bigworm
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- Apr 3, 2007
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Yesterday I got home from work like normal. I lite a fire and was in the back yard cleaning dog pens. The neighbor (Flatbroke), was yelling over the fence, when we going to run the dogs? My wife and kids were hanging out, so I said I don't know. After hunting all weekend, the weekend before, I had no plans to hunt. Just then my phone rang. My buddy Chris called and said he was going hunting, asked if I wanted to go. He lives and works on about 35,000 acres. It's always tough to pass, but I told him no, but that Flatbroke was ready to go. So it was set, they were going. Next thing I know, my daughter leaves to a friends, my wife is going shopping, and my son and I are loading dogs in Flatbroke's truck. After getting Flatbrokes dogs, we were under way.We arrived at Chris' in time to make a short hunt. Chris' son, joined us since he is the same age as my son.
We started out right away. Every 10 minutes we rotated dogs. This allowed us to cover a lot of ground, and keep the dogs fresh. We had covered a lot of ground, but no hogs or fresh sign. At this point we were just about out of time. We decided to make some time through a portion of the ranch we did not want to hunt. With all the dogs loaded up we headed out. 10 minutes later we crested a ridge, this put us close to the canyon we were going to take back to the house. At that moment Chris said he thought he saw something in the brush. We put 3 dogs out, they wasted no time heading into the brush. The wind was in our favor, and the dogs lined out in that direction. It dropped down in a huge nasty canyon. It was about 1 mile to the bottom, and we were on the closest road. With in seconds dogs were baying. We dropped the tailgate and sent 4 more dogs. Again it was only seconds until the other dogs got there. For a moment you could hear tons of barking. It sounded like all hell braking loose. Then there was a second of silence, followed by very loud grunting. I was suprised that they were that close. The hog either wanted to fight, or the dogs put the brakes on. Either way at this point the dogs had committed to catching this hog. We were sprinting to the fight. If it was a rank boar the dogs can get in big trouble when they catch, and we did not have a catch dog on this hunt. By the time we were 100 feet away, we were all saying big boar. You could not see anything, the hill was too steep, and the brush too thick. But he smelled like you were standing right next to him. We had to go in sliding down on hands and knees. The boar was spinning and fighting. The dogs were pulling down hill on him. 2 dogs were catching on the sides as well. When the time was right, Chris and I went to grab the back legs. I couldn't believe how big around his legs were. It seemed as if your hand could only reach half way around. Flatebroke, Chris, and I got the hog under control. Flatbroke became photographer, and Isreal brought the boys in. We keep them back at a safe distance, until all is under control.
After we finished the hog, we began the chore of getting the hog and dogs back to the truck. The boys help out by leading dogs, and finding trails. As always it is a great experience. We you get to share that with young kids, it just tops the cake. You can harvest hogs in many ways, but going in on a boar, face to face, and grabbing him takes the cake for me. He is completely intact, and at any moment can throw a dog, spin, and put you in your place. When he sees you he will come to get you, dogs or not.
This boar has a little over 3" on both sides. He looked good from head to toe. Nice coat, long snout, and heavy. Not bad for a last minute hunt. The boys had a blast. Flatbroke will post some photos, I didn't have a camera.
We started out right away. Every 10 minutes we rotated dogs. This allowed us to cover a lot of ground, and keep the dogs fresh. We had covered a lot of ground, but no hogs or fresh sign. At this point we were just about out of time. We decided to make some time through a portion of the ranch we did not want to hunt. With all the dogs loaded up we headed out. 10 minutes later we crested a ridge, this put us close to the canyon we were going to take back to the house. At that moment Chris said he thought he saw something in the brush. We put 3 dogs out, they wasted no time heading into the brush. The wind was in our favor, and the dogs lined out in that direction. It dropped down in a huge nasty canyon. It was about 1 mile to the bottom, and we were on the closest road. With in seconds dogs were baying. We dropped the tailgate and sent 4 more dogs. Again it was only seconds until the other dogs got there. For a moment you could hear tons of barking. It sounded like all hell braking loose. Then there was a second of silence, followed by very loud grunting. I was suprised that they were that close. The hog either wanted to fight, or the dogs put the brakes on. Either way at this point the dogs had committed to catching this hog. We were sprinting to the fight. If it was a rank boar the dogs can get in big trouble when they catch, and we did not have a catch dog on this hunt. By the time we were 100 feet away, we were all saying big boar. You could not see anything, the hill was too steep, and the brush too thick. But he smelled like you were standing right next to him. We had to go in sliding down on hands and knees. The boar was spinning and fighting. The dogs were pulling down hill on him. 2 dogs were catching on the sides as well. When the time was right, Chris and I went to grab the back legs. I couldn't believe how big around his legs were. It seemed as if your hand could only reach half way around. Flatebroke, Chris, and I got the hog under control. Flatbroke became photographer, and Isreal brought the boys in. We keep them back at a safe distance, until all is under control.
After we finished the hog, we began the chore of getting the hog and dogs back to the truck. The boys help out by leading dogs, and finding trails. As always it is a great experience. We you get to share that with young kids, it just tops the cake. You can harvest hogs in many ways, but going in on a boar, face to face, and grabbing him takes the cake for me. He is completely intact, and at any moment can throw a dog, spin, and put you in your place. When he sees you he will come to get you, dogs or not.
This boar has a little over 3" on both sides. He looked good from head to toe. Nice coat, long snout, and heavy. Not bad for a last minute hunt. The boys had a blast. Flatbroke will post some photos, I didn't have a camera.
