R.I.P. JUDE HART

When I was a young man 39 yrs ago I was fortunate to meet a older gent named JUDE HART ,from Batson,Tx . He was a tall & lanky man and allways with a big smile on his face.This man was a dog man. He was a curdog man. When they bred a female ,, the puppies were all kelp for hogdogs,deerdogs,or cowdogs.A dog had to fail at all 3 chores to be culled. Very few was culled. I spent lots of time with old Jude & enjoyed every minute of it.He told me these unbelivable stories about baying hogs up and driving hogs back to the right-a-way, then roping the ones you want.Told me about driving hogs with dogs and horses from Batson to Beaumont to sell them at the market. The whole time I was thinking YEA--RIGHT. I TOLD HIM,, JUDE YOU JUST DONT UNDER STAND. You cant do that with todays hogs. He would just laugh at me , and i'd just roll my eyes. Thats when I learned my first lesson about the wisdom of our elders.I'll never forget the first hunt Jude invited me on. I told Jude I'd bring 6 cur dogs and 2 bulldogs. He said no, bring your best curdog & I'll bring a old dog and a pup..Second lesson learned, when someone invites you on their place to hunt let them tell you what dogs to bring.I said Jude , how are we gonna catch a hog,with 2 strikedogs and a pup? He gave me a big ole grin and said we'll rpoe him.I said ok and I was thinking bull$%#&. We loaded up his 2 mules & wagon & saddled up 2 horses & 3 curdogs. Jude tied the horses to the back of the wagon and away we went. Wish i had pic.
Seem like we rode forever, crossing creeks, making way to Judes camphouse in the middle of the big thicket.Jude just griping the whole way bout them dam deer hunters is leasing up the whole country,, paying a arm & a leg to get on a lease. it was $35.00 to $50.00 per family back then for a deer lease in east texas on paper company land.We were crusing along in the wagon drinking a cold one when ole Jude said theres some rooten . We looked at it and he said that looks like its less than 8 hrs old. I said Jude in 8 hrs that hog could be in Louisanna.He said put your dog on that track. I said ok. I will have to tell ya.I had my toes crossed, all my fingers were crossed and standing there with my legs crossed.I let old red out of the wagon and he took off down the right -a -way and I was screaming at him to come back. The track is over here. Red came back and I drug him to the rooten and crammed his nose in the rooten and I sicked him and let him go. Red went to the wagon and peed on the wheel , I said proudly ,,, Nope,,, more than 8 hrs old,, told ya. I jumped back in the wagon with Red and said lets go find some more. Again ole Jude kinda chuckeled . He called me LEE-VON. He said LEE-VON,,lead old King over there and let him sniff that rooten. I said ok , but I really did'nt want to. I took King and as soon as he put his nose in that rooten King barked 1 time, Jude said let him go , he'll find them hogs.So I let King go. King worked & worked about 2 minutes and Jude said let the other 2 dog go. His pup went straight to King and the 2 left. It was like old King was waiting for his son so they rolled out. Red left with them then he came back. Old Jude looked at me & said you ought not have eat that bacon this morning for breakfast, and I said why, he said ole Red must smell that pork on your breath is why he came back. I laughed but i did'nt want to. We got off the wagon and got on the horses and I heard some barken about a mile off. Ole Judes hearing was'nt too good and he said , point to where you here them, so i did. Now when the dogs bay I uselly take off like a jet before they break. Jude just got the horses in a little trott and when we got about 200 yards from the bay i hallered at Jude to stop . I sicked ole red and he joined in on the bay. When Red chimed in ,, I look at jude and said YEP, ITS A HOG. Jude bout fell off his horse laughing at me & Red. So Jude said get your rope ready but do what I tell ya. We eased up and shure nuff the hog broke bay. I knew right then we should of brought my bulldogs. Jude said thats ok , he aint going nowhere. Sure nuff the dogs stopped him in about 200 yrds. We eased up again,he broke, went 50 yards, we kelp easing up and he kelp breaking and after about 4 breaks the hog bayed to fight. Jude eased up and roped him and we cut him and Jude ear marked him and let him go. This blowed my mind. I learned right then that there are dogs that work hogs and they are dogs that chase hogs and bite-um in the but which makes a hog run even more. We stayed in them woods for 3 days and I bet we bayed over 100 hogs and we cut about 10 to 15 of them.That was my first experence of learning how to make excuses for my dog,,ole Oed. Over the years I've learned about every excuse there is. Don't eat pork chops or bacon before you go hunten cause the dogs can smell your breath and they wont hunt.lolSOME OF YOU MIGHT HAVE HEARD OF THE HART BLOODLINE,,, THAT JUDE HART

LAVON