Let’s talk.

[Beebout-it]

Same too you!! Anyone been catching anything?

[Rowdy Fitz]

Not me, just been working and doing family stuff for the past month. I plan to hunt Wednesday night and Thursday night this week.

[Rowdy Fitz]

Been doin some huntin the past couple days. Leaving out at midnight and hunting until it’s too hot. Finally put one up.
I started a YouTube channel for fun and just made the first edited video. I hope to make more. I’m not looking to be Brett or anything. Just trying to get more videos of lion hunting out there since so few of us make them.

https://youtu.be/2GmsErjQCyk

[Beebout-it]

Nice work!! Awesome that it all came together so your daughter could see her first treed lion!!

[lawdawgharris]

Pretty cool video. That little girl of yours is a trooper. Her future husband had better be tough lol.


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[Twopipe]

Nice video!!

[Beebout-it]

I've got to work night shift for just tonight so I took the dogs out all night for some exercise and try our hand trying a few spots i saw some coon tracks in the mountains early spring. Dogs got something going where I had been finding the most tracks along a cottonwood choked creek bottom but after the third time it crossed the road behind me I figured it wasn't a raccoon. Dogs finally treed around 130 am and I walked into the biggest tree ive ever caught anything in. There were a few torn up dogs but nothing serious, way better night than I have coming tonight

[Rowdy Fitz]

Thanks guys! I have a little more video from the day before that I could put together. Rey hiked in to pull a trail camera with me. She had the alpha 100 on and was talking up a storm. About how the dogs are treed and it’s a tiger and a bear and a lion lol.
I hope to make her as tough as a boy but her mother is still going to try to keep her lady like. She likes pretty things and dancing too lol.

Beeaboutit did you ever figure out what it was? A bobcat?

[Beebout-it]

Small bear. In a tree that was probably 10ft across.

[bowieknife50]

We've had a pretty good start to bear training over the past week. My dog caught up to one by himself first time out and got a little banged up but nothing serious. He did come out on that one so I was worried but he's stuck 2 more on the ground so I think he's OK.

Just wanted to share a story from a couple days ago. Hunting by myself and one female in heat so only had my male and one puppy who doesn't know anything. It rained hard the night before so no questioning what tracks were fresh. I had looked a while without finding a bear track so I got trashy and put him on a bobcat track. As many of you know trashy handlers make trashy dogs. He started giving me some trailing barks but the first trail he crossed no track 50 yards in either direction of his. Ok..... Then he started lining out but not barking a lot. Suspicious.... Next trail he was right on top of a running deer track (can I take any solace in that it was a big buck track?).

Well he knows better and I was unhappy so I mashed the button before looking at the screen. Just as I let the button go I look in tone to see the treed indicator go away and he's coming out. What did I just do? Well I have to know so I get in there quick and after some searching around finally find a coon in a tree. The double trash race was a very new thing for me but I regained my composure on the way back to the truck and knew the time was passed for him to associate that with any harsh words, and he did get corrected on it already anyway.

For some reason I had prayed for patience with the dogs early that day and it was a good thing I had. I drove out of there with not much hope for the rest of the day, but lo and behold within 30 min found a bear track. There was scent there but not much so I was doubtful he would stick it after his performance. Dogs are funny though, at least mine, and he couldn't wait to prove me wrong. 3 mile cold trail and almost 1/3 of it was down trails that are straight sand. I only helped him twice, the little bigger was trailing this thing right down the sand. Then a big track joined on top of the first track for a mile or so. Finally we jumped.

He must have snuck up on the thing because he caught and treed it within a mile. He took the smaller bear but very it's just training season. Enter the incompetent handler. Walked my puppy in within 100 yards of the tree and she was really listening so I let her go to cut to him. Well she met something in between and started running away and barking so I toned her to get her back. Except I didn't tone her. I ruined the dog who is very conditioned to the fact that tone means come find me or get juice and who was currently treeing. So here he comes off the tree back to me. When he got there I said go get him and he went back but the bear was already down.

He didn't need any coaching, he was off and running again. The puppy followed him only a couple hundred and came back. In the next couple miles I was able to get her packed twice and twice she couldn't stay on the track. Finally he caught again but bear decided he wasn't going to climb again. So I go running through the swamp with puppy. But again before I get there she wanders off. I'm calling her but then see him on the Garmin coming back to me. I will call him off of bays sometimes so not his fault.

I shut up and he goes back and has to try to catch this bear for the 3rd time now. The bear is now headed where we can't follow so I catch him one road before my last option to catch him. I put the puppy on and she goes by herself about 1/2 mile then gets stuck on a creek and comes back. At that point it's hot and 1pm so I call it a day and we all head to the ranch.

Hopefully if you made it this far you at least enjoyed the story and maybe you can learn from my mistakes. Hopefully at some point I can get this puppy to hang in with a race at some point, if anybody had any tips for one that quits after the first loss all the time I'm all ears. Trying to be very patient as she was not old enough for bears last year and didn't do any winter hunting because I'm trying to make her very straight. Hopefully God keeps my family and business going to the point where we can keep at this dog thing! God bless everyone, stay safe out there, and for goodness sakes double check what you're doing on your Garmin before you correct a dog.

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[Beebout-it]

Is it possible he wasn't chasing the deer at all? Maybe was running the coon and you just happened to see a hot deer track instead of the smaller coon track? But if u consider coon trash doesn't matter. I'm no coon hunter but I catch a few and cage trap some for the pups. Last winter or early spring my may dogg slipped off a bobcat track that we turned out on walking out of a treed lion, and treed another lion on the river 20 yards off the highway. I put her up and put 4 of her year old pups on the tree and jumped it out. Lion crossed the river onto dry south face , them pups was dead in her ass and when they hit the other bank they took a hard left up river and went 200 yards and showed treed. We drove around to a bridge just above them and when I got within sight they were stretching a big boar coon! I was absolutely speechless they had maybe seen 1 coon before that and I just couldn't believe they would leave that jumped lion. We got the old dogs out and that lion covered about 2 miles crossed the river and highway again but they caught her 100 yards off another road. I was a little pissed at them pups but my buddy looks at me and says, how can u be mad we caught 2 lions and a coon and can still make it to breakfast. I never shock my dogs unless I'm 100 percent sure what they are up to.

[bowieknife50]

It's possible but I'd say it's pretty low odds that he just happened to cross that trail on top of a very fresh running deer track. Coons are trash for us because we can run off baits during kill season. So it worked out but it definitely makes me even more leary of that button.

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[Renagade Curs]

Good to see other that gave Facebook the finger so to speak been almost 2 years since I had it. I haven't hunted much in the last couple years, having trouble with bad Arthritis and I'm only 41 . Missouri Department of Conservation has pretty well ruined hog hunting in Missouri the illegal to hunt hog any public land in Missouri and where i live in Missouri it's the majority public land we have a few big farms let us hunt we hunt them when the hogs are there. Which is hit or miss and most of time the dogs end up on public ground bordering the farms. I've kinda gave up on it and it was my passion. I've been squirrel hunting some of my curs that tree we haven't had very many squirrels to hunt for whatever reason they seemed to have migrated or died off. Occasionally my dogs tree a bobcat or a daytime coon but like I said it's been a struggle the last couple years especially for me hunting.
I started out as a kid my dad had rabbit beagles and a few deerdogs. My grandpa on his side had coyote hounds (running walkers) my dad had a squirrel dog when was really young. Had neighbors just across the river that were coon hunters they had treeing walkers and plotts. Lots of my dad and grandpas friends had treedogs and beagles or running hounds and treedogs. My dad got killed in a car wreck going to work when I was about 12 I got my first running hound pup from his first cousin that next summer after my dad died. My dad always ran coyote hounds with my grandpa and his cousin a lot even tho he didn't own any.
I got more into treedogs in highschool lots of my classmates had coonhounds I had some decent pleasure dogs. I still had running hounds and beagles. I started and made my first decent squirrel dog when I was in highschool. I was into running hound field trials went to them all over Missouri and even to other states all through highschool.
My grandpa on my mom’s side kept a pair of deer beagles usually. He grew up around Boss, MO his dad had range hogs. His dad and him and his older brother work them in the spring and fall camp out a couple weeks or more at a time with a wagon and team of mules and used dogs. They had hounds & shepherds & crosses between the 2. I grew up listening to his stories.
I went hog hunting for the first time in December of 99 we didn't have dogs just tried to do a push or drive whatever you want to call it with pushers and standers. We managed to jump some hogs and one guy managed to kill a sow. I knew no one in our area that had hogdogs and there was very few hogs in Missouri at that time. I started trying to get out of running hounds and into hogdogs about 2003 had my first decent set of hogdogs about 2007 mixed bag of tree bred hounds and some curs and one half heeler half Australian Shepherd we caught several bobcats with the same dogs. That half heeler was a decent coon and squirrel dog also and I had a half beagle half treeing walker to at that time that was a really good treedog. Still at that time very few people were hog hunting dogs in Missouri but the hog population was picking up.
I met a guy that wasn't originally from Missouri he gave me a Black Mouth Cur pup I ended up hunting with him some and got some more Black Mouth Curs from people he knew of. I tried a little bit of everything basically anything that would bark at a hog but in the end I ended up sticking with the Black Mouth Curs.
Now I don't have near as many dogs as i use to and I haven't raised any pups at all in 3 years. I'm going to try to tree some bobcats more consistently this fall and winter is my plan but it's depending on my Arthritis issues we've had extremely rainy wet winters the last 3 years it's not been good for my health...

[lawdawgharris]

Renagade that’s a pretty good story. I hate to hear about your dad’s accident. Sounds like he was a good man and you are definitely your fathers son. The hog hunting is just infectious to me. I’ve hunted other game with dogs and enjoyed it, but none of it is hog hunting. I think because there just so many parts to hog hunting. I love to watch my dogs work. Many say how are you watching them if you can’t see or hear them. One, I know where they left towards and where they are at now. The tracking system tells me all that. My dogs will usually leave out the same general direction but will split up normally and be several hundred yards apart hunting. I love that because they cover more ground and it allows me to find hogs quicker. As soon as one locates the others honor. Some hogs set up and take a bay well. Others are up and on the run before that first dog finishes it’s first locate bark. Sometimes it’s a solo hog and sometimes it’s a group of 2 to 50 or so hogs. Watching dogs work in the brush or watching them in open woods or the water or an open pasture, it all is a little different because the dogs understand the difference and know what their limitations are in the different types of terrain. The hogs understand the same thing and that also is fun to see. I love to see smart dogs manipulate hogs and outsmart them. Like my gyp and her litter mates that other people have, they can be baying in a BAD thicket of briars and if the hog breaks they will come out and sprint around that thicket. If the hog leaves out the other side of it they are right on its butt and putting pressure on it to stop again. If it doesn’t come out they are immediately in there digging it out again. It’s really neat to watch and it works more times than it doesn’t. I LOVE to see a hog try and leave a set of woods for another set of woods but gets sucked up in the open ground by the bay dog(s) and them spinning it so fast and hard that it gets dizzy or so winded that it can’t hardly stand. I watched a boar about 300 pounds get caught in that very predicament. The dogs were taking turns diving in like chicken hawks and hitting him in the hams and family jewels trying to make him stop. We went about 700 yards wind milling every step. He would get tired and dizzy about every 75 yards and stop to catch his wind and his bearings. When he would stop they would circle and bay him. I guess he just felt too vulnerable in the open and kept pressing to get to the next set of woods. He was so tired that he stopped about 15 feet inside the wood line and we caught him. He was breathing so hard and drooling that it made us laugh. Everyone has their preferred style of dog and I’m no different. I’ve been raising the same dogs for 25+ years. The dogs and I have both had to evolve as the hogs have evolved as well. I’m closer now than I’ve ever been to having my dogs like I want them. They won’t ever be perfect and that in itself gives me a goal to shoot for. I have a young male dog, about 15 months old, that is probably my favorite dog I’ve ever raised. His whole litter is super consistent in type, style, and ability. Everyone that has one of them absolutely loves them and says in a year they will be their lead dogs. Some of those folks have some really nice dogs already. They are scattered from Texas to Georgia and doing well in every different terrain and style of hunting. It makes me proud to say the least. It may well come to me hunting coons or squirrels too before long. I live in a small town and for several reasons. I am a dinosaur though and my way of life and my small home town is soon to be no more. The crazies from the big cities are moving out of the cities to get away from the crazier crazies. It doesn’t matter if they are native Texans or out of state city folk, 95% of them want to move away from someTHING and then turn wherever they move to into the same someTHING they were trying to get away from. Country life will soon be nonexistent and it breaks my heart. I hunt with life long friends, my sons, and my nephew. I’ve made countless friends that have become family through my dogs and hunting. I’ve always known my days were numbered as I have some serious health issues myself. It is what it is and I just try to roll with the punches. We all have hurdles in life it’s just how we deal with them. I will keep keeping on as long as I can because it’s who I am and the example I want my kids and nieces and nephews to see. I hope that I can keep hog hunting for the rest of my days but I fear my boys and my nephew won’t get to. Dogs are a blessing, good family and friends are a blessing and they are possible because of our great Lord.


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[Renagade Curs]

Thank you Lawdawgharris, Our country in general is going to crap it's not just Texas, Rome is burning around us so to speak. Afraid we are in for some very bad times but that's neither here nor there.
The reason I got out of running hounds was because I was taught to hunt in the old way in the wild I never could make the transfer to the fox pen hound running. By the old way, you got done hunting you gathered what you could dog wise then came home. The hounds would either come home or be laying where you turned them loose that evening or the next morning. A hound that didn't home or return to cast or was bad to lay out running for days, or house up at someone else's house wasn't tolerated.
My grandpa and dad both when I was real little we went where the hounds went be it by highway, county road or through farmers ground using the old saying leave the gates like you found them. They knew everybody and had permission everywhere as did most fox/coyote hunters or coon hunters in our area that were respectful and respected did. Not long before my dad died farmers started locking gates they had keys or the farmers had them put their own locks on the gates beside their locks. My grandpa and dad both had huge keyrings full of gate keys to gates that didn't belong to them. As time went on more outsiders moved in or people's kids that had moved away to the city and then moved home to get away from the city but brought the city attitude home with them didn't want you or your dogs on their patch of dirt. Then people started shooting hounds a lot of that came with the commercialization of deer hunting to. But anyway I got out of running hounds because of it.
I've made countless friends some lifelong because of hunting dogs people in different states all over the country. I live just outside a town of 500 people I'm not originally from here but it's a good hunting dog friendly area compared to other places and where I'm originally from which is about 50 miles away. Same as you said people are pouring in here to Missouri and especially here in the Ozarks for the same reason as you said above to get away from whatever it is they're wanting to get away from.
Hog hunting is unique as far as dog hunting goes there's no style of dog that's wrong as long as it suits your own style or way of hunting. Hog hunters are probably the worst to bicker and argue about what style or type or breed is the best. When in all reality as long as you catch hogs, you yourself and your dogs are doing it the right way. As far as that goes I've known a lot of hunters that didn't want to catch a hog at they ran dogs that were fully open and wouldn't catch a piglet. They liked to hear the race and would get ahead of the dogs and wait on crossings and shoot hogs hunting in the national forest or other public land here.
Even hunting Curs I prefer or preferred semi open dogs still do. It goes back to starting out with hounds I guess I like to hear somewhat of a race when the hog or hogs is running. It's not something I had to have in a dog just my preference, 2 of my 3 hogdogs I have left are silent on track won't bark unless a hogs stopped and turned looking at them. I always liked a big rally best and watching the dogs work to keep them balled up was my favorite thing watch didn't even have to catch a hog out of the rally to be satisfied. Second best will always be catching big rank boar hogs in my opinion.
Whatever your doing whether is hog hunting or squirrel hunting a dog it's better than no dog hunting at all in my opinion! I use to hunt a lot off mules or horseback but I sold my 2 good mules 3 years ago I still have one left but I had just started breaking her when my Arthritis took over now she's a field ornament and I ride a Kawasaki Mule!
Hope you're able to keep working dogs until you leave this earth Good Luck and God Bless...