hawgs, dawgs, & huntin'

Well, you might have answered your own question, you mentioned that you had been hunting alot and with all sorts of dogs. I would have to say, those fellas are where you should get your dogs from. Tell them your wanting to get you a dog for hog hunting, and if they are friends, you can probably get you a puppy given to you. If they give you an older dog, mostlikely its one that they havent found the time to hunt, or one they are wanting to cull. You will findout pretty quick which it is. However, there have been times that friends have caught me at weak moments to where I just give them a started dog. Usually because Ive run out of space to house my dogs. Ive given several away over the years to ones wanting to get into it that I knew. If that doesnt work, go to the dog pound and find you a good looking blackmouth cur or catahoula looking dog to try if your wanting one a little older. Ive gotten several over the years from the pound. I think I only paid like $5 for some sort of fee. If they dont turn out, your not out alot of money, If they do, your way ahead of the game with little money spent. What ever happens, if the dog doesnt turn out, cull the dog, its part of being a dog raiser, its never pleasant, but a necessity sometimes. Dont try to resale him as a started hog dog. Sales like that will come back to bite your reputation on the butt for years to come.

In reguards to your question about "what do i get first?" , In all truthfullness down here where I live most new comers get them a big bulldog first. Simply because they are so easy to come by, the expense is not very much, they are natural catchers and not much training at all is needed, and because thats where the excitement is on the catching. But the bottom line is as Ive said many times in the past, If you dont have a dog that can find a hog, the worlds champion baydog or catch dogs are nothing more than glorified pot lickers if they dont have anything to bay or catch.

Im a find/strike dog person. Im not into catch dogs that much. Usually everyone I hunt with has catchdogs (I'll let them do all the stitchin and paying the vet bills) or dogs that will bay a hog, BUT THE MONEY DOG is the dog that will go out and find one for you to bay or catch. So, If your wanting my opinion, and I guess you are since you wrote me, I would suggest you try and find you a dog that will go out and find the hogs first. If you succeed in finding one from a friend or the pound, you will be that much ahead of the game and the word gets around if you have good find dogs.

Some of the best dogs Ive ever used were "free"dogs, some from other hunting friends, some from people who had cur dogs that they got as puppies and were now grown up and to active and needed bigger places to run etc.... Also look in the free pets section of the paper. Be picky, but most of the time they are free. About a year ago, I was visiting my girlfriend up near cleburne texas and happened to look in the paper, and there was a dog listed that some people were wanting to give away that wouldnt stay in the yard and was constantly bringing dead rabbits and squirrels into the yard. So what did this tell me? It told me he was a "ranger and a hunter" and he would "catch things" and was "extremely fast" to be able to catch rabbits and squirrels. He was free to a good home. Of course I never tell the people what Im going to do with the dog, you might find they wont let you take him home if you do. Well, i went and looked at him, he was a brindle cur with a bull doggish head and a flag tail. I told her I would think about it. What really was my problem was that I didnt have a place to put him if I did get him. Anyway, Instead, I called my friend Jimbo in east texas and told him about him... To make along story short, FLAG, is now his main catch dog and is BAD TO THE BONE I assure you. I have other stories such as Pete, the catahoula came from the pound, Nicky, the bull dog came from a free add, Sadie, the blackmouth cur dog came to me free from putting a $6 add in one of those free newspapers basically saying "do you have a blackmouth cur dog you dont want? call me at 747474747, next I got some other bull dogs free from putting adds in that little free paper saying "do you have a bull dog in your back yard you dont want any more? If so call 75757575 etc... Of course some of the bull dogs had to be culled, but they were free.