Hello Shelia, First, before I get started-This is a absolutely Great Question… Thanks for asking. Now, with that said, I hope I am able to answer it…. Ha ha Your question is "How do I get my husband to hog hunt with me?" with you being a woman… Well, Shelia, if you have read any of my answers I've written or articles I have written over the years, there's one thing I've always tried to do-and that is write my experiences. Your question, proposes a problem for me. And the problem is how to get a HUSBAND to hunt with the WIFE. So, here goes- Ive never had a problem getting a husband to hunt with me since I'm not a woman :-) But, I as a man have had problems getting A wife or girlfriends to hunt with ME. With that said, I have to add the following-at this time, I don't have that problem. I have been remarried for about 3 years to a bank executive vice president, who is from Palm Beach, Florida. If you are aware of that town, you might know that it is probably one of the most exclusive towns in the United States for the most wealthy people in the country. Before you think she's rich, she's not and wasn't. But she was a 100% pure executive business woman with the highest of class people there are probably in the United States and has to wear a suit to work every single day. With that said, when a hogs bayed up, shes right behind me going thru the mud and the briars and grabbing a leg to help me throw the hog down. And if the truth be known, about 75% of the time when I do go hog hunting, its HER IDEA to go. How did that happen? I don't have a clue other than she loves it also. We also have a offshore fishing boat. It was her idea to buy the boat, and shes my #1 deckhand. Above all, she's my best friend and likes to do the things I do. I had decided that if I ever got married again (13 yrs being single) that the woman (my mate) would like to hunt and go fishing with me. And I simply lucked out and God placed Susan in my life. Thank you Lord. But before Susan came along, I had other girl friends and a wife from 13 yrs before that didn't. Most of them at least tried to go or would ride in the truck. But didn't like the woods. There were either to many spider webs, to much mud, to hot, to long a hunt, mosquitos were to bad etc… So the bottom line was they decided to simply stay at home. I figure intern, I personally need to do what my wife likes to do and in tern she will like to do what I like to do.. Now, that's not your problem. Your problem is your spouse doesn't like to go with you when you take the dogs. Lord knows, I don't want you to trade him in on another one :-) It sounds like he simply doesn't have a love for it as you do and as we do as hog dog hunters. The only experience I can give on this is what I've tried to do, and that is to try and do things with your husband that HE LIKES. If he goes fishing, go with him. You mentioned he likes deer hunting, go with him and help put fill up the feeders, clear limbs, fix blinds etc... You mentioned he likes to squirrel hunt, if he doesn't have a squirrel dog, help him find one or surprise him by buying him one. I guess my meaning is, show interest in HIS ACTIVITIES and participate together and I would think, he would do the same. I just know from my personal experience that in our life together as a pair (husband/wife, significant other, girl friend etc..) It cant be all hogs and dogs. It just wont work that way. I tried that, when I rodeo'd, showing horses, training dogs, deer hunting, duck hunting, fishing and hog hunting. And not a one worked. The spouse or significant other soon got bored with my hobby at the time. I don't know weither that helped or not. But its what I felt I needed to say to try and answer the question. Theres a couple of ladies on the texasboars.com hog hunting message board that write pretty regularly that hunt with dogs on hogs. Maybe you could visit with them to get a few other ideas from the "womans side/view".
Question #2. You asked "One other thing, I know you preach Catch and Release" "We butcher just about everything we catch but the meat doesn't go to waste". Yes, I guess I do preach/suggest catch and release. And as the remainder of your question said "I know several folks that don't have it as good as we do so I share the wealth with them by putting meat in their freezers as well as my own. Meat is expensive in the grocery stores and it really helps these families out, I would hope that other hunters would do the same". This is a great thing you do by giving meat to people who could use it. As far as catch and release. It just something Ive always done. I even do it when I go fishing. Its just how I was raised I guess. Also, I think it depends on the area, the abundance of hogs, and if you have another place to go with them if your hunting to help a farmer out. So it's a personal situation/ feeling about it. I always remember this true story from my past. When I was about 11 or 12 my brother got married and dug a small pond back behind his house. Instead of stocking it (which cost money he didn't have) he/we would catch bass from other peoples ponds and then bring them back and release them in the pond. One day, my brother caught a big bass that he put in the pond. For the next couple of years, we must have caught that same bass 25 times. He fought great and you could always have a friend come over and catch him to get his picture took. This past summer of 03, my wife, a friend and my self bayed up and caught the largest boar I personally have ever caught. The boar had to be around 10 yrs old. For about the last 6 yrs, people from all over that were friends of my friend had come to try and catch this boar. I know Ive gotten after him 2 or three times in the last couple of years when I went to visit. But the boar simply eluded us. He wasn't hard to "get on" he was just hard to bay up. Well, this August, I took one dog and got him bayed and sent in two helper dogs. We killed the boar and Im getting his head mounted. My friend kept his feet. After the excitement of finally getting the hog, a kind of sadness hit us. The "bull of the woods" is no more. The taxidermist told me that he has had several people come by to see the head. The reason, they heard someone caught him and wanted to see him. They also had been after him for some time. If it was a great hunt one time catching him, it can be a great hunt again at a later time if hes released. I have a one place that me and my family have been running dogs on and hunting on for nearly 20 yrs. We have caught lots of them there of all sizes. Its not a place that has lots of hogs on it. But by leaving the sows and by catching the boars alive and relocating them or butchering them, our hunting spot is still a good place to go. If the land owner wants them off his place, we don't leave them. They are relocated if we have a place to go with them, If not, they are butchered. But, I know of people who are so over run with hogs that this would not be a good practice in their area. I wish I just had their problem in my area with the hog abundance, but hogs are scarce on most of my places. But the bottom line on catch and release, its up to the individual hunter to decide what he wants to do. Good luck with getting your husband to go hog huntin.
Jim