Open or silent

[JRyanS]

Seriously thoguh, I like silent dogs because I know the dogs are bayed up FOR SURE when they're opening up.

[brad s]

I like my dogs to be silent bc im there to catch hogs not run em! Lol But mine will chirp a little bit after the hog breaks and then go silent again when hog gets in front of em a ways

[Reuben]

most of my dogs have been semi silent to semi open and very few silent...the more they hunted the quieter they became...but I like it when they locate a hot track and open 2 or 3 times and then run silent...very open cold nosed dogs I don't care to own...

[jsh]

If you know your dog you can tell by the bark whether he's bayed up or not. Same with knowing how hot the track is he's running. I don't care either way just can't stand people judging one way or the other because someone somewhere is going to have a dog, open or silent, that'll prove you wrong.

[justincorbell]

Seriously thoguh, I like silent dogs because I know the dogs are bayed up FOR SURE when they're opening up.

Same here, and i like the silence lol. I like knowing my dogs are lookin the hog in the face when they open up! Just personal preference.

[cantexduck]

Open or closed  I don't care. Finding and baying hogs is what counts.

[Cajun]

.some obserevations I have made. I have always had silent curs & open mouth hounds. There are places where even when hunted with silent dogs the hogs are still gonna run.  I used to tell my bear hunting buddies that if we wanted to catch hogs we would put out one silent cur & we would bay more hogs. I believe this. I also believe in hard hunted areas my plotts will catch more hogs then most curs. Not all but most. There are curs out there that have noses as good as any hound & hounds out theree that can make good curs look strupid. A great hog dog whether a cur or a hound produces hogs. Also, Ithink the more dogs you have on the ground, the more apt the hog is to break. Some dogs just have the touch, whether hound or cur.
  My open mouth plotts never made my curs open & by the same token my silent curs never made my plotts shut up.lol  It basicly gets down to hunting your preference, open or silent. Also depends on how big a area you hunt.It is a alot harder to contain long range dogs if you just have a couple of thousand acres tdo hunt. JMO & not necessary the opinions of the viewing audience.

[TChunter]

Seriously thoguh, I like silent dogs because I know the dogs are bayed up FOR SURE when they're opening up.

Same here, and i like the silence lol. I like knowing my dogs are lookin the hog in the face when they open up! Just personal preference.

with my hounds i know when they are FOR SURE bayed by their bawl they let out..i can tell exactly how close they are getting while on track also.

[Peachcreek]

i dont like wide open dogs but if they are finding hogs who cares... as long as they have the bottom to finish a race.

[coach]

As long as they have a hog at the end of the race, it doesn't matter to me.

[KevinN]

I haven't hunted behind that many open dogs so my experience is limited. This open/silent topic has been covered a lot.....even with all the debates....good arguments made for open dogs....I STILL have a hard time understanding how....in areas where hogs are dogged excessively....that the chases aren't any longer with open dogs than they are with silent dogs.

Again, I'm more just thinking out loud than anything else but....if a hog that is "educated" about hog dogs hears a bawling hound....I would think he would be up and moving...AWAY...from the bawling.

Maybe I'm wrong...just makes sense to me. Anyway...not saying you'll put more pork on the table with silent dogs, just can't understand how the chases are "the same".

[Peachcreek]

The "chase" is a chase if the dog is barking or not. The hog will stop and bay where and when it wants to. Most hogs we catch are runnin suckers that STOP and bay where they want to. Usually it is a real bad spot. In my opinion the hog knows it is being chased by a dog silent or not. I have seen Mikes hunter dog run one for 20+ miles several different times and that dog is silent. I have seen my semi open gyp lady run one the same. It boils down to a dog being able to stick with a track or run the hog long enough for the hog to want to stop and bay.

[Yeller]

 I've always liked a silent dog but most people that say open dogs make hogs run farther are just repeating what the've been told ! I no from experience thats false ! Like BigO said one time you can strap a siren to real hog dog and they still bay hogs !;)

[Jared H.]

I used to think it mattered until a hunt two years ago.  The dogs had a good size boar bayed and we went it caught it and my buddy's gyp rolled off about 20 yards and bayed a boar that was about the same size.  If hearing dogs bayed, catch dogs fighting a hog and people making noise doesn't cause a hog to run I don't understand how a open dog would. My main dog sometimes will bark on track but you just have to learn there bark.  I know if he's barking on track or if he's right behind one by the difference in his bark.

[jsh]

Jared H you are right on. 

Do people not think hogs don't hear us crashing through the woods no matter how quite we're trying to be?  How many times have you caught a hog just a few hundred yards from the truck?  Those hogs heard us pull in the gate, slamming doors, leashes jingling, etc...... I think people forget how good of a sense of smell a hog has as well.  Depending on conditions, they'll smell our dogs long before we strike them. I can understand why someone would not want to hunt a fully open dog - that's personal preference but what I cannot comprehend is when someone gets rid of a good dog just because it yips after a hog breaks.  Who cares? That hog has already been bayed and barked at so do you think he is going to stop running just because the dogs shut up?  Hell no, the chase is on and he's trying to blow out of the country.

[Mike]

but what I cannot comprehend is when someone gets rid of a good dog just because it yips after a hog breaks.  Who cares? That hog has already been bayed and barked at so do you think he is going to stop running just because the dogs shut up?  Hell no, the chase is on and he's trying to blow out of the country.

Preach on brother!!!

Some folks just don't get it.

[KevinN]

All good stories/arguments! I believe every word, just don't understand it, lol. Nothing against hounds they just haven't been my preference. That's probably been because of a flawed perception but it is partially a range issue as well. Anyway....guess ill experience it first hand bout May or so with my little Blue Tick, lol.

[SwampHunter]

It's very simple Kevin ,
Just like when deer hunters think hog dogs run deer off ,
The hog does not know the dog is chasing him just cus it's barking ,
Could be coon hunting a rabbit dog or anything the hog does t start rubbing till it knows the dog is after it ,
I mean they might run a little but not run out of the woods , then how far the hog goes is up to the hog not the dog if you got a dog moving track fast the hog never has chance to rest up to long be for the dog is on him , if its moving slow the hog will run a while then stop then run when the dog gets to him again

Running is up to the hog , if you ever bayed a hog then the dogs roll off an bay another with in a couple hundred yards ? They don't just start running because they hear a dog barking , think of all the yard dogs they hear


Prime example if  open dogs make hogs run .... Why do we still get on long races with completely silent till bayed dogs ? We hunt both? It's just the hog either he gonna bay ... Run ... Or some hate dogs an will actively come after the dogs

[Shotgun wg]

I know this to be fact. U can cut a rice field with a combine and tractors and grain carts running around at the same time shooting a hog here and there. Cross from one patty into the next and jump more hogs in that patty. I have jumped hogs in one patty shoot at them they cross into next uncut patty and just stop. They will also not run until the machine is right on top of them and breaking into open is their last option. Me and the guy and girl that helped with harvest last fall killed 45 pigs of all sizes in 16 days while cutting rice.

[justincorbell]

Seriously thoguh, I like silent dogs because I know the dogs are bayed up FOR SURE when they're opening up.

Same here, and i like the silence lol. I like knowing my dogs are lookin the hog in the face when they open up! Just personal preference.

with my hounds i know when they are FOR SURE bayed by their bawl they let out..i can tell exactly how close they are getting while on track also.

well obviously if you are any kinda dogman you can tell the difference between em running a track and being bayed up, hell I don't hunt hounds and I can tell the difference. I just like hearing NOTHING until the bay. I like the quiet before the storm. not knockin you, just my hunting style and personal opinion