Some Tips on Hog Hunting

[WildRose]

Reading through these threads over the years I've picked up on lots of things good and bad.

There are definitely some things I think some of you could pick up on and improve your success rates.

Hogs are smart, if you pressure the same bunch more than a couple of times over a few days or weeks they will disappear on you and find more peaceful surroundings. They are not like say the Whitetail deer that pretty well has to be hunted to extinction rather than leave their home turf.

Hogs are extremely unpredictable. Water is basically their only limiting factor so as long as there is water generally available in an area they will basically go whatever way their noses are pointed when they wake up.

They are absolute omnivores meaning they will eat anything they can get into their mouths and few real preferences. Any sort of a sweet cane is candy to them. Haygrazer, Sudan, Red Topped Cain, Corn stalks, basically any of the grains that come from segmented stalks with a high sugar content and a sweet taste is crack to them.

They like corn of course as well as pretty much any other grain.

What most people don't realize is that they are every bit as inclined to eat rats, snakes, carrion of all sorts as they are any of the veggies. In fact snakes rate up there among their most favorite meals. While they are a pestilence in many ways if your place is overrun with rattlesnakes, invite the hogs to come in and stay a while. Not only will they eat the rats and snakes, they'll eat prickly pear right to the ground and dig out the roots to get at all the tasty critters living in the ratholes below.

Now to the important part. Pigs have terrible eyesight, incredible hearing and a nose that can Identify a human at over a half mile if they are downwind of you.

Now take the above in consideration when attempting to stalk them. Even in broad daylight if you are down wind of them and simply move slowly and quietly you can easily stalk up to within handgun or bow range in most cases.

Over the years we've snuck up on many of them to just stupidly close range just to prove that we could.

We first started seeing feral hogs in our area in the seventies following a semi full of hogs overturning and breaking open on the highway. Prior to that if you saw a hog in the wild it probably got loose from your neighbor's farm.

I'm sure some of the others here have their own tips, so pile in and pile on.

Happy Hog hunting boys and girls.

 

[just country]

morning u pretty much covered the hog and hog hunting.
we raised hogs in my younger days. very smart

justme gbot tum

 

[Zen Archery]

My only advice: SHOOT THEM!

 

[Achapa87]

Always always have the wind on your favor. A good steady wind can be great for stalking with a bow. I like to stay back about 100 yards and start working in

 

[WildRose]

morning u pretty much covered the hog and hog hunting.
we raised hogs in my younger days. very smart

justme gbot tum

We did too. For a few years we had the top Berks and Spots in the country.

On top of school, working, sports, etc My senior year I had 38 sows, five boars and we raised two litters per sow each year covering both the Texas Jr. Livestock show circuit, NM circuit, and the breed nationals for each breed along with the Texas fair circuit.

Hard, dangerous work for a kid but very rewarding and I learned a lot of life lessons I'll ever forget.

The big problem was that of course some of them became pets.

After I came back from overseas they'd closed down the hog farm but we still had pet Berk Boar that weighed over 800lbs that like to ride to town in the back of the truck.

Made a hell of a guard dog too.

 

[manitou]

If hunting over feeders or pressured hogs, use a green light and hunt them at night. The big boys and most of the others know when they are being hunted and become nocturnal-ish.
Also, hunt the downwind side of feeder areas... not right on the feeders. Once pressured, i found a lot of times they circle downwind to scent check an area prior to committing... and more often than not, they WILL scent you. They are smart, have excellant noses and figure things out quickly. Of course, this mainly applies to bowhunting and you can get away with a bit more with firearms if visibility is good.

 

[WildRose]

If hunting over feeders or pressured hogs, use a green light and hunt them at night. The big boys and most of the others know when they are being hunted and become nocturnal-ish.
Also, hunt the downwind side of feeder areas... not right on the feeders. Once pressured, i found a lot of times they circle downwind to scent check an area prior to committing... and more often than not, they WILL scent you. They are smart, have excellant noses and figure things out quickly. Of course, this mainly applies to bowhunting and you can get away with a bit more with firearms if visibility is good.

Good one. For those who can't afford higher end night vision the green lights are a big help. Combine that with an IR or other NV monocular scanning unit and you have a winner for sure.

Personally I always prefer hunting in a wind and from the downwind approach. With the sensitivity of a hog's ears and nose it really helps to give the hunter the advantage or at least helps to re level the playing field.

I also prefer a pretty strong wind when possible. When shooting with either a good side discharge brake or suppressor it works very well to mask the location of the shooter.

Unlike many if not most other species once they line out and start to run when boogered, pigs rarely make the mistake of stopping to turn back and look at you. Deer and especially coyotes are heavily prone to making that mistake, hogs are not.

Shot location can be tricky.

If you want to pretty well freeze a herd for as much as a minute or more put a shot into a young one that gets them squealing for help. Frequently the sows will bunch up around them and a big herd boar will start looking for the source of the attack.

The Alpha sow and boar can be extremely dangerous in this situation.

Peple frequently make the mistake of dismissing the dangers they pose because they don't have a wide opening mouth like most predators, but in reality they can hit you with the force of a big motorcycle breaking your legs, ribs, etc, the boars can easily slash you like a an attacker with a sharp chisel and then they will go to chewing on you with an incredibly powerful bite force given the opportunity.

If they get you down and you are alone, you are just another meal to them.

 

[tim_w]

Night with NODs IMO is by far the best time. Position yourself between food source and water. On a farm between crop field and tank or creek etc. At night if you end up in the middle of the **** with hogs bolting around you stay still unless one is coming right at you. Their sight at night is at its worst of the worst and they will run right by you. If you move or run they will key in on it. Happened more times then I care to admit.

Hell one time walking a fence line late morning I actually stepped on one going over a log. I had nothing but a pock folder with me. Lets just say there was a real pucker factor going on for a few terrifing seconds.. Harsh words were said by both parties involved but parted ways without any more fan fair. Otherwise I would have been playing chase me around the big live oak tree till he lost interest.

If you are trying to bring them into a certain area for better hunting rotted ferminted corn mash the stinker the better. You can drill holes in a 6" pvc pipe screw on end cap chained to a tree or other anchor. Fill it with chosen mix corn and stale beer works great in the heat of summer.