Tuesday, May 31, 2016

Rafter J Farms Baying June 4, 2016


I got plenty of friends in this area I would like to visit, but I have never been to this arena

I might have to let ya know how it is...




Monday, May 30, 2016

East Texas Hog Dog Championship 5 2016



I am having so much fun watching the plan come together, and so proud of what y'all are doing at the East Texas Hog Baying Championships!

I couldn't make trip on account of the weather complications, but all weekend I was getting reports like this and getting excited and cheering the competitors on:


ZERO CATCH OUTS IN THE ONE DOG!!!!!! Let's go boys!!!

I haven't been to a field trial for 5 yrs, and the reason is, @ the UE2011, 1/2 the dogs were disqualified in the 2 dog because of the chutes being loaded with caught out, pitiful running hogs.

Now, I don't care what you do in the woods, that is private, but in a high profile, public forum like Uncle Earl's, you can't be using sub-standard hogs in what is supposed to be the super bowl of hog dog field trials!
Why? Because good dogs that are well trained and winning bayings in front of quality hogs all over the country are gonna come to the Uncle Earl's and stop a running hog and get disqualified if that hog is too small and doesn't have the size and courage to take a stand and fight!
About a week or two after UE 2011, I had got nowhere trying to discuss 'the problem of inferior hogs' with the judges.
So, I stood up and took heat for pointing out the obvious: if we don't stop this( too much blood on the ground at the UE), the ANTI's will, and then they will ban hog dog trials across the country along with it!
Keep up the good work boys, y'all are preserving our heritage and sport for future generations by doing it right.
Those who say it can't be done, need to get out of the way of the one's doing it!

 I want to see hair in the air and elbows in the dirt...
This ain't nothing but good clean family fun in the sunshine and dirt of the Big Thicket!
I have so many fond memories with dogs and my daughter at Village Mills, Texas...

East Texas Hog Dog Championship 5 2016

I am having so much fun watching the plan come together, and so proud of what y'all are doing at the East Texas Hog Baying Championships!
I haven't been to a field trial for 5 yrs, and the reason is, @ the UE2011, 1/2 the dogs were disqualified in the 2 dog because of the chutes being loaded with caught out, pitiful running hogs.



Now, I don't care what you do in the woods, but in a high profile, public forum like Uncle Earl's, you can't be using sub-standard hogs in what is supposed to be the super bowl of hog dog field trials!
Why? Because good dogs that are well trained and winning bayings in front of quality hogs all over the country are gonna come to the Uncle Earl's and stop a running hog and get disqualified if that hog is too small and doesn't have the size and courage to take a stand and fight!
About a week or two after UE 2011, I had got nowhere trying to discuss 'the problem of inferior hogs' with the judges.
So, I stood up and took heat for pointing out the obvious: if we don't stop this( too much blood on the ground at the UE), the ANTI's will, and then they will ban hog dog trials across the country along with it!
Keep up the good work boys, y'all are preserving our heritage and sport for future generations by doing it right.
Those who say it can't be done, need to get out of the way of the one's doing it!

 I want to see hair in the air and elbows in the dirt...
This ain't nothing but good clean family fun in the sunshine and dirt of the Big Thicket!
I have so many fond memories with dogs and my daughter at Village Mills, Texas...

Wednesday, May 25, 2016

How To Breed and Hunt Hog Dogs with a GPS Versus Old School Hog Hunting

Below is a discussion I copied and pasted from facebook to share with newbies who are trying to learn 'how' to hunt hogs.



I started hunting from a boat, which is how I like it, but... I am a boat man,


and make my living in a commercial fishing boat doing Louisiana Swamp Tours.





But hunting hogs is complicated enough without boats so....



I don't recommend hunting from a boat for several reasons, a couple of which are in the photo below.




Let's face it some people do not belong in boats.




The fact is there is no one way that works all the time, in all seasons, climate weather conditions,




 terrains and what is worse, a dog will hunt differently in the swamp with alligators once they see what a gator can do to a dog or the hog, as you can see below...


A gator will set up near a trail and wait for something to pass too close, as you can see below.




 They will have to deal with big bad rattlesnakes in the deserts of south Texas, and other new things




and hunt differently than they will with one person than with another, IF they hunt at all!





You see, a lot of people think buying a finished dog is a short cut because they mistakenly believe that a good dog will hunt anywhere, anytime, and with anyone.





But the truth is dogs are neauvophobic, which means they are scared of anything or anyone new.



Therefore, a new owner of a first class finished dog will be a double whammy for the dog, because it is a new man and he is hunting in a new location/terrain and the dog needs to get acclaimated to the man and the terrain, and that takes time.



I suggest if you get a new dog you warm them up in a bay pen first, but do not get discouraged if they are not pen dogs.






Many hunting dogs will NOT bay in a pen. IDKY, you can ask the dog!




below is the discussion I copied from facebook about gps versus old school hunting...


ED Barnes
13 hrs ·
I remember hunting without a Garmin. We chased dogs, slept in the woods and knew how to be completely silent, not even breathing, straining ears for a far off bark. We tried to predict the way a dog would go, tried. It sucked but it made me learn a lot about dogs and hogs. That Garmin gives more valuable information than a dogs location if you know how to read the dog. But does it also hold us back from knowing our dogs? I mean, not the guys that done without it, I mean the younger generation that never hunted off instinct and dog habits. I

Dustin Trimble
Dustin Trimble I still hunt this way and I see nothing wrong with it. Otherwise we become ignorant to the ways of the woods and our dogs
Like · Reply · 2 · 13 hrs

Caleb Whitney
Caleb Whitney I never had tracking systems of any kind till the last few years. I still learn my dogs all their different barks how they hunt body language everything that you used to do to be a dog hunter even without a garmin I know exactly what my dogs are doing at all times
Unlike · Reply · 2 · 13 hrs ·

Gretchen Casarez Cervantez
Gretchen Casarez Cervantez Couldn't agree with you more! We didn't buy our 1st Garmin till about 5-6yrs ago. I can remember being a bit excited & calling my dad. His response was, "what you can keep track of your own dogs? It you sit & listen, there'd be no use for them damn things". Mind you, at the time, he was 70yrs old & still running his dogs the "Old Way". With his ear to the wind & his nose to the ground. Or something like that😉.
Unlike · Reply · 3 · 13 hrs · Edited

Leo Chandler
Leo Chandler We've hunted without a tracking systems but I like hunting with a garmin cause you can see your dog work, know where he's at, know if he's headed towards a road that's got traffic or towards a swamp, I think a garmin helps to keep a dog a little bit safer also. JMO
Like · Reply · 4 · 12 hrs

ED Barnes
ED Barnes All technology is a trade off, never all good. Usually it takes something that was already inside us, makes it where any fool has the learning, then we get the bill.
Like · Reply · 7 · 12 hrs

Renee M L Jackson
Renee M L Jackson I still don't own one, I hunt with people who have them and enjoy that extra knowledge of who is where, exactly how far out they hunting,etc... But it will never replace the knowledge you get from the unity of just working your dog(s).
Like · Reply · 1 · 12 hrs

ED Barnes
ED Barnes Don't get me wrong they are a great tool, I just wonder if we are too dependent on them.
Like · Reply · 4 · 12 hrs

Clay Nelson
Clay Nelson I'm only 28 but I remember my uncle bringing home the first quick track I had ever hunted with had. 12 dogs and three collars
Like · Reply · 12 hrs




Narrie Drew Lewing
Narrie Drew Lewing At 1.5 miles I bet a fellow we had swapped onto shoats, he disagreed and swore his dogs could not be thrown. Needless to say when Ole Benny got there, I had already bought charcoal for the 40lb cook out. LOL
Like · Reply · 3 · 12 hrs

William Greer
William Greer For the most part yes plenty are far to dependent on them. Myself included today. I spent many years chasing walkers with nothing. Got good at it too. Learned the general flee patterns and had a real good idea of where they were headed by wind directio...See More
Like · Reply · 2 · 12 hrs

Brian Wright
Brian Wright That's why we have always had mouthy dogs our whole life.

But we did get a beep beep






Narrie Drew Lewing
Narrie Drew Lewing Becky Johnson swore LIL Red had slung Ole Benny and was 900 yds ahead. I set and watched as he made the circles smaller and smaller, then prove where the meat was at. COME ON.

Narrie Drew Lewing
Narrie Drew Lewing I can read that ole quick track bout as good, turn it on, lay it on the dash and drive, when the beeps get loud, slide to a stop and Pew,Pew, Pew with the old dirty 30.
Like · Reply · 1 · 12 hrs

Jeremy Westmoreland
Jeremy Westmoreland It definitely takes a lot of the hunt away from the hunt. I miss the days of walking into the woods with only a compass. Whether it was hogs or coons
Unlike · Reply · 1 · 12 hrs

Narrie Drew Lewing
Narrie Drew Lewing Walking? whew almost forgot about that part.
Like · Reply · 12 hrs

Jeremy Westmoreland
Jeremy Westmoreland lol I still do a lot of my hunting on foot. It's just getting harder n harder to find hunting buddies that way.
Unlike · Reply · 2 · 12 hrs

Josh Broom
Josh Broom I watch my dogs and listen with eyes closed. It's something my walker hound taught me. To just listen to what he's sayin. You can bury your face in the gps and forget the dogs are there.
Unlike · Reply · 1 · 11 hrs

Jake Guitreau
Jake Guitreau I have lose a lot good dogs when I did not have one now I have one and a quick track
Like · Reply · 11 hrs

Ronald Garrett
Ronald Garrett I've burned up many tank of gas looking for walker hounds after they left the country while I was taking a nap by the campfire lol. if only I had one back in the day
Like · Reply · 1 · 10 hrs


Ronald Garrett
Ronald Garrett But a Garmin is a must with silent dogs keeps u from wondering what there doing
Unlike · Reply · 1 · 10 hrs

ED Barnes
ED Barnes I ran silent dogs w no tracking system for years
Like · Reply · 2 · 10 hrs

Mark Caruso
Mark Caruso We did as well, I can't remember how it's been so long ago but I do remember it being like it was no big deal . We always had big mouth bay dogs when they Bayed ! There was a lot of listening and silents at most times of the day lol
Like · Reply · 1 · 7 mins
Marcus de la Houssaye

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David Shepperd
David Shepperd I like knowing who is in the lead and if he stays there. I also like knowing if they are hunting in a pack or independently. You can learn a lot about dogs by paying attention. If I did not have one I would not hu
nt the dogs I have now. That maybe better or worse IDK.


David Shepperd
David Shepperd I also hunted a lot without one.When I was younger!


Ronald Garrett
Ronald Garrett But when I was a kid wasn't no such a thing as a running hog Had piney woods rooters in a wide open river bottom. Rode up on horseback and worked a whole group of hogs and not the first one broke Now it's a diff world A dog better have his nikes on

Jeff Adams
Jeff Adams I think garmin is the best thing that's ever happen to dog hunting some days Then others I will swear it's the worst. I know for fact there are ppl hunting today that would not be to catch squat with out it. And it has changed the type of dogs hunted. 25 years ago if someone would have talked bout crossing a foxhound over a cur I would have looked at em like they head was on fire.

Garet Collins
Garet Collins I have always ran silent dogs and I stated with no system and upgraded to a beep beep then to a garmin. No doubt the old ways made me a better dog man and the advancements in tracking only bettered me. But it is very easy to get too dependent on the system. And youngsters who did not grow up having to do the math themselves is darn sure missing out and developing a crutch. Nothing can ever replace dog knowledge and the all time equalizer, experience.......
Unlike · Reply · 1 · 54 mins

Marcus de la Houssaye
Marcus de la Houssaye Excellent conversation regarding how crucial a tracking system is with running hogs, and at the same time, we expose how the new generation don't know squat about properly handling and training cur dogs, and instead rely on gimmicks like gps to try to compensate for their lack of being a dogman. I like and use the technology, and advise everyone to use it, but I want a short-range dog that keeps track of ME whether he has a tracking collar on or not!
Like · Reply · 4 mins

Mark Caruso
Mark Caruso We ran silent dogs for a very long time without tracking systems then we went to wildlife materials now garmin .

As far as the younger generation goes I think they still have a chance to learn the things that we did w/o the garmin , if they listen to there dogs and pay attention to where the dogs are headed and listen to the different ways a dog barks . Best thing they can do is keep the garmin in there pocket until it's absolutely necessary to use it . I think just by doing that they will learn alot about a dog and a hog or whatever game there pursuing.

The garmin is most prob the best tool for a man breeding up dogs without a doubt . You can see numerous traits a dog shows in the woods and then you can put them together in a breeding program therefore making better dogs than we use to have back in the day also .

So I think it's a give and take we loose the woodsman knowledge on how to read our dogs and what they do without a tracking system but we gain so much more in the long run when we try to breed better dogs ! What ya think Ed ?
Like · Reply · Just now

Sunday, May 15, 2016

In Honor of Sherry Bando Conversation




About 10 yrs ago, in a conversation with Sherry, she got all excited when she heard me say that I did not put my dogs in harms way or start my dogs on hogs until they were 2 yrs old.

She was excited because most people operate under the presumption that a good dog will be hunting by the time they are 6-8 months old or they will never be a hog dog. Rarely do most people And the result is all too often the hunter gets rid of the dog before it is ready to fire off. I have seen an impatient hunter give a dog that would not hunt for him to his son to be the family pet. He lived to regret it because when the family pet 'was ready', it fired off and like someone had flipped a switch in that dogs mind and it turned on hogs like there was no off position and no stoppping the dogs obsession for putting meat on the table.

OK, it might be the case for most Catahoulas, and every other breed used for hog hunting, that you need to run in a pack. But there is a small circle of elite high performance Catahoula breeders who have dogs that are natural hog dogs and do not need to be trained to hunt, just give em time and they all hunt just fine.

The problem with these dogs is most people who have never had one, do not understand the proper way to start and eventually handle em in the course of hunting big deadly hogs.

Too many people are culling dogs before they are a year old because they don't want to risk feeding a dog for years that doesn't eventually hunt. And I understand your concern!

But until you see what these dogs do coming from litters where every pup goes on to be magnificent and there are no culls, you will wonder why you ever fed anything else.

This picture below says so much about 2 experienced, well equipped dogs and good breeding.

And... for me this picture is special because my first ever wild hog hunt was in a boat in the marsh along the gulf coast of Louisiana.

The dog below is from a Camp-a-While bloodline. I will contact Donna Whipple and see if I can edit in some more info about this blue leopard with the tan trim.



First let's look at the blue grey bull dog...
notice he is intently watching the shorline,
well protected by a cut collar and a cut vest, not to mention he's got an orange tracking collar tied  onto the top of the cut vest and he is tethered down short. This dog been here before...


OK, let's look at the bay dog and notice she got her tracking collar and a regular dog collar, but no cut collar or vest. Why no vest?

Well this kind of dog is a little bit different than most Catahoulas because she is bred to be a one dog wonder. And why do we call em that?

Because it appears that most people assume if you are hunting big hogs that you need at least 3 or 4 good dogs on the ground or you can't catch.

OK, I been there and done that when I first started hunting hogs and I believed that everyone hunted with large packs of dogs because that was all I ever saw happening.

But after talking to a lot of people such as Sherry Bando who bred the right stuff, oh yah..., about various ways of hunting I learned that with the right dog, all you need is one dog, and the irony is you catch more hogs and get less injuries that way.

We are talking genetics here now, and not really training em to hunt, because if they were not bred to hunt, I want to see you put it in 'em!

And if they are bred right there is no need to worry about whether they hunt or not, because given time, they all fire off, but too many people run em too early and they do not survive to be 2 yrs old!

The reason being that instead of hunting em as an old and young or as a 1 dog most people run a pack of dogs and with these Blair bred dogs if there is a pack, guess who is the first one to get killed? 

The best dog because he don't need help backing him up and getting in his way if he needs to spin out and run, he can!

 One dog by his self will set back and bay from a safe distance and wait for the man and the bull dog to arrive. Put too many dogs on the ground behind him and he gets too tight and confident and he thinks he got enough help and can catch before the man and the bull dog get there



In fact they are so game bred that if you have to train them to do anything you need to train them to survive, because hunting hogs is warfare with a deadly enemy!

I will  edit more in here later..

check back.