TX Hill Country Hog Dogs

Thermal Hunters all day long 🤣

Five of 2024’s biggest boars so far this year. I’m missing 2 more but will add them when they’re finished up!

Sure am missing these two girls. Kitty and Texas. Some of the finest dogs I ever hunted with. Hard mouthed and all business in the woods. The good Lord gives and takes away. Hopefully we can have another pair of females this great on the yard again. I have the last female of this trio who is the closest duplicate to Kitty I can get. She will be hitting the woods this fall and we will see if she can live up to the greatness of her family and give us the next generation of true dogos to run the Texas Hill Country.

I can’t spoil too much about this hunt but had a good friend Chris Miller join me for a unique hunt that will be featured this fall by one of the most popular companies in America. Today, Frio became an official running catch dog and earned a place on the yard. A special thank you to my wife for supporting me through all the years and for being there with me in the highest of highs and lowest of lows. Thanks babe you’re the best! Another thanks to the good Lord for blessing me with some good hunting dogs and the opportunity to do what I enjoy. Thanks to Chris for supplying the buggy and another sure enough strike dog and trusting these white dogs of mine to get the job done in a rough spot. Got really muddy tonight!

A Strange Night

I went hunting with my good friend Tony on Sunday night and had a hunt I won’t forget for a while. Not your typical hunt where we strike a good boar and catch him in some canyon that ends in a wild story but something quite different.

The night started out in the hills between Harper and the James River when we arrived around 9:30 p.m. We had waited until well after dark since it was nearly 100 degrees earlier in the day. When we started hunting, the temperature surprisingly dropped to around 77 degrees, and was quite cool. We were pretty excited about that.

On our first drop, we were around two hundred yards away from the first feeder when my strike dog Hammer started sounding off on the bed of the truck. Tony and I have an unwritten rule though that we need a two-dog vote to drop. Maybe ten seconds after Hammer fired up, Tony’s dog Boone began firing up as well so we dropped. Tony also had his young dog, Bobby, who went with the veterans to go bay us a hog up. My dogos Duende and Frio were in the dog box patiently waiting to do their jobs.

The dogs all ended up on different ends of the ranch on this drop and split up. They weren’t able to line one out in this particular drop. It was very odd though as they clearly jumped something but whatever it was had given them the slip.

So we got the dogs back and decided to hunt in another area. The dogs wanted to get out and hunt and so we decided to road them. We dropped the three bay dogs and they were eager to hunt and instantly got to work.

We were maybe nine hundred yards from our target area when Hammer jumped one off the road to our left about two hundred yards away. He sounded off and the others went to join him. Before too long, the pup had come back and it was just Hammer and Boone out there running this hog about a half mile away.

Tony and I decided we didn’t want to have to go that far to get them as it seemed they had lost the track again. We have had a few big boars give us the slip out in this area and with as hot and dry as it is on the land we hunt on, we decided to get the dogs back.

So we began calling dogs back and they slowly began to make their way back to us. I toned Hammer and gave him a little buzz on his tracking collar which he knows I’m telling him to come to me. He is an obedient dog and he always comes back when I tell him to just like he did earlier in the night.

This is where things got interesting.

There came a point where Hammer was backtracking towards us and then just stopped under a large tree and some brush. He wasn’t barking. He wasn’t making a sound. Boone was still on his way back to us but Hammer hadn’t moved for around five minutes or so.

I told Tony I was going to head out and go get Hammer because I just had a bad feeling something happened to him. I’m not sure why I just told Tony that I hoped someone didn’t shoot him because he just stopped and wasn’t moving and hadn’t moved for even longer now although Boone was still working back towards us.

So Tony joined me and we both decided to go get back both dogs as we couldn’t drive any further than we had already gone. We got our headlamps, grabbed two leads, and off we went.

Along the way, I was just stumped on what Hammer was doing. I had a lot going through my mind. I wasn’t sure if he had been shot and crawled in the brush to die or if some pack of dogs had killed him or if he had been cut down by a boar. It just didn’t make sense as Boone was coming back to us but Hammer wasn’t.

We crossed a big creek with steep side walls and got to the top and around one hundred yards later we stopped and let Boone come to us. Tony clipped him and offered to go with me but I told him to just go back to the truck and I’d go get Hammer who was still around six hundred yards away and hadn’t moved. Tony offered me his pistol but I declined. I never carry when I run dogs. Personal choice is all. Tony and Boone left back to the truck and I continued on my way to Hammer.

I just had a weird feeling as I got closer to Hammer. Something wasn’t right. I wasn’t afraid but something was off. I called to Hammer and kept whistling to him and he refused to move. He was under that same tree that he had stopped under twenty minutes earlier. I got to within one hundred yards and my sixth sense just started firing off alarms in my head.

Next thing you know I was within 40 yards and kept calling Hammer and I couldn’t hear anything moving. Now I was suspicious and was fully expecting to find a dead dog. Now I was within 20 yards. Still nothing. I started easing forward very slowly and cautiously and I knew something was very off.

Then I finally sneaked up to within thirty feet from where I could see Hammer on my Dogtra tracking system and in front of me was a giant tree with agarita, shin oak, and cedar all around it along with a dead grey tree that had fallen under the bigger tree. Hammer was in there. Only a few seconds after I got to within thirty feet something began growling very loud in the brush and I assumed it was Hammer. Regardless if it was Hammer or not though, my adrenaline spiked and I knew that wasn’t a good sign.

My heart started racing and I instantly regretted not getting that pistol from Tony and instead grabbed my knife and pulled it out of its sheath. So many thoughts started going through my head. I was like “Well today’s the day!” I thought it was some dogs guarding Hammer’s dead body and was ready to defend myself and I quickly backed up maybe ten feet or so behind a tree as the growling intensified. About the time I reached the tree, something blew up out of the brush pile that Hammer was in and ran away towards my right. When that happened, it felt like someone drove a sledgehammer through my heart and into my gut. Clearly whatever it was had seen me coming long before I got there and it had the jump on me if it had chosen so.

So whatever animal had dove out of the brush bounded away and I could hear a few rocks move and a few branches crack and then all was quiet within two to three seconds. It vanished. I was frozen and wasn’t sure what it was but I was expecting it to be a big boar and figured Hammer had chased him out but I looked down and Hammer was still in the brush pile in front of me where he had been the entire time. I couldn’t smell a boar either and usually when you’re that close you can smell a big one. I waited a few seconds to see if the creature that ran out would come back but I was certain it was gone.

I started whispering to Hammer again and walked toward where he was as my heart was pounding in my chest and my eyes were darting in every shadow. Then Hammer began coming out of the brush very slowly and very cautiously. My initial thought was that he was blind because he was looking left, right, and everywhere else but at me with his nose in the air. It seemed like he was terrified and was incredibly concerned about whatever had been with him a few seconds earlier. He hesitated to come out from under that tree for a little while as he kept staring around. This made my skin scrawl. I thought he had porcupine quills in his eyes or that he had possibly been sprayed by a skunk but there was no evidence or smell of either of those scenarios. I quickly checked his body for any injuries. He had no marks or blood.

I’ve been in combat numerous times in Afghanistan and Iraq at night and have been running dogs at night since 2004. I ain’t the kind of man to get worried easily. I wasn’t ever scared going out in the woods in the dark by myself. I’ve never been scared in the woods except once before when I was a young teenager. This was the second time. There’s just something different about being one one-on-one versus raw nature with nothing but a knife with no cell signal in the middle of nowhere. Things just weren’t adding up. Hammer kept looking around as I called to him and he finally got to me and sniffed my hand and at that point, I decided it was time to get the flip out of there. Hammer didn’t try to hunt. He stayed right by me and we moved at a brisk pace watching our backs and it wasn’t until I saw the truck and Tony that I finally breathed a sigh of relief. It was a long walk back.

Tony asked me what had taken so long and I told him what had just happened. I loaded up Hammer and just prepared to tell Tony and hoped he wouldn’t think I was crazy. He was just as shocked and confused as I was. As we drove through the ranch back to my truck, we talked it over for a while discussing what it could have been and all we could both agree on was that it wasn’t a pleasant situation. We got to the top of a hill on the ranch and there was a big pretty blood-red moon to put the cherry on top of my night. Needless to say, that will be the last time I walk solo in the woods to retrieve another dog. I’ll be taking another person or a dogo with me from now on.

After a few days of thinking about it and what Tony and I had talked about, I have one assumption that makes the most realistic sense given the situation. I’m not going to say this is what happened but it makes the most sense given what had happened. It would be fun to hear what everyone else thinks as well.

I think somewhere along running some hogs, Hammer ran into a cat. I think maybe that cat decided to have Hammer for dinner. Hammer has great survival instincts and I think he dove under that tree to save his tail. I think the cat may have been trying to find a way to get to him as we worked our way there and finally being pressured enough by my arrival, the cat decided to abandon Hammer for dinner. That’s the only logical scenario I can come up with for that particular situation. My only regret in hindsight is that I wasn’t able to send a few dogos in to see if we could have caught ourselves a cat 🤣

What are your thoughts?

My wife was on the way to work this morning and saw a group of hogs leaving the house so called me and told me where she had seen them. Woke Ryder up, grabbed Duende, and set off. Got to the spot she said they were at and couldn’t see them but knew it didn’t matter as Duende would take a track anyway. I could tell he was already winding them as he was whining in the bed of the truck and antsy wanting to get out. Dropped the tailgate and Duende instantly took off running with nose in the air. Within a few seconds, he found the track and was nose on the ground full sprint. We watched him work and he went up around 300 yards, jumped the group, and caught us a sow. Simple work for him this morning. Ryder was so excited and happy and it’s how us hunters wish we could start every morning. Thank the Lord for a watchful wife, a son who loves hunting just as much as I do, a beautiful Texas morning, and a good dogo!

Doing some training today with Frio. Working on coming back to me when I call him back. Getting his mind working. Naturally, he will just follow my senior dogs when called back but it’s always good to have a handle on every individual dog for uncountable reasons but a few situations such as crossing a neighbors, crossing into a river, directing his attention in a different direction, unwanted or aggressive animals in the area that may present a problem, or maybe it’s just time to pack it up and head home. Either way getting a handle on them makes life easier.

Got some new merch to show off!

Duende joined everyone for some s’mores this evening…he’s a good boy.

Great hunt this weekend with some great friends! Knocked down a lot of good hogs and a toothy boar who left Duende with a scar to remember! Also got us a nice Catalina who gave us a thrill of a hunt! Thanks to good friends when you need em and thanks to the good Lord for another day in this beautiful state!

RCD collar vs strike dog collar…can always tell the difference

Some great friends of mine and myself had us a good time this past weekend during the Travis Spielman hog hunt where we got 2nd place. 60lbs shy of first but we had a blast and dogs did great! Already looking forward to next year!

“You can Tri to run, but you’ll just die tired”
-TX HCHD

My favorite boar of 2023. Looking ahead to see how many we can catch this year! Got a new pup on the yard that is ready to start his hunting career with us so watch for him soon! Happy New Year to everyone and good hunting!

Texas is already ready to start hunting again. I’ll give her a few more weeks and let her heal good first before she gets back in the woods.

It was a good morning running the dogs. Hammer struck a hog and ran him for around 30 minutes and ended up losing the boar in all the thick hilly cedars, rock, and brush. We went to where Hammer lost him as he was running in circles and could tell he was still in the area. We let the dogos out to give him a hand and get some fresh legs and noses on the ground. Not even 5 minutes later they picked up his trail as they all bolted away together around 150-200 yards and made contact. After tripping what felt like 30 times and having too many choice words and being out of breath I got to them. They had him glued down upon arrival and I dispatched him quickly. Upon looking at Texas, she had blood gushing out from a nasty cut in her neck so I quickly stuffed her neck full of dirt and mud to clog it up. She began to lay down and was feeling it so we knew time was of the essence. Carried her out and to the ranger and got to the truck where I got to use the medical pack that my wife and my son got me for Father’s Day. After a ton of blood stop, gauze, and medical wrap, I got her stabilized and took off for the vet. I called every vet in Kerr County but I guess nobody does after-hours calls anymore. I called my vet at Fredericksburg Equine and small animal vet and they picked up and said they meet me at the clinic so a big shout out to them for being available when no others were. Nearly lost Texas but she is tough as all get out and had lots of fighting spirit and was able to make it. She will live to hunt another day. Thank the Lord for a nice boar on a beautiful Texas Sunday.

Been runnin dogs almost 20 years now and I still make mistakes. Like sending my lone dogo female into a bay for a slugfest with this monster. Wouldn’t mind it if she was a veteran dog but she is green and has only caught 12 hogs. She didn’t quit and never once backed down and stayed with him till he breathed his last breath though and that’s a win in my book. Reason she went in alone was because we had a split bay right as I released the dogs and they each went to a separate bay. It happens. Not every day I get the opportunity to see a young dog go against a boar of this caliber and go blow for blow but it sure was fun to see her make a case to stay on the yard.

Couldn’t resist taking advantage of the cool weather and rain from yesterday. Decided to go hunt the neighbors and was rewarded with good effort from Hammer and Texas with a nice tusky sow who gave us quite the run for the money in the thick cedars.

Got to hunt with some new dogs the other weekend with some great friends from Georgia who came down for a visit. Some of the best dogs I have ever seen in person. Owned by Kevin Johnson. Hoping to add some of these genetics on the yard.

Happy to get a new pup from Elite Veteran Outfitters. Thank you for trusting myself and my hunting program with one of your fine young pups. He will get every chance and I’ll to be a true dogo and bring joy to hunters from all over the country.

If you enjoy what we do and have always wanted to come out and see the dogs themselves in action and have some great conversation we would love to have you come out. It’s been a long time coming and we are ecstatic to finally get the opportunity to showcase our dogs even moreso than we ever have and get to show the true dogo work in some of the hardest terrain in the country.

Duende at the 2023 Doguero Pachanga. He done good. We didnt make too much noise but we met some great fills and got to see some amazing dogs work from all over the country. We made new friends and shared a common passion and I’m grateful we got to see it all in person. Congratulations to all the winners it was well deserved and we look forward to the next one 💪

Only 4 years old and putting in the work to keep dogs. Future little dog man in the making 💪