Chapter 1: The Beginning

I was asked to write a bimonthly article for a local magazine to represent women in hunting.  The following is most of what was produced for the first article, although the magazine’s funding fell through, and it was never produced.  After re-reading it several years later, I decided it would serve well as an a different muse for blogging.

DISCLAIMER: It was produced AFTER duck and deer season closed….right now we are all happily hunting all the things but since it is the genesis of my love for hunting I decided to go ahead and leave it in tact and post as is!

As duck season and deer season have officially come to a close and we are missing the excitement and adventure of being in the woods, not wanting to patiently wait for turkey or alligator season to come, we have to think of things to pass the time!  Texas is full of options! The weather in East Texas tends to alternate seasons during days in a single week and sometimes even on a single day you can experience both spring/summer and fall(and what we call winter! This can work to a hunter or fisherman’s advantage because the change in barometric pressure and temps helps spur activity!

Predator hunting with the use of a mouth or electronic call is always an option! It’s always fulfilling when you are able to call something in and harvest it, even more so when you are able to do it with a mouth call, mimicking the sounds and creating the right conditions yourself!  Since it’s not miserably cold and we are experiencing the labor pains of spring, fishing for big blue catfish can be a great way to pass the time and fill the freezer!  In fact we have been more successful in March and April jug fishing for big blues and ops in a lake or line fishing in the river than any other time except possibly the transition from summer to fall while we are waiting on archery season! If you’re a night owl you might be thinking this weather is the perfect time for coon hunting!

Another option to continue hunting right through to turkey season is hog hunting! Since hogs aren’t particularly easy to pattern because of their inconsistency, stand hunting for them can sometimes be uneventful and seemingly not as rewarding.  Hunting with dogs on the other hand, can be absolutely exhilarating, fulfilling and can also help to fill the freezer as well!  There is nothing better for breakfast than fresh homemade sausage, biscuits and gravy and fresh yard eggs!  This makes me reminiscent of my very first hog hunt which was also my first opportunity to hunt anything larger than a squirrel or rabbit! It was the awakening of the hunter I was born to be, like adding gasoline to smoldering fire!

As a shooter enthusiast who had only ever been squirrel and rabbit hunting before, 2000 held some new adventures!  After meeting my husband, Shaun, in April of 2000 and listening to him and his dad tell and retell hog hunting stories I was sure I had to experience it for myself! We fished and bow fished during the hottest part of the summer and he would go out with his dad and brother at night to hunt hogs. Not ever having participated in a hog hunt I wasn’t sure the pitch black of night was the way I wanted to start out.  I convinced them to go early in the morning and let me see what it was all about!

We collared, vested, and loaded bay dogs and vested and loaded catch dogs, gathered our gear and set out.  When we stepped out of the truck and unloaded the bay dogs they began running around and using the bathroom clearly excited and ready for work.  I was handed several mule tape tie strings, an extra dog lead, and one end of a lead that had a vested catch dog named, Spot, on the other end of it.  Spot was small for a catch dog and had the greatest disposition, he was incredibly friendly and just yesterday I had seen him laying on his back in the yard playing with several Airedale pups who had wandered into his area.  I couldn’t imagine that he was going to willingly catch a hog let alone be large enough to hold it.

As we walked down into the bottom we saw fresh hog rooting which the dogs had already been across and had disappeared into the woods ahead.  Some of the young pups trotting not too far in front of us threw their noses to the ground and seemed to be energized and trailed very quickly into the woods in the same direction the older more experienced dogs had already gone.

Just as Shaun’s dad was pulling out the tracking system to track the collars of the bay dogs we had placed on them that morning the largest commotion I had ever heard met my ears! Dogs barking (baying) a whole rally of hogs! How did I know it was a rally? Well at the time I didn’t, Shaun’s dad later explained the vocabulary to me because at that time THERE WAS NO TIME! All of a sudden Shaun and his brother, took off sprinting in the direction of the bay after having already grabbed…snatched…Spot’s lead out of my hands! Thankfully his dad stayed with me at that moment to give me directives!

 As we ran in the direction of the bay and the group of hogs it became louder and louder!!! Running up to a  large group of hogs rallying and cackling as they are being bayed by dogs is something that will get your blood pumping(even faster if you have just been running) and shoot adrenaline through your veins quicker than anything I had ever experienced  before! We weren’t yet close enough to see any of the dogs or the hogs but we were so close it was nearly deafening! All at once the dogs stopped baying because the hogs began to break and run.  Shaun’s dad and I were just about to catch up to Shaun and and his brother when we saw hogs running through the woods in all directions. 

Ok so this is my first hog hunt remember, we have no guns what so ever and I don’t even have a dog anymore! I had heard stories about hogs charging people and truthfully was seriously starting to rethink this adventure because Shaun’s brother, who had been hog hunting many times started running around looking for a larger tree to climb screaming, “they’re coming this way!” I’m not sure how much of that was actual fear and how much of it was to freak me out! Boys! There was no time to find a tree to climb though and really the hogs were more interested in getting as far from where we were as quickly as possible. The dogs bayed a hog down in the creek not 45 yards from us! The catch dogs were going CRAZY! Calm little Spot was transformed and it was clear he was more than willing to catch!  The boys unleashed both dogs who ran straight to the bay and then as if we couldn’t make any more commotion in the woods the loudest sound I’d ever heard (which later in my hunting career has become music to my ears) began emanating from the creek…..the fabulous most musical squeal of a CAUGHT HOG!  Later I learned from experience that larger hogs don’t always squeal they sort of make a grunting cackle sound(this sound later took the place of that adrenaline upper I mentioned from earlier because catching a 330lb boar hog by hand is a RUSH!) Of course the boys rushed down the bank and into the creek first and I ran in to see my husband holding both back legs of a totally live squealing hog with 2 catch dogs attached to each of it’s two ears! Shaun and his brother flipped the hog and climbed on top of it while I was instructed to pull the catch dogs off.  They were both very reluctant to let go and then I had to tie them to two separate trees not close to each other or the hog and us as they were still very interested in catching again!

As Shaun was tying up the hog he was sitting on, I heard the bay dogs baying again which sped up the tying process and we were off again!

This hunt was amazing to watch, it was so interesting to see the dogs work and to observe the relationship between Shaun’s family and the dogs.  To see them work as a team each relying on the other to do their part for all of the pieces to fall into place and everything to work like a well oiled machine. I wanted to be a part of that and to build those relationships too, not only with the dogs but with the guys too.  I wanted to prove myself and be one of them, not just an observer that could lead a dog or pull one off but someone you were going to have to run faster than if you wanted to be the first to get your hands on the hog at the bay! (I’m happy to report I achieved that and more, successfully immersing myself in various different types of hunting and loving every minute of it!)

Holy Moly! HOW FUN! Needless to say I was hooked! We caught 3 hogs that morning and gathered them and the dogs up and were back at the house by 10:30 unloading the hogs in the pen and putting up the dogs. I can say now that that was by far an incredibly easy absolutely perfect hunt because they aren’t always like that! Sometimes you don’t catch anything, sometimes you walk/run more miles than you thought you were capable of! Sometimes the dogs get cut by hogs and need doctoring. Sometimes you get cut..by branches, briars and such….sometimes you push yourself to the point that you get to see what you’re made of. You come back wet and nasty, hungry and thirsty but full of stories and memories that can never be stripped away because you actually got up and experienced it for yourself rather than watching it on a screen and thinking you know how it feels!  I’m still so grateful to my husband and his father for awakening this love for the outdoors and hunting in me!

Reliving that story in my mind has me longing to get out from behind this computer and hit the woods!  Whatever you choose to do to satisfy your hunger for the outdoors for a bit, until it’s time to call in thunder chickens, take a friend! Maybe you haven’t experienced hunting before and are feeling inspired to go….CARPE DIEM!!!…..seize the day!!!!….bug your spouse, mom, dad, friend, cousin, or neighbor and get out and enjoy the beauty of what God has created!

As with all hunting and fishing activities, proper state licenses are required and all state and federal game laws should be observed. Please visit your state’s website to familiarize yourself with laws and regulations! Just because you don’t have a hunting lease don’t count yourself out! Most states have a lot of great public hunting land for you to enjoy with the purchase of an Annual Public Hunting Permit! For Texas Visit http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us