hunting florida curs

[ninja]

I'd like to know who's hunting the pure florida cur lines:  partin, peeples, morgan, or any others and how they hunt

[Mike]

I know a fella that had one flew one in from California. Five year old finished dog... struck a few dillers the first time out. Come to find out, there's no armadillos out there where she's from so we couldn't fault her for doing it.. Long story short, she was wore out and riding on the back of my 4-wheeler. We were heading back to the trucks, she stood up and barked twice. Cut her loose, she went almost 200 yards and bayed another diller. She was wearing a Garmin... so that tells me she has a helluva nose to wind an armadillo from that distance.

[TexasJ]

she stood up and barked twice. Cut her loose, she went almost 200 yards and bayed another diller.

That's halarious...

[BarrNinja]

Sounds like a diller dog that trashes on hogs occasionally! lol.

I have no experience with Florida curs, but I hear they are big and ruff and I am interested in reading what others have to say about them.

[crackerc]

Hey guys, new here as I was invited by jdt. I am in Florida and hunt Fla curs exclusively. You can check out pictures of my dogs and some of the hogs we have caught recently at www.crackercreations.net. I have been hog hunting about 30 years and have had 6 generations of the same line of Fla curs. They suit me, but they may not suit anyone else. They are rougher than a lot of the Blackmouth type dogs. The fact that I have never owned or fed a bulldog will attest to that fact.........
I have my own dogs thatI have had for years and I have a pure Partin male named Monkey that I am hunting. This dog is from Roy Partin in St. Cloud, so he isn't a "Partin" dog because someone didn't know what else to call him.
I don't claim to be an expert on Fla curs, but thats all I hunt , so if I can answer any questions on them, let me know.
We also carry the Garmin Tracking units, staple guns, cut collars and lots of camo accessories and RealTree childrens clothes on the website.

[BarrNinja]

Nice looking dogs and web site crackerc.

I really like the blocky heads on your dogs. Your web site pretty much verifies what I have heard on the bread and I sure like em!

[crackerc]

I like them too. I have tried other types of curs but these suit me better than any others I have seen. My dogs are closer ranging dogs than some guys like, but when they smell a hog they are gone. I usually hunt one dog at a time, or one old dog and a young dog at most. If I put more than one old dog on the ground they are pretty much going to catch or get wrecked trying. I like hunting one dog, as you can tell what they are doing and if they are going to make the grade or not. If they can't find, stop and keep a hog bayed or caught until I get there, by themselves with no other dogs out, they don't stay here long. I like a dog to bay tight, but not too tight. Very fine line down here, as many of these hogs have been run by deer hounds for years. Most you will have to put teeth on to stop.
Here is my Partin bred Monkey dog and a good young boar caught by him and a 9 month old pup. We caught the hog alive, but had to kill him as the place we were hunting makes you kill all the hogs.

[Circle C]

CrackerC,
 
Welcome to to the board.

   I have a question about the way you are using your dogs. You mentioned that you hunt one dog, maybe two on the ground, and that you do not use a bulldog.    Are you catching the hogs with just the one or two dogs on the ground, or are you running some curs as catch dogs as well?

[bghogdogtx]

yea i was wandering the same thing?? Those are some bad dogs if not 

[crackerc]

Usually one dog by itself will bay a big hog but will catch most anything less than 100-125 lbs. by themselves. It usually depends on how thick it is where the hog is stopped and how much fight the hog has. I have had them catch 150 lb hogs by themselves and bay 80 lb hogs in a briar thicket. But usually when I turn another dog to them, they are going to catch, so we get close before we do turn a second dog loose. My idea is to get the hog off his feet as quick as we can, once the second dog gets there. I don't want two or three dogs on the ground at one time and have them catch a bad boar half a mile or so away as they are going to get wrecked..... so I usually hunt one dog at a time and "hope" they bay!
Here is a 210 lb hog we caught at 1:30 AM in 10' high palmettos. My Monkey dog and my young Spur dog tried the hog but couldn't hold it. We thought it must be a big hog as we heard the impact as they tried to catch then both went to baying. We turned another Fla cur to them and it was a caught hog.
I had some bad luck last summer though, my Monkey dog caught a 80-90 lb sow, we legged it and he relayed on another hog. We tied the sow and listened for Monkey but couldn't hear him. We tracked him and he was bayed in a cypress swamp a ways from us. We loaded the sow and drove closer to him. We could drive within about 100 yards of where he was bayed, so I sent my hunting buddy to him. About the time he should have gotten to Monkey, I let a female cur out of the box to go to him. I should have led her, but I figured he was close to the hog...hindsight....anyway, she got there and I heard them catch, or try to. The hog broke and they stopped it within 50 yards in a thick swamp and tried to catch again. The hog broke again and then I heard BOTH dogs baying. I got there and it was a 200+ lb hog with no ears and it had broken my females bottom jaw, and it was hanging down...thats why she couldn't catch. That was a $450 vet bill to get her jaw put back together...........and the vet says don't hunt her as he can't fix it again as it was broken in several places.
The very next week I got my Monkey dog cut down and bled out by a different hog ... and he was the only dog on the hunt...but thats a different story!!

[Pecos21]

Being from Polk County, FL originally, we hunted Florida curs along with using the same dogs to hunt, bay and catch cattle.  I have yet to own another breed of dog even today that was as versatile as the Florida Cur. We used two maybe three dogs on the ground and a lot of times no catch dog......the dogs would bay til they seen us or we told them to catch......and it was a caught hog.....I had a lead on some Florida curs but since have lost it.....the next time i go visit my family in Central Florida I am gonna try to find me a good female......

[Pecos21]

Cracker C...do you sell pups? The next time I am heading down tp Polk County i may call ya.....I can jump off 75 and give you a shout. 

[pig snatcher]

Crackerc, or Pecos

Just curious as to what type of nose they have.  Keep hearing of them but have never hunted with one.

[buddylee]

Crackerc, what all are you gonna have at Abbeville ? I hope to go if I can get off work, I live in Macon Georgia.

[ninja]

I like the looks of that monkey dog crackerc.  Thanks for the pics.  We all appreciate the partin, morgan, peeples, sellers,  and other lines developed by our proud florida cowboys.  It's amazing how great cow dogs make great hog dogs.

[Pecos21]

Crackerc, or Pecos

Just curious as to what type of nose they have.  Keep hearing of them but have never hunted with one.

Mine didn't hunt very wide.....about the same as your average leopard dog... a lot of times we would hunt them off a rig or airboat....just one dog, bay and catch...but as was stated by crackerc once they picked up a track they wouldn't quit it. And they would stay hooked on cattle or hogs for the duration. The ones I had would catch a nervous hog quick. And would flip an old tiger striped F1 Braford too......nose em or ear em.....never seen dogs with more heart. The thing I liked about the ones I had, they weren't suicidal.....they were catchy but were pretty crafty about it. And you get a dog that can survive the swamps were I grew up and hunted....the gators, the snakes, the quicksand.....and work cattle and hunts hogs too.......all with the same dog. Now I know some leopard dogs that would do that too, and I know of some YBM out here in Texas where I live now that can do that too....but I never seen dogs with more heart than them ol' Florida Curs.

[ninja]

Mine are the same way.  They are harder than blackmouths and leopards.  Real gritty.  The ones I have hunt a little deeper and have real good noses on em.  What I like about em is they start real early and love to work.

[crackerc]

Good to hear commments from so many guys about the Fla curs. I like them, but I am be just a "little" partial to them...LOL

I actually managed ranches here in Fla for about 13 years, the last ranch we ran 500 cow/calf pairs. I used the same line of dogs to pen and work the cattle as we did to hog hunt.

My dogs started from a yellow ringneck female with about a 4" long tail. She was a cow and hog dog that came off K-Bar ranch. Just a cur dog, no papers, no "brand" name. I bred her to a red male cur a buddy had that they used on cattle, kept two females and here 6 generations later, still have the same dogs. I have bred to some good male dogs from several ranches, mostly cowdogs, and have been fortunate to have had some good dogs.  Any of you guys that go to Baydog.com have probably seen pics I posted over the years with my red Dixie female. If the pic is posted by Lefty, thats me.

My old line of dogs have pretty good noses, my Dixie female had the best nose I have ever seen on a cur dog. She could wind a hog farther than any dog I have ever hunted with. And would stay bayed for hours right by herself, even on a bad hog.

My yellow Monkey dog, that is Partin bred, doesn't have the nose my dogs have, but hustles all the time. We find a lot of hogs with him as he doesn't walk anywhere....he goes wide open and will bay many hogs in their bed during the day. Some of these cow bred curs have been bred for working cattle in pastures, so some guys have not always bred for good noses. Some like a dog with a good nose, some guys just want a little nose on them so they don't go to the neighbors cattle a mile away, but can wind a group of cattle in a pasture and go to them.

We will be in Abbeville, Ga on May 9, 2009 and will have most of our stuff with us. I don't normally carry the Garmin tracking units to the shows, due to chance of theft. We have had a few things "walk off" at some of the shows, even with us watching.

As far as pups, it seems I can't raise enough of them. I used to raise a litter every 2-3 years, only when I needed dogs. Now I have had two litters in two years and still have guys on a waiting list wanting pups. I normally get $200-$250 for an 8 week old pup and have had guys wait two years to get one.
But I hunt my females before I breed them. The last two litters my females have been 5 years old before I bred them the first time. I don't breed "started" dogs or dogs I "think" may make a hog dog. They have to prove what they can do over several years before I breed one. I think thats how I have been able to maintain good dogs over the years.

At this time I am "down" to about 9 head of grown dogs and a litter of pups. Here is a pic of the pups, only 4 pups in this litter. I bred my female to a good red male cur from south Fla I have hunted with and really like. He must have some leopard blood in him as one of the pups is spotted and I have never gotten a spotted pup from my dogs. Some of the old Fla dogs were spotted too. He hunts like I like one to, has a good nose, fairly rough but not suicidal, etc. This is his first and my females first litter, so am curious to see how the pups do. I  would bet they may be a just a "little rough.... Here is a pic of the male dog too.

Some of you guys post pics if you have any Fla dogs, I would like to see what they look like.

[Mike]

Good lookin' dogs... welcome to the boards.

[joe]

here is a couple of my new pups