Hog hunting.... With a knife!

[ffchewy17]

A new thread on hog hunting with knives. At the request of LittleLebowski I thought I would put some info out there about pig hunting with dogs and knives. I have the privilege go being able to hunt on 24,000 private acres on the east coast of Florida near Viera Florida. Its a mixed grounds of pine flats, swamp, scrub flats and pasture land. We usually hunt from 9pm to 4 am, cool nights are the best for the dogs. We run 1 tracking dog ( blue tick hound) and 2 catch dogs ( black mouth cur brother 65lbs and sister 50lbs).

Florida is rampant with feral pigs and can be hunted year round on private land. A normal night consists of going to a section around 100 to 200 acres and letting the dogs out of the truck, we use GPS collars to track the dogs. When the tracking dog gets a scent he will start barking initially, this lets the catch dogs know to get on his ass and start following. The catch dogs will then follow and corner the pigs, hopefully. The dogs then bay the pig, letting us know they caught a pig. We then run to there location through swamp, pine trees, more swamp and eventually locate the caught pig. It's imperative to get to the dogs fast before they get hurt or killed.

Once we locate the pig we grab the hog by the back legs and a second "knife guy" steps up and stabs the pig behind the shoulder, about 1/3 to 1/2 the way between the spine and the belly. This should hit the lungs and heart. Thus all takes place with 3 dogs barking, one hunter hanging on to the pig trying not to get slashed by the pig and in the middle of night, with mosquitoes.

Me and the dog owner are very particular on who carries a side arm on our hunts. Don't shoot the dogs or people, simple rules. We actually use a milk jug tied to a rope, them pull the milk jug towards a shooter to get used to shooting an object that closes with you faster than you can run or move. There is a picture of me on Off The Grid concepts holsters Facebook page with a pig we killed. I always carry a G17 x300U with reanger bonded 147gr. No problems putting down charging pigs that got away from the dogs.

A word on pig size, I like to call the 125-180lbs pigs the most dangerous of any pigs we run across. They are faster than the 200-300lbs pigs and way more athletic. There teeth tend to be straighter and pointer allowing way more damage to be done with the teeth on flesh. These are the most challenging pigs to kill in tight quarters, think scrub palm and mud. Pigs remind me of miniature buffalo, they are all neck, head, and front shoulder. A 125 lbs pig will run a 200 lbs man over, and bury him in the ground. I have killed a 300+ lbs pig with a knife and the smaller ones are way more mean and dangerous... Just my 2 cents.

There is tons more info and gear if you have any other questions.

[Littlelebowski]

We gotta hang out

Thanks for posting, man.

[Devildawg2531]

[QUOTE=ffchewy17;1641583]A new thread on hog hunting with knives. At the request of LittleLebowski I thought I would put some info out there about pig hunting with dogs and knives. I have the privilege go being able to hunt on 24,000 private acres on the east coast of Florida near Viera Florida. Its a mixed grounds of pine flats, swamp, scrub flats and pasture land. We usually hunt from 9pm to 4 am, cool nights are the best for the dogs. We run 1 tracking dog ( blue tick hound) and 2 catch dogs ( black mouth cur brother 65lbs and sister 50lbs).

QUOTE]

That is cool stuff. What type of knife are you using for hogs? Aren't American Bulldogs and Pitbulls normally used as catch dogs?

[Ready.Fire.Aim]

This is a popular way to kill them in my area in Tx. Dogs hold them, hunter kills them with a knife. There is a 75 year old man that sits across from me in church that still loves to hunt pigs with his dogs and a homemade short stabbing spear

[ffchewy17]

Thanks for all the interest and kind words, any other questions just ask.

I have been using a glock field knife, no spine saw. It works great, ideally you want a 7-9 inch blade, no wider than 1 1/8, sharpened spine, cross guard, no slip handle. Cheap is good too the guy I hunt with uses a Klein tools duct knife with a kydex sheath I made for horizontal carry at 11 o'clock, like a really large Tracker Dan Bloodshark position. I own a bunch of custom knives, but none of them really meet the above requirements. I also worried about losing a $400.00 knife when your running through the woods, made the glock knife seem perfect.

It's kinda a funny because I have been making knives for over 10 years and just recently started on my own personnel "Hog Knife", have to go out and crank up the forge and get to hammering.
I seem to sell all the knives I make, can't keep one when I see the cash :

On a side note I have to give LittleLebowski credit for turning me on too Dark Star kydex AIWB holsters. Awesome holsters for EDC G19.

[ffchewy17]

About the Pit Bulls for catch dogs..... We had an friend bring out a 2 year old pit to act as a catch dog and were we hunt we share many pastures with cattle, well this pit ran after a hog through a pasture and mid way across changed course for a calf, he latched on to the calfs nose an crushed her upper jaw, then she would not release. We ended up having to put down the pit and the calf due to the sever damage the pit did to the calf. The pit wouldn't release even after we shot the calf and became very aggressive towards the handler and other cows.

I'm a huge dog lover and am in no way bashing pits or American bulldogs, I just like how well the curs catch and obey the handler. These dogs are amazing to watch work and can run 15-20 miles In a night in the Florida summer. Very impressive to me.

The curs hit the pigs like a baseball bat, running full tilt and latching onto there snout or bottom lip. It's very impressive to watch a 60lbs dog anchor a 200lbs pig.

[LHS]

I recall reading something by Peter Capstick some years back about Argentine gauchos hunting pigs with dogs and a knife. Seems like a pretty hairy pastime.

[Littlelebowski]

I'd be on this like white on rice if I lived closer.

[SkyPup]

The noise of the hogs squealing and the dogs snarling in addition to the frogs and crickets croaking and chirping is unbelievable, verbal communication is next to impossible, but the adrenaline level is SKY-HIGH!!!

[kry226]

Done a bunch of that in Texas too, but with other guys' dogs. But there's always the boredom and frustration that goes with the fun chaos. Sometimes the hogs are few (or none), and your dogs are a mile and a half off. You get to go track them down (even with GPS) and sometimes it takes all night...with no hogs to show for it.