Knocking the dust off.........

[crackerc]

The dogs , the 4 wheeler and ME!!  Haven't been hunting in a while due to it being so blasted hot. First day of Fall is this Tuesday, so I got the hunting bug and took the dogs out for some exercise last Friday morning. I turned out my Monkey and Spur dogs and had my young dog Cricket along for some exposure. This was her 4th trip away from home. It was still awful hot, low temp that night was like 80 degrees and high was mid 90's.

My buddy had a couple of traps set and we checked them first as I didn't want my dogs going to traps with hogs in them. He had boar hogs in three traps.....so that limited where I could turn the dogs out. Moved away from the traps (and most of the hogs it seemed) and turned Monkey and Spur out. We left the 4 wheelers and walked down an old firebreak between the swamp and pines. I had Cricket with me. Monkey and Spur had been gone for a while when I heard Monkey bay off in the swamp. I didn't hear Spur, but they rarely stay together. I had Cricket on a leash but I didn't want to turn her loose as I didn't know what Monkey had bayed and she is pretty catchy for a young dog. As we got closer I heard Spur get to Monkey, heard them try to catch, then the hog broke. I turned Cricket loose and the dogs caught the hog within 50 yards of where it broke. When we got there Monkey and Cricket had the sow caught and Spur was baying (he isn't real catchy). I don't know how the sow got away from Monkey the first time as she wasn't real big, but I guess since I haven't hunted him in almost 3 months he may be a little rusty...............

Here are a couple of pics of my new box I built for my 4 wheeler, the sow and Cricket and Spur. Monkey was in my buddies box on his 4 wheeler so he isn't in the pics, even though he found the hog. I built this box so I could haul several dogs on the 4 wheeler and have them contained. I like the new box, but I may have to beef up suspension on the back of the 4 wheeler. Between the dogs, the box and little old ME, thats a lot of weight for the Honda 350.

Any of you guys have any suggestions on beefing up the suspension? There is only one shock on the back of this 4 wheeler.

Here are some pics....no hog to brag on, but first one I have put my hands on in months!! Maybe it will cool off soon and I can get back to hunting! If you look closely at the pics, you can see the dogs (and their owner) are out of shape from not hunting lately!!

[crackerc]

This is what was in the three traps my buddy had set on the place. Three traps and three good boar hogs. They weighed 190,185 and 160 lbs. The smallest boar had the most teeth, about 2 1/2". The biggest hog had almost no teeth and looked to be a young hog. Too bad we have to kill all the hogs we catch/trap on this place as they would have made GOOD barr hogs.......

Once it cools off, this is what we will be looking for with the dogs!!

[Cutter Bay Kennels]

Good deal Cracker.  Glad to see you getting back into the swing of things.  Good looking sow.  If the box is working for you, job well done.  Leave a few in Florida for us guys with hounds to chase around a bit.

Peace out,
Josh

[Cull Buck]

Nice hunt.  I like your set up.  Glad to see your back at it. 

I hear you on the weather.  Yesterday was the first hog I've caught in the daylight in 3 months.  Sure is nice being able to see. LOL

[Cutter Bay Kennels]

Yesterday was the first hog I've caught in the daylight in 3 months.  Sure is nice being able to see. LOL

I love the daylight.  Even though I coon hunt, I would much rather be in bed by 9:30 PM.  I'm too old to stay up late these days.  I love seeing the bay with no flashlight.

[crackerc]

I used to hunt only at night. The older (and slower) I get, the more I like hunting in the daytime where I can see whats going on (most of the time). Its just tough to do in the summer. Once it starts to cool off we will be back at it. I don't do the real late nights too well myself anymore. Course, getting up at 4 AM to be in the woods by daylight is getting harder too.............

This Honda has one shock in the middle. Anyone ever try to beef up the suspension on their 4 wheeler? I could haul 4 dogs in this box (if they got along) as it has two compartments, but with just two dogs and the box, the 4 wheeler was squatting in the rear. Made it harder to turn too, as the front was lighter.

Us "po fokes" can't afford all those new UTV's and such. So we have to make do with what we have!! I would just like to beef up the suspension "just in case" I ever needed to haul more than two dogs. Course, we only had three dogs on the hunt, and one of them is still a pup.

[joe]

good hog crackerc. nice setup, where at in florida you hunting

[mex]

Cracker you may be able to search an old article on atvs with hog boxes.I have pics of mine which is an older kawasaki 400 with a shock from a motorbike welded on and works great.If not i can try and post more pics later.

[setexasplott]

i can tell you that if could fit the cow on the back of mexs 4 wheeler it still would not sqaut . that shock on the back really helps for alot of weight .

[Mike]

Here you go Crackerc, i've got an '06 Rancher. After snapping the factory rack my dog rack was attached to three times, I added this shock. Works great and haven't had any problems since.

[crackerc]

Mex and setexasplott, I will have to look back and see if I cabn find that post.

Mike, that looks about like what I need. You can see in my pics the box is leaning back. The box itself is made out of 1/2" EMT and 4" square bull panels. The bottom is 1/2" plywood. The whole box (empty) doesn't weigh but about 40-45 lbs. But when I put two fat out of shape dogs in the box, it squatted the 4 wheeler and made the front light.  Mine is a Rancher also, can't remember what year though. I see where you used channel for the bottom mount for the shock, was it channel for the top mount also, or just flatbar? What was the shock you used off of? It would need to be the right length and stiffness to make it work right.

I thought I saw somewhere, where someone had welded some brackets under the 4 wheeler and added another shock on the opposite side of the rear axle from the side the factory shock is mounted on. (i.e. one on the front of the axle pointed to the front of the 4 wheeler and one mounted on the rear of the axle pointed to the rear of the 4 wheeler). I would have to look and see what it could be welded to as I am not sure you could go from the back of the axle up to the rear rack in a straight line.

I personally like the box better than the platforms, as if I need to leave a dog at the 4 wheeler I don't have to worry about him hanging himself while I am gone. I also can lock the doors on this box, if I need to. Plus, I hauled that sow home (untied) in one side of that box, so you can haul a small hog in it too. Only thing she did to it was scratch my new green paint job!!

[Mike]

It's just flat bar on top with two holes drilled in it. I need to move the bottom of the shock forward a little so I can put my trailer ball back on it. As far as length, I just measured it and went to the auto parts and found a shock about an inch or two longer, fully extended. Works great even with three or four dogs on it.

[crackerc]

Mike, thanks for the info and pics. I knew someone had to have had the same problem I was having. The weight is just too far back on the 4 wheeler so that extra shock may do the trick.
I do have a question though, does the shock/channel at the bottom tend to hang up on roots, firebreaks, etc when you are driving through the woods? I take my 4 wheeler through some pretty rough terrain including palmettos (don't know if you even have palmettos in TX). Just seems that channel may hang up crossing logs and such. You ever had a problem with that?

[Mike]

I haven't had that probem at all. The channel doesn't stick out past the back tires so it clears just about everything. If it does hang up crossing a log the 4wd pulls it through just fine.

We're overrun with palmettoes in SE Texas... a lot of my places you'd feel right at home in.

[BarrNinja]

Hey CrackerC,

Good to see you knocking the dust off and posting hunts again.

[spazhogdog]

Really like your dog box. What are the dimensions?  I built one but it is really to small. I really like yours. And I know what you mean about the heat. For being fall, It is still to hot. Good hogs.

[robert21]

real cool setup. great job on the dogs looks like the young one got it a good taste. robert

[crackerc]

This was my "first" box, built more for a prototype than anything else. It is 40" long, 30" deep and about 24" high. I say "about" as I had a little trouble getting my radius corners the way I wanted them. It didn't turn out too bad though and works good. It is two compartments with lockable paddle latches. You can buy these from Northern Tool.  I used 1/2" EMT for the frame and 4" panels for the sides and divider.

I plan on building myself another one for my other 4 wheeler and now I have a couple of buddies saying THEY want one. After I build a couple more I should get pretty good at it. Hopefully anyway!

I think my next one will be just rectangular though (no radius at the top) and will have a rail around the top to put a cooler/tracking box/etc on.  I will post some pics if I ever get around to getting it built.

Now I need to beef up my 4 wheeler like Mike's so I can give the hogs fits if/when it ever cools off.................

[ESTEBAN_B]

good pics and good hogs! Nice Honda!!!