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Hog Hunt Stories
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Dec 2007
This
is an incredible story about a
tracking dog. He is not just any
tracking dog though, this guy is
special. He was rescued from the
pound by one Lance Falzone when the
pup was just 10 weeks old. He looks
to be a cross between a border
collie and maybe a lab. This little
guy is very energetic, and always
ready to go. |
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The dogs name is Eagle. The first
time I met Eagle, I was amazed that
he was used as a tracking dog. In my
own ignorance, I thought trackers
should have some sort of hound in
their genes. This dog loves to play
fetch and looks more like a Childs
pet than a hunting dog. On our first
hunt, Lance came up empty handed.
The heavy rains from earlier in the
year brought literally tons of
acorns for the fall and the hogs
were not interested at all in the
feeders. Despite our best efforts,
we could not put Lance on a hog, so
we never got to see Eagle do what he
loves best. |
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On Lances departure, we exchanged
hand shakes with promises of future
hunts. Then he said this," If you
ever need a hog tracked down, call
me no matter what." I told him I
would sure give him a call. I
couldn't wait to see ol' Eagle in
action. As it turns out, we had
another group come in a week later.
These guys were looking for meat
hogs but were figuring on taking a
trophy if the right one happened
along. The first guy shot early in
the evening. Then long about dark,
we heard a second shot. |
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As we picked up the fist hunter, we
loaded a real nice sow onto the
truck. When we got to the second
hunter, he told us the details of
his hunt. He said the shot looked
good but that he wasn't one hundred
percent sure. One thing was obvious,
he had blood on the ground. We
searched for the hog until 10:30
that night when we lost the blood
trail. The situation was not looking
good. We had a cold night ahead of
us with rumors being that the temp
would be around the mid 20's. |
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I called the search for the night
and told the guys the hog would be
ok until morning. Then I remembered
the gracious offer from Lance
Falzone." Call me anytime" I went
home and tried to reach Lance but
could not. At 5:00am the next
morning, I called Lance. There was a
very weak "Hello" on the other end.
I asked Lance if he felt like
tracking a hog. "Sure" he said.
"I'll be there in a couple of
hours". We all regrouped at the shop
and waited on Lance. Within a couple
of hours, Lance and Eagle showed up.
It was very cold outside but the
wind was calm and Eagle was ready
to go. I explained to Lance that the
trail was now 14 hours old |
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. We took Eagle to the last blood
drop that we found. He went about 10
feet and made a U-turn and headed
back up a brush line going the other
way. We stopped him and brought him
back. Again, he went about 10 feet
and made the U-turn. |
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We broke up into a few groups. One
group looked for more blood, while
the others looked for a body. All of
a sudden we heard those precious
words ring out..."GOT BLOOD!' We
were back in business. We put Eagle
back on the trail and much to our
surprise, it was going the way he
had turned before. This dog was
amazing. When he would loose the
trail, he would circle until he
found it. The hog was not leaving
much blood at all. We would find a
couple of drop every 15-20 feet. All
of a sudden, Eagle started acting
different. He went around a brush
pile and seemed to just freeze.
Lance and I were up ahead of the
rest of the guys and just behind
Eagle. Lance said that Eagle must be
looking at the hog. We got made it
around the brush pile and sure
enough, there was a nice boar piled
up at the edge of the brush line |
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Eagle had accomplished his goal. I
was very impressed and the hunt was
very happy. What an amazing dog! He
tracked for an hour on a blood trail
that was already 14 hours old. The
boar weighed in at 128 pounds and
had two inches of teeth showing.
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The shot had been a little far back
and clipped a small portion of the
liver and an even small part of the
lower lung. A chunk of fat had all
but sealed the wound which explained
the small blood trail, In total, the
hog traveled about 350 yards before
expiring. I can't say enough good
things about Eagle. That dog truly
is worth his weight in Gold. Lance
has done an outstanding job of
training Eagle. Lance also serves in
the military. Thank you Lance for
your service. It is much
appreciated. Thanks also for
traveling two hours to track this
hog |
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God bless
and good hunting
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