Not sure why, but I feel like sharing my experiences with the above subject today, maybe you feel like reading. From the get go I want you all to know I'm no expert, no Jaunpozzi here by no means. To the contrary I'm a novice. All this started because my son-in-law, Stuart took my daughter from S. Louisiana and moved to S.W. Arkansas.

I believe it to be true, no, I know it to be true, Stuart, would rather hunt than breathe. Now he has discovered this sport that allows him to hunt year round. Pardon the expression but he is in hog heaven. At my age (57), I'd rather breathe than hunt, but just barely. Stuart got into this by hunting with some of his redneck friends, naturally, as rednecks are by far the dominate species in that locale.

Now I hope no one is offended by the my use of the term redneck as I use it with a whole lot of affection. There's a lot to like about rednecks. They are loyal, generally polite to the elderly (me), and generious to a fault. They will literally give you the shirts off their backs if they think you might want it. Be careful about commenting about something of theirs you like as they are abpt (is that spelled right? please excuse all spelling and grammer errors as I am hardly literate) to try to give it to you. They can fix anything you are liable to break and get you out of the woods by so doing, however it will probably remain in that condition until Christ's return. With a few notable exceptions they are poor shots generally and readily excitable in a hunt. They can not cook worth a darn, and have no idea what to do with oysters, shrimp, and crab. They will eat crawfish but their attempts at getting a boil together render this delicacy into an inedable pile of organic material. They will not abide what they will not abide and that's the way it is, deal with it. But overall there are no finer people on the planet and I am glad that my son-in-law and daughter live amoung them.

One of Stuart's friends and my friend as well has about 50 dogs. Some of them are in pens, some on chains, and some are just milling about. Some of these dogs are just wonderful. He has a black mouth curr that has the best nose in the world. This dog is always the first to strike no matter who we hunt with. It is currently on the mend though as it's hind leg was severely lacerated by a boar several months ago and we miss him very much.

He has some pits that are truly amazing animals. I love these dogs. They are like guided missles homing on the bay when they are released. Nothing will distract them, nor deter them from their misssion, which is to latch on to the hog at all cost. These pits are not that big about 50 lbs or so, but try to get them off the hog, it will take everything you have to do so. Break sticks are used to get them to release the hog. Their courage is something to see, we put cut vest on them but sometimes they suffer severe wounds despite our efforts. That is why we do everything we possibly can to get to them as fast as possible when the dogs are bayed, because the boars can do so much damage to these wonderful animals, so quickly. Sometimes we swim creeks and rivers, and go where you can't go, because these dogs deserve our best efforts.

The hogs up there don't seem to be as big as yours. A good size hog weighs about 220 pounds or so and a really big hog is 300 pounds or so. Even so on our last hunt a good boar with inch and a half tusk cut the cut vest of one of the pits in three places. Fortunately the pit suffered only minor wounds.

Until recentely the hogs were grabbed by the hind legs, wrestled down, and hobbled and taken out of the woods alive to be disposed of later. This might mean it would be castrated, placed in a pen for fattening, used for dog training, etc. With the price of corn going up as it has been, we've taken to killing them. At first this was done by pulling the dogs off and shooting them in the head with a pistol. But this is a little messy and slightly dangerous, so we commenced to killing them with knives.

Now my redneck brethern have not purchase knives for this purpose but have used whatever they have had on them which was a best a good size folder. The hog's neck was slit and that was that, but that excercise is not with out some risk. Anyway I like knives, I really like big knives and this seemed like a good excuse to buy one, so I did. I purchased a scramsax off the internet. This sucker has a 12 inch blade, of carbon steel. The blade is wide, with a very wicked strong point. I can not get it to take a decent edge however and there is something about a knife that won't sharpen I don't like, even if it is used primarily for stickin. And the guys complained some that it was too destructive to the pig's carcass. I did damage to the far side shoulder some, a couple of times but Mr. or Ms. piggy lost oil pressure in a hurry with this device and I like it still.

I next bought a Puma Bowie, with a little 6 inch blade. This is a great little knife that will get crazy sharp in a hurry. It will releave a hog of it's vital fluids in a hurry too, if you hit the hog kind of high and cut down as you remove the blade. This knife is excellant for butchering as well, better than my whitehunter imo. I recentely bought a copy of the knife issuied to the Rough Ridders of Teddy Rooservelt fame. It has a 7.5" blade of 440, and is as wide as my scramsax. I think even though it is not a name brand knife it will do well, as it takes a decent edge and is as strong as Samson.

Revolvers and pistols are used for situations where the dogs get into more pigs than they can handle. Ruger single actions are preferred by most in .357, Stuart uses a Ruger double action and I use a S&W 41 mountain revolver. If pigs are wounded they are generally followed up quickly with the dogs and a sucessful result is obtained.

My son-in-law introduced watercraft to this sport in this region. The area is dominated by a small river, which is often too shallow to navigate with outboards in the summer. We now use his duck boat (pro-drive, flatbottom) to navigate the unnavigable. This has brought a heretofore unknown element to hog hunting by these boys. The hogs will lie next to the river banks, I believe in summer because it is cooler there, and I also believe that the river is an avenue of escape from most hunters who are boatless. We station a man in the boat with a rifle to take care of crossers. I like to use my 30/40 Krag or my Styer Mod. 95 in 8x56R for this purpose. The Styer for those of you who do not know, is an Austrian military carbine. I have trimed it some to make it even lighter. This is important cause if the dogs cross the river I will take the rifle with me to follow. I am too old now for regular iron sights so I have mounted a receivor sight on the Krag. I can get by with this, but I'm having a mount put on the Styer for a red dot sight. This will give me a handy, light, and powerful weapon with which to do battle with the hogs of this area.

Anyhow, this is how we do it, I'm not saying this is the best way, but for now it is our way. I wish I could afford those beautiful white dogs Juan has, but they cost a pile over here, I've checked. Maybe I'll get some when I grow up.

Larry

Wonderful story and thanks for shareing. I think your hogs are about the same size as our hogs. One of my neighbors hunts with dogs and has a hard time keeping enough dogs to hunt with. Its like you said, the boars are hard on dogs and people if you get close enough. I think I'll just keep shooting them from the pickup, tractor and harvesting equipment.

quote:

At first this was done by pulling the dogs off and shooting them in the head with a pistol. But this is a little messy and slightly dangerious, so we commenced to killing them with knives.

The knives are safer?

quote:

I next bought a Puma Bowie, with a little 6 inch blade. This is a great little knife that will get crazy sharp in a hurry.

+1 to that. It's a great knife.

Thanks for the story. Makes me want to kill some piggies!

LWD

I believe knives are safer for the dogs, getting the dogs off the hog and keeping them off sometimes are two different things. A dog rushing in bumping the shooter could be bad. Sometimes bullets do strange things too, once I shot a deer between the eyes with a full jacketed .303 and the bullet exited the shoulder on my side missing me by a couple of feet. It's just easier to knife the hog with the dogs hanging on I think and then remove them from the hog.

Glad you and Coy enjoyed the story!

Larry

I grew up and lived on the Big Isle of Hawaii and had the pleasure of hunting hogs with dogs as a population control measure. In hundreds of kills I used only a knife to cut their throats. I was taught to grab the back legs, twist even the largest boars onto their sides, drop to my knee on their exposed shoulder, cut their throats, and maintain that position until the pig was dead. To do otherwise was to risk injury to the dogs and/or us. I learned early the dogs were worth their weight in gold, when hunting the thick stuff; and any shot taken with the dogs mobbing a pig was much more likely to kill the dogs. We always carried a 30-30 for "pigs in the clear" or emergencies, but during my tenure we never fired a shot at a pig being held by the dogs. Lord knows they were at risk enough doing their thing without us endagering them further.

Great story and advetures Larry! You'd be hard pressed to have anymore fun than you are right now. Keep it up, and keep the stories coming.

Matt

Matt, I certainly bow to your experience, and like you would never shoot a hog bayed by the dogs, there is just too much stuff going on. I had to learn the technique of throwing the hogs by twisting the back legs. The first few times I tried it I had a lot of trouble, until I was advise to push the hog forward, and then quickly twist the hind quarters while the hog is a bit unbalanced. Then you can hobble or kill the pig as you like. The hardest part is to get the pits off the hog, and keeping them off. That'll wear an old man out in a hurry.

Hunting hogs in paradise, that must have been a great ride. Thanks for the feed back.

regards, Larry

Larry wonderfull report thanks for sharing ,im very interested in seeing the photos of the dogs and knives ,please try to post them ,we are very happy here that we have one more knife hunter .I admire TEDDY ROOSVELT and i will try to find the knife.I have a lot red necks as friends and they are great guys ,here they call the red necks GRINGOS but they are mostly north italians from LOS ALPES mountains and Germans.CONGRATULATIONS .Juan

Larry,

I was a younger man back then, but regarding the dogs, I got to watch one funny story line play out over and over again. The pitts and other aggressive crosses were fearless and always ended up getting a cut or two from the boars...never bothered them...they would always rush right in and latch on where ever they could. Sometimes we had to pull one or more dogs off just to get to the pig's throat. We had a small border collie/heeler mix that was still going strong at age 12 or so. After a big boar was down and dead I would count dogs to make sure everyone was present and accounted for, or listen for another strike if someone was missing. Time and time again that little border mix, Freddy, would turn up missing. That little dog would always work his way into the fray, get UNDER the biggest boars and latch on to the pig's armpit. Freddy would often come wriggling out after all the excitement with nary a scratch. He would anchor the pig as well as the pitts but would never get hurt. Freddy was a smart little dog, and one of many I'll not forget. Hunting pigs anywhere and in any way is just plain fun!! Getting to know the dogs personalities and how they work is as much fun as the kill; but you, your friends, Juan, and others who hunt wth dogs already know that.

Have fun and take care of the dogs!

Matt

[QUOTE]Originally posted by juanpozzi:
Larry wonderfull report thanks for sharing ,im very interested in seeing the photos of the dogs and knives ,please try to post them ,we are very happy here that we have one more knife hunter .I admire TEDDY ROOSVELT and i will try to find the knife.I have a lot red necks as friends and they are great guys ,here they call the red necks GRINGOS but they are mostly north italians from LOS ALPES mountains and Germans.CONGRATULATIONS .Juan[/QUOTE

I'm honored that you responded to my post Juan, I've read many of your post with a sense of awe. The three places I've always wanted to hunt were Alaska, Argentina, and New Zealand. I always wanted to hunt red deer, doves, and ducks in Argentina. I was unaware of the hog hunting and will now add that to my list. I was able to make several hunts to Alaska, but Argentina, and New Zealand or still left to do.

I will try to post some pictures, I still have a few saved in an email file. I don't have many as for some reason my wife refuses to let me take her expensive digital camera into the woods. I may be the last user of the 35mm camera on this forum. I will take pictures of the knives for you, but Juan they are not anything special. I will ask my son-in-law to send some of his photos via email, and will post some of them as well.

Not sure if you called me a redneck or not but I would be honored by whatever you choose to call me. There is a bond between those who hunt, no matter where they live, or what languages they speak, this is magnified somewhat if the hunting includes dogs.

Thanks again for your response.

Larry

quote:

Originally posted by hnts4fun:
Larry,

I was a younger man back then, but regarding the dogs, I got to watch one funny story line play out over and over again. The pitts and other aggressive crosses were fearless and always ended up getting a cut or two from the boars...never bothered them...they would always rush right in and latch on where ever they could. Sometimes we had to pull one or more dogs off just to get to the pig's throat. We had a small border collie/heeler mix that was still going strong at age 12 or so. After a big boar was down and dead I would count dogs to make sure everyone was present and accounted for, or listen for another strike if someone was missing. Time and time again that little border mix, Freddy, would turn up missing. That little dog would always work his way into the fray, get UNDER the biggest boars and latch on to the pig's armpit. Freddy would often come wriggling out after all the excitement with nary a scratch. He would anchor the pig as well as the pitts but would never get hurt. Freddy was a smart little dog, and one of many I'll not forget. Hunting pigs anywhere and in any way is just plain fun!! Getting to know the dogs personalities and how they work is as much fun as the kill; but you, your friends, Juan, and others who hunt wth dogs already know that.

Have fun and take care of the dogs!

Matt

Matt, what a great little dog Freddy was for sure. Those are the kind memories that enrich ower lives so much. What a heart this little feller had!! You're right, every dog has his own personality, just like people, they are just easier to get along with.

I'll keep chasing the dogs as long as these old legs allow.

regards, Larry

It seems I don't have permission to post photos.

Larry, thank you very much for sharing your experiences with us!! Hunting hogs in every manner is addictive.

You don't need permission to post, you need a hosting site like Photobucket in order to post. Open an account (it's free), and upload your picture there, and then copy and paste them into your responses. It's so simple, even I figured out how to use it!

Thanks for your kind response and help, it will truly have to be simple, as simple is probaly the best way to describe me.

If that doesn't work out for you, PM me and I'll send you my e-mail address and you can e-mail me the photos and I'll post 'em for you.

quote:

Originally posted by juanpozzi:
Larry wonderfull report thanks for sharing ,im very interested in seeing the photos of the dogs and knives ,please try to post them ,we are very happy here that we have one more knife hunter .I admire TEDDY ROOSVELT and i will try to find the knife.I have a lot red necks as friends and they are great guys ,here they call the red necks GRINGOS but they are mostly north italians from LOS ALPES mountains and Germans.CONGRATULATIONS .Juan

Juan, here are my pig stickers + my white hunter. The handle on the Scramsax was too slippery so I cut little grooves on the handle for a better grip.

Hey, it looks like it worked! Nice pig stickers, Larry!

Beautiful knives ,please try to post photos of the dogs and hogs very intersting report ,here we hunt hogs almost every week end ,but now we are in the beggining of the partrige season one of my favourite games so i left pigs alone for a month .Try to hunt in texas with dogos sometime you will love them.Juan

I'll put some photos up as soon as I can, we too are in a bit of a lull, because of the turkey season. I may go up to visit my daughter this weekend, and if we get to hunt at all, it will have to be at night. I would love to hunt in Texas with the dogos, or any other place for that matter. One of my friends, says he is familiar with the breed, and he has a friend who is crossing them with a smaller dog in an effort to get the size down a bit. Really don't know anymore than that, but if it was me, I wouldn't mess with perfection.

quote:

Originally posted by Larry Matherne:
I'll put some photos up as soon as I can, we too are in a bit of a lull, because of the turkey season. I may go up to visit my daughter this weekend, and if we get to hunt at all, it will have to be at night. I would love to hunt in Texas with the dogos, or any other place for that matter. One of my friends, says he is familiar with the breed, and he has a friend who is crossing them with a smaller dog in an effort to get the size down a bit. Really don't know anymore than that, but if it was me, I wouldn't mess with perfection.

quote:

Originally posted by Larry Matherne:
I'll put some photos up as soon as I can, we too are in a bit of a lull, because of the turkey season. I may go up to visit my daughter this weekend, and if we get to hunt at all, it will have to be at night. I would love to hunt in Texas with the dogos, or any other place for that matter. One of my friends, says he is familiar with the breed, and he has a friend who is crossing them with a smaller dog in an effort to get the size down a bit. Really don't know anymore than that, but if it was me, I wouldn't mess with perfection.

dogs and boat on river

catahoula at work

GREAT pictures Larry! It doesn't get much better than that. We also used catahoulas in the mix and man did they get it done.

Matt

Matt, I love them to, my present locale prevents me from putting the pack together that I'd like, but catahoulas would deffentally be in the mix. I'd like to have a couple of them dogos to, even if I had to miss a meal or two to get them.

Larry here we are a lot of hunters seing your photos ,while drinking malbec and eating sausages of wild boar ,we are preparing ribs ASADAS with wood fire .Wonderful photos excellent trophy thank you .Juan

WOW, WISH I WAS THERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

quote:

Originally posted by hnts4fun:
GREAT pictures Larry! It doesn't get much better than that. We also used catahoulas in the mix and man did they get it done.

Matt

Matt, I bet is was hard to introduce new breeds in Hawaii back in the day. How did y'all get catahoulas? They are a local breed of this area, Juan says he hunts with them as well I believe. Good dogs for sure.

Larry,

I don't know exactly where the Catahoulas came from. I think the program manager had a line on a local rancher who had a few. The outfit also spent big bucks bringing a couple of dogs in from Australia. I've e-mailed a buddy to try to find out what breed they were. They had Doberman like colors but carried a bit more weight. We got two brothers and they didn't play well with others. The two siblings would take on all comers and had to be separated from the pack as soon as the pig or pigs were killed or else they were always causing trouble. I'll have to dig a picture or two out of the photo album and scan them for you.

One of my very favorites, besides Freddy, was a great big chested black lab, named Kimo, who survived the arsenic heartworm treatment. Man he had heart, no pun intended. Another was a German shepherd/pitbull cross. His name was Mo'oo, which was Hawaiian for brindle colored. Mo'oo was as gentle as a baby lamb, but absolutely fearless, brutally strong, and relentless in his pursuit of pigs.

I remember one time I did my post kill dog count and he was missing. After about an hour he found me and his face was covered with blood that... upon inspection... I learned did not belong to him. It took forever to coax him into leading me through the thick stuff... almost a mile away. He hadn't wanted to hang around some pig that was already dead, he went out and found his own, and when I didn't show up, he killed it himself. It had been a young boar of about 150 pounds, sporting those dangerously sharp short cutters. Mo'oo didn't have a scratch on him but he used those strong jaws to take the whole top of that pig's head off. I sure loved that dog.

About six months after I left the program I returned for a visit and Mo'oo wasn't in the kennel. I asked around and learned he had been found dead in his sleeping spot a couple of days after a hard hunt. A vet performed at necropsy and found a nasty bruise under the skin, below his throat, on the leading point of his chest. He surmised Mo'oo had been running full speed when he ran into a tree, or stump or something.

Larry, after composing this post I figured out the only thing you're going to get from me, on these walks down memory lane, are stories about some great friends and hunting adventures. Thank you for that!

Matt

You guys inspired a new post........stand by!

Nice report, great knives and beautiful pictures...

Thanks for sharing !

PS: I am a big fan of the white hunter myself (sadly nowadays editions have nothing to do with what they used to be before 1990 or so ...) I have one that was my father's and given to me as a gift by him when I harvested my first big game a little more than a couple of decades ago... https://forums.accuratereloading.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/5021043/m/671103416

Glad you enjoyed my little story. There is something about the white hunter that is endearing. Mine was accuired in the mid eighties, the orginal sheath was lost when my home flooded in 1995, and I just got a puma replacement for it last week. take care lm

This could be a new member of the family. A mix, I think all of our dogs are mixes, dogos and american bull dog. One year old, we will be trying him out soon, and if he looks like he will make a catch dog he will be MINE. Cross your fingers for me, I'm hoping he will work out.

Larry, my fingers are crossed! Maybe I will get to see him in action up close and personal!! How come the picture isn't there??

Yeah, Marko, I think you can see him now and hopefully you'll see him catch a hog are two. Like waiting for Christmas.

He's a stout lookin' fella! Can't wait to see how he catches!

I decided that this post needs more guns, so here are some of my hog killing devices. Let's see yours. My Styer sporting it's new red dot sight, my .41 mag, and my 6.5 Jap/Italian scout.

Here's my latest......

WoW. Marko, that's what I call a handgun!! Custom Ruger maybe, what caliber? Want to talk stout, that's stout. You'll get the redneck's attention with that, no doubt.

Larry, it's a custom Ruger Super Redhawk in .475 Linebaugh. It was built by Jack Huntington. I have an Ultradot 30 perched on top. Yes it is stout!

I have a rifle I would like to use on hogs that I have yet to blood. My old Johnson......10 rounds, .30-06.......serious hog medicine!!