Wow it is Springtime!

A painting of Uncle Earl by Lafayette artist, George Rodrigue

There was no Uncle Earl's Hog Dog Trails this year, but we did make it to Fort Bayou for our annual spring break.

Christina, sporting her Fort Bayou Ranch, Youth Bay Cap, with a puppy in the papoose!

Jimmy and Sharon Young, publishers of Bayed Solid Magazine, drove down to Fort Bayou Ranch on Thursday to visit us and announce that the Uncle Earl's would be held next year.

If you want to have a subscription to Bayed Solid Magazine, click here.

I want to report, Reggie Little hosted a first class event.


With fine, clean, shady campsites,
and easy access to water faucets for watering our dogs.
The baypen was top notch, with shade over the gate leading in, and a pond to cool the dogs about 50 foot away when your dog finished the run.
There were port-o-let restrooms in various locations, a hot shower if you were so inclined, and we had access to Reggie's camp kitchen if we needed to feed the family. I plan on bringing a sack of crawfish next time.

Sorry, I didn't get more pictures for the blog,
but I was mostly shooting video for my TV program,
when I wasn't enjoying the fine fellowship and weather.

Seems like we were in good company and made a few new friends as usual.

I only heard of one incident about poor sportmanship,
and he ain't coming back.

If you can't take the heat, stay out the kitchen!

Cuz we are here to have fun!

A few days later,
and I was back to work in the swamp touring a group of Russian women.I know it is a rough job, but someone has to do it!

I just got the word there will be a baying in Diana,Tx next weekend.

The location is at the Rockin H Arena, 10 miles north of Longview.

Contact Brandon Fowler at 903 256 7178 for more info.

I believe it is a two day event April 17th, & 18th







It is not too soon to move the dogs from the sunshine
in the middle of the yard and back into the shade of some trees.

One more word of caution about the 80' temperatures...

And let's not forget to keep an eye on one of your dogs worst enemies
this time of year. Alligators.There are three in the photo above which I took an a swamp tour last week!

Last year, five dogs were consumed from the boat landing where I launch my tours. One of these dogs, a black lab, has lived on the lake all it's life, and was eaten in front of his owner.

Because I work and often hunt out of a boat,
I am always on guard for these aggressive consumers of dogs.And if you hunt around water, you should be too, this time of year, they are just coming out of hibernation and are hungry.

Another thing just coming out now, is a bumper crop of crawfish.


So what the hell does crawfish have to do with hog hunting?


Simple: If you like to eat boiled crawfish, dispose of the crawfish peelings in your hog traps or honey hole and watch the hogs come from miles away to eat this delicacy.

Corn is convienent for bait, but the smell does not carry for miles like crawfish peelings. Recycle those smelly fish heads, and crawfish peelings into regulating the population explosion of wild hogs, instead of sticking them in the trash can and smelling up the roadside pick up.

Now... let's get our boots on,
some dogs out of the box and go get us some pork!



Serious catchdog attitude!

Uncle Earl's Hog Dog Trails Cancelled?

de la Houssaye's Catahoulas

And you think you are disappointed? This is just one of the looks I got
when I announced we were not going to Winnfield this month.

Bless her heart, she has been waiting for the Uncle Earl's all her life!

I'm sure most of you have heard the news by now, but just for the record, I will post it here too.

Letter of cancellation of Uncle Earl's issued by Bayed Solid magazine.

Yes it is true, yet hard to believe, unless you know Jimmy Young the way I do.

Jimmy is a stand up and tell it like it is kind of man, and if he says we shouldn't be there this year, I am behind him 100%, no questions asked.

And on that note, I want to say Jimmy Young is my hero.

In September of 1995, at the dog festival in Ashland, La., Jimmy observed Maurice's natural ability to bay a hog and advised me that I should enter my dog into a hog dog field trail competition, "Because he could win".

About six months later, I hauled Maurice in the back seat of my 1976 Cadillac to Wills Point, Tx to test Jimmy's proposal at Dave Alexanders bay pen.

The result? Maurice tied for 1st place.

Simon, a great, great, grandson of Maurice in training
as my de la Houssaye's Swamp Tour guide dog

I admire Jimmy Young for his vision of the Uncle Earl's in its conception, Mrs. Sharon Young's for her hard work through the years, and the city of Winnfield, Louisiana, for hosting us every year for a decade and a half.

I will post a new article every week of my memories at the annual Uncle Earl's with my daughter, my dogs, and all the new friends I made there through the years.

But back to Jimmy Young:
He has always maintained that the Uncle Earl's was for us. The hog hunters who brought our dogs, families and money to Winnfield every year to be a part of the world largest baying held at the end of March every year in the city of Winnfield, Louisiana.

He has always stood up for what he believed and made no concessions for it.

Watch for Cayenne Rose at Fort Bayou, cuz she's a hot peppa!


The good news is, Reggie Little will step up and host a baying at the Fort Bayou Ranch in Mississippi, the same weekend Uncle Earl's was scheduled. So we have that to look forward to.

Jack Sparrow's reaction to the good news of Fort Bayou

Whiteboy, a son of Bob and Angel

I am sure we will all get a very detailed explanation of the cause of this cancellation by Jimmy Young, the publisher and editor, in a future issue of Bayed Solid magazine, which as far as I know is the co-sponsor of The Uncle Earl's for the last 15 years. We should not speculate or gossip about this unfortunate turn of events in Winnfield, but plan on being at Reggie Little's Fort Bayou Ranch in south Mississippi on the same weekend that the Uncle Earl's baying was scheduled to take place.

I hope we have a better water supply system at Fort Bayou for our dogs and more restroom facilities for our families, than what was provided to us in Winnfield over the last decade since we were promised that 15 years ago and it was never delivered.(just a personal gripe of mine, considering we{the competitors} brought in millions of tourist dollars to the ecomomy of Winn parish and the city of Winnfield for a decade and a half. And... without us, there would be no Uncle Earl's!)

Maybe Jimmy Young had enough of empty promises too, and was standing up for us, who make this thing possible. Like I said: He is my hero, start to finish!

Reggie has stepped up to help us in our time of need and planned to host this special baying on short notice to fill in for our big disappointment in Winnfield this year. You can expect all the big names that were planning to be at the Uncle Earl's to go to Fort Bayou to compete in Reggie's well organized events. You can get more information at www.fortbayouranch.com.

I just got off the phone with Francesca Buck as she was leaving the Fort Bayou Ranch in Van Cleave and she advised me that Reggie was in full swing organizing the baying due to start in about two weeks.

If you have not been there, I can tell you it rivals the competition at the Uncle Earl's because there is an amateur class for dogs that have never won a baying and a pro level. Not only that, there is a puppy bay, a yearling(12-24 month), an old and young, and one and two dog bay, there has been fun stuff like a wild boar poker event, and just so you know, that is not my cup of tea! I prefer to be the one skinning the hogs rather than them skinning me! But to each his own.

I have not confirmed this, it is say so at this point, but someone told me we can get hot showers if we are camping in the Fort Bayou Ranch. Hey, sounds good to me, I plan on being there on Sunday before the event, get a prime campsite, and do what I can to help set things up for our hog hunters spring break.

I will also make any news that is passed on to me, posted here as soon as I get it.

Jessie, a three year old son of Bob and Angel, showing his son Gus, how to do it

I will be posting an article detailing the story about Spider, another 3 year old son of Bob and Angel, all by hisself, until the men and catchdog arrived, helping my friend from the Sabine River Basin, catch the biggest, baddest hog he ever caught in an upcoming post soon.

If my friend will indulge me we will get a photo of the hog, dog, and hunters up with that article.

Until then, let's plan on being in Van Cleave, Mississippi in a few weeks and support Reggie's effort to fill in the void left in Winnfield this year.

Jessie, my official de la Houssaye's Swamp Tour guide dog

And one more thing: let's get them dogs off the chain and go hunting!