Tips on hunting dog pressured hogs

[Ibex]

Finding hogs in my normally non pressured hunting spot has been frustrating lately due to a few guys running dogs. Here in CA it's daylight hunting only and no bait. Any pointers? Thanks, Steve

[S.C. Hunter]

I am not sure what to tell you. Most of the hogs taken in my area are on private land. I am suppose to hook up with some of those guys soon.

  The pay to hunt spots are tough and expensive for the trad hunter.

[Biggie Hoffman]

Dog hunting hogs is the cruelest thing I've ever seen. They will sure run 'em out of an area altogether too.
That's one of the reasons we lease land down here.

[Benny Nganabbarru]

You'll need more luck and skill than ever before. The situation just plain sucks.

[cacciatore]

In my country hunter has used dogs for wild boar hunting since forever.It is very frustraiting because as you see some tracks and you try to pattern the hogs someone else see them too and they run the dogs and kill them or push them away from the area.Lot of dedication and time to be successful.

[Limey Chris]

I can see this is gonna turn into a dog bashing. I thought this was a traditional archery web site.
Dogs have been used for hunting as long or even longer than the bow. As with every hunting method there is arguably a cruelty factor. I guess with the advent of video and the internet you can now see a caught pig, the catch dog on it and it squealing ( a natural defense mechanism). If we could follow an arrow shot animal and watch it go through it`s death maybe that would seem cruel too.
I`m not for one second condoning cruel treatment and unethical hunting methods or practices, and yes there is bad apples in every barrel but I think we tend to ignore that when you use dogs the dogs decide which animal to catch, and they have no ethic`s. You decide which animal to shoot and your entirely entitled to choose your own ethics and goals.
Sorry to go on

[bornagainbowhunter]

I hunt pressured hogs also.  My favorite way to go about it is to hunt escape routes.  Even when a dog is after a hog, it will usually take the same route to first leave the area.  Mind you, they will not hold to the same path all the time, but the first flight will be very simular.
It will take basically the same exit when being chased as it would when it is not chased, in my experience.

I like to find a feeding source and then the exit route and set up an ambush.  Spot and stalk is always alot of fun and can be very productive at times.  

The last area I hunted had a great escape route from some farmland.  When I was hunting, the hogs walked through this same corridor every time they left the field... perfect.  

God Bless,
Nathan

[Cory Mattson]

I agree with Biggie - he and I have seen first hand what dog hunting hogs results in. Being 'pro' tradional does not mean we are required to look the other way when someone elses method destroys quality hunting and wastes game.

We cannot "all get along" - I for one have a zero tolerance on dogs catching game. Trailing, pointing, retrieving OK - even a soft drive on a leash would not bother me. But wanton destruction is not allowed when I am around.

But to the original point of the post: Eliminate the dogs - or find another place to hunt.

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[Cory Mattson]

I scouted hogs a bunch in Italy too - Yikes the number of hunters who use dogs there is amazing!!! It made ALL the hogs I ever saw there nocturnal - I feel your pain brother - Italy is beautiful - but very difficult hunting.

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[JamesV]

I don't dog hunt for deer or hogs but it is legal on the public land I do hunt. The dog hunters have every right to hunt where it is legal. Altho I have had dogs run over me while still hunting and ruin my hunt, that is just part of the game on public land. I enjoy just being out in the woods and taking an animal is secondary. Let's all get along

James...................

[hogdancer]

I am with Biggie and Cory on this one, I hunted hogs with dogs, ONCE ! that was enough. I don't want to get along with guys that let there dogs run across my land. Never seen a deer dog that was well taken care of.

Good luck hunting those hogs that have been chased, those hogs will be the hardest you ever hunted.

[Ragnarok Forge]

Hound hunting hogs my be tough and hard on the animals, but then again so it overpopulation of hogs on farmlands and sensitive natural areas.  So long as it is legal I don't spend my time fighting for or against one hunting method or another.  I just choose to hunt my own way and work everything to optimize my chances for a kill.

For me it is still hunting and lots of scouting to find the right places to do it in.

[The Vanilla Gorilla]

He asked for tips.

I'm in the same situation, Steve. And the doggers in my area don't recognize boundaries very well.  They reckon that because they got a cur, a pitbull and a mule, that they can cross any fence they encounter.

The best advice I can offer up is to just try too be one step ahead and try to hunt as remote as a place you can get to. They'll tend to hit an area hard for a while then leave it alone. That's when you can move in.

Also, a lot of the guys won't run their hounds when the temps get close to 100 in the summer. That's when I like to get after the pigs.

[highpoint forge]

First off, dog hunting is not a population control measure. It's highly inefficient, and it is for sport. Got a population problem? Traps, guns, and pros can help.

I went dog hunting once. ONCE. Never again. I don't see the sport in 5 bay hounds versus one hog, plus two HUGE pitbulls on top of that. Most hogs are far smaller than a combined pack pf dogs. The guys I went with were very, very excited by spilling blood. That 100% turned my stomach.

Dog hunters will run off your game; deer, hogs, whatever. I'm with Biggie, sorry dog hunting fans.

Chris I'm willing to bet dogs have been domesticated a shorter time period than the oldest known bow and arrow.....just sayin'.

[Biggie Hoffman]

Originally posted by Limey Chris:
I can see this is gonna turn into a dog bashing. I thought this was a traditional archery web site.
Dogs have been used for hunting as long or even longer than the bow. As with every hunting method there is arguably a cruelty factor. I guess with the advent of video and the internet you can now see a caught pig, the catch dog on it and it squealing ( a natural defense mechanism). If we could follow an arrow shot animal and watch it go through it`s death maybe that would seem cruel too.
I`m not for one second condoning cruel treatment and unethical hunting methods or practices, and yes there is bad apples in every barrel but I think we tend to ignore that when you use dogs the dogs decide which animal to catch, and they have no ethic`s. You decide which animal to shoot and your entirely entitled to choose your own ethics and goals.
Sorry to go on

Yep..everone has to make their own choices here. But I've seen the trail of pigs killed by the dogs on the way to the boar they were after. When they catch a pig anywhere under 40# or so, they just kill it and go on.
No dog bashing and no disputing hunting history. Just the way it is.

[Ibex]

Thanks alot for the feedback. Nathan, I'll definately give that escape route tip a try. Steve

[Biggie Hoffman]

Sorry Ibex, didn't mean to get your thread off track but someone would've 8-(

I did say that leasing a place is the only way to control how it's hunted but if you saw Thomas post, that doesn't always work either.

[dnovo]

Up here in Missouri, we don't have the hogs like you guys do, but there are a number of them in the south part of the state. The conservation dept wants all of them shot on sight, but the guys that live in those areas run them with dogs a lot. It very difficult to bowhunt them because of the pressure from the dog hunters.

[bobman]

here hogs are varmints of the worst order and the DNR would love to eliminate all of them they are feral pest specie that does a lot of damage to game animals song bird populations and crops

I don't hunt them with dogs, but I also have nothing against someone else doing so as long as they are obeying the laws.

Lastly if dogs chasing deer and hogs made them leave an area coyotes would have the same affect.

I've had dogs run deer right past me and 10 minutes later some other deer comes strolling by. Deer and canines have been going at it forever and deer are well adapted to dealing with them.

before dogs it was wolves which to a deer is the same thing

[Marty]

I do both. We catch hogs a couple times a year to make bar hogs and u enjoy it. Cory and Biggie are 2 of my best friends-we choose to diagree on this. Oh well.

Bowhunting will definitely slow down after running dogs. That's why I don't do it often.