Why do you do it???

[williamsld]

I was raised doing it, but the thing I like the most is being able to take a pup and train it and watch it improve through the years plus all the memories you make with your buddies in the woods together

[RyanTBH]

   nope that's it ryan  lol  .  I've chased dogs all my life  for coon , rabbit's , squirrel , deer and yotes for the shear joy of it  and started chasing hogs just to get them out of the woods . I was looking the new farm over and went to the back side to check the coon population and got ran out of the woods by a sounder of big hogs and have hated and wanted them all dead ever since  lol .

I can't say I blame you there bud. We've seen our populations dwindle down up here.

[RyanTBH]

For me........99% is based around the dog pen. 1% is the pure adrenaline that goes with the sport.

True believer in separate sides of the fence in this sport.

1. Dogmen

2. Hunters.

Both own and handle dogs but completely separate aspects of motivations.

(Neither of which I am discrediting)  just separate worlds and mindsets in which paths cross on the same type quarry.

Yeller, you're about spot on with that... Only thing I can add is the grey area between the two. I feel like I'm right in the middle... I absolutely love working the dogs, training and exposing, and letting them find their stride, but... I also love going to the woods with my boys and putting in work. Having a pack of dogs in the woods and a chase/bay going is definitely a thrill to watch unfold. If I had to choose which side I lean more towards it'd be the dogs though. My favorite part of all the dog biz is seeing the pup figure it out, and flip that switch. Makes me smile! When I've bred and raised em, there isn't anything more gratifying than watching what you've bred and raised do what it was meant to do.

[tmatt]

Love the dog work! Had to find an outlet that was legal for my addiction to working dogs...

[colecross]

I do it because it runs in my blood,i have to do it,are i will get sick.when i was a young boy,5 r6.i would go with daddy and gran daddy.marking and cutting,just been hooked.its away of life,at my house we eat,sleep,and chit dogs and hogs.

[l.h.cracker]

When I was a kid my great grandpa and my Dad raised beef and hogs had a big slaughter house and supplied the local grocery store. I had a cat/pit named Pup last of his line of working dogs on the farm he did it all caught herded squirl hunted duck hunted he'd walk me to school and pick me up everyday.Pups why I'm a dog man.

[CodysCatchdogs]

My husband has been hog hunting in Arkansas for 18 years. He showed me how and I've fallen in love with the way the dogs have to work and the challenge that IS hog hunting.

I also enjoy and respect hogs.

[LQ]

I do it because it's a great sport. It's a good feeling to see dogs work that you have been training. I also love to get my family in the woods. The kids get to see what hard work can do for a person. If we ever hit hard times my kids know we can take the dogs out and have food for the table. I'm sure the lessons they learn in the woods will help them in life. The rush from legging a hog is just a bonus

[RyanTBH]

BBT

Still in it for the love of the dogs, and for the love of helping folks out that are getting torn up. Been doing this a while now it seems. Feels like yesterday when I started in on this life style. Here we are, almost 10 years in after getting addicted. No turning back now!


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[Cajun]

I'm in it because I have had dogs all my life. Had squirrel dogs as a kid, coon dogs, deer dogs and retrievers. If I hunt it, I want to do it with a dog. Went on my first hog hunt when I was about 20 and was hooked. That was 44 years ago. Been in it since. Back then we did not have a lot of hogs and were pretty protective to make sure we had them. Now a days, you cannot hunt a lot of places unless you kill them.

[Austesus]

I just love the dogs. They fascinate me and I try to study them. I’ll get a topic in my head and become obsessed about. It might be the best way to do a mock hunt, the best way to train a dog, the best way to breed, comparing how differently built dogs can swim, etc... I’ll get something in my head and will spend a ton of time trying to learn everything I can about that thing before moving on to a new thing. And then I just love watching the dogs work. To me it’s an awesome feeling to see the dog figure it out and make a hunt successful, it’s like cheering for your favorite football team. If this was a game, I want my dogs to win. I want them to out smart and out perform the pigs. When my old Dum Dum dog would roll out past 300 I would get excited knowing he was running a good track, I would be anxiously watching the Garmin and seeing where he was going and when I heard him catch or saw that he was treed it would just make my blood start pumping thinking “oh yeah we got one!” I get to him as fast as I can and once I can hear what’s going on I know if it’s a small pig or a big pig, and if it’s a small pig it’s just a good feeling of success. And means my buddies get there to take care of the pig feeling accomplished. If I don’t hear squealing then my adrenaline gets going and my mind starts racing about all the bad that could happen and I get real anxious and I’m beating feet to get there and do my part to help the team out. And on top of all that there’s just a great feeling that comes along with being out in the woods or the swamp, especially on a nice spring day when the weather is perfect.


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[Cajun]

I forgot the real reason why I do it. I am a glutton for punishment and I like throwing money away.  There, I said it. I feel much better now.

[t-dog]

I do it because I love watching the dogs from start to finish, catch dogs or find dogs. Watching good dogs do it right just fascinates me. I do it for the comradery with my buddies and family. I've made some great friends from coast to coast that are family more than they're friends now. And honestly, I enjoy the adrenaline rush when it gets a little western from time to time.

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[RyanTBH]

I forgot the real reason why I do it. I am a glutton for punishment and I like throwing money away.  There, I said it. I feel much better now.

Hahaha that’s greatness!


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[cbar79]

how I got Started....I had not hunted with a dog since we had a family hunting accident on a deer dog drive when I was in the 6th grade.  Everything turned out OK but we stopped dog hunting that year.  Hogs arrived on my farm in 2010.  I had started taking a rifle with me to check the calving pastures. I had killed a few but there was a sow nest on a creek in a canebrake. Every time I tried to sneak in there she would hit the ditch and get away.  One day while checking the heifers a coon hound started following me around, he was upsetting the new mothers so I took him to the creek. We traveled along the creek downwind of the nest. I told him to "Hunt em up" and he got in there and ran the sow and 2 shoats out.  I shot the sow and a shoat and the dog caught the other shoat. I decided I needed a dog that evening.  I fed the dog all that I could find in the truck. I haven't seen him since. I started with one dog and now have several. They are training me!  They teach me something every time I take them out!!!

[gary fuller]

wow, how did i ever miss this thread?

i always liked  dogs far back as i remember and  my dad told me stories of the deer dog he had years before and  my grandad ran fox and wolves and also my uncle ran coon and bobcats. i hunted when i could and when i was 17 thats when the trouble started,lol. i met my first bulldog. this dog was named clyde and was a big white scar bag. the guy caught hogs with him as well as rolled him at times. this started my few years with game dogs. i contract matched my first dog when i was 18 and then i was told that i should hunt hogs as all i needed was a bulldog or two and a knife, flashlight and maybe a pistol. tried my luck that way and then figured out the hogs werent hangin out waitin for my bulldogs to see em. my boss at age 20 was into hog huntin with dogs and took me with him when i was 21. that was it as i was hooked and then started gettin hog dogs and goin huntin any chance i got. from then on i hunted pretty hard untill i was over 60. i guess i started usin american bulldogs as catchdogs about 25 years ago as i basically owned ruff dogs till then . once i got to usin a true catchdog it fired me back up to keepin bulldogs.it wasnt the same as the gamedogs but it sure was fun and easier to be succsesfull,lol. i guess the dog work is what i love the most but also workin hard for a hog or quick easy hunts all are great. i love catchin big nasty brute  hogs but dont get a thrill from killin em as once we got em controlled i feel we won.  and it doesnt have to be my dogs either, just seein good dogs do there thing is the payoff for me.