Hound Dog Network - The Morning Of The Switch

0:00This episode of the sportsman's empire is brought to you by Interstate Batteries. Since 1952 Interstate Batteries has been evoking compassion and a trustworthy spirit into the surrounding communities. Interstate Batteries is a mission driven company fueled by purpose and guided by their values. If you need help locating a specific battery, stop into your local Interstate Batteries retail store and speak with a battery specialist. They even offer cell phone repairs. Interstate Batteries. Outragiously dependable. All right, all you whitetail nut jobs. It's hunting season and that means football is finally back. College kickoff is here. NFL is right around the corner and my bookie is where I'm placing my action this season. Whether you're in between hunts or just checking lines from the tree stand, my bookie makes it stupid simple to lock in your place. Plus, new users get the bet back bonus. Sign up with promo code SE, opt in and your first wager is protected.

1:00That means if it loses, you get it right back. No questions asked. Head to my bookie. Use promo code SE and get in on the action today. Bet on anything, anytime, anywhere. This episode of the sportsman's empire is brought to you by Nathan and Sun's makers of underbrush remineralizing gum. I started keeping a pack at my desk for after lunch and honestly, the chew is so satisfying. Most natural gums turn to mush but underbrush has this incredible texture and natural saps that hold up. My favorite is the spirimate. It leaves my mouth feeling insanely clean without that artificial fake sugar taste. Plus, Nathan and Sun's makes it from scratch in Northern California using the same mineral that your toothy name is made from. It's such a great habit to get into because it supports remineralization and freshens your breath all at the same time. If you want a simple daily upgrade for your teeth, head over to NathanandSunds.com and check out why underbrush remineralizing gum is right for you.

2:07Right now, you can get 30% off your first order when you subscribe. Visit NathanandSunds.com today. Football is back. Yep, you heard correctly. Football is back. And on Polymarket, you can trade what you think will happen against other fans before kickoff. Chat live with the Polymarket community and get their thoughts and then take your own stance. And kickoff doesn't mean you're locked in. Trade live in-game and exit whenever you want is the game changes. Or combine multiple trades into one trade with Polymarket combos now live in the app. And football is just the start. You can also trade on baseball, basketball, hockey, combat sports, tennis and more. So say goodbye to the weekend and Monday nights and Thursday nights, download the Polymarket app. New customers use promo code rover and deposit $10 to get $50 instantly to start trading. 18-plus C Polymarket's Terms of Service for more information about restrictions and eligibility. The Polymarket app is an independent affiliate of Polymarket US and not CFTC regulated.

3:08Trading always involves risk. Complete loss can occur. The $50 offer is issued as non-woodrollable trading credit for use on the platform. Offer exclusively available to first-time depositors. And the people who live with it. This is Creekside Chronicles. Hounds, hunting and heritage. I am your host, Heath Hyatt, Houndsman, Hunter and the lifelong student of the outdoors. Here we chase more than game. We chase knowledge about hounds, hunting and living the outdoor life the right way. From Bear Country to Backroads, this is where the hunt meets hard

4:14and every story runs a different trail. So pull up your chair by the creek, and let's get after it together. Performance starts in the feed. A nook shoots, high fat continent, fuels long runs and hard runs. Giving dogs a steady energy they need, while quality protein supports faster recovery after the work is done. That's why I trust a nook shoots belt feed. Packed with energy and nutrition, dogs need to go further, run harder and recover stronger. If you want extreme performance, you can look them up at a nook shoot professional dog food or cori-neutrition.com. Welcome back to the Creekside. Where we're going to talk about everything from the woods to the water. We talk about it all. If you've been listening along, get a part of the Creekside crew.

5:18So pull out that chair. Out though into the log on the fire. And we'll get this episode started. I literally just fed the dogs, walked in the house from my morning hunt. Over the last, so today is, today's August 30th. So when you listen to this, work a couple days ahead, right? And you know that I keep my data. So August 30th, I've got to hunt 17 days. In 17 days, I put a 2100 miles on my truck, which averages 123.5 miles a day. And I think I've said it before. It takes me 50 minutes to get to one area that I hunt. And it takes me an hour and 15 minutes to get to another area that I hunt. It's just not close. So I have to get up a little bit earlier to make that travel time.

6:26And it is what it is. I mean, if you love to hunt, you got to do what you got to do, right? The early bird gets warm. Just got to get up and get out and get there. I was going to name this podcast, deja vu. But it's really not deja vu. When you talk about memory, it's more of associative memory. It's kind of when your brain connects a current experience with something from your past. And this past week, I was rigging my dogs along up the mountain. And one of those memories hit me. And two dogs literally come to mind. So I thought, what is a better way to relive that memory? Because we all do it. We have those hunts

7:36that stand out. We have those dogs that stand out. And this is one of those hunts where it stands out. So we're going back in time. And we're going back to my oldering dog. And I thank you guys for tolerating my talks and letting me share those memories with him about him to you guys. But I was rigging up the mountain one morning in the same exact spot. And I think actually it was the everything kind of just fell in line like this past week. Like it was the temperature was cool. Um, the morning was still like all of those things just kind of popped. And I was driving by this area. And I did not rig that morning. That was like last Monday morning, I think. I didn't rig. And

8:36honestly, I've never rigged in this spot since then. Let's go back to 2000 and 10 2010. So we're jumping back 16 years. So I'm riding up the mountain. I got one dog on the truck, which is ring. And I had two or three dogs in the box. And I go as I'm going around this little, little, little area. And it's a little incline. And there is a leading ridge to the right. And as you drive up the road, you can see the spine. You can see the backbone of this ridge going down into a draw. So it kind of stands out. And there's a little, when I say valley, I want to say it's a little hollow between the road and the backbone of this ridge. So ring opens. I think it's one long ball. That was it.

9:43And I was like, you know, I'm going to keep driving. So I drove around the mountain all the way up, topped out, come around to other side. I ran into another group hunting. So they were on the top and off the other side. And I'm like, yeah, I'm going to turn on and go back. So my thought was, I was going to go back to another area and just walk in. So I drive out the mountain. I drop off and I'm coming down. And I had went through this, the area leading up to the area that I just told you about. And as I top the ridge, where the ridge kind of meets the top of the road, I start down that that area again. And to the left this time is that that spine that back bone of that ridge that I can see a couple hundred yards away. And I get another, oh, and I'm like, you know what? I'm just going to turn and move see what happens.

10:47Now for all of you younger guys that are listening and gals, this is back when we had to beat beat colors. We didn't have the GPS that we knew the yardage and the direction the dog was pointed. We just didn't have that technology. So I dumped him down and off the truck he went. Down into that little hollow we talked about. Now he's gone for a while. Like, several minutes, I mean like minutes. And I would say eight to ten minutes into this. He opens over on the spine of that ridge. And again, I'm going to give you a guesstimate because the telemetry we had then did not have the exact yardage. So I'm going to say four hundred yards. And he starts trailing up the backbone, the spine of that ridge.

11:48And ring was notorious. He would give a little more mouth on a bad track than most dogs would. And a lot of times it would lead you to believe that it was a better track than what it was. But why I tell you that is he was given decent mouth. So I grabbed Smoky out of the truck and I hold Smoky and I let Smoky here ring open. Smoky. Heers pop up his, he perks up. His ears kind of come roll back to his shoulder blades. He ignores, I know he's telling me by his body language that he's acknowledging that he hears ring. And I turn Smoky loose. And I mean kick rocks man through him, gravels in my face gone. Well about that time ring starts to top over

12:48that spine away from me. And two or three more barks he's out of here. He's dropped over. And again, I just basically pointed Smoky in that direction and hope he got there, right? We spent I don't know 30 or 40 minutes could have been an hour trying to pinpoint the dogs with you know which way they were going. We drove up and halfway back around the mountain and we come back down the mountain and long story short. When we come back down the mountain we were getting a really good signal and then all of a sudden we're getting the everybody that's had the the old tracking system knows that that means they're treated. So I flip

13:51over to a different channel Smoky show and Tread. And they're on the they're above the road this time. So I turned them loose below the road left handed. And by this time an hour later they're right handed Tread. So we drive down a pretty good ways off the mountain and we get where we can hear them and we get in there and we ended up getting into the tree. It was tree in a big I mean I can remember it was tree in a big pine tree. I averaged size by 150 175 pounds and I get my hands on ring that was something that I always did. Like and I steal to this day I grabbed my my best dogs first. Like I don't know it's a habit maybe it's just something I'm doing subconsciously but I'm going to put my hands on my main dogs first like I'm gonna get ring. I'm you know I get

14:51spook and Kate. It's just maybe it's just a habit I don't know but that's just what I do. So I grabbed I grabbed a holder ring and about the time I turn to go tie him up I hear the bark and everybody knows that you know what that means the bark I hear the barks you know peeling and I literally take like three steps to get out of the way and bears down boom gone and smokies right on it and it was a couple other dogs are to at this point and they cross the road from our trucks back down into the north the original area that we started and I went ahead and turn ring back loose and we ended up treing it's kind of funny they treat back off that that spine down two haulers over from where that spine was and we was able to get down in there and this was like 30 or 45 minutes later we've got down there got the dogs tied and that was the end of the day

15:53but just driving by that area and again I feel like it was just the whole atmosphere that brought that memory back and I kind of chuckled because I've never struck in that area since ever like never but again I don't have a dog that rigs like ring did I don't have a dog that rigs tracks like he did and we'll go find them like he did but it brought me back in time you know it was that you know my brain was connecting an experience and I've been by that I have been by that spot hundreds if not thousands of times in the last 16 years hundreds hundreds of times in the last

16:5716 years and I've probably had that same experience once but it stood out to me Monday it brought everything back to life I relived that that association I relived that experience and then it was like the wheels were turning it's like okay what other experiences did you have well I drove up around the mountain and I'm going by another area and low and behold here comes another memory creeping in and I'm like all right again this is another ring experience and that morning holy cow so I come up it was me and my brother-in-law were hunting

17:58and when I got up on top of the mountain the fuel pump went out of my truck so it's it's shot it's it's I had to put I mean I literally pulled it off the road and we took the dog box and put it in his truck took the dogs loaded them up got all the equipment we could and we drove around the mountain and again ring ring opens and I had I had a dog named Jimmy I had a dog named Biggin with me that was which was my buddy Rodney's dog that I was hunting for him Sam you all heard me talk about Sam had Sam no I did not have Sam no I did not what dogs I have I don't know maybe it'll come to me so I dump ring loose and he goes off the mountain like it's three barks and he's almost gone like he's gone again we're using the telemetry we're using the old beep beep stuff so we're trying to to see

19:02which direction he's going listen and see what direction he's going and we decide we have to drive around to the bottom of the mountain when we get down there another group we'd run into who I hide hunted with they're like hey your dog crossed the road down here with a bear and it wasn't a very big bear but I was like well I'm gonna pack it up so I put Jimmy maybe it's Jimmy and Buster yeah let's go with that Jimmy Buster and Biggin I put them right behind him now I don't know how long he he's been gone for a few minutes but again the hunting style was different the what we did was different how we done things was different so I put I put them behind we're ringing went through and I actually think they put a few dogs down and we spent the better part of the day trying to find the dogs we drove around two different mountain ranges could not get a signal on them

20:05or like all right what what did they just didn't disappear what happened to them and after lunch sometime after lunch we were able to locate them way way way way way out the mountain in the completely opposite direction that they had they had went so we had drove around and of course you can hear them I mean it's beep beep beep beep beep we get out we can hear the dogs up on the mountain they sound tree we spend 30 year 45 minutes trying to get a hold of the landowner just to make sure you know just make sure everything's good we finally get a hold of landowner liners like yet go ahead do what you got to do we start in there too them and we get halfway like halfway into them and they move and they're up on the mountain they're

21:05right underneath the steep well thank goodness that some of the other guys that had dogs in there had come out the top of that mountain and it took them a long time I mean where they were coming from was was a long way like it it wasn't a short walk I mean it's a half a day it's a long way so um they get in above them the dogs have went around the mountain on the north in the steep bruffs I mean steep country in the rocks we spend the rest of the evening just trying to corralum and right before dark we got permission right before dark the the other guys were able to get in there and and harvest the bear and while I'm telling you this story is because the bear that crossed the road they said was a hundred hundred thirty pounds the bear that we took that evening just before dark

22:07weighed four hundred and forty seven pounds so the switch where did the switch take place when did the switch take place I feel very sure when we come around to the other end of the mountain and was able to get signal and can hear them they were on that bear that at that point in time so did they cross out with the small bear and just pop this one out of his bed just run up on him to the small bear like you always wonder like what happened like how did this transition take place but at that point in time we didn't care that was a monster bear for our area like monster the biggest bear we had taken prior to that was four seventeen and again this is 2012 2012 yeah that was one of the that was the second to last bear ring was eleven years old at that point

23:13and that was the second to last bear that he was ever on and driving him around the mountain that morning like brought all all those memories back when I thought about him rigging and going down that spine and me listening to him trailing and then that kind of like like I said it started the wheels turning and I get on around the mountain to the area where he actually struck and run we we run all day bait all day it brought back another memory so Monday was full of memories and I did run that day and I will say we'll get into some some training parts now since I've taken you down memory lane there's one thing that I am adamantly sure about I'm hunting two

24:18different packs of dogs my own hunting two different sets I'm taking one one set one day one set another day and vice versa and if somebody gets hurt run down something you know needs it next day arrest I'm just switching out back and forth but today when I come off the mountain today I had a heart to heart with myself and I'm like heath you have too many dogs and I know I've said this before and consistency is key in training dogs we always say that consistency is key and I feel like I'm doing my my dogs a disservice by flipping and flopping and flipping and flopping and I can see now I've had three females in heat like one of them is the first couple of days of season and then she tore toenail off so I had to layer up for another four or five days to let

25:18that kind of hill over she was she was very sore footed and then I had another female in heat a couple another week passed that and I'm just getting her out and getting I'm just now trying to get her in shape but here we go back to consistency because I'm flipping her every other day she's not getting the running to get her in that tip top shape that they're normally in and then my other female heart literally just come out of heat and I got to I've 100 or two days in a row and again she's not in shape she got to hunt two days since season I hunted her maybe the first day of season or second day of season I can't remember I had to go back through my log and see but she's not she's not been able to run because she's been in heat and I think all that ties together with this inconsistency that I'm seeing like I've got young dogs that I personally feel like I should be hunting every day but I've split them up so I'm hunting some this day and some next day

26:24I hunted some yesterday and we had we had a good run we got dog split treat here bait up over here in the rocks here kind of a cluster and then today I mean almost the exact same thing had had dogs I turned four dogs loose on one and they called it in the rocks and when I got down in there to it it busted out and pretty much latched a couple dogs out so one dog got away got actually straight to track out and I mean they they walked this bear for a long time like they hadn't caught and was walking and walking I mean hour plus hour 15 20 minutes I don't think it was quite an hour and a half and that's when I actually got down in there to it and it busted and broke out again dogs aren't in shape so I can see what's going on and the the one dog that actually broke out in the direction that it went got way ahead of everything else because

27:28everything else got hung up in the rocks and then ledges and two of those dogs are not in the well two of them two of the dogs that were in heat so there you go right not in shape so I end up going way out the mountain trying to cut the the one dog off I mean we're two plus hours into it at this point yeah we're two plus hours into it and I finally as the back dogs they finally figured it out and got through the ledges and I run down to I could get with like in 150 yards of them had to run off the mountain and I start cutting those dogs off so took me a little time and then after I get everything called up I'm going around the mountain and I'm rigging and I rigged another track and I dumped the I had three more dogs with me and I never carried seven but I did this morning I dumped those three dogs loose just to see what they were do and they're younger dogs and they

28:34I mean they lined that track out and up the mountain made a big loop came down the top of the mountain cross back in front of me or behind me actually I tried to get around on them they crossed behind me went into some big country and I mean made short order of it too and I mean they lined this thing out I mean lined it out and they were driving and they'd went a couple miles and actually I was running parallel with them I didn't want them crossing back out and I'm sitting in a curve and boom here comes a sound to cut popped up in the road and I'm like oh okay here they come well that wasn't they were still parallel and then they kept going past where the sound cub is two cubs it come up the road healthy too like really healthy not nice to see that very nice to see it and they continued on out another couple miles and I was able to run them down as they crossed

29:39the road crossing out of the area that I was in but by this time temperatures got up I did check the humidity and I'll go over it real quick so this morning when I went it was 60 66 total let me look at it I got it right here it was 65 degrees and 94% humidity and when I let when I caught those dogs it was 66 degrees one degree different 87% humidity so the humidity had dropped a little bit but the dogs were you know they I didn't see the bear cross the road so it had to be at least 200 yards in front of them because I pulled up at about once 50 50ish I pulled up and was right below them so I didn't see it cross out but I was able to catch the the first dog getting them put up and then the second dog come through and then the third

30:40dog come through so I was able to catch them all up after a really really good run but that's just kind of how it goes some days I mean I you just I was letting the young dogs do it and hopefully they'll they'll come around but I'll go back to consistency I feel like my biggest downfall this year has been too many dogs too many dogs not hunting them day in and day out because I'm trying to hunt too many and I feel like it is an injustice I don't feel like that it's fair to the dogs and it's extremely hard for me because I like them all like I like them all but when you go back to your data sheet and you say out of 30 days you've hunted 17 and that's all the days where I'm going to get in this this month tomorrow supposed to be 90 degrees Tuesday is 91 Wednesday is 92 Thursday is 91 this could upcoming week is not good for us like

31:47it is just yeah so today when this podcast drops supposed to be 92 degrees and I just I mean I'm not trying to to kill my dogs I'm just not trying to do it and the weather is playing a huge part in my decision making so this week that you listen to this I don't know how many days I'll even get to hunt because of the weather and if you look at the lows you know we're we're in the mid 60 60 to 68 is the is the lows but the fact humidities at 95 plus percent you run an hour and you catch your dogs or hopefully you you can treat it within that hour but yeah so inconsistency consistency is key I'm telling you that I'm finding holes in my system and I need to I need to

32:47figure that out straighten it out and do do better for the dogs that's going to be a wrap for this week's episode of Creekside Chronicles we appreciate you spending your time with us whether you in the truck in the woods or sitting by the creek just listening alone thank you for walking this trail with us and we got to say thank you to W. Supply for hosting the podcast and supporting everything we do be sure to check them out and go to W. Supply.com for all your how and hunting needs until next time keep your dogs fed right those leads tight boots muddy and we'll see you at the tree

33:54snow nose to the wind tail full of cheer from the Virginia mountains to the Carolina clay we're burning fuel in miles each day every turns another tail through mountain mist and paper trails we see the sunset red and Tennessee rise through the fog in old WV North Carolina's pines that go loud with the cry of a hard run hell New York forest maize deep snow over my valleys where the black bears go truck keeps rolling wheels don't care we're chasing daylight chasing bears rest of us few the roads are long but the fire in our heart

34:58still burns strong Wisconsin mornings cutting crisp and clear Canada's wildwoods drawing near still got states we ain't run the bad hand off fever won't let us quit we see the sun set red and Tennessee rise through the fog in old WV North Carolina's pines that go loud with the cry of a hard run hell New York frost maize deep snow firm on valleys where the black bears go truck keeps rolling wheels don't care we're chasing daylight chasing bears gas station coffee alpha xl on the dash

36:00another back row another bear train friends made fast the stories told slow understarts we're only hunters go we see the sunrise gold in Canadian air and it sits on a trail down in Appalachia back in steel and leather grit and care were built for the role in chasing bears so hold the dogs and slam the gate there's a trail ahead we won't be late we don't a dust we're always there chasing daylight chasing them bears

37:11kitchen and bathroom professionals know what goes behind the tile matters that's why trade pros trust fiber cement party backer board to keep tile firmly in place resist cracking and help block moisture chosen over 40 million kitchens and bathrooms party backer board what the best build on shop now at participating home depot lows and floor into core stores for more information james hardy dot com slash hardy backer with the american express platinum card you can access over 3500 dollars in annual value with benefits and eligible purchases across travel entertainment and more there's nothing like platinum learn more at american express dot com slash explore dash platinum enrollment requirements monthly and other limits in terms of high kitchen and bathroom professionals know what goes behind the tile matters that's why trade pros trust fiber cement party backer board to keep tile firmly in place resist cracking and help block moisture chosen over 40 million kitchens and bathrooms party backer board what the best

38:15build on shop now at participating home depot lows and floor into core stores for more information visit james hardy dot com slash hardy backer book a loved by guest property with verbo and you get a top-rated vacation rental that's love for all the right reasons uh i love my verbo for the location good reason oh and for the pool because pools are cool i feel the love book of verbo that's love by guests if you know you verbo