If you are new to the sport please think it through

[muleskinner]

I'm sure some will not like this but it is what it is. There are more people getting into this sport everyday. I see new people mainly young kids reading websites and tv shows and wanting to become hog hunters.  I have had plenty ask me to help them get started. Nothing wrong with that. Where the problem starts is do you have places to hunt? Do you have enough places  that you don't over hunt one place so they move out? Are you capable and willing to spend whatever it takes at the vet to save your dogs? Are you going to take the time to clean your pens or are you going to keep your dogs in a 4x6 pen and never clean it like some do? Then there is wormers, flea and tick control, and general up keep. We won't even get into how much it takes to feed dogs properly. Lots of people don't.
  Not trying to start a argument or trying to tell you not to get started. Just asking to ask the seasoned hunters what it cost and how much is involved. There are a lot of new people getting started and we are seeing the effects. I see lots of unwanted breeding whether by accident or they want a pup and no one wants the other twelve. I won't even get started on what some untrained dogs have done on farms lately.
   I have not met too many older hunters who don't mind some young gun coming along to drag pigs or run to the dogs or drag a hog out of the water to tie. Some elderly can't go without young help and you can learn alot from them without having a big pack of dogs. Just saying

[jsh]

Amen.

[Mpbarrs]

Y'all boys need to listen to this


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[ARWILDMAN]

This is a great thread! I for one am very green to hog hunting with dogs. I am also a firm believer in starting out properly and taking care of your hunting equipment, this especially includes your dogs! I learned at a very young age to take care of your animals. This means from cleaning up after them, proper socialization, up to date shots, worming ( read the worming routine sticky, good info), exercise, proper protection ( cut vests, vet bill, cut kit, etc) and proper diet. If you don't have the money to properly care for your dog or have the funds to take it to the vet when it gets hurt, it would be best to give the dogs to someone that can care for them. Find a buddy that hunts hogs and go with him.

[hoghunter71409]

Muleskinner,

Don't feel bad about creating this thread.  I made a very similar thread last year.  For every new hunter that gets in it, their is some body ready to sell them unproven dogs and sell them or pawn off other stuff.  The all mighty dollar (maybe not as mighty as it once was) creates the urge for people to breed and sell dogs and other equipment.  I support young hunters because I don't forget where I came from; but I urge new guys to come and hunt with me.  They can have a very similar experience hunting with me and not so much responsibility.  It is funny to invite a young guy in his twenties and tell him this is what you need to do to hunt with me today:

Come over the night before and hook up the truck and trailer.
Charge garmin collars
Premake coffee pot and snack bag

Day of the hunt.
Get here early to load dogs
Put other equipment in the truck
Get to the gas station and help pay for gas for truck and ranger
When we get home, unload dogs
wash kennels
feed dogs
pressure was ranger

Didn't even mention lease dues or how much it cost to make a hunt three or four hours away like I often do.

Everything above cost money or time.  If you are going to get into hog hunting all of these cost are reoccurring cost, not just pay once and your done.

Anyway, Ive taken up enough time now, but you are correct.  People need to

[muleskinner]

There are a lot of things I would like to cover but can't. If I write what's really happening it will make dog hunters not just hog hunters look bad and get a bad name. There are really nice ranchers out there who want to have the hogs gone and enjoy seeing hog hunters with their families enjoy family time but due to irresponsible hunters they won't let you. I have seen hunters who have had permission 20 years lose their keys. I'm all about teaching and helping new hunters but some are killing this sport.

[charles]

Dang hoghunter ur slave driver.  jk with ya, but yea, ur right, its cheaper to help out than take on the responcibility n cost 100%. Plus it shows who is in for the sport or in it for the potential $$$.

[devildawg86]

i am as green as it gets. if u check my posts i want to know what it costs to play because everything costs. i want to go in with my eyes wide open. no matter what activity u choose to participate n their is a cost involved. golf as a sport is expensive, especially if u go to the nicer courses. drag racing is not only expensive, but its dangerous and to be competitive it costs a purty penny. if there were a hog hunting club in my area i would join because the responsibilities and cost would be shared. maybe hunters should pool their resources and starting a hunting time share club!

[cantexduck]

 Great post Mule !!
    I would tell new people to spend a year with a hunter that is already going. See the time and money that it takes to care for your dogs etc. It isnt just the new people that are bad for the sport, some people think that just because they have been hunting the same area for years they can go where ever they want. Sometimes I get tired of cleaning kennels,feeding, and up keep of my hunting dogs. During deer season the dogs stay at the house, so it is hard to justify the money spent each month on dog food and wormer.
   Making money? I laugh when I see people talk about making money. I can not see how you could come out ahead. I guide whitetail and exotics as a side job. I do pretty well at it considering I do it part time on the weekends. My expenses are very low and hunts range from 1500-10k. I took up being a guide to help offset my costs of having dogs and to supplement my household income.

   I went with some guys for a little while before I got a dog. I jumped in with both feet. Spent no telling how much on junk azz dogs. If someone was around me and really wanted to get into the sport, I would gladly take them with me. I hunt with very few people. My two hunting partners dont have any dogs. I would love to find a guy who wanted to help and someone I could trust that was looking to start out.

[charles]

I dont know bout a time share thing in hunting, especially hog dog hunting. I dont know bout others, but i dont want the responcibility of bringin somebodys dog/s back alive, just like i would want them to hav that responcibility of mine. Hog hunting is to unpredictable, to many deadly chances out there, ie: the hogs themselves, other hunters that may steal the dog/s, dog shooters, dogs gettin ran over by an automobile. Plus u have the upkeep on the machines and tools, ie: atvs, trailers, vests, collars n handhelds cost of material to build/add-on of the equipment, then u got the feed n vet bills. A club would fine if it were stricly to split the cost of land leasing, but thats bout the extent of it. Way to many variable to take into consideration with shared hunting, compared to whackin a lil white ball in a small hole or whackin a green ball back n forth across a net.

[Treezbulldogz]

Well, me personally.... I'm new to the sport of hoggin because of my relocation to TX from IL. There are no hogs in IL but I'm far from new to owning and raising multiple bulldogs. If anybody thought they were going to make any money doing anything off of dogs, they're out their dang mind! I suppose if you don't care for your animals at all and you peddle them like a corner store does candy, you'll probably make a profit. But if you properly care for your animals, all great examples listed above, you'll always spend more money then you MIGHT eventually bring in (after years of hard work). I've already posted a thread on here asking for some kind folks to possibly help my dogs get started (thank you to the kind gentlemen that contacted me!!) and in the thread I explained that I'd help with any financial costs,etc. so I understand the costs and work involved. And I know there's just as much work as there is cost involved because properly caring for multiple dogs is not a light task. I think this is a good thread as well because there will obviously be some that would like to join the sport who would think it's all fun and games, and that's far from the reality of it.

[MrsLouisianaHogDog]

Good post for sure

[devildawg86]

hey charles the land lease and maintaining the lease was what i was talking about. having a spot to hunt, everything esle would be on the hunter. guest would be extra

[Bar-s kennels]

I understand where y'all r coming from and c young guys like myself that should not have the right for hunting dogs but at the same time not all of us young guys r bad I'm only 20 yrs old and I take care of my dogs very well it makes me mad that these other young guys give us a bad name but like I said not all of us r bad. I call all my land owners and ask if I can go befor I go and if it's muddy I either walk or don't go. And these young guys with deer and cow dogs get rid of them or get out of hunting land owners are getn harder and hard to let ppl hunt cuz ur giving us a bad name

[cantexduck]

 It has nothing to do with age.

[muleskinner]

It does and doesn't have anything to do with age. In not all cases but it can be difficult for hunters still in school to support this hobby. The old timers have seen what it takes to keep landowners happy and the sport going. And like I said not in all cases. Last hunt I spent 1649.00 dollars on my ranger repairs and 1000 dollar vet bill. When I was seventeen or so there's no way I could of done it. The ones that are doing right come on let's hunt. If you can't there's nothing wrong with riding along.

[devildawg86]

when u r young u may not have the resources financially and as u get older your resources r spoken for, but somehow we manage to do the things we want to do with or without money. hunt with others, hunt with fewer dogs, take a cull(s) and find hogs. where their is a will there is a way. maybe new/young hunters don't have the guidance they need to become better hunters. i worked with some damn good people to learn what i know about cars. by the same token i have worked with/for people that should have been working in the meat dept. at krogers because they r butchers

[mikejc]

x10 on the food bill, and x1000 on the vet bill. Heck now when I call my vet and tell him Concho, or Lil Red, (my catch dog and gritty a$$ lepoard) just at the mention of their name he say's " Ill clear the table" and "How many staples are in them?"

[hoghunter71409]

I think starting to hog hunt is like moving your girlfriend in.

It only takes one day to move a girl in, sometimes it is a lot harder and takes a lot longer to move one out.

Its easy to get dogs and all the stuff you need (except a spot to hunt).  Maintaining all those things year after year and trying to give more back that what you take out is the hard. part.

[BassCatBates]

excellent topic.  Many of the things listed here are exactly what keeps me from having my own pack of dogs.  I have a couple of buddies that I hunt with some and I love the sport.  But I KNOW that I don't have the time to really put in the training and upkeep with dogs.  I am a football coach and that takes up a lot of my time.  One of these days that may change but for now I would like to think I'm smart enough to stay out of putting together my own hunting outfit.  
I see people every day try it and do it WAYYYYYY wrong.  I feel most for the dogs that suffer because of it.