Hog Cutters Trapping Company is a small family business, owned and operated by a close-knit, private family. They are happiest in the fields of the South, doing some good for others. As their media manager, I have had to drag them far out of their comfort zone and into the world of web-presence and social media. For better or worse,ย it is part of the progress of the world we live in. Their personal lives shared by a woman behind a keyboard 1000 miles away.
Today Josey and I were speaking after he removed one of our Jager Pro traps from a short term trapping location. The moment for him was reminiscent of a day close to 12 years ago. Despite his hesitance to publicize a very personal event, he agreed to allow me to share it with the Hog Cutters extended family.
Progress and moving forward can be a time of joy or a time of sorrow. Looking at the photos I have shared below, you will see one from many years ago. It is a photo of an early corral trap Josey created to catch hogs long before his involvement with Jager Pro. In the far side of the trap you will see the familiar faces ofย a young Zeb and younger Wyatt. In the small opening of the trap, a young dark German Shepherd pup is keeping watch over his boys.
Time has shown the two tiny toddlers grow into hard-working young men. The joy of seeing them grow, tarnished by losing their innocent wonder at the world around them. Where once a young energetic pup stood guard over his small brothers, a grey muzzled dog watched as they ventured off without him. Finally to an afternoon last month when that grey muzzled old man shared his last breath.
As time has marched on, progress has been made in the advent of a better wild hog trapping system. Trapping is no longer reliant on the luck of the draw and a trip wire. We can do so much more to gain control of the wild hog infestation on our neighbor’s farms. Progress has given us opportunities to eliminate entire sounders at the push of a button, and developments in products to attract hogs where we want them from miles away.
So today as Josey was removing his state of the art trap from land in South Georgia, circumstances brought his mind back to that old trap so many years ago. Only this time, his blonde-headed helpers were in school. His companion a new addition to the Hog Cutters family. A lovely young German Shepherd, who is sable where her predecessor wore black. He spoke of how far his work for our clients has come, and wondered at how far we will progress when he is looking back in another 12 years.
