New Member!

[Austesus]

Hey guys, I just became a member today. I've been lurking as a guest for a few months now and spend about 2-3 hours a day just reading the posts on here and trying to gain as much knowledge as possible. I was on here today and it finally struck me that I need to just make an account! Lol. So, with that being said, my name is Austin. I'm just getting started in this sport and I'm here to observe and listen to the insight from you experienced guys.

Little bit about myself... I'm 19, living in Eastover, SC (grew up in lugoff/Columbia). I'm a 15T (Blackhawk Mechanic/crew chief) in the National Guard and I'm full time at McEntire. I have always had a fascination with working dogs and have wanted hunting dogs since I was a boy.

Well, one of my uncles has a nice line of pretty solid pit bulls that have a high prey drive and are pretty game. Him and his buddy trap hogs on a property that they manage, and although his dogs haven't officially been used as catch dogs, they've gotten in to the hog pens before and caught and killed some pigs. I got a 6 month old puppy from him a while back and he is now almost two years old. He's been a house pet up until just recently.

A few months ago I got a black mouth cur. I just happened to get really lucky! I saw an ad on Craigslist and immediately got in touch with the man selling them. Well Ray (guy who was selling them) told me they were at his buddy Donnie's house that I could give him a call and head over there that night if I was interested. So I went over there as soon as I got the address. I got to meet both parents. The father is from a line of Ladner dogs and will range out over a mile in no sign. Real gritty but he knows when to back up and bay. If the pig is under 200lbs or there is another dog then he will catch it. He will immediately relay out to another pig once you get there. The mother is also from Ladner blood. She is a 200-300yd dog and is extremely gritty. Donnie is a true dog man, has over 40 dogs on his yard and he hunts for a living, keeping hogs off of the farmers property.

But any who, I wound up getting a male puppy that night. A few days later Smokey caught Parvo and we didn't know if he was going to make it. My girl friend wound up nursing him back to health after many long nights. I went to finally meet the man Ray a few weeks later to get the papers once they came in, and at that time I wound up getting another male from the litter, and named him Scooter. So, they are baying really good at a piglet a have inside of a 10x10 kennel. I've done 2 mock hunts with them and although they went very slow and stumbled a lot they did find the piglet. Also, they managed to climb the fence yesterday morning and were going crazy trying to catch and hold the piglet until my girl friend ran outside and pulled them out of the kennel. Oh, and they were born 10/07/16.

Saturday I am building them dog kennels (to finally get them out of the house) and I'm going to build a good pig pen. Then gonna get some cut gear and take them out for their first hunt. I've stayed in touch with the man Donnie and he invited me to bring the puppies on a hunt with him. He hunts everyday and usually brings a good bit of dogs and he starts his puppies at a real young age by turning them in to the bay. He has some 6 month old puppies that are full on hunting with the big dogs so I'm excited to see how my pups look after a few hunts with him!

Sorry, I know this was long but I just wanted to properly introduce myself. I will try to attach some pictures if it will work. (Smokey is in the orange collar, Scooter is in the green, and Thorn is my pit)





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[Reuben]

welcome aboard Austin...sounds like you have two hog dogs in the making...nice looking pups...if those pups had bob tails they could pass for kemmer curs...Ladners curs are known to be hunting dogs so that is a great start...and I am sure that hunting with Donnie will be a big help in getting you started in the right direction...

[Mike]

Welcome to the board Austin... good lookin' pups.

[NLAhunter]

Welcome to the board good looking puppies hope they make dogs for you

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[Austesus]

Thanks every one. Reuben, I've seen a lot of your posts and look forward to gaining more knowledge from you. And most of the other pups have the traditional black masks. Honestly I think that the mask is much better looking, but I'm happy with my pups and feel that they will turn in to dogs.


This is the dad, Bo



And this is the mom, Molly







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[charles]

Welcome to the board crash hawk. You got some good lookin dogs.

[Slim9797]

Austin, welcome to ETHD. Wear some thick skin and pick and choose what you think is good info and everyone gets along good haha. Good looking pups, I've always like them yella dogs without the mask!


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[Austesus]

Charles, I've seen a lot of your posts. 15U, right? Haha. Slim, I've also seen a lot of posts from you as well. I'm glad to be a part of the community and hope to learn a lot of valuable information. Thanks for the compliments on the pups. They're all I've got right now so I hope they make it! I'll be trying to add to my pack in the future. I eventually want a pack of 6-8 dogs. Preferably all rough and catchy.


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[charles]

Charles, I've seen a lot of your posts. 15U, right?
Yes sir, just an ole' hooker.
What bloodline are those white curs out of? I used to have a gritty a$$ cur that looks almost identical to yours in the orange collar and iv got a white cur now that is, but not near as gritty as the other. Both were out of that wrights yellow jacket blood and the 1 i have now is a son of yellow jacket and then iv got a yellow cur that is out of a daughter and the som of yellow jacket. The few times iv run him, he was mostly gritty, but is now a human eating yard dog. I give a double serving since he broke his chain and bit the mother in law.


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[Austesus]

Hey, I've got some hooker friends too. Black hawks are better but we won't get in to that right now! Lol. Give me just a second and I'll post the pedigree. I don't know much about pedigrees and don't understand it too well other than seeing a little bit of line breeding with the same names popping up. The dad is off of the Rambo line from Ladner.


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[Austesus]

I've looked over it a few times but without knowing the dogs listed, I feel like I don't know too much information. I do know that the father of my puppies is Ray's number 1 dog and I've heard from multiple people that he has turned down offers up to $4,500 on him. From what I've been told the father will go until he finds a pig and will usually catch it by himself. He knows when to back up though and he's 6 years old right now so he's been smart enough to make it this long. Not sure how old the mom is but I was told that she is a 200-300yd dog and is as gritty as they come. The guy that owns them is Ray Elgin. He keeps those two at his buddy Donnie's house. (Ray has 17 dogs, Donnie has a yard of about 40, but some of them are dogs he is training for other people). Pretty much every dog they run is a RCD. I haven't been on a hunt with them yet but Donnie posts a lot of videos to Facebook and every time the hog is already caught and down when he walks up. He is about to sell a pit/shar-pei cross that he has that will go out until he finds a pig. Won't honor a bay and will catch anything. I think I'm going to try and get him as a lead dog to help work my puppies.


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[Slim9797]

Slim, I've also seen a lot of posts from you as well. I'm glad to be a part of the community and hope to learn a lot of valuable information.

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Pay me no mind lol. As most of these guys already know. I know what I know and wish I knew everything else. Plenty to learn here. If there's a general topic your wanting to read on, be it styles of hunting like casting or roading, working routines, rough vs. loose bay dogs. Use that search bar feature and your liable to find 15 different threads covering what your wanting to know!


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[Austesus]

Haha, already ahead of you! I've spent a good bit of time already, reading the posts about training puppies.


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[Shotgun66]

Welcome to the board. Nice lookin dogs you have. There is a lot of good information here to help you along. The best advice I ever received was from the man who got me into hunting dogs at a young age. Worn out boots and woods time are what you need to determine what your dogs are capable of. You can't catch anything but a nap on the couch! He always told me to put em in the woods with game in and let them show you what they can do. He always encouraged me to be honest with myself about a dogs ability. He believed in letting a dog mature mentally and physically before asking them to do any serious work. He also would not ask a dog to wirk if they were not fit and healthy. I have applied the lessons he had to teach over the years and it has helped me tremendously. You might want to consider buying the Walk with Wick Volume 1 book to help you along. A lot of good info in an easy to read format.
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Good luck man! Have fun with em!

[gary fuller]

welcome to the board austin and good luck with the dogs and in the sport. this can be a very informative board here and theres a ton of knowledge here along with a bit of nonsense.  gary

[Austesus]

Thanks Shotgun! That's some good advice right there. My grandfather is the most die hard deer hunter I've ever met and when he was teaching me to hunt he used to always say, "you might not get one every time you go out, but you have a 0% chance of getting one from the couch!" I know that they are young to hunt right now, but I'm going to bring them along and turn them out in to some bays, just not let them run free. That will allow me to get to know Donnie better as well, he seems like a good honest man with a vast amount of knowledge. I need to do a lot more mock hunts, and I'm planning on doing them every few days. But I figured that supplementing that with some real woods time would be the best thing for them. They'll run around my 10x10 pig pen for hours baying non stop at my piglet so I wanna let them get a little bit of action here soon. Thanks for the words, gary. I won't be contributing too much, but I will be trying to read as much advice as possible and try to better myself and my pups.


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[ArtHenrey]

Nice pups, keep an update as they grow older. They seem to be off to a good start. Keep hogs on there mind.
Don't let them get spoiled baying a pined hog.
Do sent drags for em and stake hog off in the woods. They should be fine!


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[Reuben]

Austin...I wouldn't let them bay for hours just to make sure and not burn them out...mock hunts once in a while is good...come in from the down wind side and cross wind...

You can also teach them to rig off your wheeler or off the back of your truck...stake the pig upwind of a road where the wind will carry the pig scent across the road...mark where the hog scent is crossing...go get the pups and take them for a ride...keep it slow and once you know they can smell pig fire them up and encourage them to bark...once they do turn them out and let them find the pig...you can slowly walk them in the right direction to get them going. ..after a while they will be making it look easy...

[Austesus]

Thanks for the advice! Right now I haven't had much of an option because the pig pen is in my backyard so they are around it all the time. Just got a load of lumber from lowes and first thing in the morning I'm building the dog kennels (they've been in the house for the past few months) Hopefully later tomorrow I can get the new pig pen done as well. For the pig pen I'm going to have a 16x16 pen of hog panel but one side will join a 16x16 section with wood all the way around it so that dogs can't see in. I will have a chute on the joining side that I can pull with a rope. That way I can keep the pig where the dogs cannot see it until I want to work them.

I plan to start doing a lot of mock hunts. I've just been waiting because right now I only have the one little piglet (I had two but sold one). Once I get the new pen built I'm getting a shoat from my uncle and a half hog/half pot belly boar from Donnie. It's a mature pig weighing 80lbs with 2" cutters that will be good for training purposes.


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[l.h.cracker]

Welcome aboard hope you have good luck with the pups sounds like you're heading in the right direction.It really helps having a successful hog hunter and dog breeder helping you along. I never had that so my road had many bumps along the way.Good stock is key but remember not all make dogs even from good stock don't be the guy who feeds and breeds junk and refuses to admit the truth and try again.A good natural dog will make it very easy and enjoyable while a Cull will make it very discouraging there's a fine line on the time to come to that decision but remember that a Cull eats just as much as a good dog and you'll be much happier feeding the good ones. I really like the looks of your cur dog's keep us posted on their progress and good luck.