hog hunting tips

[Oklahoma Rebel]

hey, I have been hog hunting in two WMA's within 50-60 mile of home. there is plenty of sign, tons of tracks, lots of rooting, and saplings on their trails stained brown from mud, greasy hair maybe?. I have been out there early In the morning( never quite made it there by light, but pretty close), till about 1pm, I have hunted from 2-3 pm till almost dark. I have had no luck. there are really thick areas way back there, along little "fingers" of the lake that are dry a lot of the time and also woods with stands of saplings or something 12-15ft tall and about the area of a small house. do you think that I am just missing them by coincidence since they move around so much? or do I need to try harder to make it there at dark in the AM and not leave til dark in the PM. by the way my hunting style, is to quietly creep through the woods, and if I find a good spot, waterhole, etc. I will still hunt for an hour or so. thanks for listening, I am going this weekend again so wish me luck! Travis

[725]

Scent management is important while still hunting. Those critters smell good. I prefer tree stands, but have taken them off the ground, as well. Depending on the rules where you hunt, dry powder drink mix (apple, grape, peach), tossed in the air, has been an effective bait/lure.

[runfiverun]

they could just be moving around at night.

[Texas by God]

They are hard to hunt on foot. Very windy days help. Blind hunting over corn works unless acorns are around. Night hunting with spotlight is your best bet. The big ones are nocturnal. Where I hunt anyway. Good luck kill a hundred for me. Best, Thomas.

[Oklahoma Rebel]

I think these are nocturnal, and we cant hunt them at night, that's why I was hoping for some expert tips. it is mostly oak where I hunt, along with 3 big green fields the dept of wildlife manage I guess. they look bombed out cuz of the pigs, during the day, do they just get into the thickest stuff possible? also I don't know why they would be nocturnal, I don't hear of anyone really hunting them. most people don't even know they are this far north yet

[MUSTANG]

If it is cold, they may be all sleeping in a pile and not moving.

[buckwheatpaul]

I just had 2 Michigan hunters down hunting hogs on our place for 5 days.....they varied their hours and used my game cameras to try to print their habits.....They only got one hog. I have over 40 acres of damage. They hunted at night with night vision......saw 6 hogs at one time and got one shot......no suppressors.... I said this to say that they are extremely unpredictable and mobile.....good luck.....just have to be in the right spot and the right time......Paul

[jcren]

Not much experience, just becoming a problem here, but if they are nearby (they can cover several miles following the harvest so to speak) you can hear them late in the evening as they start stirring for the night. Once located, usually in thick brush, find a vantage point and get ready. After the first one squeals, they explode like quail.

[Texas by God]

Camo up and find a comfortable place to sit by a well used trail. Diesel fuel is a good cover scent. They are very unpredictable as to when they show up. Use something that you can shoot fast and well unless Oklahoma has silly bag limits on pigs. Again, Good luck.

[Digital Dan]

Still hunt upwind, move like smoke in the dense cover. Pack a reliable shotgun loaded with #1,2 or 3 buckshot.

[Fishman]

Can you bait? If so bait out and set up a tree stand. Can dig a post hole and fill with soured corn to make it hard to the pigs to eat it all. I'd guess the pigs are nocturnal. Squirrel dogs, deer hunters, duck hunters, it's all pressure that keeps them hid up during the day.

Still hunting them is tough.

[Oklahoma Rebel]

ok buckwheat, thank you for confirming what I suspected, I figured they had so much room and were just wandering and we hadn't met yet,baiting is not allowed for some reason, but mineral blocks and scents are legal. I guess I should look for sow in estrus scent, and I have seen calls at bass pro, one was a piglet, one was a boar grunt I think... they are really starting to turn it into a big sport. as for my weapon, texas by god, I am using an sks with 185 gr lee rn at probably 1700fps, but if I don fix the feeding glitches I have been having occasionally ( its a new boolit/load) I will use the lee 312-155-2r, which I know is a spritzer, but with my alloy of lyman #2 and copper it mushrooms to .40-.45. that's at an estimated 1900-1975 fps.

[Oklahoma Rebel]

thanks for the tips guys, if you can think of anything else I am all ears. no one really hog hunts around here so I am basically learning as I go, using the skills I have learned deer hunting, but I can tell the two are 2 totally different animals, lol, pun intended

[flyingrhino]

I hunt them regularly here in SC. During the hot time of the year I rarely see them during the day. They are deep in the brush in the swampy area keeping cool and move in the night. Right now I see the younger ones moving all day long. The big ones usually early and late. I've stalked them but do better just sitting in my ground blind and waiting. Stalking here is tough because they are in the thick briars. I get tired of getting all cut up.

I've got a couple feeders I made from PVC pipe filled with corn that I set out 50 yards from my ground blind. They love to root it around. They are very near sighted so I don't worry about wearing camo. I've stood and watched them from 20 yards away and they never knew I was there. They have extremely good sense of hearing and smell so you need to mind the wind.

Your best bet is to bait them with corn if you can where you are hunting. That will bring them to you on a regular basis. Then it's just a matter of figuring out when they visit the bait. Game camera is your friend.

Don't give up. They are really fun to hunt and some mighty fine eating! AND...they breed like rabbits so the population grows rapidly. They do billions of dollars in damage every year and have a severe impact on indigenous game populations. The deer population really suffers from the competition. Hunting doesn't really make a dent in the population according to the wildlife federation.

I'm using a suppressed AR15 in 300 Blackout. Go for the head shot, in the ear hole. They drop where they stand. I don't like to go in the brush after them.

[popper]

I forget the name of the site, texashoghunter or something. Lots of tips. Like coyote hunting, they roam a long distance & don't try to bust them in the cover - they will change their routine. On WMA you can't properly bait, you could try some deer corn IN the ground near a wallow.

[slownsteady22]

Scent away makes acorn cover sent and a rabbit urine cover sent. Find a food
/water source and wait. Good luck

Sent from my SM-G925R4 using Tapatalk

[w5pv]

flyinrhino knows where to shoot them,they don't even squeal

[Blackwater]

I''ve never hunted hogs much, but a buddy of mine over in TX said that the old time hog hunters he knew had a trick. I don't understand it, and it seems counter intuitive, but he said to bury a coffee can of corn, with a little diesel fuel in it, and they'd come for the corn smell, and then wallow in the fresh dug, diesel-smelling earth to get the parasites off their skins. He swore it was THE way to get a haugeau, but I can provide no testimonials. What little experience I have with them sure indicated how stealthily they CAN move in the woods when they want/need to. I was in a big mulberry patch, and had what sounded to be a very large one headed my way. I only had my .45, and placed myself almost directly in the path that the hog was coming toward me on. Had the gun aimed and ready where I thought it'd come out, but ..... all of a sudden, it got quiet as a mouse! And I suspect it winded me. I had no cover scent on. But as far as I could tell, it just dematerialized and .... POOF! It was just gone. Had some pigs with it, so I figured it was a big sow. I'll never know where it went or how it got there. The floor of the woods was like rice crispies, and I'll never know how it got away without making a sound. Hog hunting can get REAL interesting sometimes.

If I were doing it again, I believe I'd try to move as slowly and soundlessly as I could, and wear cover scent, and try to focus on the areas where they feed or like to bed down. A lot of scouting should reveal the spots where they do this. The rooting spots are where they're feeding, and any laid down spots will be a bedding site. You have to look close to notice them, and it helps to know what you're looking for, or you'll see it and it wont' register. Good luck. It doesn't take long, with their breeding rate, to get to be a serious pest of MAJOR proportions. They can be VERY destructive. Back when I was still in college, one of the jobs I had was measuring peanut allotments for the Ag. office. I saw one fellow's plot that he'd had to replant twice (three plantings in all!) due to hogs. What hogs did to that small, hidden field was amazing! He didn't allow ANY hunting on his land, and I just casually mentioned that the only way he was likely to get rid of them was to let folks kill them off, lest they increase their populations even more, and the neighbors start complaining about all the damages "his" hogs were doing to their lands. He turned beet red, but you could tell he was thinking about it. Never got to hear what he did. I suspect he may have poisoned them, but then, other creatures that ate their carcasses may have died, killing the very wildlife he said he loved to see so much. Farmers can be a very opinionated bunch, sometimes. Good luck!

[cainttype]

Snares... If the "excitement of the hunt" is secondary to filling the freezer.
A lot of people here build traps, others use dogs, but snares are very portable if you're scouting an area with good sign and you plan on checking them regularly.

[popper]

http://www.texasboars.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=680
Some ideas. Can't find the other site that is better. Deer hunts here have gotten so expensive they changed to cheap hog hunts. I'd probably use your 155 boolit. No expansion needed. I sat in a stand for 3 morn & eve., 308 carbine & 300 BO. Never saw anything but deer at the feeder. I did get one with 40sw @25, hardcast alloy - went north-to-south all the way and he still ran another 100 yds. Went on a youth deer hunt last year, most of the kids were shooting 243 and several ~300# were taken @ 100 under feeders. Like I said, like coyote hunting, find water/wallow, rooted area with sign, across from a clearing - set up at the other end. Take your 45 or 40 with you. You'll probably get one shot. They run fast and turn on a dime. Do NOT try to find their bedding area, unless there is a LOT of food, they will move and maybe not be back that year - at least when you are there.

[Oklahoma Rebel]

why do you recommend the lighter boolit, velocity? penetration? right now it does win as far as reliability, I've never had those jam, but the 185's im working with, I think I have them figured out. but I'm game for either boolit, just curios and interested in your reasoning or possible experience with either of these boolits?

[Oklahoma Rebel]

oh, and thank you everyone, for all the good info, and the link, popper

[oldblinddog]

Remember that hogs are feral livestock and not game animals. If the prohibition on baiting in your area applies to deer, it may not apply to hogs (and I don't know why it would. A farmer could be accused of baiting for just feeding livestock). The same thing could also apply to the prohibition on night hunting. In Texas hogs are feral and game laws do not apply with the exception that you must be in possession of a hunting license. For non-residents it need only be a small game hunting license.

[Oklahoma Rebel]

nope, it says specifically for hogs... I need to check again though, now that I think about it that was last year, and all the years before, hopefully they will have changed it

[punch]

Get large trash can with lid. Make sure fits tight cause coons gonna try get it. One sack corn, 4 packers yeast, 4 boxes raspberry jello. Cover in water and let ferment. Gonna take longer in cold weather but will work. Keep checking water level and make sure can is in much sun as possible. Take post hole diggers and dig deep as you can. Take 5 gallon bucket put 2-3 shovel full of mixture in then cup or 2 of disel and mix. This keeps deer and coons from eating it. Put in hole and sprinkle couple handful dirt on top. Check in day or two and if they coming rebait.probably will have to clean up hole if they comin. Set as far as you can see and shoot and start waiting on them. You keep it baited they gonna keep comin. Yall just have to be there at same time. You and the hogs that is.

[Oklahoma Rebel]

no baiting, defined as grains,feed, feed cubes, even piling up natural food such as acorns!! legal examples- salt or mineral blocks, sardines or other trapping lures, and commercial scents. not sure about the koolaid or jello powder, I bet hogs would go for sardines, and the scent would definitely travel! I wonder what flavor would be best??lol mustard, hot sauce, in water or oil? hmmm. I am gonna try this sardine idea ! (by the way, these laws are talking about dept. managed areas, like where I go

[Oklahoma Rebel]

punch, thanks, but I already know how to make moonshine,lol

[Oklahoma Rebel]

I would do it if it was on private property, but I am hunting on WMA's but thanks for the tip

[Fishman]

I would add that unless you are extremely proficient with that Sks I would forgo the head shot and shoot low in the front shoulder. Hog anatomy is different than deer and their neck vertebra are much lower in the neck than deer. If you hit one and it goes down, then drop another round or two in its head. Myself and others have shot pigs in the head only to watch them get up and run like heck. A couple have been brought down and the damage from the first round was unbelievable, yet they were still mobile.

[Oklahoma Rebel]

yeah, I have studied the anatomy of where the heart/ lungs are, about 2inches up and 3 inches forward from the elbow. besides, I plan on keeping the skull to do a European mount, so no boolits are going there!

[redriverhunter]

my limited experience is that hogs don't seem to like to get too far from water. my bet is once you find out where they are going to drink then you got to find their travel times and route, they seem to be like every thing else in that they will take the path of least resistance. Next are there any open fields from what i have seen here in Texas is they like to dig around in fields. some time I have to spend time looking for sign, then find travel times and is this their habit. I have also found that some times you will see a bunch at once and other time just one lone hog.

[Hogtamer]

I've killed over 200 with a recurve bow over the years, almost all off the ground stalking. The problem this time of year is that they're almost exclusively nocturnal. As mentioned, deer hunters have stirred up the woods for the last several months. The best tme to kill them is in late spring and early summer. Nobody's in the woods, there are no acorns, etc. so they are on the move looking for tubers to root up. There's also good cover and quieter walking. You're doing good to wear out some boot leather now though. Even though they are bedded up in the thickest stuff you can find right now, keep your eyes open for good wallows. They don't perspire and their cooling system is their snout. The wallowing coats them in mud they let dry awhile, then rub off on the trees you've seen to remove bugs. That's why diesel/burnt oil works too. Patches of johnson grass, nut grass, anything with edible roots is a likely spot in the spring and summer. Catch 'em doing a backhoe imitation and you can get a lot closer than you need to if you've got the wind. When you spot one or two don't focus solely on what you can see...it's the ones you don't see that will bust you. Keep at 'em and you'll find them. YOu know they are there now, so spend the time learning the territory, and when you find the right spot it will be the right spot for years to come. If there's any agriculture nearby don't fail to check that out. Ain't a farmer in Georgia at least who won't let you ease around the edges of their planted fields in June if they're certain you are hog hunting. A pecan pie or pound cake beforehand is better than lease money..... HOGTAMER

[WFO2]

On our land we stand hunt them in the evenings . i use a 450 bushmaster and my son double oo or 1oz slugs . They can see worth a fart but good pretty good noses . So stand hunt or keep the wind in your favor .

[WFO2]

Forget to add I'm in Central Texas .

[popper]

fps = flatter shooting. You have a 2-3" 'window' for a good hit. Did I mention they run fast? Even after hit? Take the pistol when looking for them after a hit. Remove any remains from choke points or sign. What are your 'orange' requirements on WMA?

[Oklahoma Rebel]

yeah, I think you have better odds, lucky! lol I am planning a road trip early summer, and I want to go south, either texas or Louisiana and hunt some hogs down there.

[texasnative46]

Oklahoma Rebel,

At the rate that "Rachel" is catching pigs on our farm in Northeast TX & moving them to OK, you need NOT come to Texas to shoot them.
(Mother, long before her passing in 2016, contracted with Rachel to remove hogs from our place & we still get a check from time to time for our "cut". = Mother called it, "My Christmas fund." = CHUCKLE.)

Btw, I use a Model 760 Remington in .30-06 for pigs, with a 10-round COLYER CLIP for QUICK follow-up shots.
(LOTS of practice on "the running boar target" is in your best interest.)


yours, tex

[popper]

Buddy traps them, then release and shoot. He had one turn around toward him, his 9mm shield jammed and I think he set the record for clearing the jam. Then emptied the mag - he didn't get hurt.

[Oklahoma Rebel]

well, that's motivation for ya!!!

[Oklahoma Rebel]

no orange is required, unless hunting during deer season

[bayjoe]

Put on a Gilly suit, put your nose in the wind and go down in the canyons after them. Use your ears, and then when you sneak up on them unload and shoot as many as you can. Wait ten or 15 minutes and go after them again. They scatter like quail when you bust them, then they will start grunting and come back together.
I used to live down on the Wa****a and have hunted them a bunch.

[EhlerDave]

Oklahoma Rebel,

I am up near Kaw Lake. The pigs we have around here just seem to move at night. I also have pigs we raise and they are far more active at night. When it is cold they will dig in at night and move around when a bit warmer if they can. In the heat of summer you would need to kick my pigs in the butt to get them out of the shade.

I have watched one of my pigs that got out for a few hours. I was waiting on help to get her back in the pen, the amount of damage she did and the number of tracks she left was beyond belief. Now if you take that and think about 5-10 pigs and they can sure mark up the land.

Around the lake I have seen what they are doing to fields, but at this time the people I have asked about hunting them all want paid for me to save them from repairing pastures. I raise my own so it is not just for meat, but these guys whine about the damage, then want me to make a car payment for me them to help them out. :)

I had been looking for a safe place for me to hunt, I do not get around well, so accurate shooting or being out of reach would be a good thing, to be safe I would like to be up out of reach. LOL

I have shot many of them with a 22lr here at the house, but dont think I would be so quick to do that in the woods.

A handgun with a heavy bullet that is out and easy to reach would be a great idea, those silly things can sure move fast.

[popper]

http://vid1078.photobucket.com/albums/w491/popper29/IMG_0538_zps3edpwvyl.mp4
They both emptied the mags before it went down. 9mm 147gr. jacketed.

[Gerald]

Down here in South Texas they move at night. They are smart animals and as said in the earlier post they have a good sense of smell and hearing. The eye sight is not that great. Scent control is important. I have taken them with all caliber of rifles from .17 hmr .22 cal all the way up to 45-70, But my favorite is with my FX Royal 400 .22 air rifle. Here in Texas we can bait them so I use spoiled corn, or hog wild, but koolaid works good too. It's a fun challenging hunt. Have fun and be careful because they are mean too.
Gerald

[shoot-n-lead]

Down here in South Texas they move at night. They are smart animals and as said in the earlier post they have a good sense of smell and hearing. The eye sight is not that great. Scent control is important. I have taken them with all caliber of rifles from .17 hmr .22 cal all the way up to 45-70, But my favorite is with my FX Royal 400 .22 air rifle. Here in Texas we can bait them so I use spoiled corn, or hog wild, but koolaid works good too. It's a fun challenging hunt. Have fun and be careful because they are mean too.
Gerald.

The hogs we have in GA are the say way. In the thick woods that we have around here...they are very difficult to kill and most folks give up before they ever see one. Their sense of smell is far superior to a deer...in my opinion...and they sense pressure much more than deer do. We can bait, hunt with a light and do about anything we want...but it sure doesn't guarantee success. These hogs are impossible to pattern, even coming to corn and with the constant variable wind that we seem to have...makes for some frustrating hunting.

[Oklahoma Rebel]

ehlerdave, if you ever feel like hunting, let me know. never been to kaw, where in the state is it?

[EhlerDave]

ehlerdave, if you ever feel like hunting, let me know. never been to kaw, where in the state is it?

Kaw Lake is North and West of you. Lot of wooded areas that are up against the water with oak trees dropping lots of food for the pests. The lake is due to the dam on the Arkansas river, with a boat many miles of shore are reachable. I am near Burbank.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Kaw+Lake/@36.7835197,-96.9910407,11z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x87b0936954395d59:0xf3118 d2acf02f988!8m2!3d36.7504492!4d-96.8726295

[EhlerDave]

On that map from Google, it shows a turn to the North near Ralston, I have seen several people posting on FaceBook the pigs they have taken in the area West in what is called "the Bend".

One picture was just at the end of the Belford Bridge had 38 pigs I could count, the fella that took the picture said more were back in the brush. Not sure who owns the area but have ways to find out.

You feel like a day trip and dragging a older guy that cant walk much around I would be glad to show you several places you can hunt your heart out. :)

[huntrick64]

I live less than a mile from Kaw Lake and ran around on the river bottom as a kid before they filled the lake. It is a wonderful place to live for hunting and fishing. Hogs are up and down on the public ground. I used to see very limited signs of pigs in the "5 fingers" area back in the late 70s. There are quite a few in that vicinity now, but a boat is your best access if you don't know the few landowners that border that area.

The North end of the lake where it backs up into the river around Trader's Bend is your best bet for hogs. Public land on both sides of the river all the way to Kansas. Extremely thick! East or West side of river doesn't really matter. Remember though, it is now illegal to bait on public land. Hogs are somewhat limited this year in that area due to the success the Feds have had killing them from helicopters over the last 3 years. They would fly the river for two days and kill 200-300 pigs. Last year they only killed something like 60 in three days of flying.

The "Bend" you refer to (Northwest of Ralston) is literally loaded with pigs, but it is all private land and pretty much already spoken for. I know of one area that is less than 1,000 acres that they killed over 600 pigs off in one year. Mostly trapped, but truckloads were also shot by stalking with 00 buck. Hunting them is a blast but it really doesn't do anything to curb their population or even slow down their impact on the environment. That helicopter gig is very effective but expensive. Large circle traps are pretty effective as long as you get them used to being baited for several days/weeks then trap the whole sounder at once with a drop gate door. If you only trap a few of the sounder the survivors are educated and use an undetectable "hog language" (I can't really prove that but it happens) to explain to the other hogs how to avoid the traps. I have a few ranchers that call me when they set their circle traps. Sometimes they have 20-30 in that trap at once. I take the smaller ones and feed the rest to, well, the remaining pigs and coyotes. Going Saturday AM to get some, will post pics if we get any.

My favorite is 20-30 lbs gutted, saws-all down the spine in half, brine for 2 days and smoke the halves. I have even smoked some that were only 10 lbs. Smoke them whole with a spicy sugar rub and it's like a meaty desert!!!

[Oklahoma Rebel]

I think us three should do a pig hunt this spring, not sure how long it would take to get there from sand springs? but if you guys can fid some private land we could bait the day before, or try to drive them, and nope don't mind draggin an elder huntin buddy around et'all!

[almostgone]

pigs are nocturnal! They have exceptional sense of smell and hearing. Their eyesight is poor. They are very intelligent quick to learn and you will only fool them once. For short distances they are quite fast. They have no sweat glands so the only way they can dissipate body heat is by respiration (panting) and through the skin (laying in water/mud). Unless Oklahoma laws have changed recently its illegal to hunt em at night or spotlight/nightvision. Your best bet is dawn or dusk. In daylight you'd just have kick em out of where the're bedded down. Dont ever get between a sow and her piglets or be a really quick deadly shot. Ask me how I know. 15-20 years ago there were few feral pigs in OK except for SE . Now the're everywhere, A sow can have 2-3 litters per year, 8-12/litter maybe raise 4-6, mature at 7-9 months even on acorns and grubs. They add up fast. Good Luck

[huntrick64]

Rebel and Ehler

We might be able to put that together. I have a few places to go, but it would be pretty limited (2-3 people max) and my son usually goes. He gets married in August and his wife will probably be part of my future hunts. Laws are always changing in Oklahoma regarding feral pigs. Presently you can get approval to hunt at night (pigs only) from your local game warden. It has to be on private land and there are quite a few restrictions (# of hunters, acreage, firearms, ammo, etc.) Only persons listed on the permit can hunt and you have to call in immediately prior to the hunt. The landowners that I know of that got the permit, did it a few times thinking they would wipe them out at night. After a few trips and a few pigs, they just started trapping them. Of course their goal is to eradicate them, our goal is to have some fun and get some meat.

It is illegal to transport a live feral pig in Oklahoma. In my opinion, that is a great law. A good feral anything, is a dead feral anything! I think that the biggest reason for the sudden explosion of feral hog populations is probably feral hog hunters. The ones that trap live ones and then transport them to another location to hunt them. We have had feral pigs in Oklahoma for well over 100 years. The population explosion only started when everyone wanted to hunt them and started moving them around.

Just like dandelions; as a kid it is really fun to blow that puffball and watch the seeds fly, as the adult taking care of the lawn, it sucks.

[Oklahoma Rebel]

64 I think you are probably right, people knew they were doing wrong, but they were just worried about what they wanted

[huntrick64]

Trap was empty. Next time.

[pmer]

Does anyone group together for drives with posters at the ready?

[Oklahoma Rebel]

not that I know of, but it would be cool, it is illegal to drive deer here, but not hogs, as far as I know. would need to double check.

[huntrick64]

I have tried it several times without success. I'm sure there are cases where it could work depending on the terrain and wind, but my experience is that when you push them, they go wherever they want and as fast as they want. We tried a few drives in the mountains around Poteau where you have very pronounced "shelves" that go around the mountain formed by landslides and then regrowth. These shelves are about 10 - 20 yards wide and it is basically straight up and straight down if you get off the shelf. There is usually about 100 - 200 feet vertical between the shelves. Every single time, these pigs, even the big ones ran up and down between these shelves like it was flat. It was so steep I couldn't even climb it without holding onto the trees and they looked like they were falling uphill! I'm convinced that they could do this even if the smoked 3 packs a day and ate biscuits and gravy every meal. They really are amazingly tough.

My best setup (especially with a bow) has always been to trickle corn (by trickle I mean one kernel about every two feet) down a long narrow clearing (like a logging road). Corn about a mile or two of these trails and then stalk from trail to trail with binos looking up and down the clearing. When you see a group feeding, try to get in front of them with the wind in your favor and wait for a passing shot. Your shot will be somewhat of a moving shot because they are chasing each other to get to the next kernel. They can't see very well, but can hear great and smell even better. It is a one-shot deal and don't try to do it with two people at the same time. Sometimes I can just run down the road towards them (if they are feeding away) until I get about 75-80 yds away then take to the timber and get in front of them. This is a "slim chance" scenario, but if you catch then feeding your way, take cover with the wind in your favor and wait for them to feed to you.

Basically you are hunting them the way you hunt Javelina in south Texas. Once you shoot at one in a sounder you will see why driving them doesn't work very well. It is crazy! I know for a fact that they can chase and charge you, but some of the scariest calls I have had was just because they panicked trying to get out of there and I was in their way.

No short-cuts with these things, just get out there and learn from screwing up. You will have a blast doing it.

[Sagebrush7]

TAKE A GUN TO THE FIGHT. Silsbee Tx one day I was visiting my hunting buddy. He said lets go check a snare he had set. Never heard of snaring! We got there and sure enough he snared a 75 pounder that was mad as could be. He had cleaned a 10 ft circle to the bare ground. Where is the gun? You have a knife? Reached in my pocket and pulled out a Case Trapper with a sharp well worn blade. Gene finally grabbed its back legs and I piled on watching that snapping jaws. Cut his throat as best I could with all 1 1/4 inches blade. Turned him loose and backed up. With bloodshot eyes he glared at. After about ten minutes we realize he was not cut good. Caught him again and finally cut him in the same place cut deep enough to bring some blood. Dirty, bloody and sweaty always take a gun to a fight! Game warden stopped us on the way out. Asked us what we are doing. Gene said we are running our hog traps.He said the spoter plane had seen our lights and he was waiting for us on the main Hwy. Where is your guns? Pulled out my dirty blooded knife and showed him. He new Gene and his reputation of hunting bare footed your round in the swamps.

[Oklahoma Rebel]

yeah, ill take a gun any day, or at least a big (12"blade) knife, but rather have a gun!-Travis

[Texas by God]

A turkey hen cluck will sometimes bring one or more in because they love eggs.

[oldblinddog]

TAKE A GUN TO THE FIGHT. Silsbee Tx one day I was visiting my hunting buddy. He said lets go check a snare he had set. Never heard of snaring! We got there and sure enough he snared a 75 pounder that was mad as could be. He had cleaned a 10 ft circle to the bare ground. Where is the gun? You have a knife? Reached in my pocket and pulled out a Case Trapper with a sharp well worn blade. Gene finally grabbed its back legs and I piled on watching that snapping jaws. Cut his throat as best I could with all 1 1/4 inches blade. Turned him loose and backed up. With bloodshot eyes he glared at. After about ten minutes we realize he was not cut good. Caught him again and finally cut him in the same place cut deep enough to bring some blood. Dirty, bloody and sweaty always take a gun to a fight! Game warden stopped us on the way out. Asked us what we are doing. Gene said we are running our hog traps.He said the spoter plane had seen our lights and he was waiting for us on the main Hwy. Where is your guns? Pulled out my dirty blooded knife and showed him. He new Gene and his reputation of hunting bare footed your round in the swamps.

What was this hog snared by? Leg? Foot? What? You should have been able to throw him to the ground and pin his neck with your foot. My wife did it for me once with high heels and a dress on while I had hold of a 75 lb pig by the back legs after dragging him out of a live trap. If you get them by the hind legs you can wheel barrow them anywhere you want. The three teenaged boys that had set the trap wouldn't come close.

[huntrick64]

Traps were empty again, but the helicopter guys scored big time east of Trader's bend on private land. My buddy that traps there was on the ground picking up the little ones for me. 30 lbs - 100 lbs on the hoof. Perfect!!!

[Oklahoma Rebel]

nice looking haul there, that black one looks delicious, someone shove an apple in it's mouth, quick!

[shafer44]

the pigs are pretty smart. In Texas, we can bait and we had feeders at every stand. The hogs would make the rounds, going to every feeder we had in the mornings and evenings when we had the timers set. The trail cameras had pictures of some of the hogs at different feeders, and of course at different times. Sometimes, there would be pictures of them sleeping under the feeder, waiting for it to go off. You just had to be at the right feeder at the right time.

[flyingrhino]

Some insist that hogs are nocturnal. They are to the same extent that deer are but it has more to do with local and temperature. In my experience I can see them any time of the day. Right now I'm seeing deer and hogs from sunup to sun down but it isn't really hot yet. As we heat up during the day I won't be seeing them mid day. The biggest hogs I've seen this year so far were at 2:00 pm on two consecutive weekends. Temp was around 70. During the summer they are active at night and just the first couple hours after sunrise. After that they are where they can keep cool. The smaller ones seem to move more during the day than the big ones. I'm in the Charleston, SC area so it's thick almost inpenetrable brush. I've got shooting lanes bush hogged out from my shooting blind and have PVC tube feeders on the ground with corn in them.
If the ground looks like it's been bombed then you are in the right place. A game cam will help you determine the best time to be there. As I've said, I don't wear camo when hunting hogs. They can't see me well enough to know if I'm a tree or a person. Besides, camo is just too hot here. I have walked around outside my blind within 20 yards of the hogs and they never knew I was there. BUT...you have to be very mindful of the wind. They have an uncanny sense of smell. They also hear very well but they make so much noise on their own that I've never had an issue with them being sensitive to my sound.
You just have to figure out their routine for your local. I enjoy hog hunting SO much more than deer hunting. They are much more forgiving. I can take my granddaughter out and we are almost guaranteed to see multiple hogs every time we go out. She doesn't have to be mouse quiet and we don't have to camo up. We sit in the blind and chat without fear of scaring the hogs. It's a blast.

[David2011]

First, develop a relationship with your local game and fish people along with your state representatives and senators. Push for revising the law when it comes to destructive wildlife.

All of my hog hunting has been in Texas so that affects how things were done. They are primarily nocturnal but if there are deer feeders on timers they will respond to an afternoon dinner bell. They're almost always at the feeder before morning shooting hours. Since they're not a game animal it's ok to shoot them any time of the day or night. Baiting, spotlighting and night vision are permitted on nongame species. With a steady replenishment of food hogs will be there before the deer every morning. An illuminated reticle is very helpful in low light conditions. I've talked to people that swear by using rotting apples, shrimp buried 1-1/2 to 2 feet deep and Kool-Aid as attractants.

I shot a sow around 250 pounds once with a .223 but wouldn't use that caliber again for pigs if I had a choice. The real issue was that I used a V-Max bullet more than the cartridge selection. That bullet is better suited for soft targets like coyotes, prairie dogs and rabbits. All of the rest of my pig kills have been with a 6.5mm 120 grain Nosler Ballistic Tip or handguns in .44 Mag or .45 Colt using Ruger only loads and cast boolits. The Nosler BT has explosive expansion.

I prefer to to shoot for DRT results so take pigs with either a head shot or along a line between the ear and shoulder joint. The spine runs along that line. It's an easy shot when they're eating and the effects are pretty much instant. Such a shot does require off season practice, an accurate rifle and the ability to shoot well but it's worth the effort and practice. Shoulder and chest shots will kill but the results may not be as quick.

David

[Oklahoma Rebel]

I think it is **** that wwe cant bait for hogs! they are, in the words of fish and game, a nuisance animal, so why not? are they afraid we will be feeding them more than killing them? atleast they could ccomprimise and maybe set a limit, such as, no more than 5lbs of food can be set out, and no more until none of the first bait is left. does that sound reasonable to y'all? I think 5lbs of food would be plenty to bring them in. and if you keep at it the pigs will certainly make it a stop on their frustratingly difficult to figure out routes/habits

[BK7saum]

Why can't we bait for hogs? I don't see any restrictions except baiting restrictions on Department managed lands including Corps of Engineer property.

[725]

Powdered drink mix of apple, grape, peach, etc. tossed into the wind seems to be a good attractant. Only anecdotal experience here, but, each time when my hunting partners come in empty handed, I've come in with a porker.

[BK7saum]

I did reread the op and see that youre trying to hunt WMAs. Yep, no baiting allowed there.

725, maybe you're just a much better hunter!!!

[Oklahoma Rebel]

725, where do you and your porkers hail from? lol

[725]

I'm at the Md. / Pa. border. My pig hunting experiences come from Ohio, Tenn., Ga. Fla. & S.C.. Usually a few different places in most of those States. I want to go to Texas. My big fear is that I won't come back.

BK7saum -- I don't know about that. Even blind mice find cheese, once in awhile. :)

[Oklahoma Rebel]

i didn't know they had them in ohio, so have they made it to most of the northern states? I know they are established here in N.E. OK but not in real big numbers. not sure if they have gone much into or past Kansas, but there isn't many places for them to hide there. plenty of corn though! oh and in wma's they referenced using lures on public land is ok, including urine minerals and they mentioned you could "bait" similar to trapping setups, and they used sardines as a example. so I think they mean just very small amounts. I was thinking, get 2 cans of sardines (regular) (in oil), blend them into a slurry, then pour a long line perpendicular to the wind. for ex. if the wind is blowing from the south to north, pour a line east-west. that would put a large area of scent over a long distance. and if a game warden came out, they wouldn't be able to see any bait.

[725]

Don't know if they run wild in Ohio. It was my first time out and we went to a pay to hunt place. We never went back, even though we shot big pigs. Down south, however, it has been a different experience. They have made it around, though. My buddy, deer hunting in western Maryland, thought he saw a bear. Didn't walk like a bear, but was big, dark, and as it closed, it became apparent it was a pig. Non-petting zoo or farm escapee, it was a wild pig. So they are around but not in numbers up here. (This was due east of Ohio. :) )

[huntrick64]

It is my understanding that our (Oklahoma) department of wildlife recently passed the "no baiting on public land" issue due to the issue of corn containing aflatoxins and the spreading of diseases by concentrating deer around feed. I don't think it had anything to do with feral hogs. If that is really a threat to the health of the deer heard, I think they would have made it illegal on "any" lands in Oklahoma. My own personal opinion is that baiting for deer on public land has caused quite a bit of conflict among deer hunters claiming that they had baited "their area" and then someone crowded in and hunted "their deer". I think there have been quite a few calls to wardens wanting help resolving those issues, and it probably got to the point where the wildlife department felt it was better to remove baiting than spend all of their time resolving disputes over corned areas. Now, if my assumption is correct (and it probably isn't) then they should make it illegal to bait on public lands one week prior to and during any deer season. Then we could bait for hogs the rest of the year.

My best setup for baiting hogs has been to just trickle corn down a bunch of trails and crossings and then "listen and stalk" into the wind. Once you locate them you have to hurry and get in front of them and wait for them to feed past you for a shot. I'm bowhunting, and the wind can be my best friend and my worst enemy, depending on where the pigs are. They are pretty funny to watch leapfrogging each other to get to that next kernel of corn. Makes me think about my mom telling us kids, "quit eating like a bunch of pigs!"

[Oklahoma Rebel]

I see your point about the fighting, this last deer season, everyone and their uncle showed up at the wma's and it was really frustrating. I want to get a small aluminum boat, about 14-16ft so I can use the lake to get to those hard to reach places! I would be so happy, I hate being In the woods if theres more than a couple others there. half the reason I hunt is to go out into gods country and enjoy some peace and alone time!