Holiday went to Hogs
So last Friday the big boss gave us Friday afternoon off so in my mind, what was the point of going in on Friday morning? I could get more fencing some and work on my new deer blind and feeder spot. Then I realized I had to also take off Tuesday afternoon, so coming off a 4 day "holiday" what was the point in working Tuesday morning?
Oh, and I finally had a sounder of hogs coming around my big trap.
But nothing ruins a work weekend like a good friend coming into to town! Dern it.
I started out on Friday by fixing gates, cleaning the house, etc. Just loose ends that I wanted tied up. We planned to deworm the cattle on Saturday morning and put fly tags on so the gates had to be fixed. I also went out during animal siesta at 2 pm to set and bait the Texas Trap. Then I set about cleaning off some fences to prepare for replacement.
And then the phone rang. My good friend Marlo called. She was in Franklin with her granddaughter, Jazelle, and husband Gary. And they were at a mutual friend's, Kevin, to dog hunt hogs with another mutual friend, Laramie. I was excited!
She asked if she could come visit over the weekend, and maybe I could come there to run some dogs on hogs. I've never done that, but any time I can try something new with good friends, I'm in.
I quickly said I had my big trap set and was confident I would trap a large sounder that very night and would need help shooting them on Saturday. She said, heck yeah! We have lots of shooters and guns!
Saturday morning did not disappoint! I woke up and check my camera. Yep! Lots of pigs!
I let Marlo know and they said when they were done hunting they would come out, probably around 10 or 11. My son and I worked the cattle, moved them, and did a few other things to prepare for the harvest. I called the hunting party to find out what was happening. They had things go sideways and were not able to hunt that morning so they decided to load up and head our way. Laramie asked if he could bring a couple of young dogs to run on a couple of piglets after we were done shooting the big pigs. I told him we had never done that before so we would play it by ear.
At noon they arrived. It was getting hot. We have a brief safety meeting and I called my neighbor who usually takes all hogs but he ran into a snag. A friend borrowed his truck and had not returned. I told him we would bring the hogs to him. The group quietly agreed when I volun-told them to field dress the pigs.
We headed over to the trap. Jazelle was set up in the back of the truck and the rest of the shooters were lined up. The shooting commenced and every big pig went down. Soon there were 3 stripers and a slightly larger pig left. We decided it would be ok to run the "pups". The main pupil was an 11 month old Dogo. Soon the pup really turned on and with the help of Lacy Dogs and a Black Mouth Cur, she caught 3 of the 4 pigs, which were quickly dispatched with a knife stick from several people. A young man, Diago, was quite impressive for a 14 year old. He was able to shoot some pigs and stick some others.
In the end, we trapped and killed 23 pigs. The weight was too much for my trailer. The floor collapsed and the sides dern near fell off.
The dogs had gotten really hot but we got hem to a tank and while we let them cool off, I showed Diago the finer points of gutting a hog.
That's Jazelle up front and Kevin on the left. The BMC was in the danger zone of heat exhaustion, but quick thinking and proper care saved her and she was ready to go the next day.
We field dressed all 23 pigs just as my neighbor recovered his truck and arrived to collect them. One of the shooters took 3 or 4 piglets and the rest went to Preacher. Pigs were stacked over the bed rails and if my hands weren't bloody I'd snap a picture. Thankfully, when we were done we did not smell any problems with the meat and Preacher at 83 years of age was quite thankful.
We were all tired from the heat and work so I really didn't get much done except the main thing - working the cattle that morning.
Next - Sunday's hog dog run!
Oh, and I finally had a sounder of hogs coming around my big trap.
But nothing ruins a work weekend like a good friend coming into to town! Dern it.
I started out on Friday by fixing gates, cleaning the house, etc. Just loose ends that I wanted tied up. We planned to deworm the cattle on Saturday morning and put fly tags on so the gates had to be fixed. I also went out during animal siesta at 2 pm to set and bait the Texas Trap. Then I set about cleaning off some fences to prepare for replacement.
And then the phone rang. My good friend Marlo called. She was in Franklin with her granddaughter, Jazelle, and husband Gary. And they were at a mutual friend's, Kevin, to dog hunt hogs with another mutual friend, Laramie. I was excited!
She asked if she could come visit over the weekend, and maybe I could come there to run some dogs on hogs. I've never done that, but any time I can try something new with good friends, I'm in.
I quickly said I had my big trap set and was confident I would trap a large sounder that very night and would need help shooting them on Saturday. She said, heck yeah! We have lots of shooters and guns!
Saturday morning did not disappoint! I woke up and check my camera. Yep! Lots of pigs!
I let Marlo know and they said when they were done hunting they would come out, probably around 10 or 11. My son and I worked the cattle, moved them, and did a few other things to prepare for the harvest. I called the hunting party to find out what was happening. They had things go sideways and were not able to hunt that morning so they decided to load up and head our way. Laramie asked if he could bring a couple of young dogs to run on a couple of piglets after we were done shooting the big pigs. I told him we had never done that before so we would play it by ear.
At noon they arrived. It was getting hot. We have a brief safety meeting and I called my neighbor who usually takes all hogs but he ran into a snag. A friend borrowed his truck and had not returned. I told him we would bring the hogs to him. The group quietly agreed when I volun-told them to field dress the pigs.
We headed over to the trap. Jazelle was set up in the back of the truck and the rest of the shooters were lined up. The shooting commenced and every big pig went down. Soon there were 3 stripers and a slightly larger pig left. We decided it would be ok to run the "pups". The main pupil was an 11 month old Dogo. Soon the pup really turned on and with the help of Lacy Dogs and a Black Mouth Cur, she caught 3 of the 4 pigs, which were quickly dispatched with a knife stick from several people. A young man, Diago, was quite impressive for a 14 year old. He was able to shoot some pigs and stick some others.
In the end, we trapped and killed 23 pigs. The weight was too much for my trailer. The floor collapsed and the sides dern near fell off.
The dogs had gotten really hot but we got hem to a tank and while we let them cool off, I showed Diago the finer points of gutting a hog.
That's Jazelle up front and Kevin on the left. The BMC was in the danger zone of heat exhaustion, but quick thinking and proper care saved her and she was ready to go the next day.
We field dressed all 23 pigs just as my neighbor recovered his truck and arrived to collect them. One of the shooters took 3 or 4 piglets and the rest went to Preacher. Pigs were stacked over the bed rails and if my hands weren't bloody I'd snap a picture. Thankfully, when we were done we did not smell any problems with the meat and Preacher at 83 years of age was quite thankful.
We were all tired from the heat and work so I really didn't get much done except the main thing - working the cattle that morning.
Next - Sunday's hog dog run!
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