Post by txhoghunter on May 5, 2004 8:53:42 GMT -5
It was a beautiful cool Texas evening in early April. There with about a 3/4 moon, clear and lots of available light. The dogs were in great spirits, and I was hunting a spot that has proven to be really great for getting on hogs. Only problem was none of my hunting partners were available that night, and my kids had school the next morning - so it was a solo hunt, just me and the dogs.
I'd been hunting for about 40 minutes, and just as I was thinking "what a great night this is... don't really care if we find hogs..." when all heck broke loose. The dogs disappeared into some really thick brush and before I heard a single bark I heard the awesome sound of a big group of hogs grunting and grouping up. The dogs went directly to baying and before I knew it I was in the middle of chaos - hogs and dogs going in every direction. I have no idea exactly how many hogs were there - but they were literally all around me and going in all directions. My 4 bay dogs seemed to me split into at least 2 groups - so I made my way through the dense thicket towards the closest bay. I got pretty close and turned my little AB catch dog loose - she ran in and grabbed a little shoat by the head and killed it pretty quickly. That apparently broke the bay and the dogs gave chase again. I caught my catch dog - and listened for the next bay. I heard it not too far away - but again had to beat and hack and crawl my way through the god-aweful thick stuff - when I got to the bay I turned my catch dog loose - again she charged in and I heard a huge racket, obviously there was still a pretty large group in there - she caught another shoat (this one more like 50 pounds) as she did - I saw a big boar break out of the brush with all 4 of my bay dogs in chase! I ran in, killed the shoat and tried to catch my AB - but there were still too many small pigs crashing around in the brush and she wanted them. She chased down and caught a 3rd shoat and I caught her when she did - this time it was small enough that she could crush the thing herself and I grabbed her and headed in the direction of the big boar and my bay dogs.
I heard the bay and tried to hustle myself and my tired catch dog to the bay. It took us about 20 minutes to make it to the bay - it was a very steady, long lasting bay - I could tell that they were holding him pretty close because the sound kept coming from the exact same spot. I had a devil of a time making it to them - at one point the only way I could make progress was a get on my hands and knees and crawl through the little tunnels the hogs had cut through the brush. My little AB was starting to get her wind back, and was close by my side. I let her go when we got a little closer and I heard her hit the boar, and her him start grunting and fighting. I finally made it to the group and found my little AB hanging onto the big boar for dear life - he was thrashing her around pretty good, but she was holding on. I jumped onto the boar and knocked him over and got my knife into him as quickly as I could. The bay dogs never put teeth on this boar for some reason - usually when the catch dog arrives they'll all pile on - but something about this boar caused them to stay back and continue to bay.
After the boar died, I quickly caught and tied as many of my dogs as possible, because there was no way I could continue this hunt! I was wiped out, and so were my dogs. Standing there looking at the big boar, I remembered that I'd left my digital camera in the truck. No way I could hump this boar out, and no way I was gonna let this one go unrecorded, so I walked the dogs all the way back to the truck and put them up, then walked all the way back in (about 2 miles) and crawled through the same darn tunnels and took this picture. If I look almost worse than the boar, sorry, but I was almost as give out as he was! :-)
I don't really know how much this thing weighed, easily he was 280 or more- but I don't think he was more than 300... hard to tell really in the state I was in, and as tired. I did have to drag him up out of the rut he died in for the picture, and it was a very tough haul.. His top teeth were just over 3.5 inches long and just as thick around - the bottom teeth were ground down. I think he was a pretty old boar.
I'd been hunting for about 40 minutes, and just as I was thinking "what a great night this is... don't really care if we find hogs..." when all heck broke loose. The dogs disappeared into some really thick brush and before I heard a single bark I heard the awesome sound of a big group of hogs grunting and grouping up. The dogs went directly to baying and before I knew it I was in the middle of chaos - hogs and dogs going in every direction. I have no idea exactly how many hogs were there - but they were literally all around me and going in all directions. My 4 bay dogs seemed to me split into at least 2 groups - so I made my way through the dense thicket towards the closest bay. I got pretty close and turned my little AB catch dog loose - she ran in and grabbed a little shoat by the head and killed it pretty quickly. That apparently broke the bay and the dogs gave chase again. I caught my catch dog - and listened for the next bay. I heard it not too far away - but again had to beat and hack and crawl my way through the god-aweful thick stuff - when I got to the bay I turned my catch dog loose - again she charged in and I heard a huge racket, obviously there was still a pretty large group in there - she caught another shoat (this one more like 50 pounds) as she did - I saw a big boar break out of the brush with all 4 of my bay dogs in chase! I ran in, killed the shoat and tried to catch my AB - but there were still too many small pigs crashing around in the brush and she wanted them. She chased down and caught a 3rd shoat and I caught her when she did - this time it was small enough that she could crush the thing herself and I grabbed her and headed in the direction of the big boar and my bay dogs.
I heard the bay and tried to hustle myself and my tired catch dog to the bay. It took us about 20 minutes to make it to the bay - it was a very steady, long lasting bay - I could tell that they were holding him pretty close because the sound kept coming from the exact same spot. I had a devil of a time making it to them - at one point the only way I could make progress was a get on my hands and knees and crawl through the little tunnels the hogs had cut through the brush. My little AB was starting to get her wind back, and was close by my side. I let her go when we got a little closer and I heard her hit the boar, and her him start grunting and fighting. I finally made it to the group and found my little AB hanging onto the big boar for dear life - he was thrashing her around pretty good, but she was holding on. I jumped onto the boar and knocked him over and got my knife into him as quickly as I could. The bay dogs never put teeth on this boar for some reason - usually when the catch dog arrives they'll all pile on - but something about this boar caused them to stay back and continue to bay.
After the boar died, I quickly caught and tied as many of my dogs as possible, because there was no way I could continue this hunt! I was wiped out, and so were my dogs. Standing there looking at the big boar, I remembered that I'd left my digital camera in the truck. No way I could hump this boar out, and no way I was gonna let this one go unrecorded, so I walked the dogs all the way back to the truck and put them up, then walked all the way back in (about 2 miles) and crawled through the same darn tunnels and took this picture. If I look almost worse than the boar, sorry, but I was almost as give out as he was! :-)
I don't really know how much this thing weighed, easily he was 280 or more- but I don't think he was more than 300... hard to tell really in the state I was in, and as tired. I did have to drag him up out of the rut he died in for the picture, and it was a very tough haul.. His top teeth were just over 3.5 inches long and just as thick around - the bottom teeth were ground down. I think he was a pretty old boar.