How to catch bedded hogs

[l.h.cracker]

Any tricks on finding bedded hogs. I understand that you can't catch every time you go to the woods and my spots are by no means loaded with hogs even so we catch most of the time but I try my hardest to hunt the feed but sometimes I can't and I swear that the pigs vanish into thin air. I run Cur dogs that definitely aren't cold nosed but they hunt there tails off in no sign. Just wanted to know if there is any trick to finding bedded hogs or do I need a cold nosed dog period.

[Shotgun66]

Turn loose at daylight. We scout water in the summer and food sources during the fall/winter  the afternoon/evening prior to turning loose at daylight the next morning. They will leave exit trails to their beds IF you know what to look for. Hogs down here (North Central Texas) tend to be active at night and bed up right before daylight. I run all curs. My best find dog is medium nose at best. I have hunted with a couple of top shelf hounds this way. It is the best way to hunt a hound on hogs in my experience and opinion. We have had the best luck running a finished hound solo until he finds them in their bedroom. Yes, he was wide open! Once he found them, we sent in the land sharks. A lot of fun. Hope this answers your question.
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You might try putting out game cameras on your spots if possible. I have a feeling that hunting in the wet, thick swamps of Florida might be a little different and make it harder to find sign in some cases.
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Happy hunting to you.

[T-Bob Parker]

Start at daylight and cast them from tracks or a feeder

[HIGHWATER KENNELS]

We are having the same problem man.  I have tried every thing I know how to find the hogs after daylight in their beds.  All except cold nose hounds ,, the problem with this is I don't know anyone that has one that is TRASH broke.  We have thrown out long range dogs ,, that will cover some ground and dogs that are very thorough in covering ground.  It still aint helped.  I have got the chance to hunt and see other mens dogs that are HOG DOGS, and still come up with nuthin.  Its a different ballgame now,, dealing with the hot and dry weather we been having.  It will lead u to believe that the hogs are just not staying on the lease during daylight hrs,, until the cell phone cameras go off right before dark and there they are,, spitting in your eye. Lol   Make a man wanna walk out in the yard and beat the hair off the dogs.

[Cajun]

ALMOST ANY HOGS you jump after daylight will be jumped from their bed. We bay hogs all the time in their bed but some don't stay. At the first bark, some are headed out of the area, some will stay put & bay, then break & some will stay bayed in their bed. A lot depends on how much pressure they have had or how many dogs are on the ground. You can really tell a boar if you can catch him in his bed. The whole area has that boar smell going in.

[Slim9797]

Not trying to jack this post but I feel it's relevant. Do any of yall have a certain spot on a property where the hogs seem to bed up pretty regularly? I only have one property I can safely hunt and 2 weekends ago we came across a bed are. Right off of a tank. Hog sign everywhere and it just wreaked of boar. Didn't catch a hog after 4 broken bays. Went back this weekend and dogs didn't get on nothing and it didn't smell anymore and no fresh wallowing. The hogs aren't dog smart cause I'm the first to hunt it and I've only bayed hogs on 3 different occasions. Land owner also says he's seen 40-60 at a time in his hay fields but I've personally never seen more than 15 in a group out there

[Reuben]

colder nosed dogs that hunt well should find the hogs if they are there....but finding and catching them are 2 different things... 

I like dogs that can find a hog if it is there...that is the goal...

[l.h.cracker]

I agree Reuben I like my dogs to find the hogs and stop them and 90% of the time they do and I am not saying that I never catch bedded hogs but I don't like dry runs.

[Reuben]

how to catch bedded hogs...

a dog that has the inclination to wind or take an older...and can be roaded, cast out or rigged...this way if no luck roading or rigging then go down wind and cast them into the wind and woods. these dogs will circle around you and then circle further out...if they run across a track they can work they will find the hog in his bed...or while out hunting if they can wind one they will  bay him in his bed...if there is fresh sign a good dog will find a hog...

[l.h.cracker]

Mainly walk hunt but they will do all of the above and I always hunt the wind but when the hogs are bedded there is no fresh sign and this is why I am asking if cold nosed dogs really regularly run old tracks to a hogs bedroom.I have a puppy from some cold nosed dogs and hope she turns into the final piece of the puzzle.

[Bo Pugh]

A lot of people have the mis understanding of when a dog leaves out kicking rocks it's actually hunting. I have one of these dogs myself. I can turn him loose at my kennels and point him down the creek or which ever way and he will go however far until I go get him or wait several hours and he will come wondering back. But he's not hunting he's just roaming. If he would slow down he'd be a way better dog and im going to straighten him out after deer season is over. You said you was hunting the feed. I'm assuming that's a feeder and if it has a camera on it that's even better. I think a dog should be able to trail a hog from that feeder anytime after about 1 that morning if you turn out there at daylight or right after. Not a 1 year old dog but a seasoned dog should be able to trail most
Hogs off that feeder. They probably wont bay all of them but should be able to jump most. I don't consider that cold noses at all that's just what's expected in hog dogs. It's plenty cur dogs out there that can trail with the hounds and plenty of hounds out there that can't trail with good cur dogs. I think the biggest trick is having a dog that don't come out of the box like a bat out of hell and having one that comes out knowing when it's feet hit the ground it's hunting a track to get on. ALot of dogs are bred with big engines but would be a lot better if theyd slow down just a tad and hunt instead of run. Maybe what I'm trying to post makes sense on here, my little
Boy is climbing over me back and forth now so I didn't get to proof read this haha

[Cajun]

Ya'll are talking about colder nose dogs finding hogs but it depends on what time you get out there. Most hogs start heading for their bedding areas around daylight. Most hog hunters I know start about daylight or shortly after. Should be a fairly fresh track that any cur dog could trail out. Now if you run into fresh sign late in the morning or early afternoon, then you are going to have to have a colder nosed dog.
  One other thing. Bedding areas will be fairly close to where the hogs are feeding at. Certain areas it will be the thickest part of the area. I have seen hogs bed in fairly open areas because that was close to where they were feeding at. With a hog, there are two main concerns. Where the feed is at and how much pressure they are getting. If they are dogged a lot, they will move, no matter how good the food.

[Judge peel]

Not to sound crazy but I like to think I know what I am doing and I don't really think there is a method that makes me say this is how you do it. I walk hunt a lot as well but I do hood road cast rig what ever it's all hunting. There is only two ways to find a hog smell or sight. If your close and there is a little wind you should pick up on em if not they might have to work a bit harder. All a colder nose will do is pick up a track and run it around till it gets hot maybe to where they bedded maybe not or a dog could go right past them running a track or the wind could change right as your in winding range and not find em or the dog could run straight to em like forest said life is like a box of chocolates lol I know I was no help but hey what you going to do


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[l.h.cracker]

Hunt the feed as in solunar feed times maybe the hogs here have different patterns but they are in tune with the solunar feed times and bed in-between sometimes they bed at night and feed for a few hours and bed again sometimes they feed in the daytime if that's when the feed is when I hunt peak feed times whether it be 3am or 3pm I catch hogs.I have no complaints about my dogs and there hunting styles and ability I don't keep dogs that don't do there job.The places I hunt are pressured for sure and the hogs roam run and everything in between the areas that they bed in are usually very thick.I just wanted to know that if you have a good cold nosed dog and put him on the ground when the hogs have not been active for a few hours does that dog find you a hog every time you drop him?

[Curcross1987]

Depends on your definition of cold nosed I have a gyp I consider cold that can run a 12 hour track in good conditions in this dry heat I would say 7 to 8 hours would be doing good

[KevinN]

It sure helps to know the land you hunt. If you know your land, you know the bedding areas, the routes they like to travel, the feeding areas, etc. Honestly...you SHOULD be able to drop the dogs right on top of the hogs at any hour of the day if they are staying on the land and not just passing through.

In any case...unless your just blowing the hogs out before you get there by one reason or another, it shouldn't be that hard to start a hog in its bed.  If a sounder of hogs are truly bedding on your place, not just passing through, I'm talking about spending a lot of time there, when you run across the area, you'll know it. The actual bedding area, even if it's in a green patch will be cleared of most of the underbrush, it'll be nothing but dirt with lots of trails in and out and there'll be hog shat EVERYWHERE. THIS type of area you can jump hogs at your leisure as long as you don't pressure them to much...and by that I mean maybe hunt it once every couple weeks, lol. Hunting to clear hogs out and hunting for sport are two different things, lol. An area like this is a gold mine for sport hunting.

I had a spot like that on my best place....I found out what it was going into a bay and was amazed at what I saw. It actually turned into a last ditch effort kinda spot, lol. I felt so confident about it that I ended up always hitting that spot last. Over the span of a couple years though....between dogging and trapping, our hog population went way down. We still have hogs mind you, but they move around a lot more now and that bedding area is just hit or miss now.

[l.h.cracker]

Do you catch a hog every time you drop dogs. I have good odds and 9 times outa 10 my dogs find and stop hogs but you guys are talking like I said that I can't catch a hog.I hunt rivers and swamps and the hogs continuesly roam up and down the river I don't think there is a specific spot they bed day in and day out anda lot of times where they bed is in a vast maze of switch grass and stick Marsh that would take a dog 10 years to run every route.I never hunt feeders and am sure that if I had a place with roads and access to drive to a feeder and drop or see a track and drop I am sure that my odds would be even better. Most times I walk for 3-6 hrs dogs hunting the whole time before we find the hogs go back to the spot you caught the next day and no hogs walk again and find them.So if they aren't up feeding it makes it even harder to locate the hogs. Given that there is no clear starting point and I have been tossing around the idea of one cold nosed dog to through on the ground when I know that the hogs are bedded but don't take this the wrong way I have confidence in my Cur dogs just thinking about adding a little something else to the arsenal. Judge I have heard you say that you have an old cold nosed dog to compliment your others.

[KevinN]

How long have you hunted the same spots cracker?

Even when I hunted public land (big public land) that was nasty and was walk only, I knew the spots I was more likely to strike hogs just by past experience. I wouldn't really pay attention much until I knew we were getting close to those areas. At that point I'd slow down and really let the dogs work.

I walked A LOT of miles in those early days...it was nothing for ME to walk 5-6 miles and the dogs to cover 12-20. That being said...in the early days when my best dogs where young, there were a lot of "dry" runs or the youngsters getting smoked....but things progressed, my dogs got experienced, I learned the land and hunting that same area, we began to put hogs down.

Anyway...as easy as my terrain is now...I still think I wouldn't mind hunting that old place again someday...if my back ever heals up enough.

[Judge peel]

Cracker he just a old cross bred mutt kemmer x lacy. The qualities he has is a cold enough nose to start a track and wind but he runs a track fast and I mean fast I seen him start a track good hounds didn't pick up and I seen dogs take a track and him not be to intrested other dogs come back then he go right where they went and bay up. I seen him bay  30 plus hogs several times and run one all day and bay for hrs. I have seen him not hunt out pass 50 yards all night then get to the truck and roll out 800 yards and bay. But he ain't perfect ether but I feel like I can take him any where and find and catch hogs my other dogs are good a few could be lead dogs if I didn't have him on the roster. There has been many a night that I wanted him to just stop but I pushed on lol I will say this the colder the nose more than likely the hog it starts is the one he will stick with hot ER nose dog will pull of to a better pig


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