Lee Loader

We had a large boar show up last night at the house. I went outside to try to shoot it, but as soon as I was outside the rain poured and he left. I stayed up tonight; it was a struggle as I spent Sunday on the tractor out in the pasture. While out working, I was more than sore about this hog managed to tear up a lot of my work in less than 12 hours! A little before 2 am this morning, he showed up. The rifle is my Savage 99 chambered in 300 Savage.



Two months of work came together for my dogs and I as well. When I came out of the house into the yard with the rifle in hand, they listened to me as they stayed quite and got down. They remained quiet while I made the 70-yards shot and then got on the Mule when told. As we approach the boar he was down but not out so again they stayed with the Mule as told so that I could flank the hog for the followup shot. At that shot, I "released the hounds!" and they went airborne out of the mule and tackled this big hog.

The dog part of this has been crazy. All this has been practiced in small bits and pieces along with plenty of loving discipline, and it simply came together tonight. Two shelter dogs with no ranch savvy, one particularly gun shy, but they were there with me every step of the way relying on their schooling and ready for me to lead. In that I depend on "selfies" for my photos, the hardest part was getting two dogs in the same spot of 10 seconds as to say they were excited about their first hog would be an understatement! Laurel, the hound, is just above my left knee in the background.

Thats a very old story youre telling -- man and dog working together to get meat

Great pics too

Those are 2 great dogs you have there. To be that obedient with all that going on. You have trained them and they have learned well and fast.

Big ugly pig.

Thanks, guys! I cannot believe it has come together so fast. These two guys are so eager to please me it is crazy. My wife said she could not believe that I'm not sleeping in the garage on a cot with them! I replied that I've thought about it!

How they tackled the hog caused me to think of something else as well. I was at a Texas Law Shield self defense seminar late last summer, this outfit holds different seminars all over the State, and a fellow from the ATF was there talking about his involvement in anti-gang violence along the border. Scary stuff. One statistic he had was that if two guys have fought together against a foe three times, the odds of surviving an encounter with this pair are less than 1%. The ability of the mind to learn violence is not well understood but what happens is that these two individuals, any two individuals, that share that violent experience learns what it takes to support each other to win without realizing that the brain is doing it. Two individuals that understand this and use their "experience" to learn are extremely dangerous.

My dogs are constantly sparing as a form of entertainment. They never get out of control with each other, but the outsider would probably ask why I don't stop it. I think it just a "dog" thing plus it takes a bunch of energy out of them that I don't have to deal with in some way or another. I've never thought about it much until last night. What I didn't realize was they have been in training, it hasn't been playing, but rather learning to support each other in combat. A real primal thing. I think had that hog been "whole," at "get'm," they would have run him down and killed him. It was an unbelieve amount of fury that I unleashed and reminded me of my responsibility in handling them.

Back to reloading...

When I used to hunt boar in Hawaii the rancher's dogs were amazing. The first one would go for the pig's tail. When he got it the pig would start to whorl around but in that instance the other dog would go for the pig's throat. Lighting fast and usually lethal. My dad, the local country MD, did sew up a few of these amazing hunters much to the ranchers application and our benefit for use of their ranch, horses, and hunting privileges.

today my little, pound found, ugly rotten ornery mutt would prefer to be on the couch which show just how far man has reduce these canines from their progenitors. At my age my best friend has earned his couch time, extra walks and treats.

Nice work to all three of you.

That gang violence stat is sobering.

klr wrote:Nice work to all three of you.

That gang violence stat is sobering.

Yeah. The ATF dude looked like a gang banger; all tat'd up. His advice was to flee or shoot early, carry a large caliber handgun and know how to manipulate it, carry at a minimum of three magazines (two properly indexed in a pouch), and train formally. Another sobering thought is that we tend to think of a gang member holding his pistol sideways and banging away. Maybe up north but not down here. Members are well trained in the violence of action and know how to shoot well. In other words, they are super aggressive, calm and controlled under fire, hit what they are shooting at, and when tasked with action, typically wear body armor. Law enforcement frequently finds secret indoor training facilities.

Welcome to the Southern Border.

You can't beat a damn good dog, especially two (or more!)! All of our four are rescues. 2 Black Mouth Cur mixes, a Black Malanoise, and a herd mix. I would put the first three up against any vermin, human or otherwise. And the herd dog would chase it to no end. It is very rewarding to rescue and animal and bond with it. You are very lucky! and nice bacon too!!

The pairing works extremely well as long as the beta doesn't decide it wants to be the alfa which was what happened with a new dog paired with my old dog 9 and 1 1/2 yr just didn't work so I had a dog I couldn't work with the established dog because she would bully and spare instead of working and when worked alone would come home and fight ........

Yep a pair that work together and know what the other needs are a blessing . Even with the 2 that were always at each other had it come to home and harth I'm pretty confident that head and heel would have been the order of business . Small game doesn't tend to want to eat a retriever ....