Not again.......! Feral Hog Control in East Texas

You folks with the hog problems:

There's not much of a hog problem in northern Indiana, though I understand southern Indiana has started seeing them.

Do you allow people from other states to hunt your land for hogs as a means of control?

We have family land in the country, and I've given some thought to this. On one hand, I can see it. On the other, I don't really trust strangers to go out there with guns, just because we've had problems in the past.

I'm not sure what I'd do. It seems like hosting hog hunts might make a little cash as well as control the population.

Any thoughts on this?

Josh
 
Joshua....I really don't consider hogs on the properties I hunt as a problem....I consider them a challenge. I basically manage and hunt properties that are recreational and not agricultural. We have some lakes for fishing and feed the heck out of the animals. The owner of the properties wants loads of healthy big deer and whatever and doesn't mind feeding them. I fed somewhere near to 10,000 lbs. of corn in this past year as well as protein feed for the deer.
The hunters on the properties is basically left up to me, and I limit that to a few friends of mine and relatives of the property owner...at my discretion.
I really don't want to have to deal with other hunters coming and going, and we keep the property locked and secured as well as possible. This might seem a little selfish on my part, but I'm an old retired guy and my hunting and activities on these lands are basically my means of keeping some activity in my life.
I did build a range on one property and let a lot of guys use it on a fairly regular basis...as long as they contact me first and let me know they are going.....then I usually end up picking up their old target, cardboard, brass and whatever they are too lazy to pick up themselves.
 
Thank you very much......I've got a few more larger boars working another feeder, but it's just a little too cold out tonight. Maybe Fri or Sat night I'll try to get a whack at one of them.
 
Give us this day our daily corn....or maybe something akin to that sentiment. I've been watching this boar for a while showing up and sometime during his time at the feeder, he always manages to get into the kneeling position to eat for a while. I guess maybe they must have some of the same strange individual behaviors just like people.
I've been seeing this guy and the large white one I've been after both visiting the same feeder at different times....I guess maybe I'll have to get out tonight and see if I can shake hands with one of them. I still have my one round of Creedmore waiting for the white one. WGI_0179.jpg
 
I’ve witnessed hogs get down on their front knees like that (of their own volition), but it is fairly rare.

On the other hand….I have long advocated digging a shallow post hole (8”-10” deep) and partially filling it with corn to induce just such a thing.

A hog on its knees makes an excellent stationary target…..particularly when broadside.

Eventually, the hog(s) will root the hole out and simply ‘stand’ in it, but you still get a hog that is being still….(which gives you more time to make a well placed shot).

Other advantages to placing corn in a post hole are:

A. It lasts longer. Hogs can’t just ‘hoover it all up’ and move on, they must work for it.

B. The dominant hog (if there is a group hogs) will usually ‘claim’ the hole. Often times that will be the Lead Sow. Always good to take out the leader.

C. Any hog that feels comfortable enough to commit to eating from the hole is likely to stay there a good long while. So you needn’t be so concerned it will run off before you can get a good shot.

I have tons of pictures and video of hogs eating from post holes (kneeling and standing). Here is but one example of a boar….offering a VERY good shot opportunity. The neck and high shoulder are just begging to be targets.

 
Have some mixed feeling here this morning. I went out last night again, and managed to put a 6.5 (my last round) into the white boar I've been stalking. Evidently the picture I had of him on the game camera was a little misleading, as in reality he wasn't as big as he appeared in that picture. Must have been something about the angle of the shot or something...but anyway he has entered into the realm of coyote food. The good thing is I walked in about 1/2 mile to a stand, sat down and shot him....I probably wasn't in the stand for 2 minutes! After I loaded him up in the truck, I went walking again about 1/2 mile to another stand and sat for a couple hrs. with nothing showing up. I'll try to see if I can get a better pic of him this morning in the daylight, as he is still hanging from a hoist at this point. Not a little bitty guy, just not the monster I expected.
DSCN1607.JPG
 
Got about 100 rds. sized and trimmed yesterday afternoon..so the process is started. Yup the kneeling guy is next on the list for nighttime hog punching. I'd like to see some more sows roaming around, but mostly boars right now. I've got some neighbors that would like some pork.
 
I got some reloading done, but haven't had time to get caught up with this caliber yet. I went out last night and just after dark, poked a hole in the kneeling porker. It was just like maybe he was waiting for me under a feeder when I got there. Unfortunately I lose all vision for a bit with the night scope as soon as I fire, so I have no idea what direction he took as he didn't drop on the spot. I walked around for a while with a flashlight, but the grass there is about waist high and I haven't found him yet. Maybe this morning in the light.
 
I walked the area in the daylight this morning, but still didn't locate him. Within a day or so the buzzards should point him out for me.
 
I've been using the 123 Gr. SST's in my two 6.5 Creedmores and so far have been happy with them. Your brother, Flint might be happier with the 140's for his long range shooting, but I've shot hogs and deer both with the 123's and they have performed just great for me. The only downside I have seen is with larger hogs, they don't exit and leave a nice blood trail. They seem to go into one side and do some massive damage to the internals of the hogs without coming out the other side. I've shot them with 7/08's and 308's and they both perform great too on hogs....it's just a matter of preference I guess.
I might have to consider a bigger tailgate one of these days.....
View attachment 229932

Nice shootin' and thanks for the info on the SST Stony. I load 130gr SSTs and TTSXs for my 270 BAR. I have not shot a hog with the SSTs but the TTSXs really drill them at a couple hundred yards and don't damage much meat. A quarter size exit hole no matter if it hits them in the shoulder or through a broadside heart shot. Knocks them over, DRT. so I've been wondering about the more explosive SSTs. They are inexpensive and accurate. I load 85gr TSX in my 243 that leave the station at about 3200fps and I'm wanting to try them out on a hog. It's a very accurate load. What do you guys think about the 6mm 85gr SGKs? Are they stout enough for feral hogs? I haven't gone hog hunting with the 243 yet but I've taken deer with it.
 
You guys with access to land are lucky.
I’ve witnessed hogs get down on their front knees like that (of their own volition), but it is fairly rare.

On the other hand….I have long advocated digging a shallow post hole (8”-10” deep) and partially filling it with corn to induce just such a thing.

A hog on its knees makes an excellent stationary target…..particularly when broadside.

Eventually, the hog(s) will root the hole out and simply ‘stand’ in it, but you still get a hog that is being still….(which gives you more time to make a well placed shot).

Other advantages to placing corn in a post hole are:

A. It lasts longer. Hogs can’t just ‘hoover it all up’ and move on, they must work for it.

B. The dominant hog (if there is a group hogs) will usually ‘claim’ the hole. Often times that will be the Lead Sow. Always good to take out the leader.

C. Any hog that feels comfortable enough to commit to eating from the hole is likely to stay there a good long while. So you needn’t be so concerned it will run off before you can get a good shot.

I have tons of pictures and video of hogs eating from post holes (kneeling and standing). Here is but one example of a boar….offering a VERY good shot opportunity. The neck and high shoulder are just begging to be targets.



Great advice!
 
My family Texas hunt last week went very well... the boys (my stepsons) both got their first ever deer, and we all got some hogs.


Shot this one at 230 yards with my 30-06 and a Winchester 150 grain Deer Season Extreme Point, the ones with the extra large polymer tip... first experience with these, and they didn't disappoint. Dropped him about 5 feet from where he stood. They said this was the biggest boar taken on the ranch so far, about 250 lbs... I had a shot at one about the same size a day or two earlier that did a 180 and ran under the border fence, so I was not able to recover him. I did hear him gving up the ghost a few yards into the trees though, so I know it was a good kill.


My younger stepson (19) took this sow (and the doe about 30 minutes earlier,) at about 80 yards with my Savage 340 30-30 and my 130 grain Hornady Spire Point handloads. They were devastating on both... he later hit a slightly larger boar that ran squealing into the woods, to be found later in the hunt.


Figured I'd throw this proud papa moment in, since we're all hunters here and can relate... either we have taught someone to hunt or were taught ourselves... this was my favorite moment of the 6 day hunt. On day 1, he took his very first deer at right under 90 yards with a perfect double lung and heart shot with the aforementioned Savage 340. The rifle has a peep sight on it, and he dropped the doe in it's tracks like a pro with a scoped magnum.


His older brother (23) got his deer as well, a 153 yard high shoulder shot that also dropped her on the spot, and shot a couple of hogs too. (No pics of his, unfortunately.)

All in all I think we as a group killed anywhere from 15 to 20 pigs over the course of the hunt. Maybe more. We also saw about a 350 pounder laying by the road on the drive home... made mine look like a runt, but it's dead, and that's what counts.

After all is said and done, it was a great hunt. Two new hunters brought into the sport, and two new hog hunting addicts created... both sons are looking at options and saving up for their own rifles for next year!

Good times!
 
Well nothing has been added to this thread in awhile so.....

Have set up a bait site pretty close to my house. My dad isn't a hunter but really is quite enthusiastic about shooting a pig. Started with dieseled corn. Two small boars found it the first night. Stayed on the bait from 10:48-04:33 continuously. Have rebaited the site 3 times in a little over a week. This evening I went to check the camera again. Swapped cards, set on a log and checked the pics on my viewer. Same two boars again from about 11:00 till 02:00. Then a single larger boar (200-225lbs) from 02:30 till about 04:00 and then the other two boars back up until 7:57. So in a little over a week I've got pigs in the daytime. That's a win in my book. And I've used less than half a bag of corn.

After I left the bait site, I decided to go see if I could find some other sign. There's a big pond (1/2 mile by 3/8ths mile) near my bait site and usually this time of year the pigs have the dike torn up pretty good. Nothing on the eastern half of the pond. Was headed west and happened to look up and saw 2 pretty good sized pigs standing on the dike about 400 yards away. As luck would have it all I had was my XD45. Not quite a 400 yard gun. I watched them for a minute and decided to back out and save them for another day when my dad could come out with me. I got to one corner of the pond and looked back and in the opposing corner I saw 3 HUGE pigs come over the pond dike and down to the waters edge. Keep in mind the size of the pond 1/2 x 3/8ths mile rectangle and the pigs and I are in opposing corners. And I'm not using binos to see them.

God help me if dad shoots one of those this weekend. It's already a mile walk in and its foot access only. My deer dolly will be put to the test for sure. But it will be worth it.
 
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