main catch dog and back up catch dog. 6 to 7 dogs total.Like I said I new and need a lot of advice.Thanks guys

[Biljack]

I use 3 at a time for myself... I run 2 strike/bay and a bayin rcd that will catch under 100lbs and of coarse my main man Dozer the walk in catch dog. Really depends on your situation, if your chasin pressured hogs, terrian...etc
some prefer loose bayin and some prefer tight bayin.. Mine are tight...very tight like there slobber gets on the hogs tight but they know when to back up also. and you need a dog with bottom for runners to shut them down. just my 2 cents 

[BA-IV]

I use 3 at a time for myself... I run 2 strike/bay and a bayin rcd that will catch under 100lbs

That seems alil contradictory and it sounds like it's just a rough cur dog.  A running catchdog is just that, a catchdog you let run loose with the dogs you're using to find hogs.

[R.ScHmIdT]

We run 2 strike dogs and 2 bay dogs.   They are pretty rough though.  We also have a RCD and a lead in.  Don't use either catch dog often. That how rough the other dogs are.

[KevinN]

The Man that was kind enough to show me a few things about hog doggin really never used more than four bay dogs and a walk in. One strike dog, one dog that has struck, and to help dogs. Those were all finished dogs. Otherwise it was a strike dog and 4 to 6 young dogs (10 months to a year and a half or so). And on those hunts he was more interested on just getting the pups some woods experience.

[muleman]

the longer I hunt and the older I get, the less dogs i wanna mess with. I really like two cur dogs and a catch dog. especially if you dont have to lead the catchdog.

[R.ScHmIdT]

Muleman. Has it down. I wish we just took 2 curs and a RCD less playing around more hunting

[rawhide]

Thanks guys. I am just starting to build my pack and I am sure that with the right dogs the fewer  you have in the woods the easier it wood be to keep a handle on them. Hope yall dont mind answering questions because with a greenhorn like myself Im sure there is gonna be a lot of them

[bluejock24]

All this hype about strike dogs and bay dogs. To me its rubbish. Im in the hog finding business not the hog baying business. We run 3 to 4 dogs at a time unless hunting a competition. If they wont find AND bay a hog they wont be in my pens. A crappy dog eats just as much as a good one.Get you a few good all around strike dogs and 1 or 2 good walk in cds. You will find that less dogs get cut, less vet bills ,and more hogs caught. 

[rawhide]

I have catchdogs it is the strike and bay dogs I am working on now.I have a carver/sorrells bred dog that is 85 pounds of hate and rage when it comes to a hog. Have others but he is the 1 I am focusing on right now when I get him finished I will start the next 1. I have a plott/walker gyp that I intent to breed to a blackmouth cur and my neighbers good redbone gyp got out of his heat pen and got to my carver dog .He dont want the mixed pups so I am gonna take the whole litter. hopefully out of both litters I can come up with 3 or 4 that will make the grade. thanks guys

[DoGgONit]

some folks just need 1 ..a... finder /holder!!! to me the more the better!!!!lolololol

[catchinpigs]

All this hype about strike dogs and bay dogs. To me its rubbish. Im in the hog finding business not the hog baying business. We run 3 to 4 dogs at a time unless hunting a competition. If they wont find AND bay a hog they wont be in my pens. A crappy dog eats just as much as a good one.Get you a few good all around strike dogs and 1 or 2 good walk in cds. You will find that less dogs get cut, less vet bills ,and more hogs caught. 

X2 
    My opinion is if your strike dog cant find and bay its own hog, you should get another one.
I usually run 2 strike/bay dogs on the ground unless I have a young dog, and I have 2 lead in catch dogs.
You dont use as much food and since I work ALOT more than I hunt it makes it easier on the ol lady not having a bunch of dogs to feed.

[BarrNinja]

It all depends one what kind of dogs you have. Seriously.
Everyone that has been hog hunting long enough, at one point has felt like they have had to many dogs on the ground I would think. If you havent, you aint hunting hard enough!

[skunkhounds]

when i go solo i run 2 rough bmc and a lil pit gyp on the grund together works just fine

[halfbreed]

yeah ninja and everybody on here at one time or another wishes they would have had alot more dogs on the ground or they ain't huntin    you just do the best ya can and hope for the best . thats what i do .

[T-Bob Parker]

yeah ninja and everybody on here at one time or another wishes they would have had alot more dogs on the ground or they ain't huntin    you just do the best ya can and hope for the best . thats what i do .

I don't know man,  if I've got a few down and they ain't getting it done, I'm more likely to want even fewer (like just 1) down and see what happens. I love love love catching hogs, but at the same time, I wanna challenge individual dogs and see what they really got.

I hunt a red dog who will dang near find you a hog any time any place if there's been one there in the last day or so, but he can't make a hog bay on his own almost ever. Thats one of the funnest parts of hunting dogs to me is learning TRULY LEARNING your dogs.

[txhogsanddogs]

the longer I hunt and the older I get, the less dogs i wanna mess with. I really like two cur dogs and a catch dog. especially if you dont have to lead the catchdog.

x2

[BarrNinja]

yeah ninja and everybody on here at one time or another wishes they would have had alot more dogs on the ground or they ain't huntin    you just do the best ya can and hope for the best . thats what i do .

Toche'. Thats all I can do. 5 dogs on the ground may be too many one minute and not enough the next.
Having a side by side or a 4 wheeler has been real handy for me. I can pick up or add dogs as I need to. I still hardly ever get it just right.

[BarrNinja]

Someone once said you dont need more dogs just better dogs.  Until I can get my hands on some better dogs, I may have to use more than I should sometimes. 

T-bob I agree from your perspective but sometimes I get in that "catch em all" mode on occations. Sometimes I like to pore the dogs to a running hog and put all the heat I can too him. Sometimes it was a good call and sometimes it wasnt.

I dont think there is a wrong answer to "How many". I just hunt what I think I need to on a given day with a given situation.
 

[halfbreed]

ha ha what i was gettin at is i had my best 4 dogs get whooped AFTER they STOPPED that boar hog he turned over my buddy's big artic cat with him on it when he broke outta that cedar bush , spent the rest the day lookin for the dogs when i found em i was out of huntin for a month . if i was using a cd back then mighta been differant . all i had on the ground was my cat male a plott gyp and two of their pups . caught tooo many hogs with just them but ever now and then if you hunt regular you gonna meet THAT hog . but when he left out he was missin his right ear