GUN OR NO GUN?

[HOGDOGGERSPC]

JUST CURIOUS HOW MANY OF YOU ARE CARRYING GUNS WITH YOU.  MOST OF THE LAND OWNERS I HUNT ON HAVE LET ME HUNT ON THEM ONLY BECUASE WE DONT CARRY GUNS BUT YOU NEVER KNOW WHEN YOU MIGHT NEED ONE!!!

[t.wilbanks]

Anyone that takes a gun is SKEERD!!!! 


There was another thread on this awhile back and it got alittle heated... Lets see how this one turns out.... 


We usually dont take one... just depends...

[cantexduck]

I do.

[charles]

 a gun is like a condom. its better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it.

[cody l]

I do unless I'm at someone elses place.

[brad s]

I only take a gun when i go solo. Only because i dont take catch dog when i go alone i usually just watch em bay. But take my 22mag just for emergencies

[buddylee]

Ain't brave or quick enough to stab a big rattlesnake.

[djhogdogger]

 We always take a gun just in case its needed. We have used it a hand full of times and were glad to have it.

 Example:

 A. We ran into a large group of hogs, the dogs scattered but two dogs stopped a big nasty boar in the middle of the road. We turned the cd loose in the direction of the bay but he saw a choat out of the corner of his eye and took off on a chase that lasted a while. One of the dogs on the big boar was a pup and he was getting tossed and cut. The older dog was getting cut also. James waited until the dogs were clear and shot the hog. No since in getting the dogs injured or worse while waiting on someone to retrieve the cd.

 B. Just the other day we were on a hunt and at 3am on a wed. night we came up on a large group of treaspassers all drunk and high. The gun was not needed but it was in plain sight to let them know that it wasn't a good idea to start any crap.

 C. Back during deer season, James's cousins have the lease next to the property that we hunt. A couple of young boys (cousins) were going to get in their pop up stand to do some bow hunting. Right as they approched the stand they heard a voice from inside the stand say " Hey, someone is in here"

 It startled both the boys, they went back to deer camp and called the law. It turned out to be a couple of crack heads camped out in thier deer stand. You never know what a crack head is going to do. VERY SCARY!  So just in case a crack head tries to mug us out in the woods, we will have our gun.

[smarlowe]

If you carry a gun everywhere else, even to chuRch, why wouldn't ya carry huntin ? Most of my leases border state land and I'm always havin to run people off. It amazes me how many dumb@sses will try to get smart with me while their trespassin, until they see the gun. They tend to cooperate much more once they see it !

[Sneaky Creek Kennel]

It seems like I take a gun and finally I get tired of carrying it around then I'll leave it at the house and that's when I need it!  Luckily I had it on my last hunt or it coulda ended bad.

[RyanTBH]

I'll say this, we will probably end up one day in a position where we need one, but haven't yet. I do not carry a gun, and have only ask for one to be brought out after putting down 12 miles (on foot no wheeler), and the dogs had already put down 21... at that point I called for reinforcements, and still didn't end up needing it as we got out ran. That was a long night...

I normally live by the, "i'd rather have it and not need it..." saying, but with this I find myself trusting my dogs. I'd like to think that my dogs would have the smarts enough to back up if they were getting hit hard, but thats not always the case. One of our spots we can't carry guns though, so knowing my luck, that will be where we need one some day; but for the most part I do not carry one. Added weight, and normally I have good guys with me in the woods that aren't scared to "play" catch dog themselves.  Call it what you will, but the bare hands thing and no guns makes it that much more real to me. I may change my ways of thinking after getting caught in a bad situation, but for now it's just me, my dogs, and the woods! 

[firemedic]

Anyone that takes a gun is SKEERD!!!!  


There was another thread on this awhile back and it got alittle heated... Lets see how this one turns out....  


We usually dont take one... just depends...

Guess I'm SKEEEERD then,.....lol Seriously though, it absolutely escapes me why anyone in the round world would go hunting for hogs with dogs without carrying some sort of firearm. As Dinah stated in her reply about the big hog in the road tossing dogs around, you may just have to shoot that SOB in order to save some dogs. We don't hunt with a catch dog,...I have before and see nothing wrong with it at all, if that's how you like to hunt. I hate leading dogs and I'm just not going to lead a catch dog,....simple as that. On most of the GA property we hunt, it's a requirement to kill all hogs, that's how we got to hunt there in the first place most of the time. So,....without a CD things go a bit differently for us than for most of you 'catch 'em' folks. We have what I consider to be fairly rough dogs and they catch quite a few hogs that we knife to dispatch.

As for a firearm, I carry an M1 carbine, yea the little short military rifle from WWII, got 2 of them and in my opinion it's the best hog gun to carry while dogging hogs that there is. It will kill any hog that walks, no doubt about it. I have used it to save our dogs on more than one occasion. I know that some of y'all apparently hunt places that won't let you carry a gun, I'd just have to let someone else have that place I reckon.

You're hunting a critter that is capable of doing some serious damage to your dogs if given just the right opportunity, catch dog or not, and it's not like you can just run right in and knife a hog like that, ain't nobody that quick... So do you just stand by and watch your dogs get crippled or killed....or do you go in and shoot him? Your dogs deserve for you to be ready to help them if need be,.....and if you live long enough and hunt enough,....you WILL come upon a hog like that.

[airduster29]

guess everyone is diffrent  I do not carry a gun guess it is the way I was taught can only remember 1 time I wished I would have had one in the 16 yrs I have been hunting but then again I am getting older maybe I need to start??

[RyanTBH]

FireMedic, the only thing I can say is that my dogs will die for me, and I'll do just about everything except dying for them... I've definitely been in a tight spot or two with putting a blade in a hog, but I got the job done. I'm now in the mind set of, if I have to jump on its back and ride that sucker while I'm cutting him up I will... figured he!!, I aint too big of a guy, but I sure know how and where to put a hurt on em...

But you are right... one day will change my mind, but until then I'm putting all my chips in the pot!  Tell you what, when you make your trip down here to hunt you can carry that (if you insist), or I'll let you borrow one of mine, as I have 2 M1s as well. (from two of my grandparents may they RIP) It's just really thick in some of the places we hunt, and even a pistol would get in the way; so I can't imagine carrying a rifle.

To each his/her own i guess...

[tuskbuster]

1 day all the tuff NOT SCEERED guys are gonna wish they had or someone had 1 when your dogs are takin a whippin and they aint a thing you can do besides cuss and throw rocks and stics at the 1 little ole hog doin all that damage or yourself gets in a bad bind .IMHO

[Reuben]

a gun is like a condom. its better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it.

couln't of said it any better... 

[captainstiffhog]

Ive never had to use mine yet on a hog but I dang sure will carry it in case I need it. I just didnt the one time that you had the local cops hunting with us. Lol

[firemedic]

Ryan,....you strike me as being one of the most sensible 'younger' hunters on here,....I see that you're 27 years of age,.....if we live long enough and you get to hunt for 30 more years, and I sure hope that you do, .....THEN... I want to hear you tell me that you're going to jump a dog killing, mean as they come boar hog and kill him with your knife.   Course by then I'll be 90, but I'll remember this, trust me. I like you and you seem to be a good hunter that cares for his dogs, but I fear that your , shall we say....youthful exuberance, may cost you dearly young man. I know that you say that you've never found one that you and your dogs couldn't handle......if you hear anything I've said please hear this bud,......keep this style of hunting up long enough....you will.....no doubt in my mind whatsoever....you will.

[AnthonyB]

I do carry a gun while hunting, like others I would rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it. I've used it a hand full of times and only a few of those where because of being in a tight spot. Half of the reason I carry it is for things not nessesarily related to hunting, you never know what you might run into. The other half is really laziness I'm starting to think. I've killed a decent number of pigs with a knife in all kinds of situations and sizes, but I'm over the days of swimming around in circles in a tank, and jumping off embankments into holes, or crawling into brush piles. Lol. It saves time, and keeps you from having to walk back to the truck soaking wet, covered in mud, or full of thorns. Been there done that, got the t-shirt. For me it's more about watching my dogs work and develop and enjoying the hunt, whether the hog is stuck or shot seems less important. But I don't fault anyone who doesn't carry, got several buddies that don't, it's all up to the individual.
Anthony

[t.wilbanks]

Ryan,....you strike me as being one of the most sensible 'younger' hunters on here,....I see that you're 27 years of age,.....if we live long enough and you get to hunt for 30 more years, and I sure hope that you do, .....THEN... I want to hear you tell me that you're going to jump a dog killing, mean as they come boar hog and kill him with your knife.   Course by then I'll be 90, but I'll remember this, trust me. I like you and you seem to be a good hunter that cares for his dogs, but I fear that your , shall we say....youthful exuberance, may cost you dearly young man. I know that you say that you've never found one that you and your dogs couldn't handle......if you hear anything I've said please hear this bud,......keep this style of hunting up long enough....you will.....no doubt in my mind whatsoever....you will.

Im with you on that Neal...

There are some hogs that are hard to handle even with a catchdog on them..... I dont see anyone going all Rambo on one of them by them self...  Even you Ryan...  

Without a gun, you cant do much but sit and watch, or at best yell and throw a stick at it..