# anyone run rhodesian ridgebacks?



## ch035

i have been wondering why you dont really see these being ran much? They are supposed to be great hunters/


----------



## Silent_Assassin

They are hard to find and the price is usually high. I have never owned one but I have seen 4 different Rhodesian ridgebacks hunt. One of them was a jam up dog probably one of the top 5 I have ever seen and the other 3 weren’t worth the air they were breathing but yet again I don’t know how well they were trained


----------



## johnf

i owned 1 never made it to the woods.showed it a hog in a pen was a little curious added a gritty dog to the mix he got so excited he bit me twice.first time it could of been an accident second he looked me in the eye then bit me. went to put him on the chain he snapped at me.that was the 3rd strike.ruined the whole breed for me.couldnt take the chace of him turning on someone or  there child.just makes me not try another.


----------



## WolfPack

Because the experts said the BMC or FL. Cur is the best, to mention another potential breed is absurd, lol.


----------



## Rich Kaminski

*They are used to hunt Lions in Africa*

But used as more of a bay dog against lions, than a catch dog. But when they run the large packs of those dogs, they will catch Lions too.
It is a very large and powerful dog.
Pound for pound, the Catahoula is a lot more gritty and agile than the Ridgeback.


----------



## hoghunter74

I raise and hunt ridgebacks and they are like any breed.  There are some that make catch dogs, bay dogs, find dogs, wind dogs, me too dogs, and some you  don't want to admit to owning.  This breed is highly intelligent and needs the owner to spend time with.  I used to hear of a lot of ridgebacks when I started hunting, but like a lot of breeds breeders have ruined with breeding for shows versus hunt and bred this out of a lot of bloodlines.  If one should luck up like I have a few times a get a good one this is the only dog you need.  The truth is you can not just go buy one and it be a hog dog.


----------



## WOODARD29

I had one as a kid, great dog. That dog would do anything i told her.was not hog hunting then, so as a hunter i dont know.


----------



## Jester896

A guy I run with has one and she is a good catch dog, kinda gritty, she will hunt on her own, no bark, you just have to hear the pig squeal.  He uses GPS so that's not a real problem.  She can run long after the others are done.


----------



## Carolina Diesel

I been around a few in the woods and in a couple bay pens... not bad mouthing the breed, but i would not feed one


----------



## REDMOND1858

I havent heard much good about them. but thats just what i heard


----------



## COUNTRY MIKE

johnf said:


> i owned 1 never made it to the woods.showed it a hog in a pen was a little curious added a gritty dog to the mix he got so excited he bit me twice.first time it could of been an accident second he looked me in the eye then bit me. went to put him on the chain he snapped at me.that was the 3rd strike.ruined the whole breed for me.couldnt take the chace of him turning on someone or  there child.just makes me not try another.



YOU PROB. SMELT LIKE A HAWG


----------



## WAARHEID

Most Ridgebacks aren't being bred for work these days, and you all know even a lot of working bred dogs don't turn out, so it should come as no surprise that most Ridgebacks don't turn out. That said some are jam-up, so if you can afford one it's worth trying.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTiBIThCg2Q


----------



## hogrunner

Jester, Ruby is not full blooded.  Sorry


----------



## Jester896

yea I see... she appears to be half the size of these dogs..has all of the other characteristics tho...still has alot of hunt


----------



## ABAChunter

WAARHEID said:


> Most Ridgebacks aren't being bred for work these days, and you all know even a lot of working bred dogs don't turn out, so it should come as no surprise that most Ridgebacks don't turn out. That said some are jam-up, so if you can afford one it's worth trying.
> 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTiBIThCg2Q



That is the reason i don't think many people hog hunt with them. They are expensive and if they get hurt or get torn up by barb wire that can be a very expensive trip. Also you have to be a experienced dog trainer to train them. My uncle breeds them in SC.


----------



## crackercurr21

i dont know about ridgebacks heard they are gritty but that about all and if yall boys hunt like them boys and dont even leg the hog and shank him  i pray for them dogs not my style


----------



## tompkinsgil

that video is a joke luckly he didnt kill a dog or two with that high powered rifle


----------



## crackercurr21

yah did you see his first shot he had to be atleast 10 yards away and then to go in there with the hog thrashin around and blow him down crazy right there boy no respect for the thing that finds em


----------



## tompkinsgil

i seen a guy do that before and blew the front leg off a dog on a guided hunt he shot before we told the bay dogs to back up and he had to buy the dog for $1500 dollars cause he signed papers  before the hunt before the hunt that you cant shoot till the guide says to shoot


----------



## crackercurr21

shoot man heck of a way to lose one only time i ever used a gun on a hunt watched my buddy put a 22 mag in the hogs ear and went through the hog and hit his dogs ankle lucky it wasn't mine and took his front dew claw off but the dog doesn't even limp vowed to never use one again just knife didn't have gritty dogs or a catch dog at the time and we were on our belly crawling in some thicket


----------



## HOGDOG76

People like that dont even deserve to own a dog imo.


----------



## Jester896

i shoot sometimes and that even bothers me


----------



## hog hunter20

that guy that was shooting i have guided him in the past  and we had a understanding we do it with knife only or not at all..


----------



## WAARHEID

Nothing wrong with shooting a hog over a solid bay, so long as your bay dogs aren't gun shy.

I actually prefer bay/shoot to catch/stick or catch/tie. But the problem in this case is that the hog was caught, and at least to me, that's when it's time to put down the gun and grab the knife.

The shooter is a good guy and he cares about his dogs and takes real good care of them.

For the record, I was there. Here's what happened. They had struck and bayed, the hog broke bay and ran through a clearing leaving the dogs searching in the woods. I shot the hog as it worked through the clearing, but it was severely quartering away, so all the shot did was slow it down. The dogs rallied to the shot, picked up the blood trail and got the hog bayed up again in the next patch of woods. That's where the video starts.

He shot the hog while it was bayed up real nice... it was a safe shot, no problems. But then the hog rolled back into the creek and the dogs piled on.

I had a good sticking knife ready to go and I was actually going in at that point to leg the hog. It's hard to make out in the video but he asked me if I wanted to stick it and I said "@#$% yeah." I mean what else are you going to do once it's caught???

But he wanted to shoot it again. Not what I wanted to do, but I said "Ok" and walked away because they were his dogs (kemmer curs) and if he accidentally shot them he'd only have have himself to be mad at.

But I didn't want my dog (the smaller Ridgeback) involved in a shooting over a catch. Again it's hard to make out in the video, but I called at her and she came over to me. So I knew my dog was safe at that point.

He shot straight down on the hog and it dropped. He felt it was safe, and it worked for him.

Like I said, not my way, I just wouldn't shoot at a caught hog myself, but I do like shooting hogs with and without dogs. In fact one of the best houndsmen I know is in west Texas... he's got the best collection of huge cutters I've ever heard of... he won't use catch dogs, not even in the thick stuff, he has some real jam up bay dogs and shoots all his hogs.

Different strokes...


----------



## HOGDOG76

Bullets hit branches,bones and a host of other things that will change its direction so there is no excuse for risking a dog. Man up and wade in or dont own them


----------



## tompkinsgil

if that little hog was hit that many times with a high powerd rifle and didnt go down someone is a bad shot


----------



## WAARHEID

HOGDOG76 said:


> Bullets hit branches,bones and a host of other things that will change its direction so there is no excuse for risking a dog. Man up and wade in or dont own them



Hmm... you might want to watch that video again. He did go into the creek to shoot that hog. He wasn't trying to keep his feet dry, believe me, we had been crossing knee high and thigh high creeks all day. I'm not trying to defend his choice, like I said, I wouldn't have shot under those circumstances. But you're making it sound like he chose to shoot because he was afraid of getting wet and that's simply not true... he just wanted to shoot, wet or not.

I get the impression that what you are really trying to say is that shooting hogs over dogs - under any circumstance - is irresponsible. If so, I'd have to disagree.

Firstly, doesn't that assume that the hunter is using at least one catch dog? Not everyone runs catch dogs.

Secondly, this thread is about Ridgebacks. The Ridgebacks developed by Cornelius Van Rooyen were created specifically to track and bay up lions so he could shoot them with a rifle. So in your world the man that developed the breed was developing them for an irresponsible form of hunting? I'm having a hard time seeing why anyone has to "man up" if the game is bayed up? What about the guys that run real rough/gritty plott hounds on bears. Some of them will shoot a caught bear... does that make them irresponsible too? I mean, if it's a hog, and it's caught then you can at least leg a hog, so I basically agree with you on that one. But would you "man up" and try to leg and shank a bayed lion?

Not trying to start a fight, just asking, maybe I'm missing something 



tompkinsgil said:


> if that little hog was hit that many times with a high powerd rifle and didnt go down someone is a bad shot



Yep, I'd have to agree with that one. Every hog I'd seen shot before that one had folded up with one shot. I'd never seen a hog take that much lead and keep fighting, I found myself wondering the same thing. Tough little hog, or bad shots?...


----------



## HOGDOG76

WAARHEID said:


> Hmm... you might want to watch that video again. He did go into the creek to shoot that hog. He wasn't trying to keep his feet dry, believe me, we had been crossing knee high and thigh high creeks all day. I'm not trying to defend his choice, like I said, I wouldn't have shot under those circumstances. But you're making it sound like he chose to shoot because he was afraid of getting wet and that's simply not true... he just wanted to shoot, wet or not.
> 
> I get the impression that what you are really trying to say is that shooting hogs over dogs - under any circumstance - is irresponsible. If so, I'd have to disagree.
> 
> Firstly, doesn't that assume that the hunter is using at least one catch dog? Not everyone runs catch dogs.
> 
> Secondly, this thread is about Ridgebacks. The Ridgebacks developed by Cornelius Van Rooyen were created specifically to track and bay up lions so he could shoot them with a rifle. So in your world the man that developed the breed was developing them for an irresponsible form of hunting? I'm having a hard time seeing why anyone has to "man up" if the game is bayed up? What about the guys that run real rough/gritty plott hounds on bears. Some of them will shoot a caught bear... does that make them irresponsible too? I mean, if it's a hog, and it's caught then you can at least leg a hog, so I basically agree with you on that one. But would you "man up" and try to leg and shank a bayed lion?
> 
> Not trying to start a fight, just asking, maybe I'm missing something
> 
> 
> 
> Yep, I'd have to agree with that one. Every hog I'd seen shot before that one had folded up with one shot. I'd never seen a hog take that much lead and keep fighting, I found myself wondering the same thing. Tough little hog, or bad shots?...



IVE NEVER LION HUNTED BUT HAVE HOG HUNTED A LIL AND FOR YEARS WITHOUT A CATCHDOG. THATS WHEN YOU HAVE TO RUN IN THERE AND CATCH THE HOG AS HE IS SPINNING NOT BLAST AT IT. WITH LIONS AND BEARS THERE MAY BE A SITUATION WHERE YOU HAVE TO SHOOT BUT THAT AINT THE CASE WITH HOGS SO THERE IS NEVER A REASON TO RISK A DOG IMO BUT EVERYBODY TO THEIR OWN.I KNOW ONE BOY LAST YEAR WHO PUT IT TO THE HOGS HEAD  BUT IT CAME OUT AND HIT HIS DOG IN THE LEG


----------



## HOGDOG76

Back on subject they are some beautiful dogs and the one i have been around was a huge specimen that looked capable but was not from working lines


----------



## big country rnr

I had one crossed out to a yellow cur . Made a great bay dog but he was a mean s.o.b. He would try any male dog he could find after the hunt was over. He wouldnt even listen to a oak limb. No problem if he was hunted alone or with a gyp dog. Had the nose of a hound but totally silent. He got it done when the other dogs couldnt.


----------

