Pigs are a feral pest here and it use to be a job that was downgraded to a hobby due to value of the euro they arent buying from us anymore. Jack no way could i run em round with out the breastplates theyd cut the dogs to peices even a good dog is not going to live if pig gets him against a tree with 5 inch tusks. Maybe if i had a yard of 30 dogs or people werent cjarging so much for working stock theres 9 grand worth of dogs there...
maybe good if it was in a controled environment jack but not in the wild no wish i could cause they get hot carrying all that gear but rather hot than dead any old day.
Originally Posted by pig mad
I totally understand what you're saying.
I imagine there would be a lot of lost dogs that way ... and if they cost that much I wouldn't want to risk that kind of investment either
But I also think (strictly from a conceptual standpoint) that a lot of dogs will get away with sloppy technique if they have armor on ... and consequently will get bred ... that really shouldn't be. I am sure, though, that you can "see" which dogs have the best moves out there, regardless of armor, but to me it seems like (while no one wants to watch either their dogs die or their money get wasted) that truly allowing "nature to take its course" would cull-out the mediocre animals, leaving only the very best individuals left, which (when bred together) would ultimately produce better dogs.
Jack
You may be right jack but no dog comes out the womb knowing what to do it only takes 1 good hit in the wrong spot and it never gets another chance. I know peoole who dont use even a yard collar but the dogs are always down due to cuts. All 3 of those dogs in the pics have tears from the weekend and the brindle dog hurt his back. None of them were bred for pighunting the brindle is my game plug i spoke about before to loose him on a pig would be a waiste the others are still to young to prove there worth but a pig dog is not bred on holding technique it is bred on finding,holding,speed and stamina i couldnt really care how he holds it as long as its on there..
I see a lot of debatable issues here. Fun topic actually. I could totally go on a tangent and argue the cruelty aspect of one will participant vs an NON-Willing Participant, but I won't as I'm not judgmental this way. As long as any animal is given proper nutritional value and shelter, I don't care what anyone does with their animals and besides, I like to do me some hog hunting myself.
What Pig Mad has there are what's called RCD - Running Catch Dogs. Looks like west Texas in many scenes. If so, you may know a feller named Jeremy up around Childress Tx who did have a hell of a set of dogs.
Do you have a strike dog? Jeremy placed carpet on the hood of the truck and his strike dog would sit on the hood and use the carpet for grip. She was chained as well. We could just drive along, about 30 miles an hour, good slow beer drinking speed, windows down, freezing weather and watch for her sign. Once she got scent, she'd start bouncing off the windshield. We'd throw in a light, locate hogs and drop the gate on the pen of catch dogs in back and let them do their thing. Great times. As Pig Mad said, they are a costly problem to farmers and ranchers, so we'd stab em and take what we wanted to eat and drag the excess off.
Jack - the natural selection in this "sport" is not anything like the sporting dogs at all. Hell, these dogs can be absolutely great at what they do, but one move wrong or not, could cost them their life with or without the vests. I've seen dogs on 300lbers +, get their vest ripped like a filet knife and their lung punctured. It's just too chaotic. I guess what I'm trying to say, is it's not a controlled environment enough to evaluate in the same sense you can with dogs. It's a different sized hog, EVERY TIME. It's different terrain. It's water some times, dry land, some times dogs get split up and you end up with 1 on 1 action and anything outweighing the other by 6-8 times is never a match for measuring "style". It's similar to MMA vs Boxing, in sense and this is a bit of a stretch. But with Boxing, you can beat beat by score, KO, conditioning and you know more about it, but there's not a lot of other ways to lose. With MMA, there are just too many ways to lose for anyone to ever have a long career without a loss. Same way with dogs and hogs. Too damn many things can go wrong. You could apply the typical breeding principals, come up with a straight runnin stud, but the first time out, gets bogged down in the mud on a 400lb hog and the hog simply falls over and crushes your ace. I hope all of that makes sense. Bottom line huntin hogs with dogs - you don't vest up, collar up and take good care of your stock, THEY WILL GET KILLED EVENTUALLY - hell - you hunt em long enough WITH the right gear and you'll probably lose em anyways. Tough hobby to partake in.
That's my contribution. I do suggest no one be too critical. Find yourself a guy with some good dogs, contribute a case of beer or two for his time and go out and have a great time hunting some hogs. Getcho self a good fat 300lber and ENJOY YOSELF SOME OF THE BEST RIBS YOU"LL EVER EAT!
If by strike dog you mean finding dog i use my pits for that to and im from australia mate we have tray back utes i drive along doing 20-40km/hr and the pits wind sent the pigs off the back bit to much writing for my phone to read all you wrote so will get on computer
Good read no quarter much same as what i tried say just in a lot more words hahaha. We have mobs here that gang up on your dogs a soft cross will drop off and bail the mob up but a good solid pit will hang in there and get chewed. I had to put my best dog down the other month due to a boar cut his sciatic nerve i healed the wound it was near right through his back leg i kept him for 7 months preying he would get better vet told me the other nerves would eventualy take up its job but the muscle started to ball up away from the knee best bet was put him down. My oldest dog is 8 years old most are lucky to reach 3 and thats with all the gear..
Great response
Jack
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