Instinctive

[t-dog]

What is something instinctive that you've seen a dog do? I mean one of those things that helps set them apart. For example, my old Clyde dog was really really quick to locate. But, during the dry season, he was headed to nearest water and then the next nearest until he located. I can't remember another dog ever locating behind him. He wasted no time finding hogs and that always impressed me.

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[Reuben]

Yeller was the best dog I ever owned...he was better in all departments...everything he did he made it look easy...in his older age as soon as I casted the dogs he was gone...he would make a quick loop and if he came back after that loop you could bet no hogs in the area...the other dogs would hunt the same as usual on each cast...

Yeller would stay close once he decided there weren’t any hogs around...but when he left you could bet he was going to be bayed somewhere...

At ten months of age he was as good as good dogs and at 12-14 months old he just new how to find the short end of the track pretty quick...the dogs we consider to be the best couldn’t do what Yeller could do even at that young of age...I’ve had some good ones but none like Yeller...and I am pretty sure I never will...

[make-em-squeel]

Best instinct ive had in 3 of my line bred curs, is just flat out hunt, at a young age (9-12 mo) they were hunting like 4 yr old finished dogs.

Thank you Rodney spivey and Bob cox for keeping the tight blood around.

My other favorite instinct is being loose. My version of loose doesnt mean chasing 100lb pigs all night, i dont care if they catch what they can handle but just never getting cut. My old dog never got more than a poke her whole life until she was to old to go. Thankfully my pup is like that now to. Seems like allot ive had that have that crazy hunt are also to gritty for a long life.

[make-em-squeel]

Ive also had a few dogs that never had to be trash broke, curs in the woods. And several dogos that were hard dogs never caught cows when we sent them into curs trashing etc

[t-dog]

Those dogs sound like thinkers

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[Slim9797]

Self preservation. I can take the dogs I have now to hunt the rankest hogs in the baddest country, probably kill a few, and have a hunt planned for tomorrow without a sliver of a chance I’ll have to cancel that next hunt due to cut up dogs.


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[Slim9797]

Those dogs sound like thinkers

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Most people wouldn’t know what that means when it comes to dogs. If ones wants a chance with me they better be able to do some thinking


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[t-dog]

I hunted with another dog about a 100 years ago that had a good instinct. I can't tell you how many times we walked up on this dog or drive up on him that he had a hog caught in the ham or the jewels. Hogs would literally be sitting on his head out in the wide open. If he was there for a while before we could get to him, he would let go and back up but stay behind the hog. If the hog made any attempt at all to stand up, he was caught in the same spot again. I have seen more than a couple faced up in the open woods or in a pasture that he was faced up to baying that wouldn't turn and run when we got up on them because o e jewel would be tore out and on the ground and the other hanging out of the sack. He did not put up with runners and he trailed with the intention of stopping his game and not chasing his game. He got cut a couple times but not often and not bad.

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[warrent423]

I've always raised my dogs from pups. I want to see them go to the "front" of anything that runs from them. Those that don't are the first to be culled. That's an old Cowman's cur dog test going way back.  Natural instinct to want to go to the front to stop. Can't teach it if it ain't there.

[TShelly]

Seen a few gyps who would backtrack the first hog we caught and find the rest of the group. Sometimes it felt like they could count. Most those same gyps would leave a bay and be running as soon as they saw us walking in with bulldogs.

Boogie was a proficient track dog. When he would slow down and was working an old track, he would hit every leaf, tree or bar wire the hog might have rubbed up against.

Seen a few dogs who were very good at drifting a track. As race was happening they would hit a road and eat up a ton of track and still bay the hog.


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[Aussie Dogger]

Seen a few gyps who would backtrack the first hog we caught and find the rest of the group. Sometimes it felt like they could count. Most those same gyps would leave a bay and be running as soon as they saw us walking in with bulldogs.

Boogie was a proficient track dog. When he would slow down and was working an old track, he would hit every leaf, tree or bar wire the hog might have rubbed up against.

Seen a few dogs who were very good at drifting a track. As race was happening they would hit a road and eat up a ton of track and still bay the hog.


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G'day TShelly and other post's,
Great read, TShelly please excuse my ignorance but what do you mean when you write dogs who werevery good at drifting a track ??

Cheers

[make-em-squeel]

Seen a few gyps who would backtrack the first hog we caught and find the rest of the group. Sometimes it felt like they could count. Most those same gyps would leave a bay and be running as soon as they saw us walking in with bulldogs.

Boogie was a proficient track dog. When he would slow down and was working an old track, he would hit every leaf, tree or bar wire the hog might have rubbed up against.

Seen a few dogs who were very good at drifting a track. As race was happening they would hit a road and eat up a ton of track and still bay the hog.


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G'day TShelly and other post's,
Great read, TShelly please excuse my ignorance but what do you mean when you write dogs who werevery good at drifting a track ??

Cheers

I dont want to speak for TShelly, but the way i took it in analyzing how dogs run tracks, is you have the ones who follow every step "trailing" the hog, then you have the ones who will run the track from one point to another point, if done properly results in running the same track faster.  As a side not its also interesting to watch if a dog stays with the same track no matte what or if they will take off on a hotter track when crossing it on the original one... different styles all work, i generally like all but prefer the one that runs the track faster

[TShelly]

Seen a few gyps who would backtrack the first hog we caught and find the rest of the group. Sometimes it felt like they could count. Most those same gyps would leave a bay and be running as soon as they saw us walking in with bulldogs.

Boogie was a proficient track dog. When he would slow down and was working an old track, he would hit every leaf, tree or bar wire the hog might have rubbed up against.

Seen a few dogs who were very good at drifting a track. As race was happening they would hit a road and eat up a ton of track and still bay the hog.


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G'day TShelly and other post's,
Great read, TShelly please excuse my ignorance but what do you mean when you write dogs who werevery good at drifting a track ??

Cheers

I dont want to speak for TShelly, but the way i took it in analyzing how dogs run tracks, is you have the ones who follow every step "trailing" the hog, then you have the ones who will run the track from one point to another point, if done properly results in running the same track faster.  As a side not its also interesting to watch if a dog stays with the same track no matte what or if they will take off on a hotter track when crossing it on the original one... different styles all work, i generally like all but prefer the one that runs the track faster

Yessir pretty much this. Alot of our dogs like to run a track a lot more than bay. Some will cheat the system, catch a road, eat up a lot of ground and get back on the track way ahead of where they would have been if they stayed step for step.

Running a track they run the scent trail in the air a lot more than the ground scent of that makes sense. Not necessarily head up or head down all the time, just whatever the conditions dictate. Some of those same gyps as stated above seemed like lighting on track bc of their ability to drift.


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[Reuben]

Good post TShelly...

The better dogs work that way...

[Slim9797]

Y’all talk about drifting. The hogs we jack with are straight line runners. They’re gonna got a draw, or a branch, or creekline or something and leave. Not sure how a dog could drift that and it be more productive? I guess maybe if a hog is running circles it could work but  I can count on about one hand how many hogs a year we get on that really change direction more than once and normally when they do it’s cause he’s got some leopard dogs screaming in his ear


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[Goose87]

Y’all talk about drifting. The hogs we jack with are straight line runners. They’re gonna got a draw, or a branch, or creekline or something and leave. Not sure how a dog could drift that and it be more productive? I guess maybe if a hog is running circles it could work but  I can count on about one hand how many hogs a year we get on that really change direction more than once and normally when they do it’s cause he’s got some leopard dogs screaming in his ear


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Have to see it and experience it to understand, it doesn't matter what direction a hog runs in its scent lingers in the air just the same, just the same as any other game animal, a track drifter will outrun a track straddler all day, I believe track drifting has as much to do with instinct and experience as it does genetics, it's usually seen in intelligent game smart dogs that have ran lots of game....

[Reuben]

I have seen a few dog smart hogs that seem to make a quick circle of a quarter mile or so and then roll out and run hard for a good while...I saw him cross the pipeline almost a mile further up running all out and a while later the dogs crossed the pipeline right where the hog crossed...we caught him later but it took more than a few tries...

Here is a scenario that happens...let’s say a pack of 9 hogs moved in to a hardwood area that had a good mast of acorns...the hogs hung out and fed on the acorns most of the night and laid tracks on about ten acres of land pretty much scattered out in those ten acres...the hogs leave to the watering hole about 4 in the morning which is 3/4 mile away...

Joe figures the hogs would be feeding in that area so he comes in as best he can from the downwind side at about 6 am...he casts Smoke and Yeller about quarter mile from there and the dogs roll out hard because they smell hog in the air...these two dogs are top of the line strike dogs and look good in any company...but there is a small difference in these two dogs...Smoke is a decent dog when it comes to drifting and lining out a feeder track...takes him a few minutes but he will get it lined out pretty quick... he’s got experience and has great instincts...

Yeller is a little different in that he was born to be a great dog...he hits the feeding area from the downwind side and he already knows the hogs are not there...no fresh hog scent in the air...he immediately makes a good loop and barks 2 or 3 times when he locates the feeding exit tracks...in less than five minutes Yeller is bayed not too far from the watering hole...Smoke will be there shortly...

[t-dog]

Goose I agree with that. My clyde dog drifted extremely well also. He was average speed in a foot race but could push a track at an all out run that most other dogs had to slow down to run or others would have to keep making losses on because they over ran their nose. He would be bayed so real hundred yards before most dogs. He didn't have to straddle the track to take it. I really think dogs that are real instinctive about hunting into the wind have a strong tendency to drift well. They understand how to use that to their advantage. That's not something you can teach in my opinion.

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[Slim9797]

Y’all talk about drifting. The hogs we jack with are straight line runners. They’re gonna got a draw, or a branch, or creekline or something and leave. Not sure how a dog could drift that and it be more productive? I guess maybe if a hog is running circles it could work but  I can count on about one hand how many hogs a year we get on that really change direction more than once and normally when they do it’s cause he’s got some leopard dogs screaming in his ear


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Have to see it and experience it to understand, it doesn't matter what direction a hog runs in its scent lingers in the air just the same, just the same as any other game animal, a track drifter will outrun a track straddler all day, I believe track drifting has as much to do with instinct and experience as it does genetics, it's usually seen in intelligent game smart dogs that have ran lots of game....

Break it down for me goose, if there is a more effective way to travel in a generally straight direction. I’d sure like to know about it. Wasn’t aware a hog was leaving a lingering scent trail as wide as a four lane highway for a dog to drift in. Sounds like a bunch of big time hog hunter bologna to me, or something you tell your buddies when your best dog can’t keep it pushing. I’ll take the dogs that can pick their head up and push a track 13-15 mile an hour in the post oak thickets and run him jump for jump. A lot of hogs make their last run just like that.


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[Slim9797]

I have seen a few dog smart hogs that seem to make a quick circle of a quarter mile or so and then roll out and run hard for a good while...I saw him cross the pipeline almost a mile further up running all out and a while later the dogs crossed the pipeline right where the hog crossed...we caught him later but it took more than a few tries...

Here is a scenario that happens...let’s say a pack of 9 hogs moved in to a hardwood area that had a good mast of acorns...the hogs hung out and fed on the acorns most of the night and laid tracks on about ten acres of land pretty much scattered out in those ten acres...the hogs leave to the watering hole about 4 in the morning which is 3/4 mile away...

Joe figures the hogs would be feeding in that area so he comes in as best he can from the downwind side at about 6 am...he casts Smoke and Yeller about quarter mile from there and the dogs roll out hard because they smell hog in the air...these two dogs are top of the line strike dogs and look good in any company...but there is a small difference in these two dogs...Smoke is a decent dog when it comes to drifting and lining out a feeder track...takes him a few minutes but he will get it lined out pretty quick... he’s got experience and has great instincts...

Yeller is a little different in that he was born to be a great dog...he hits the feeding area from the downwind side and he already knows the hogs are not there...no fresh hog scent in the air...he immediately makes a good loop and barks 2 or 3 times when he locates the feeding exit tracks...in less than five minutes Yeller is bayed not too far from the watering hole...Smoke will be there shortly...

So drifting is just finding the short end of a track? Any dog with half a walnut in his head and a little want to bay, ought to be able to do this... no?


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