Florida, Georgia Hog Hunting?

[olive drab]

Is there public land in Florida to hunt pigs? I may be relocating with my job in a few months to Northern FL and am interested in giving this a shot

 

[LDHunter]

There is but our wildlife management areas which comprise very nearly all our public hunting areas have established seasons and you generally, with a few exceptions, can only hunt hogs on them during deer seasons and on some I think maybe small game seasons as well.

You'd be best served by looking at the FWC website here and researching each individual wildlife management area as they all stand on their own as far as rules and seasons go although there are a lot of similarities.
https://myfwc.com/media/1406/huntingwmamap.pdf

Florida isn't exactly known for an abundance of game or quality hunting experiences. Most panhandle hunters that can afford it are on hunting leases and even so you'll find much higher quality hunting on leases in Alabama and Georgia.

On private and leased lands you can hunt hogs year around and use thermal and night vision equipment but that's not so on management areas.

Sorry to bring you the bad news but Florida hunting, even for hogs, is simply not very good. If you can, by chance, establish relationships with people with access to good hunting areas you will be WAAAAAAY ahead of the game but don't look for that to be an easy task because you'll be one of many many people trying to do exactly that.

Where in North Florida are you expecting to land and both I, and I imagine some others, may be able to shorten your learning curve.

I'm a little west of Tallahassee myself.

LDH

 

[John Klingenberg]

Go to Georgia. I think they offer better seasons and public places to hunt. No offense to Florida but the scenery is better and the hunting there is a little easier on the body depending on your age/fitness. I've hunted central Florida and even in the fall it's pretty hot, humid and the swampy ground is murder to walk through for extended periods not to mention dragging a soggy hog any distance. Georgia has a lot higher ground and open woods without so many saw palmetto nor as many mosquitoes.

 

[robert l]

Is there public land in Florida to hunt pigs? I may be relocating with my job in a few months to Northern FL and am interested in giving this a shot

yes their are places all over the place.there is no season on them so you can hunt for them 24-7 on private land.alot of farms will let you hunt the land to rid the hogs off there farm.i have a lease with a farm that is 12000 acres.and they get deer tags allso.so if you find the right farmer he may give some tags to you.im lucky my guy does not hunt so i get 60 tags a year.my problem is the guy will only let me and my son in law hunt the farm. but there are alot of state and fed. forest and they are run very well,good luck.

 

[olive drab]

Thanks for the responses. I will be possibly relocating to Jacksonville. Is that considered north florida or did I botch that? Thats a short hop to GA so I guess that opens some options.

 

[LDHunter]

Thanks for the responses. I will be possibly relocating to Jacksonville. Is that considered north florida or did I botch that? Thats a short hop to GA so I guess that opens some options.

That's probably much better known as NE Florida and yes you'd do well to hunt Georgia instead of Florida.

 

[robert l]

Thanks for the responses. I will be possibly relocating to Jacksonville. Is that considered north florida or did I botch that? Thats a short hop to GA so I guess that opens some options.

Yes that is north florida i live just south of state rd. 70 and this is south florida. yea you can come south its a 5 hour drive to where im located. There is a place in polk county that you can buy what they call a camping lot pretty cheap and that gives access to about 22.000 acres of hunting and 4 wheeling trucks mud racing just about any thing you what to do.the name is River Ranch. look it up they have a big web site. I would say its about two and a half hour drive from jacksonville.good luck you will have to do some work to get in some where but there are plenty of places to hunt and here where i hunt its easy to take 10 hogs a night with my son in law. its alot of cleaning but we leave a few for the wild life to eat.

 

[robert l]

Can anyone recommend a reasonable outfitter in Fla. or GA that offers hog hunting?
Most of the group are seniors and would prefer an easy hunt from stands.

Thanks,
VC

You can look in central florida the state road 70 that goes across the state from just south of tampa to west palm beach. I live on the 70 on the west coast side and the hogs are every where. You see the on the side of the all the time.the best tip i can give is to find some one that hunts close to farms.we grow year round so there are hogs around the farms year round. i have access to 2 farms and its not to hard to take 15 to 20 hogs a night by myself. So good luck finding a place to hunt. Oh you may want to get intouch with hi hat ranch in sarasota,florida they used to do hunts.

 

[Web1350]

I'll follow along on this one, I'd love to go hog hunting. I'd be open to any state, but price would be a concern. I would also want to make shore I would not be wasting my money on a hunt that was cheap in all aspects. I'd be willing to do a do it your self hog hunt to if I could get good info.

I'm in the same situation as you. I, too, want to hunt hogs but not sure how to set it up. I can't see paying outrageous amounts of money to help eliminate "their" problem. I'm not against paying a reasonable amount for the experience, however. Maybe we could set something up. I'm in Pennsylvania and willing to travel anywhere along the east coast.

 

[35 Whelen]

I'm in the same situation as you. I, too, want to hunt hogs but not sure how to set it up. I can't see paying outrageous amounts of money to help eliminate "their" problem. I'm not against paying a reasonable amount for the experience, however. Maybe we could set something up. I'm in Pennsylvania and willing to travel anywhere along the east coast.

I'm in Montana. I did find a place in Idaho that is a small ranch (440 acres), it is do it yourself hunts for $375 a hog. They are European Wild Boar Hunt, phone # 208-420-3227 or 208-539-7072. They also have Mouflon Sheep for $1,000.

 

[fwilkins70]

I've hunted at Bear Bridge Outfitters in Fla., you are guaranteed a hog, but prices have gone up. Worth a look.
I now belong to a private hunt club ( 3rd year ) just north of Perry, Fla., Econfina Sloughs Hunt Club, and I think we have a couple/few openings left for this year. We lease over 24,000 acres from a timber company, and have just over 100 members. Everything behind locked gates. Never seen over half in the club at once. No alcohol, spouse and family oriented. TONS, literally, of hogs; hunted year-round. Good deer population, QDM Rules, LOTS of Turkey, Eastern only, no Osceola's. Still hunt/stands only. Everyone gets 3 spots/stand locations ( you pick ) each with a 500 yd. radius NOBODY is allowed to violate. ( spots registered with Leadership via GPS, to prevent overlap. ) Check out our website for more info/rules. Billy Russ is the membership contact. ZERO slob hunters tolerated, strict but just common sense rules. Everyone background checked. AWESOME members, including law enforcement and clergy. ( All the bases covered, LOL!) GFC Wildlife Officers patrol on frequent basis. Trespassing and poaching HARSHLY dealt with. Currently $1,400 a year. Spouse and minor kids included. Primitive camping ( no water/elect.) on site, inexpensive motels 12 miles in town ( Perry ).