Herding Hogs.......

[matt_aggie04]

My grandad always tells stories of working and herding hogs.  They would go in during certain times of the years and barr a few boars and turn them loose, catch the sows and young hogs and mark them and turn them back.  In the fall they would go in and try to catch a barr or two to make sausage and bacon out of him.  I was showing him my cut kit not too long ago and he was laughing at me for having so much stuff in my bag, not in a bad way but in a "wow things have sure changed" kind of way.  He said they always kept the string out of their feed sacks and would carry that and a leather sewing needle on the saddle.  Every dog that ever got cut bad enough to need sewing was sewn with that.  There were pens set up in the woods that could drive hogs to as well.  This still blows my mind but they had dogs that would head the group off and would back it way to the pen and other dogs that could work the opposite side of the group and they could move the group over distances to a specified location, really impressive when you think about it.  I know the hogs were maybe less "wild" back then but they were still feral and still had some dang good teeth and had most of the same traits that we see today listening to him tell the stories.  Everyone "owned" hogs that lived in the woods and as a result made a hog dog that much more valuable to every family that needed to work their hogs.  In my families case the Goodson's, the Theiss', the Fouch (Foys) and the Hildebrants all worked cows and hogs together and they had a good pack of dogs amongst the families as a result.  I really think I was born at the wrong time 

Matt

[Sean]

cool story matt. hard to imagine the way hogs seem to operate these days. or maybe it's just us,lol.

[Clay]

Nice story matt..those were some good times i bet

[jdt]

i aint seen it but my buddy bought some cowdogs from ben jordan in eastern ok. and said he  would drive hogs to a trap with his dogs just like cattle. said u have to handle em alot easier though. i think he is the man where the weatherford ben dog originally came from.

[Boar Collector]

Yup thats him.. The Original Weatherford Ben dog was a cow dog is what suprises me .

[capt jack]

here is a historical maker, on the side of the road out side of leaky, tx

One of many "feeder trails" in Texas that converged with the legendary Chisholm Trail above the Red River, this route directed thousands of longhorns to northern markets during the first year after the Civil War. Many local settlers took part in the drives, which lasted for months, and their tales are full of stampedes and Indian raids. At times, the trail was used by herds of 200-300 hogs being driven 40 miles to local markets. The cattle industry and trails such as this helped save Texas' economy -- torn by the Civil War -- and enriched pioneer folklore. (1968)

sounds like a man would need a few good dogs to drive 300 hogs 40 miles.

 

[clint]

sounds like a man would need a few good dogs to drive 300 hogs 40 miles.

you aint lyin

[jdt]

mr. ben told me on the phone [and i hope he dont mind me repeating it ]  that he married the youngest of 6 daughters. when the girls got married they got so much land, cattle, money, etc.from their parents. by the time he and his wife got married times were hard.  said they got 250 sows and 2 cur pups, said he had to work for his lol .  told me he had driven gruops of hogs 10-12 miles to a pen before until in the sixties when they started getting russian influence in em. if im not mistaken he runs cattle on 62 sections and does it all himself.