Hunting 4 legged geurilla grocery grubbers

[Mr. Magoo]

I've never been hog hunting but have been itching to get out and blast some pork flavored self propelled plows for a while.

I've been doing alot of reading as to best calibers, bullets etc but still have a few other questions.

1)I don't see people talking much about places to hunt for free. Funds for me are more limited for recreation right now so I have to keep it cheap. Are there oppotunities to get with ranches who dont charge a fee? I know it takes a while to build trust when hunting on someone else's land and there's always a liability issue so I get the need to charge, but it seems some places need all the help they can get. The other option is public land but if it's anything like crowded colorado, sharing the area with a bunch of hog hunters you dont know doesn't sound too appealing due to my phobia of intamacy with speeding projectiles.

2)Is night hunting necessary for success? Dropping 4k on reliable NV or thermal optics isn't in the cards for aforementioned reasons but I sure don't see alot of daytime blubber blasting.

3)is the meat worth harvesting? Like say a young sow- or is the taste, piggy filth, or chance of disease/ just not worth it? I'm well on my way to filling up the freezers this year but a few hundred pounds of pork would be nice.

Thanks in advance.

 

[HSmithTX]

Texas or Florida are your best bet IMO, lots of other places have high numbers but TX has the most and FL the second most, I think....

In TX if you want to hunt free you are pretty much limited to public land, I don't even remember the last time I heard of someone hunting private land without a lease or fee unless it was a family/friend/connection type deal. Most huntable land in TX is already leased to hunters so there is no access without being part of the lease or paying the fee. On my lease if you aren't named on the lease you aren't allowed on the property, every landowner sets their own rules. Sam Houston National Forest north of Houston has high hog numbers and outside of deer season you probably won't see many people. There is more public land in East TX with high hog numbers but I don't know any specifics. During deer season if you are on public land at an even relatively known/easy access it will be pretty western in the woods. I would and do avoid. Lots of places to hog hunt for a fee, from not bad to OMG prices. Day fees, multiple day hunts, whatever you want is available. Success rates could be good, could be bad. The only guy I used for a pay hunt isn't doing it anymore so I can't point you to anyone.

Night hunting is definitely better, you can get closer and hogs are for the most part nocturnal or close to nocturnal and your chances of seeing a hog go way up. Where I hunt we have seen hogs in daylight once, and that was a really heavily overcast day with no moon and was at last light. At night they are moving much more. You can night hunt without a $5K get up, a thermal or night vision monocular and rifles with lights is what I use. The key is knowing where they are and that is the reason for the need to see in the dark. In the dark you can get pretty close, we usually get within about 80 yards and light them up. Would a good NV or thermal be better? Absolutely, but on my priority list that stuff is down the list.

The meat is excellent large and small, provided they are killed decently. If you don't kill it quickly the meat can be a bit more gamey. We have eaten them up to about 400 pounds and the meat is very good, backstraps and tenderloins are eaten as cut, front legs we will make carnitas or something out of, the rest gets ground and eaten. If I could pick I would shoot 80 to maybe 140 pound hogs, easier to work with in every way than big hogs and still enough meat for the effort but we shoot what is available. Unlike the TV shows we can go a month or more without a hog on the property in a high density hog area even running feeders.

If you want the best chance spend the money and go on a guided hunt with the thermal provided, those operations kill a lot of hogs.

 

[bill123]

For outstanding recipes and excellent hog knowledge, Jesse Griffiths' The Hog Book is a must have. https://thehogbook.com/

 

[Mr. Magoo]

Texas or Florida are your best bet IMO, lots of other places have high numbers but TX has the most and FL the second most, I think....

In TX if you want to hunt free you are pretty much limited to public land, I don't even remember the last time I heard of someone hunting private land without a lease or fee unless it was a family/friend/connection type deal. Most huntable land in TX is already leased to hunters so there is no access without being part of the lease or paying the fee. On my lease if you aren't named on the lease you aren't allowed on the property, every landowner sets their own rules. Sam Houston National Forest north of Houston has high hog numbers and outside of deer season you probably won't see many people. There is more public land in East TX with high hog numbers but I don't know any specifics. During deer season if you are on public land at an even relatively known/easy access it will be pretty western in the woods. I would and do avoid. Lots of places to hog hunt for a fee, from not bad to OMG prices. Day fees, multiple day hunts, whatever you want is available. Success rates could be good, could be bad. The only guy I used for a pay hunt isn't doing it anymore so I can't point you to anyone.

Night hunting is definitely better, you can get closer and hogs are for the most part nocturnal or close to nocturnal and your chances of seeing a hog go way up. Where I hunt we have seen hogs in daylight once, and that was a really heavily overcast day with no moon and was at last light. At night they are moving much more. You can night hunt without a $5K get up, a thermal or night vision monocular and rifles with lights is what I use. The key is knowing where they are and that is the reason for the need to see in the dark. In the dark you can get pretty close, we usually get within about 80 yards and light them up. Would a good NV or thermal be better? Absolutely, but on my priority list that stuff is down the list.

The meat is excellent large and small, provided they are killed decently. If you don't kill it quickly the meat can be a bit more gamey. We have eaten them up to about 400 pounds and the meat is very good, backstraps and tenderloins are eaten as cut, front legs we will make carnitas or something out of, the rest gets ground and eaten. If I could pick I would shoot 80 to maybe 140 pound hogs, easier to work with in every way than big hogs and still enough meat for the effort but we shoot what is available. Unlike the TV shows we can go a month or more without a hog on the property in a high density hog area even running feeders.

If you want the best chance spend the money and go on a guided hunt with the thermal provided, those operations kill a lot of hogs.

Lots of great info! Appreciate you taking the time to reply. Are you using red, green, or white light?

I had some coyote hunters also steer me towards the combo of thermal monocular and lights mounted on the guns. Looks like I'll go that way for now. I sometimes build high performance lights, so that's the easy part for me.

The hi po guided hunts definitely sound fun.

 

[cohunt]

You can rent NV fairly inexpensive too.

If you public land hunt in TX for hogs you will need a cheap license-- private land doesn't require one for hog

 

[Buffalobwana]

I've never been hog hunting but have been itching to get out and blast some pork flavored self propelled plows for a while.

I've been doing alot of reading as to best calibers, bullets etc but still have a few other questions.

1)I don't see people talking much about places to hunt for free. Funds for me are more limited for recreation right now so I have to keep it cheap. Are there oppotunities to get with ranches who dont charge a fee? I know it takes a while to build trust when hunting on someone else's land and there's always a liability issue so I get the need to charge, but it seems some places need all the help they can get. The other option is public land but if it's anything like crowded colorado, sharing the area with a bunch of hog hunters you dont know doesn't sound too appealing due to my phobia of intamacy with speeding projectiles.

2)Is night hunting necessary for success? Dropping 4k on reliable NV or thermal optics isn't in the cards for aforementioned reasons but I sure don't see alot of daytime blubber blasting.

3)is the meat worth harvesting? Like say a young sow- or is the taste, piggy filth, or chance of disease/ just not worth it? I'm well on my way to filling up the freezers this year but a few hundred pounds of pork would be nice.

Thanks in advance.

From a landowners perspective, the time hassle and liability of someone hunting for free absolutely isn't worth it. Open gates, dead cows, trash, personal liability. Not worth it.

Yeah, maybe 30 years ago you could do it, but for the most part every acre of huntable land is either leased for hunting or reserved for the landowner and family to hunt. When hunting lease cost approaches or exceeds a cattle grazing price, you won't have a ton of luck finding free hunting access.

If not, even day hunts bring $100-$200/hunter and I'd steer clear of those offers. You usually get less than you pay for when you go cheap.

There are hunts in east TX that produce but it's all put and take. They buy hogs trapped outside the ranch and release them. You can usually spot these operations as they charge by the lb for anything you shoot.

There is no public hunting that I am aware of that is worth a squat.

There is one option that will set you apart from the guys looking for free hunts. Offer to swap labor for hunting rights. But, be prepared to work. Hard.

Sorry to be so blunt. Save some Pennie's and do it right. Buy a good hunt. Good hunting costs money in Texas.

 

[Flintlock shooter]

Ultimate Night Vision has some really good deals for renting thermal equipment. If you rent something you are thinking about buying they will take the rental price off of the purchase price. Tyler and Todd are great guys to work with and have a ton of knowledge.

 

[Pilsner]

Arkansas lets you hunt hogs on public land during rifle season (for deer and bear seasons). Check out Ozark national forest/White Rock.
+1 for Jessie's Hog book.

 

[Mr. Magoo]

No apologies necessary, all opinions welcome as that's why I started this thread- I'm trying to learn what I dont know. Too many people afraid to ask questions that might make them look dumb.

Here, the ranches are generally smaller, more populated and farming/ cattle ranching is still their focus for making money. It's just elk and deer- we don't have hogs here but it looks like they're a hot commodity. Just a little different over here.

My neighbor was the local government trapper and would shoot coyotes out of a small airplane, among other methods, for controllong the population. He would go around getting landowners signed up on the program so he could go over your place and eradicate song dogs. He used a shotgun with buckshot. It was a free service and back then the coyote population was so bad it was well warranted.

 

[Mr. Magoo]

Ultimate Night Vision has some really good deals for renting thermal equipment. If you rent something you are thinking about buying they will take the rental price off of the purchase price. Tyler and Todd are great guys to work with and have a ton of knowledge.

Good to know.

 

[Buffalobwana]

No apologies necessary, all opinions welcome as that's why I started this thread- I'm trying to learn what I dont know. Too many people afraid to ask questions that might make them look dumb.

The ranches are generally smaller, more populated and farming/ cattle ranching is still their focus for making money. It's just elk and deer- we don't have hogs here but it looks like they're a hot commodity. Just a little different over here.

20 years ago my neighbor was the local government trapper and would shoot coyotes out of a small airplane, among other methods, for controllong the population. He would go around getting landowners signed up on the program so he could go over your place and eradicate song dogs. He used a shotgun with buckshot. It was a free service and back then the coyote population was so bad it was well warranted.

Landowners pay big $$$ to hire helicopter eradication services, but don't allow free hunting.

That should tell you how much of a hassle and liability "free hunting" is.

Sucks, because I used to be the guy wanting to hunt for free. Even good friends of mine couldn't allow me to hunt after they started leasing their land. Back then it was $1-$2/acre. Now, $10-$18 in my area. $20 and up in other areas.

We have turned into Europe where only the wealthy can afford some hunting opportunities.

 

[scrmblr1982cj8]

I've lived and hunted hogs in Florida, South Carolina, and Texas. Finding strangers that will let you hunt their land is almost impossible. I'd try asking around to those you know that have property to let you hunt or ask you friends who owns property that you could ask. Public lands and WMOs are possibilities, but there are too many others out there for my comfort.

I've killed over a hundred hogs. I've probably only killed 10 or so during the daylight, and all of those were during cooler or cold weather. You can kill hogs in the morning or before dusk, but seeing hogs (at least for me) during broad daylight is rare. If you do hunt during the day, look in shady areas near water.

Thermal or night vision is absolutely going to make killing hogs easier. You can use red or green lights, but using thermal or night vision gives the hogs one less thing to detect.

 

[Mr. Magoo]

^^Nice scrambler there.
All good info guys, appreciate it. Totally on board about not letting just anybody, or strangers on your place, my fault for not communicating that. It goes without saying, there's certain amount of trust that has to be earned any time you go hunting on somone else's land; so when I hear about people leasing their land for hunting it makes me wonder how much of that vetting is possible when you're exchanging hunting for money and you get different clientele coming all the time vs. just a few guys that you know.

Just some things that I wonder about.

The guy who owns the neighbor ranch here has properties all over and I have permission to hunt 'yotes on all 30k acres. No charge, he just wants them gone. Didnt occur to me til now but I'll have to ask him if he has land in hog country. It wouldnt surpise me.

 

[Muddyboots]

Texas does have a landowner liability protection law that does protect the landowner for "recreation" unless there is an egregious negligence on the landowner's part. Most states have similar laws and I have gotten permission through showing the landowner the rule and providing a sign off in accordance to the rule. Just another possibility to consider.

However, TX also promotes landowners hunting leases as addition income for landowners.

CIVIL PRACTICE AND REMEDIES CODE CHAPTER 75. LIMITATION OF LANDOWNERS' LIABILITY