Hog hunt near Mexico

[longshot]

I was invited to a large ranch by Bracketville,TX near Mexico by one of my best friends and his father.


The only way I know how to describe is WICKED!!! It has some terrain like the Hill Country but thick brush like S.Texas to include Blackbrush, catclaw, tasahia, purple sage, catus pear, percimmon, agarita and countless other things with thorns!


we set out at daylight of 1st morning and hadnt roaded the dogs 50yards before my Jagd Kat struck the first hog. It was a 15lb shoat the 3 baydogs caught about 20yards into the brush. I walked past it trying to get them to roll out. I GOT LOST it took me 30min of crawling and busting brush to find the mule! When I got back no one had seen or heard of the dogs. Tracked to them and found them caught on another shoat over 1mile away down the main canyon and up another side canyon.

Here is the main road we went down to find them(here it was in a dry creek bed):


It was begining to heat up and we wanted to check one more spot so after watering the dogs at a windmill we drove to another spot. Before we could make it to the top of a hill Ginger winded and bailed out. I was stuck in the incline so I had to keep going. When we reached the top she was bayed back at the bottom on the opposing wall at the foot of a canyon:


Kat and Poco shot to her and they all bayed but before we could slide back down the hill the bay broke and went in ALL directions. Kat went UP the canyon and was bayed near the top:


Poco went to the neighbors property and was bayed far to the east and Ginger was bayed back down the main road MILES AWAY:


It took over an hour to find then and got everyone back with no bad cuts but emptyhanded[:(]

Went back to the camphouse to call it a day. After uncollaring the dogs I realized Ginger Left out and we heard her almost a quarter mile away bayed again. I sent Kat and Poco and heard a sqeal but never found it before they came back(unconfirmed shoat kill.

Morning 2:
At daylight we were loading dogs in the mule to head out when I noticed Poco was missing. After trying to track him we heard his houndy bark echo maybe a 1\2 mile or more way. We tried to track again but his bay broke and his tacking collar wasnt working. We spent a hour trying to find him but with all the canyons and hearing no bay it was impossable. I hoped he was heading back to the house so we went to make a hunt w|o him.

With only 2 bay dogs we went to the spot and walked them up a canyon. about 100yards in Kat struck and her and Ginger had a group bayed accross a rocky creek bed. I released the catch dogs but heard the bay break as the catch dogs hit the brush like linebackers. Hogs and dogs went in every direction. Out of that we finaly got a 90-100lb barr hog. No pics due to forgetting the camera when Poco struck before I was entirly ready. Hog was barred and notched in a trap and released 4 mo prior and only weighed 15lbs then!

Went back to camp and NO poco. We drove to the last spot we heard him and he came off a mesa to us covered in hog blood and uninjured. I guess he has been working on another pack of shoats(more unconfirmed kills).

We were traveling to the last spot to try of the day when at the mouth of the same canyon from the day before Ginger winds and bails out the Mule. I stopped and casted kat with her. We parked and after 15min of hard working the dogs turned up a hog and both bayed solid. Turned out the catch dogs and caught a nice sow in the 100lb range. She was in the brush layed up in a persimmon thicket that required us to belly crawl nearly 40yards to make it to the catch.
Here is the rewards from her:


This is the water trick we learned for anyone that hunts off a Kawasaki Mule(tailgate can be a water trough):


After that it was almost noon and I did a bit of site seeing before having to leave and return to work.

Results
4 confirmed pigs, ???? unconfirmed pigs, 5 exhausted dogs

here is a few pics of scenery:


This place is wild and has lots of vegation from several regions, here is Catclaw:


windmill where we watered dogs:


Longshot

[Josh Kunde]

great sory, thanks for shareing.
Josh

[treeing walkers]

looks like some nasty country. from a distance looks great but up close it looks nasty.

[DWD58]

Good story, great looking country!

[Farmhand]