House
Hog
by
David Norton
It was mid march
in Southeast Arkansas when a buddy of mine called early one morning and said
that he had seen a herd of hogs in soybean field the afternoon before.
He knew I had a few hog dogs so he wanted to see if we could go catch a couple.
I ask if they had pressured the hogs any the day before and of course he had.
I knew the hogs in this area had a lot of Russian in em and if you pressured
them any they might be 10 miles away. I'm always up for a hog hunt so
I loaded up my boys (dogs). He and two (2) more of his friends showed
up with 4-wheelers ready and rear'in to go. It was only about a 20 minute
drive from the house so we arrived around 8:00 am. We unloaded the 4-wheelers
and I took a look at where the hogs had been the evening before. After
studying the situation, I come to the conclusion that hogs had crossed a large
break (swamp) which was about 1/2 mile wide and they were going into some woods
that we didn't have permission to hunt. I told the guys that I had rather look
for some fresh sign in this instead of going after the herd, they agreed with
me. On the way back to the truck I notice a big boar track that was fairly
fresh going into an area that we had permission to hunt on. I decided
to unload the dogs and see if the cold nose dogs could smell anything.
I had four dogs with me, Smutt a 1/4 Plot, 1/4 Bird Dog and 1/2 Mt Cur. Smutt
was my best dog he could smell a really cold track. I also had a one (1)
year old English hound (blue) whom absolutely loved a hog, an old Mt Cur named
Jake ( a hunt'in demon in his day and could still hold his own), and a cur and
bulldog mix named Mack (our catch dog). Soon as Smutt came across the
track he let me know that he could smell it with a cold nose bark and headed
in the direction that the hog went. He was interested enough that all
the other dogs went with him, unfortunately they were headed toward to large
bayou's that there was no way to cross except by the bridges on a gravel
road about a 1/2 mile away. Considering the size of the track I let he
catch dog go and we took off on 4-wheelers to get into the area that they had
headed. I knew the area real well so I knew exactly where to go and how
to get there. After hauling butt on 4-wheelers for about three (3) miles
(1/4 mile by the way the crow flies) we finally made it into the area that they
were headed.
Soon as we cut the 4-wheelers off I heard Smutt open. Now keep in mind
that I'm the only one in the crew that had hog hunting experience. I could tell
by his bark we were getting close to action, I told the boys to get ready. I
didn't get that sentence out of my mouth good when I heard my English hound
open and he only opens when its extremely hot, then my old cur dog opened.
I could tell that they were heading back in the direction we came in, so we
started the 4-wheelers and headed in their direction. I came to a curve
in the road where I thought would be close to the last place I heard them open.
With my 4-wheeler running I could here baying and the bad thing about it was
it was coming from an old house in the woods that was partially standing.
Let me give you a little visual so you better understand the situation.
This was an old house that was built in the early 1900's, had an old breeze
way through the middle and a couple of standing rooms on each side of the breeze
way. I left the 4-wheeler and ran toward the most barking and grunting
that I've ever heard in a bedroom, I can assure you. I ran through the
breeze way and all I could see was my four (4) dogs and a 400 lb. boar getting
it on in the bedroom and I was not happy with what I was seeing. This
hog would get one (1) of my dogs up against the bedroom wall and just hammer
him. I knew I had to get involved or I was going to be less four (4) damn
good hog dogs. At one time Smutt had the hog by the ear and he was laying
across snoot of the ole boar and you know what was happening then. I jumped
part of what used to be someone's bedroom wall and pulled out my pistol to kill
the hog. Because it was such a confined area, there wasn't much room to
shoot. Every time I tried to get a back leg he would make spin to give
me a shot even with three (3) dogs hanging on him. I finally got a shot off
in his neck, this didn't improve the situation, he turned to me and hit me in
the knee and knocked me through the wall of bedroom and he got rid of the dogs
at the same time. The only injury I had was an ole rusty nail and a board
stuck to my ass. Keep in mind these other guys (whom have never been on
a hog hunt) are watching through the door of this room with a really funny look
on their faces. Well when the ole hog left the house that was his fatal
mistake. My catch dog Mack and Smutt had room to maneuver and he was quickly
apprehended. Smutt want hardly ever catch unless he has a real good opportunity
but he was probably about as mad at the old hog as I was. I'll put him
up against any dog as far as finding hogs, never seen a better dog. After
seeing the damage to my dogs and myself, I decided it was best he left the woods
dead. He cut Smutt's stomach open along with some other cuts and he had
made a deep cut in the throat of Mack, blood was gushing just above his cut
collar. Ole Jake had a few minor wounds but nothing serious, my
English hound wasn't cut at all. Didn't know if they were gonna make it at that
time, I did all I could do in the woods, we put over 50 stitches and staples
in the two (2) dogs when we got em home. The old boar had broke off his tusk
in the house when he was hitting the walls and that really made them sharp,
luckily it also shortened em up a bit. They all recovered and are doing
well with the exception of my English hound and died this past year for some
unknown reason. He was making one hell of a find and bay dog. Really hurt
my feelings bad when I lost him, he was fine one afternoon and dead the next
morning. I guess he got in some poison, I would sure like to know so I
could prevent it from
happening in the future.
Well that's about all I tell you about the hog in the house, hoped you enjoyed
the story. Good luck to you all and happy hunt'in!
David Norton
Pine Bluff, Arkansas