Hunts I remember. Al Baldwin.

[al baldwin]

This was an uneventful hunt but one will always remember, can/t recall what we were hunting for, but , recall Tom Barnette and I had a very long walk that day. Recall we were on foot and had lost track of Tom/s dogs, we hiked to the top of a ridge that divided yellow creek drainage & Myrtle Creek drainage. We could hear some dogs treed and sounded like they were in the bottom of a deep canyon on the Myrtle creek side. That is one rough steep area, we soon discovered there was only two dogs at that tree. Tom/s spot dog and his littermate brother split. We also found they had a large, very reddish boar bear treed. Tom rolled the bear out of that tree and to our surprise the bear had a front foot missing. The bear had a nice smooth pad like that had formed over his wrist joint, it was such a smooth looking growth, look like his foot had been sawed off years ago. Well, we admired the bear a bit. He was a very fat healthy looking critter with good teeth. With a long up hill walk ahead of us we went searching for the rest of the dogs. That/s the way things were in those days tom said catch them, take no pictures and forget. Leaving such a bear could have meant no more hunting on that land, Bear were predators, open season year round, no bag limit, no tag required. Then years later some of the houndsmen decided bear should be protected and I believe in 94 measure 18 was passed by a vote of the people making it illegal to run bear and cougar with hounds, unless you were an agent of a land owner or government. True story as I remember it. Today there is several roads in that woods, but none that day.

[lawdawgharris]

Al that must’ve been the good Lord giving y’all some exercise lol. I remember a hunt that my oldest son and I made with another hunting buddy that was old enough to be my grandpa. My boy was only 4 or 5 yr old at the time. We were hunting some crop land that hadn’t been planted yet because it had been raining so much, black land soil at that. There’s an old saying in these parts that goes “ if you stick with it while it’s dry, it’ll stick with you when it’s wet!” Never have truer words been spoken. We caught some hogs but the dogs ended up bayed a mile inside the neighboring place called Little River Ranch. My buddy called the ranch manager and told him but the guy said nobody was around to unlock the gates for us, but we were welcomed to cross the fence and walk it. Well my buddy wasn’t able to walk it. He had a bad back from the Korean War. So, me and my boy grabbed a couple of leashes and a 30/30 and lit out. About 1/4 of the way my boy started falling way behind. That black mud balled up on his feet was weighting him down. He never complained once but I felt bad for him and at the pace he was going we were never going to get to the dogs. I was sure hoping and praying that those dogs didn’t move any further away. I put my boy on my shoulders and carried on. We got there and got the hog and caught the dogs and then headed back. It has started to rain in the meantime. So here I am carrying my boy on my shoulders, a 30/30, leading 3 dogs, with huge black land mud balls on my feet. We got a couple hundred yards from the fence and told my boy he was going to have to walk the rest of it. I was give out from packing all the extra weight, the mud balls on my feet, and the the plowed ground. Needless to say I didn’t have any trouble sleeping that night.


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[al baldwin]

Sounds like hog hunting can be a real challenge, also dangerous. Good to hear you had that 30-30 that time. Winchester 30-30 lever action best brush gun ever for hunting bear with dogs in this terrain, 30-30 also served as walking stick when climbing these steep mountains. Al

[lawdawgharris]

I agree, I think it’s the best brush gun too. Most of our country is flatter. We have some hills here and there but not like y’all. Our climbs are usually climbing up steep river and creek banks.


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[al baldwin]

Thinking cat hunt took place about 2010, Tom Hawkins arrived at my place on a cold frosty morning, between us we had about ten hounds. After about a 30 minute drive we dumped all ten of those dogs on a frozen logging road. Short time later couple young dogs found a red hot track, bunch dogs rushed to join them, all of a sudden the TJ dog was trying to get under Tom/s pickup. All dogs were wired and we jumped on the button and several dogs came screaming back to the rig. Lots of coyote sign so we decide TJ had saved us from a trash race. Short time later dogs found a track that we were sure was bobcat, with the frozen ground that cat had fed all over and out several side roads. The dogs were charging around excited and opening trying to find the exit track. The dogs went down a side road and were racing back to the main road. A young registered walker male of mine found a place the others had missed and was opening excited, Tom/s old hawk dog was quick to join him and the race was on, old hawk also a registered treeing walker, bred by Bob Marosock, was chop mouth dog, that chopped about every breath on a running track and was telling the others, boys i have found him. We listened to a screaming race that ran in circles for about ten minutes then the race headed into a road less area and soon dogs were out of hearing. We drove on out to the very end of a side road and Tom kept trac of the dog location on his Garmin. Tom said they are down in beaver creek and at times have got fairly close to the Powers Hwy. Dog getting near a Hwy. gets Tom in a real panic, but then the dogs had came back away from Hwy. and the Garmin said they were treed. If we chose to go in the direction they were treed from our location we were in for a long walk and we could not hear the dogs. We chose to drive about io miles back to Powers and another 10 or so down the Powers Hwy, to the Hayes Ranch where beaver creek inter the south fork of the coquille river. The Garmin told Tom we needed to drive a couple more miles down the Hwy. Tom said they are treed just off a road mile up country from us. I knew the people who were living in a mobile home, very near a locked gate on a private road that should take us to those dogs. The lady said no I don/t have a key to the gate, but you can park your rig and walk the road to those dogs. We had walked a half mile or so when heard the dogs treed, another half mile or so we found all the dogs and a very nice tom bobcat in a tall fir tree. I know Tom took a picture of me holding that cat. Without the help of my good friend Tom Hawkins I would not have been able to hound hunt very much the last 15 years or so because health reasons .Past season I gave it up. Thank you Tom Hawkins. True story as i remember it. Yes Tom owned old hawk and young hawk, both long gone.

[lawdawgharris]

Al that strikes a real cord with me. I lost one of the best friends a person can have last year. He was almost old enough to be my grandfather at 86 yrs old. He lived in Florida, I live in Texas and I promise you I could’ve called him anytime day or not for any kind of help and he would’ve been on his way before we hung up the phone. We met through hog hunting and shared a real passion for it. He hadn’t hunted in 2-3 years because different health issues. He had covid, shingles, an injured back, and got burned bad when he when he lost his balance and fell in a hole where he was burning boxes from unpacking all their belongings because they had just got to move back into their home because of a grease fire. A mutual friend out there brought him out to visit and I got to take him hunting a couple of times. Fortunately, I have a couple of spots that I could ride him up real close to the bays. I told him that if it was very far to the dogs, he and I could sit on the buggy and listen while we watched on the Garmin too. He got to see the dogs shut a boar hog down in a creek bed and watch them bay and then the catch dog catch. You couldn’t have put a bigger smile on his face. It was a great visit! Two weeks later he passed. The picture on his obituary was of him while he was here. His wife said she hadn’t seen him smile like that in years. It will forever be one of my favorite memories one of my greatest honors. I glad you have a friend like Tom.


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[al baldwin]

Lawdawg, that/s a great story. I had a internet friend in Mississippi, we also visited on the phone regular, He wanted to make a trip to Oregon very bad, unfortunate he passed away and never made it out. I sure miss visiting with him. Bless you for helping your friend hunt hogs with you. You know I never realized hog hunting was as interesting as you write about it. Al

[al baldwin]

Lawdawg, that/s a great story. I had a internet friend in Mississippi, we also visited on the phone regular, He wanted to make a trip to Oregon very bad, unfortunate he passed away and never made it out. I sure miss visiting with him. Bless you for helping your friend hunt hogs with you. You know I never realized hog hunting was as interesting as you write about it. Al

[al baldwin]

Years prior to this hunt I sold a male pup out of my Skinner male and a female owned by a good hunter who lived about 70 miles from me. That female was part trigg & treeing walker, her treeing came from Bob Marosock on her sire side, Gary Washburn on the breeding on the female. Hope I remember that correct. Anyway way she was a very good female, she, her Dame and aunt were real good pack and caught lots of bobcat. The man who bought that male pup, lives in central Oregon. Very good houndman and just a great guy. That pup made one of the best dogs he had ever seen or owned. He sure caught bobcat, however he only hunted bobcat in the snow, had never seen anyone catch bobcat on bare ground. Received a phone call from him and he wanted to come spend the weekend and watch hounds hunt bobcat on bare ground. Tom Hawkins had been having some luck catching bobcat and I hoped we would have a good hunt. Tom at the time had a veteran pack. Bo, Maggie. TJ & Buddy were is main dogs& between he and I were took about 10 dogs on this hunt. We cast those ten dogs ahead of the rig and had covered about a mile of road when those dogs hit a very good track, After about a half hour of a race that sounded like they were looking at a critter most of the time, those dogs were bayed up at a brush pile. All three of us made our way to those dogs, we don/t bay very many bobcat in brush piles & this was not a very big brush pile. However, we arrived at the brush pile & a young male of mine called ruff, a son of Buddy rammed his head into that brush pile and came out with a bobcat hanging onto his head. That ended in a hurry with 10 dog there. We continued to road those 10 dogs, guess I wanted to show our guest we trusted those dogs to start bobcat on bare ground. I think about noon dogs started a cold track, for some unknow reason, that pack got separated, Buddy ang six others took a track one direct. Bo, Maggie & TJ took a track in the opposite direct. Long story short, we later found Bo Maggie and TJ with a bobcat treed and had a long walk into that tree. We arrived back at the rig and discovered all seven of the dogs whom I guess had taken the back end of the cat that Bo, Maggie & TJ treed were at the rig. I know that hunt was about 7 years ago, because ruff turned 8 years old this past august and was about a year old when he pulled that cat out of the brush pile. Ruff was doing real good however about four year ago he came up with a rare foot problem and now just lays around being the wife/s baby.. He was never the bobcat dog I hoped, but was an excellent road, box & average tree dog with a very cold nose. Helped Tom and I catch bobcats by starting bobcats the rest of the pack would have passed over. True story as I remember it.

[lawdawgharris]

Sounds like y’all showed him it could be done. You should’ve been proud.

Al, hog hunting isn’t about the numbers caught to me as much as it is watching dogs work the way I think they should. I love how easy they make it look in locating them at times and I love watching them having to grub them out at other times. I love to see how fast and hard they can drive a track. I love watching them outsmart a hog that thinks he’s smart. For example they get bayed 10-20 feet inside a briar thicket and the hog decides to make a break deeper into and try and get out the other side to make a mad dash for the hills. Only the dogs are smart enough not to follow and come out and dash around the outside of the thicket to either pick up his out trail or even see him coming out and turn him out in the wide open. If he didn’t come out then they go back in and relocate him. They were smart enough to know they can’t get through the briars like the hog plus they have to be smart enough not to run into an ambush in there. I love to see dogs work a hog. It’s awesome to walk up to the bay and an old boar is literally sitting because he is trying to protect his back end, watch them have to back up to something to protect it because a dog from somewhere is going to pull his back end out from under him. I love to see when a hog breaks just how hard my dogs are trying to catch up to it and turn it. It makes me proud to bay a running hog that is literally wobbly when you get there because the dogs pushed it so hard. I love to watch a good dog(s) work. That’s what it’s all about to me.


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[macedonia mule man]

Al, i think your friend from Mississippi came to my camp and hunted a few days for several years. He mentioned you several times and i believe he bought a pup out of your area or maby from you. Tree dog- leopard mix.

[al baldwin]

Yes Lawdawg I have much better understanding of hog hunting and realize your passion for watching your hog dogs work after reading your stories. Yes, Muleman John ask me to find him a pup from someone in Oregon I thought had a chance of making a bobcat dog. Actually tried to discourage him, telling him there was most likely good dogs closer to him and these Oregon litters were like all others, some made it and some did not. However I recommended a couple hunters in Oregon, he contacted them, but, had no luck getting a pup from those hunters. Later, a man who I had sold a good started dog to named Chris Bugger. Chris had finished that male out to a nice bobcat dog named Buck. Buck was from a cross of my skinner hound and a female named candy. Candy had a proven line of cat dogs behind her, from some of the best hunters in Oregon and Washington. Chris had knew Buck was getting some age on him and wanted a litter from from him. Chose a female from a hunter I knew kept good dogs, so I told Mississippi John to contact him. John did so and Chris gave him a pup. Don/t think that pup turned out for John. Then John ask me to find him a finished bobcat dog from Oregon that would not break the bank. I told him i knew of a bobcat dog for sale, i had never hunted with the dog, but, knew the owner was a true bobcat hunter and he spoke highly of that redbone he was selling. John contacted that man and bought himself a Oregon bobcat dog. John liked and said that redbone was worth what he paid for him, but never caught bobcat in Mississippi like he had in Oregon. That redbone did tree a few fox for John and gave him a good dependable start and tree dog. When I speaking of dogs I have sold, the pup I sold to the hunter in central Oregon was 150 dollars and I told the man if pup did not turn out to suit him i would refund his money. The buck dog I sold to Chris Bugger was about 18 months old all Chris needed to do was get him treeing, Chris certainly did that and was pleased with buck kept him until he passed. I had told Chris 750 dollars for Buck, but he gave me 800 dollars for him. It was more about placing buck in good hand where he received excellent care than the money. Buck was one lucky dog, spent lot of time indoors sleeping by the wood stove. Believe have been spelling Bob Marosock last name wrong, he was the man he made Nance/s little topper famous. Give him credit because hunted with some good dogs that he sent out to Oregon as pups. They were much better track dogs than I had thought they would be. Al

[macedonia mule man]

Al, i hunted with the pup that didnt turn out. She seemed to nevermature,just stayed ahappy go lucky puppy. Never saw the red dog.

[al baldwin]

Yes muleman that is what John told me about that female. Back to the Ruff dog, his foot problem is a rare thing indeed. Ruff was as hard a hunting young dog as I ever seen, Tom & I were using him to start bobcat at at very young age, seemed on days when a track was hard to come by ruff could find us one and sometimes we could at least get the dogs some work. He had what appeared to be very tough feet, lots hair between the toes, up on his toes good. Tom & I thought he was going to be a dandy. At about four he developed a very hard toe on one hind foot that was causing him discomfort. He was my main dog, took him to a good vet who said need to remove that toe he will be as good as new. Toe removed, recovery time allowed and it looked as the vet had made a good decision. But, then that hardness returned in a different toe on the same hind foot, on my way back to the vet who removed that toe, stopped at a feed store. The young lady working in that store was one term away from being a vet, and her family were long time hound folks. In our visit she ask to look at the toe, she told me what ruff has is a very rare condition that will eventually spread to his other toes. All you can do his try different rubs to soften his feet, sold me a salve like product that was 97% zinc. Said rub that in 3 times daily, may or may not work. I followed her directions and thought boy she was correct this stuff really works. But it was soon stop working, tried numerous other rubs. But soon ruff/s front and hind foot on his left side, toes became so hard he could barely walk. The toes and feet on his right side are not affected by this rare condition. His toes on left side will become so hard, then they will peel and the process starts all over again. I contacted one other vet who told me the feed store lady was correct, best to just save my money apply bag balm and let ruff be a pet. Have you or any others who read this even experienced this rare problem with a dog. Al

[macedonia mule man]

Never saw that toe problem but i had a male dog that came down with the rubber jaw desease that is normally in cattle. I came in from a hunt one day and when i unloaded, i noticed his bottom jaw hanging open with tounge hanging out. He a cted as if nothing was wrong. I could take his bottom jaw and move any direction i wanted. It had deteriated some how from what ever controls the bottom jaw. No cure. I had bred him before this showed up so i talked to the vet about pups. He said all dogs carry just about all desieses now because the gene pool was shrinking pretty fast. Sure enough i had to put 3 of his pups down when they were 2 yrs old.