2024 Hog Hunting Thread

[Weldabeast]

Activity Patterns and Behavioral Modifications of Feral Swine in North America and Eurasian Boar in Europe | Texas A&M NRI

nri.tamu.edu

 

[NMSbowhunter]

I've been watching too many (if that is a thing) Robert Carter and Jason Samkowiak hog hunting adventures and I just couldn't stand it anymore, so I slipped out a little before noon yesterday and high tailed it out to the marsh to try my luck with the piggies.

The wind was out of the South, mostly, and predicted to be anyway, so I got my longbow and Douglas Firs and my hog backpack and my little 8x25 Meopta binos and headed out to see what I could find.

I decided to cut the downwind edge of really thick, high stem count pines that ran along a narrow finger of hardwoods and scrub along a shallow drainage. I've been finding the hogs at higher elevations lately, so I wanted to give the pines a try. I was slipping along at what I thought was a nice, slow pace and was in a little overgrown lane between the rows of pines and a big pig stood up from behind a large pine about 25 feet to my immediate front. It sort of caught me off guard. Dangit! I did not see it at all before it stood up in spite of its body being about the size of a 30 gallon drum. It was khaki colored with diffuse black spots. I'm telling you this thing was perfectly camouflaged for the pines. It trots in a wide circle to my front while I just look at it for a second and then it occurs to me to try and get an arrow on the string. As I'm doing that it makes it out of the clear area and into the pine thicket. I know it did not catch my wind, but it must have heard me slowly slipping through. That was a close one. If I had just seen it before it woke up and stood up it would have been game on. It disappeared into that thicket so trailing it quietly was not an option.

The lesson for me from this encounter is to slow down even more and focus on scanning every little thing ahead of me. I thought I was doing a pretty good job of that but apparently, I wasn't. In my defense, that thing was wearing a fine set of camo.

Now I really slowed down and I started advancing about 20 feet, stopping and scanning everything ahead of me with the binoculars. I would pick apart every little clump of brush and look into every shadow. After about an hour of this I emerged at the transition where the pines dumped out into a bottom. From here I stood and picked apart the whole valley with the optics before moving slowly down into the draw.

Once in the creek, I could move more quietly and after making my way to a big blowdown, I decide to take a break and rest for a few minutes and just watch and listen. About 5 minutes after stopping at the root ball of the tree, I hear what sounds like an animal walking. To my front is a little rise covered with young pines and trash trees. It's fairly thick. To my right is a really thick pine block and behind me is the creek and draw. The wind is hitting me in the face.

I nock an arrow and wait. It's not 30 seconds later the source of the noise comes into view. It is a spike buck cutting the corner of the pine thicket and the little rise and he is calmly browsing his way right to me. I can't shoot him so instead I fish my phone out of my pocket while his head is obscured by a tree, and I start filming him walking right to me. I can't believe my luck. This is awesome. He gets to about 15 feet and notices me. He doesn't panic since I think he doesn't exactly know what I am, he just does not approve. He turns and starts walking back up the little hillside toward the pines. At this point I look down at the phone and realize that the record is not on. UGH! Man, that would have been a cool video and the dang record was not running. I quickly hit it and start recording him walking away from me. I get a little video before he is out of sight. He stays around up in those pines for quite a while and every once in a while I can see him in there.

It was such a cool experience having that deer come in like that to me while I was on the ground. I count that among one of the better hunts of the year in spite of there being zero legal opportunity to actually take him. He offered me several close shots had that been on the menu.

Once I was sure he was gone, I move out and start stalking through the creek to the South again. I can move quieter through the water than the dry leaves. Soon I find a good bit of fresh hog rooting along a little V shaped mound formed by the splitting of the creek. There is an old blow down up there and the spot is covered in chest high river cane. I decide to stop and set up my Torges seat and sit for an hour or two and see if anything shows.

At this point it is about an hour before dark, so I decide to start slowly stalking my way back toward the boundary of the thick pines and the hardwoods. I eventually make my way back out to the stubble field hoping to see some hogs out there in the last few minutes of the day. No such luck.

Anyway, it was an awesome day hunting for sure. I have to get back out there ASAP.

 

[NMSbowhunter]

I was back at them again yesterday afternoon. I went around to the South about 3 miles and hit another section that I had just lightly explored so far. The wind yesterday was terrible. It was blowing from all points of the compass. It just would not settle down and pick a direction.

I dropped down off a pine hilltop into a swampy valley and stood for about 5 minutes listening and checking the wind. The wind was swapping from West to East and back to West again every few minutes. It was really discouraging. After about five minutes I hear what sounds like pigs squealing and arguing about 250 yards to the North out in that big marsh flat so with the East/West wind I decide my best bet is to go straight North, right at them and hope for the best. I eventually work my way out to where I think they were, but I never saw or heard them again. They probably caught my wind. I did find an area where pigs have been routinely traveling a trail in the marsh. Fresh tracks showing two directions of travel present some possibilities, so I set up and wait for an hour, but nothing comes by, and I don't hear any more hogs. I marked the spot and moved on. I suspect the fickle wind was hurting my chances in there anyway.

A quick word on the wind. Normally I use Scent Lok for deer hunting. For pigs I go Au Natural scent wise when stalking them. I do this for several reasons. One it is more in keeping with what I personally see as stalking in general, playing (or more times than not, getting played by) the wind. The second reason is that from my observation, pigs seem to have zero tolerance for any human scent. Maybe it is a throwback to an ancestral aversion to humans in their genetic trace memory that associates us with predation and century's past servitude at the hands of some Spanish Conquistador, but for whatever reason, they can pick up the lightest trace of human stink, and they are gone. With pigs it seems scent is a black and white thing. Deer seem to operate in a grey area and tolerate human scent on a sliding scale based off pressure and consequences. Deer who live close to human habitation or receive regular nonconsequential pressure will tolerate a lot of human scent before they bolt. Deer who never see or smell humans until hunting season tolerate no human scent before departing. These are my opinions of course, based on my own observations.

Off to the next spot. I drive about 2 miles South to another area and decide to go check some areas that should be good based off sigh I found at similar areas the other day. These areas are the transitions between pine plantation choked down with saw briar thickets and the edge of hardwood/swamp/marshy areas. Sure enough I soon find signs of heavy rooting and I found a well-worn pig trail cutting across the saw briar choked pine hilltop (picture below). The dang wind was still switching mercilessly so as the day was getting late, I decided to try to find an area where I had fresh sign and a spot where I though the thermals would overtake the wind at that last half hour of daylight. After some tromping around I found a spot off on the edge of the marsh where a couple of ancient blowdown trees offered a tight pinch point between the root balls for an ambush spot. Tracks between the root balls showed that pigs and deer were funneling through this one spot on their way out to a stubble field. This was my best bet.

I set up the Packseat amongst the blowdown where I could cover any animal that made its way through that pinch point. I would have about a 10 to twelve yard shot on anything coming through. After sitting for about an hour, the wind switched, and I got up and went over to the opposite side of the pinch and set up against another tree. After about another 20 minutes the wind switched again so I just got up and went over and stood against a big red oak with my feet tucked back into the V's created by the roots. I had a ten-yard shot to the pinch. I'm not surprised, but darkness came with no animals making an appearance. The wind was just too unsettled to get away with anything.

No pigs were seen yesterday. Still, any day stalking pigs with a longbow in hand is a good day.

 

[Will Harris]

i'm going to be in S AL in early march on private land and it will be baited. yes, this is a rifle meat hunt. I will get the baiting privilege license. i'm looking to get a 1-200 pounds of meat for the freezer and have 3 days to do it.

the question i have to the locals is should i also get the night hunting license? will they likely be nocturnal enough to need to hunt at night? they wont be disturbed hardly at all since late jan.

thanks for any help on this topic or any other advice.

 

[CooterBrown]

i'm going to be in S AL in early march on private land and it will be baited. yes, this is a rifle meat hunt. I will get the baiting privilege license. i'm looking to get a 1-200 pounds of meat for the freezer and have 3 days to do it.

the question i have to the locals is should i also get the night hunting license? will they likely be nocturnal enough to need to hunt at night? they wont be disturbed hardly at all since late jan.

thanks for any help on this topic or any other advice.

I would hunt the first day and see how it goes and then buy the night license if needed. Probably won't need night license as long as there is feed and not too much pressure and in a good hog population area.

 

[Weldabeast]

 

[NMSbowhunter]

i'm going to be in S AL in early march on private land and it will be baited. yes, this is a rifle meat hunt. I will get the baiting privilege license. i'm looking to get a 1-200 pounds of meat for the freezer and have 3 days to do it.

the question i have to the locals is should i also get the night hunting license? will they likely be nocturnal enough to need to hunt at night? they wont be disturbed hardly at all since late jan.

thanks for any help on this topic or any other advice.

Will they have been baited quite a bit prior to your arrival or will you be the one baiting them when you get there? That could make a big difference since it could take them a while, maybe a week or more to find a new bait site. Hogs move around a lot. If it is a place that is pre baiting, I'd talk to whoever is doing it to get their opinion on how the hogs are behaving. They will likely be running cameras and know when the hogs are visiting.

 

[Will Harris]

Will they have been baited quite a bit prior to your arrival or will you be the one baiting them when you get there? That could make a big difference since it could take them a while, maybe a week or more to find a new bait site. Hogs move around a lot. If it is a place that is pre baiting, I'd talk to whoever is doing it to get their opinion on how the hogs are behaving. They will likely be running cameras and know when the hogs are visiting.

my family will be baiting for me from now until the time i get there and in the same places they were baiting for deer so the hogs should be aware prior to my arrival. they have cell cameras but not sure if they will be running. they want as many hogs as possible gone. pls dont tell them that a few hogs shot w a rifle doesnt control the population.

 

[CooterBrown]

my family will be baiting for me from now until the time i get there and in the same places they were baiting for deer so the hogs should be aware prior to my arrival. they have cell cameras but not sure if they will be running. they want as many hogs as possible gone. pls dont tell them that a few hogs shot w a rifle doesnt control the population.

Ok i wont buuuuuutttttt "you know"

 

[NMSbowhunter]

my family will be baiting for me from now until the time i get there and in the same places they were baiting for deer so the hogs should be aware prior to my arrival. they have cell cameras but not sure if they will be running. they want as many hogs as possible gone. pls dont tell them that a few hogs shot w a rifle doesnt control the population.

I won't tell them if you don't lol. Sounds like it should be a good setup and you should have some action. How much is the additional night time permit?

 

[Will Harris]

I won't tell them if you don't lol. Sounds like it should be a good setup and you should have some action. How much is the additional night time permit?

NR is $60 for baiting and $60 for night time. will be fun for sure. i've killed hogs when deer hunting in GA and AL, but only a few and only while deer hunting. wasted them thinking they werent fit to eat. i'm smarter now.

 

[CooterBrown]

NR is $60 for baiting and $60 for night time. will be fun for sure. i've killed hogs when deer hunting in GA and AL, but only a few and only while deer hunting. wasted them thinking they werent fit to eat. i'm smarter now.

Yep they good eatn

 

[NMSbowhunter]

NR is $60 for baiting and $60 for night time. will be fun for sure. i've killed hogs when deer hunting in GA and AL, but only a few and only while deer hunting. wasted them thinking they werent fit to eat. i'm smarter now.

Are there hog lights on the feeders or are you planning to take some gun mounted light?

 

[Will Harris]

Are there hog lights on the feeders or are you planning to take some gun mounted light?

no lights on feeders. i can take spotlights if needed. not planning to mount a light. they are still running cameras, so i should have a better plan just before we go.

plan A is to spot/stalk all day and sneak up on a couplea hundred pounds worth. plan B would be to sit near feed at night and spotlight. much less desirable imo. but thats just me. i like to sneak.

 

[NMSbowhunter]

no lights on feeders. i can take spotlights if needed. not planning to mount a light. they are still running cameras, so i should have a better plan just before we go.

plan A is to spot/stalk all day and sneak up on a couplea hundred pounds worth. plan B would be to sit near feed at night and spotlight. much less desirable imo. but thats just me. i like to sneak.

Sounds good. Since you are really not set up to hunt them at night, I would forgo the night permit initially and if plan A does not work out you can hopefully swap to plan B. Good luck and good hunting. Hopefully you will have some porkers to post and some good hunt stories.

 

[Matki15]

Another old one, back from when I was getting full access to a deer lease in exchange for killing hogs. It was a full moon night in the beginning of March. According to the journals I’ve kept March is always the best time for killing lone boars. The wind was completely wrong for the box stand I wanted to hunt, but I knew hogs were coming in there. I decided to bring my chair and just setup on the backside of the 2 acre plot and hope for the best. This one came in silent, trying to circle downwind and he ended up trying to get out of there quick. Luckily I had my scope already turned on in case of one doing exactly that. I managed 3 shots on him as he ran away, either squealing or flinching with each shot. I gave him an hour to bleed out, normally with this rifle setup it doesn’t even take 5 minutes for an animal to expire. I looking in the woods where I last saw him. No blood, no sign at all. I walked back to where I first shot him and found blood immediately, leading right back to where I had just been zigzagging through the woods. Next thing I know a twig broke and there he was, 10 yards away, getting out of a treetop he had bedded in. It took me a second to register what I was seeing and by the time I did he was on his way to me. One more shot finished him off, this was the 3rd time I have been charged. Just for fun or practice, what’s y’all’s guesses on weight? He was weighed on a scale accurate within one pound. For reference I am 6’3”

 

[Will Harris]

Makin my mouth water by sending me pics. 3:30p today

 

[NMSbowhunter]

Another old one, back from when I was getting full access to a deer lease in exchange for killing hogs. It was a full moon night in the beginning of March. According to the journals I’ve kept March is always the best time for killing lone boars. The wind was completely wrong for the box stand I wanted to hunt, but I knew hogs were coming in there. I decided to bring my chair and just setup on the backside of the 2 acre plot and hope for the best. This one came in silent, trying to circle downwind and he ended up trying to get out of there quick. Luckily I had my scope already turned on in case of one doing exactly that. I managed 3 shots on him as he ran away, either squealing or flinching with each shot. I gave him an hour to bleed out, normally with this rifle setup it doesn’t even take 5 minutes for an animal to expire. I looking in the woods where I last saw him. No blood, no sign at all. I walked back to where I first shot him and found blood immediately, leading right back to where I had just been zigzagging through the woods. Next thing I know a twig broke and there he was, 10 yards away, getting out of a treetop he had bedded in. It took me a second to register what I was seeing and by the time I did he was on his way to me. One more shot finished him off, this was the 3rd time I have been charged. Just for fun or practice, what’s y’all’s guesses on weight? He was weighed on a scale accurate within one pound. For reference I am 6’3”View attachment 100065View attachment 100066

Wow! I bet that was exciting! I'll guess 187 pounds...What cartridge were you using? 308?

 

[Will Harris]

Another old one, back from when I was getting full access to a deer lease in exchange for killing hogs. It was a full moon night in the beginning of March. According to the journals I’ve kept March is always the best time for killing lone boars. The wind was completely wrong for the box stand I wanted to hunt, but I knew hogs were coming in there. I decided to bring my chair and just setup on the backside of the 2 acre plot and hope for the best. This one came in silent, trying to circle downwind and he ended up trying to get out of there quick. Luckily I had my scope already turned on in case of one doing exactly that. I managed 3 shots on him as he ran away, either squealing or flinching with each shot. I gave him an hour to bleed out, normally with this rifle setup it doesn’t even take 5 minutes for an animal to expire. I looking in the woods where I last saw him. No blood, no sign at all. I walked back to where I first shot him and found blood immediately, leading right back to where I had just been zigzagging through the woods. Next thing I know a twig broke and there he was, 10 yards away, getting out of a treetop he had bedded in. It took me a second to register what I was seeing and by the time I did he was on his way to me. One more shot finished him off, this was the 3rd time I have been charged. Just for fun or practice, what’s y’all’s guesses on weight? He was weighed on a scale accurate within one pound. For reference I am 6’3”View attachment 100065View attachment 100066

215

 

[Matki15]

Wow! I bet that was exciting! I'll guess 187 pounds...What cartridge were you using? 308?

6.8 spc with 120 grain SSTs, one of the best hunting calibers for an AR15 in my opinion. Over 200 hogs with it so far and have only lost 2