LOUISIANA CATAHOULA CUR DOG

Jimmy Strong of Delhi, LA has revived a centuries old tradition of hunting with dogs, specifically – the Catahoula Cur dog.

There are many stories of our four legged friends but one in particular hits close to home for those of us in Louisiana. Cur dogs are as common in Louisiana as gumbo or jambalaya. For years there had been a push to have the Catahoula Cur recognized and that happened with the formation of the National Association of Louisiana Curs. Having strict guidelines and rules, the breed was accepted both by the AKC and the UKC as part of their recognized hunting dogs. Although there are a string of politicians that take credit, the spotlight on the Louisiana Catahoula Cur took center stage in the largest part by the sitting governor at that time. In 1979 Governor Edwin Edwards named the Catahoula Cur as the State Dog of Louisiana and for good reason.

It is said that the dog originated in the 16th century and was introduced to Louisiana by explorer Hernando de Soto who reportedly bred European greyhounds with Native American Molossers who quickly were misnamed “Monsters.” This breed developed even more when the French settlers arrived with their Beauceron bred hounds which were introduced into the blood lines. Folklore also attributes the red wolf that the native Indians also bred into the line. This gave them speed, tenacity and strength in their lineage. In those days a hunting dog was not a luxury, it was a necessity. Hunters of both native tribes and explorers soon learned that hunting dogs were essential to harvesting all types of game. They were also found useful in herding animals such as pigs and hogs for table fare. In those days and for years to follow, settlers would “mark” hogs and turn them loose in the wild. They would return with the dogs to capture their marked hogs for food. The same went for cattle as there was no access to grains or hay in the swamps and bottomlands. But the woods fed them well and many of our ancestors relied on these animals for food and relied on the dogs to upkeep and manage their livestock.

As time rolled on, the method of keeping wild livestock went away with the buying of land by private owners and the practice of capturing or herding animals became less of a need. However, the dog men of those days still relied on their canine counterparts to assure success in gathering wild meat. Most of us can remember a day in our lifetime where you could tell a hunter by the types of dogs he kenneled. Rabbit hunters, deer hunters, squirrel hunters, coon hunters and hog hunters could be easily spotted with dog boxes full and friends and family joining for a day of listening to the hounds bay. There are not a lot of dog men left and this is attributed to various reasons: no open land; more deer and other game; state and federal refuges; and season/regulation changes. The biggest change has been with the attitude of hunters. Most deer hunters still hunt and have no desire to hunt deer being pursued by dogs. Hunting with dogs is centuries old and I’m happy to report, alive and well in the town of Delhi, Louisiana within the properties of a man named Jimmy Strong.

The starting point for Jimmy and the force that drove him to get into the dog business was pretty simple. With a 3,000 acre hunting property in Mississippi, he started seeing a few hogs. He and Shane Blake (his running partner) would trap hogs and without fail, see hogs running away as they retrieved the hog from the trap. That is until he decided that if he had dogs, he could catch those that were getting away

Jimmy knew that his father-in-law, G.L. Cruise, Jr., was a dog hunting legend on hogs and wild cattle. His father-in-law was raised in the Catahoula swamps and he and his father made a living hunting over 40,000 acres with Catahoula Curs. So the desire was to find a dog that was in that same bloodline. They did their research and found Sam Mason in Enterprise, Louisiana, who luckily still had the blood lines of the dogs that Jimmy’s father-in-law had hunted years before. Jimmy bought 3 dogs and named them Faith, Hope and Love. Not long after, Jimmy heard about a big event in Winn Parish called Uncle Earl’s Hog Dog Trials (named after Earl Long). Jimmy showed up and says he had never met a finer group of hunters than he did that day. On one particular hunt, he saw a dog that was just unbelievable. He was in the market for a good stud dog and if you know Jimmy, no is not a response he handles well. Rumor has it that Jimmy bought this dog for an unheard amount of $10,000 and the rest is history. That’s not bad for a dog that was not for sale. The word among the hunters was that “this boy has more money than sense.” But if you see what that one stud dog has brought into JT Strong kennels, I’d say Jimmy knew what he was doing. This same stud’s lineage is now one of the most sought after in all of the industry. These dogs drop puppies that are jumping on hogs at 2 to 3 months. That is what Jimmy breeds. Intelligent dogs that your youngest child can play with but will take on a full grown hog and hold him until you make him let go.

I can attest to this as my first hunt with Jimmy, we turned one of his lead females, Moxie and a group of dogs loose. There is no way I can describe the look on Jimmy’s face when Moxie hits the ground. I remember a comment to the effect of “them hogs are in trouble now.” Sure enough, she barked and off we went. Needless to say, the hog she caught was 5 times bigger than her. She would not turn that hog loose for anything and only after Shane Blake intervened was that chase over. “I can tell you one thing big boy,” Jimmy said as he grinned from ear to ear, “there ain’t nothing like a Catahoula.” His explanation soon opened my eyes to what I had never been taught. “You see, when Moxie barks she is looking at the hog. Most hounds just bark and you don’t know what they are doing. My dogs are trained to bark on sight. I used Garmin trackers so I know where they are and when they bark, you know that is one caught hog.” This action repeated that day and for many days to follow. Just a man with a love for his animals and trained dogs that are doing what they love.

Most hunters run into folks that just don’t understand hunting. Hog hunting is a very brutal and violent hunt as it is dog against hog. Jimmy said when asked about his response to the anti-hunters comments was pretty simple. “My dogs eat better and have better living conditions than a lot of human beings. They are bred to hunt and it is in their very being. I had one “goober” ask me what about the hogs and how cruel that had to be for them. I just smiled and said, “Podnuh, you are more than welcome to come to Delhi and climb in this training pen with one of them hogs. You will see just how tragic it would be for anyone to face one without one of these dogs to protect you.”

Feral hogs have become one of the worst detriments to farm land and timber land in the history of the south. Hogs are breeding machines. Jimmy says for example, if you put a male and female hog on an island with no intervention, that island would have 400,000 hogs within 5 years. Hogs breed twice a year and begin at 6 months old breeding. So if a sow has 15 piglets and half are female, that 6 month old is breeding while her mother has had another litter in the meantime. Do the math. You need to harvest 80% of the hogs on your property to maintain the balance. That is impossible to do as the hog is highly intelligent and at the first sign of danger, will go almost