Not again.......! Feral Hog Control in East Texas
- Thread starter Flintknapper
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Flintknapper
Member
^^^^^^^^^^^ That's the sad part of it all. Taking from the indigenous wildlife...the food resources they would have had.
Double Naught Spy
Sus Venator
Right, so they are eating about 3% of their body weight per day of food for the adults and 5% per day for the juveniles. That starts to count up fast like compound interest.
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Flintknapper
Member
Not to mention the 'damage' they cause to crops, pastures, hay meadows, water sources....etc.
As you recently witnessed, their 'rooting' alone can result in considerable damage....depending upon location.
IF their numbers could be kept in check, they wouldn't be quite the scourge I consider them to be, but that doesn't seem possible at this point.
My hat is off to anyone that kills even one of them!
alsaqr
Member
Hogs in much of Oklahoma are totally out of control. Getting them under control would require a coordinated effort of trapping and shooting from the air. That is never going to happen. i will soon resume my war on hogs by targeting juveniles and small pigs.
Giving away wild hog carcasses has proven to be a tiring and often thankless endeavor for me. Oh, everyone wants a wild hog but there are conditions. They want the hog field dressed, skinned and delivered to the processor. i'm out of that business.
Giving away wild hog carcasses has proven to be a tiring and often thankless endeavor for me. Oh, everyone wants a wild hog but there are conditions. They want the hog field dressed, skinned and delivered to the processor. i'm out of that business.
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Flintknapper
Member
AMEN!
With cooler weather....the carcasses are viable longer. So I can contact certain folks and offer them...without concern that the pigs will start to spoil before they can pick them up. But yes....too many folks want you to bring them butchered meat, rather than come and take the entire pig.
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Flintknapper
Member
OK, just got back from pulling my game-cam cards from the two full time hog feeding sites I have.
Cold wet night last night. Had a group of about 30 come in (including the piglets). Big pregnant Sows mostly, a couple of medium sized boars and an assortment of juveniles.
I watched all the videos several times to make certain....but sure enough... there is one Sow (who couldn't be more than 10-12 months old) that has NINE piglets with her. All of them trying to nurse her. I looked at every other Sow and none of them are lactating. All of those piglets were from one Sow.
All of the mature pigs in this group are what I call 'Jumbos' (big, fat, healthy pigs). So they've been eating good....someplace. I guess that accounts for the high litter count, but normally I see about 6 piglets for a Sow's first or second litter. Good grief!
I actually heard a group of hogs 'squealing' about a 1/4 mile back in the woods as I was pulling the cards, so they will probably be back again tonight.
Cold wet night last night. Had a group of about 30 come in (including the piglets). Big pregnant Sows mostly, a couple of medium sized boars and an assortment of juveniles.
I watched all the videos several times to make certain....but sure enough... there is one Sow (who couldn't be more than 10-12 months old) that has NINE piglets with her. All of them trying to nurse her. I looked at every other Sow and none of them are lactating. All of those piglets were from one Sow.
All of the mature pigs in this group are what I call 'Jumbos' (big, fat, healthy pigs). So they've been eating good....someplace. I guess that accounts for the high litter count, but normally I see about 6 piglets for a Sow's first or second litter. Good grief!
I actually heard a group of hogs 'squealing' about a 1/4 mile back in the woods as I was pulling the cards, so they will probably be back again tonight.
Double Naught Spy
Sus Venator
No freaking kidding! I have run into the same garbage as well. There are only a couple of folks I get hogs for now. One is one of my landowners and I take out the back straps for him sometimes. That is all he wants. Another guy will takes a whole hog off of me about once a year. He drives out to meet me. I don't even have to gut it for him.
I don't mind helping people, but the lack of appreciation shown for being provided with 30-100 lbs of free meat is getting me down.
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Flintknapper
Member
Sometimes wonder if its even worth the effort. Just checked my cameras from last night. I can shoot some, trap some, but in the end...they just keep making more.
Double Naught Spy
Sus Venator
There they ARE!
FYI, your 2nd video is private, Need to change the settings on Youtube to public or unlisted for us to be able to view it.
FYI, your 2nd video is private, Need to change the settings on Youtube to public or unlisted for us to be able to view it.
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Flintknapper
Member
Oops! Thank You for telling me. I 'think' I have it changed to public now. Let me know if not?
Flint,
While I completely agree that it's pretty much a futile effort at your place, the truth is once a population has been established anywhere, your best hope is just to maintain it. And we are failing miserably. So now I just view them as targets of opportunity. Granted, I have no property of my own to manage. But even those I know that have their own ranches don't put forth much effort to actively pursue them anymore. They just always have at least one rifle in the truck and shoot them when they see them. They've figured out that the effort to try and eliminate them only results in them neglecting the resources on the property that makes them their living.
As for hunting for other people, I don't mind skinning a hog for someone like the older gentleman I work with. He's like 70 and has survived 2 bouts with cancer. He does good to work a full day. If I can make an old man happy by spending a few hours processing a hog or deer for him. It's worth it. Now before anyone gets all offended by my "70 and old" comment, I only mean that as a reference to him being run down from a hard life and cancer. Not age. My great aunt reroofed her entire house by herself at the age of 90. I mean carrying shingles up a ladder and everything.
Now, if someone is able bodied and wants a pig or deer, that's fine too. I tell them I'll call them when I get back with it and they can meet me at my house and help me skin and quarter it. No free rides for the able.
While I completely agree that it's pretty much a futile effort at your place, the truth is once a population has been established anywhere, your best hope is just to maintain it. And we are failing miserably. So now I just view them as targets of opportunity. Granted, I have no property of my own to manage. But even those I know that have their own ranches don't put forth much effort to actively pursue them anymore. They just always have at least one rifle in the truck and shoot them when they see them. They've figured out that the effort to try and eliminate them only results in them neglecting the resources on the property that makes them their living.
As for hunting for other people, I don't mind skinning a hog for someone like the older gentleman I work with. He's like 70 and has survived 2 bouts with cancer. He does good to work a full day. If I can make an old man happy by spending a few hours processing a hog or deer for him. It's worth it. Now before anyone gets all offended by my "70 and old" comment, I only mean that as a reference to him being run down from a hard life and cancer. Not age. My great aunt reroofed her entire house by herself at the age of 90. I mean carrying shingles up a ladder and everything.
Now, if someone is able bodied and wants a pig or deer, that's fine too. I tell them I'll call them when I get back with it and they can meet me at my house and help me skin and quarter it. No free rides for the able.
alsaqr
Member
i'm not ready to give up on reducing the hog population. Yesterday i received the night time landowner shooting exemptions for our properties. But someone, some how has made hogs very scarce in that particular area; which was previously over run with wild hogs. A neighbor says they are testing Hog Gone, a poison, there.
The Fort Sill, OK fish and wildlife folks made wild hogs very scarce on Quanah Parker and West ranges with a dedicated effort of shooting hogs from the air and the use of corral traps. There was a dramatic change in the deer population as a result.
Since spring i've shot about 20 big boars. My lease partners and i have caught many more hogs. i've shot 40-50 small pigs with a .22. We have another group of small pigs numbering about 30 running around the place. i will target them soon.
IME: Attracting/feeding wild hogs and trapping wild hogs are a mutually exclusive thing: You can't do both. i've found a method of preventing wild hogs from dining at deer feeders.
For many years i field dressed, skinned and begged folks to take wild hogs. At age 77 i will no longer furnish hog meat to able bodied folks who are not willing to field dress and skin hogs.
The Fort Sill, OK fish and wildlife folks made wild hogs very scarce on Quanah Parker and West ranges with a dedicated effort of shooting hogs from the air and the use of corral traps. There was a dramatic change in the deer population as a result.
Since spring i've shot about 20 big boars. My lease partners and i have caught many more hogs. i've shot 40-50 small pigs with a .22. We have another group of small pigs numbering about 30 running around the place. i will target them soon.
IME: Attracting/feeding wild hogs and trapping wild hogs are a mutually exclusive thing: You can't do both. i've found a method of preventing wild hogs from dining at deer feeders.
For many years i field dressed, skinned and begged folks to take wild hogs. At age 77 i will no longer furnish hog meat to able bodied folks who are not willing to field dress and skin hogs.
alsaqr
A military installation is a little different than a piece of public or private property. You'll kill a bunch and push them out....they'll be back. And I'd be willing to bet the poison killed a few, maybe even a bunch. But they didn't get them all. They've just moved.
Flint and Stony,
How many hogs would you guess you've shot and/or trapped just since Flint started this thread? And Flint is still getting videos like the one he posted.
A military installation is a little different than a piece of public or private property. You'll kill a bunch and push them out....they'll be back. And I'd be willing to bet the poison killed a few, maybe even a bunch. But they didn't get them all. They've just moved.
Flint and Stony,
How many hogs would you guess you've shot and/or trapped just since Flint started this thread? And Flint is still getting videos like the one he posted.
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Flintknapper
Member
Just checked my cameras. At least with this cooler weather they are starting to show up in the daytime.
If I can take out these sows, the piglets would be pretty easy to trap. Groan...........!
If I can take out these sows, the piglets would be pretty easy to trap. Groan...........!
der Teufel
Member
Wow, that's a bunch o' piglets!
Stony
Member
Bigbore44.....I am still at 557 hogs off on the main property I trap and hunt on (7 yr. total). I'm guessing a couple hundred on several other properties. We have a tremendous amount of acorns on the ground around here this year and the hogs aren't the least interested in feeders or traps...or corn in general. I have no doubt I will be in the middle of them again before too long if the rains get the acorns rotting away. Our woods are almost solid oaks, so they can provide a good food supply for the hogs and deer.
I have to agree with the comments of furnishing hogs to people. They generally want them cleaned, skinned and delivered. I do take the hind legs off of anything I feel is worthy of saving, skin them out and freeze them up for folks, but I'm getting too old to be skinning and processing a bunch of them for other people that are too lazy to do their own.
I do a lot of bass fishing and provide my neighbors with them regularly. It's surprising how many want just the filets ready to cook and will pass on any that need any work on their part.
I have to agree with the comments of furnishing hogs to people. They generally want them cleaned, skinned and delivered. I do take the hind legs off of anything I feel is worthy of saving, skin them out and freeze them up for folks, but I'm getting too old to be skinning and processing a bunch of them for other people that are too lazy to do their own.
I do a lot of bass fishing and provide my neighbors with them regularly. It's surprising how many want just the filets ready to cook and will pass on any that need any work on their part.
Ole Joe Clark
Member
I'm glad to see this thread going again, not that I want the hog population to grow, I just enjoy reading about them.
Stony, I love to bass fish, but hate to clean fish. I very seldom keep any now, if we catch a big un, we just take photos and put them back in the water. That way we can brag for years.
Stony, I love to bass fish, but hate to clean fish. I very seldom keep any now, if we catch a big un, we just take photos and put them back in the water. That way we can brag for years.
Stony
Member
Ole Joe...I do a lot of releasing fish myself anymore. I sure do enjoy catching them though, and drive over the dam of a lake every morning where all I have to do is start casting.
Stony and Ol Joe,
A good electric fillet knife makes cleaning bass, crappie, bluegill, walleye, much easier and faster. I don't keep largemouth as it is sacreligious since I work for the worlds largets professional bass fishing tournament trail. But....we have no limit on Kentucky's (spotted bass) in Oklahoma. And they are very tasty, not to mention over populated. I can clean a Kentucky in about 45 seconds with my fillet knife start to finish. But I still don't like working for free. If someone wants fish, I either have them go with me, and that away they are there when cleaning time comes, or deliver the fish whole in a cooler. Otherwise the are on their own to find their fish fry.
A good electric fillet knife makes cleaning bass, crappie, bluegill, walleye, much easier and faster. I don't keep largemouth as it is sacreligious since I work for the worlds largets professional bass fishing tournament trail. But....we have no limit on Kentucky's (spotted bass) in Oklahoma. And they are very tasty, not to mention over populated. I can clean a Kentucky in about 45 seconds with my fillet knife start to finish. But I still don't like working for free. If someone wants fish, I either have them go with me, and that away they are there when cleaning time comes, or deliver the fish whole in a cooler. Otherwise the are on their own to find their fish fry.
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Flintknapper
Member
A group of hogs have been coming into a bait site for several days now….but at different times.
Sometimes at night, sometimes in the daylight hours. Two days ago they came in at 1:30 in the afternoon, yesterday at 4:30 in the afternoon, but they’ve never been any later than 7:30 at night.
Figured I’d take my chances and go sit for them at 3:00 p.m. hoping they would show up before it got dark, but willing to stay a couple of hours longer. Not very cold this evening and I have an insulated and heated Box Blind, so what the heck…. off we go!
On stand at 3.00 p.m. 4 O’Clock comes and goes, no hogs. Then hours 5 & 6…..still nothing and it is now dark. Hog lights have come on at both bait sites, one at 130 yards the other about 95 yards away.
Soon its 7:00 p.m. and I am beginning to wonder if the hogs are going to show tonight or not. Just before 7:00 I catch some movement near the edge of the brush at the farthest bait site. Then I clearly see a wave of piglets descend on the corn I have broadcast on the ground. Soon afterward….a few medium sized Sows joined them.
I let them feed at that site….knowing they would go directly to the closer bait site (feeder) once they were done. That would give me a better shot opportunity and the hogs would be more ‘settled’ by then.
I passed on an excellent chance to take two Sows with one shot (something I always look for) because there was a spotted Boar in this group that I’ve been after for a while. I waited for him to walk by one of the Sows (he never would calm down and feed) and tried to time the shot (Boar in front, with a sow about 3’ behind him).
This is the ‘group’, but not the shot opportunity.
At the shot the Boar went down and Sow behind him went down, but got back up and ran with the rest of the group into the brush. I could hear the Sow squealing as it made its exit. I found good blood going into the brush and will go back in the morning and see if I can recover the second pig.
Spotted Boar:
![URL]]](/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2F%5BURL%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fi110.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fn92%2Fflintknapper%2Fspotty2%2520800x600_zpskex0ulit.jpg%255b%2FIMG%27%5Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fi110.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fn92%2Fflintknapper%2Fspotty2%2520800x600_zpskex0ulit.jpg%5B%2FIMG%5B%2FURL%5D%5D&hash=72b673a11aa5fdc5dba45dbce12e4006)
Sometimes at night, sometimes in the daylight hours. Two days ago they came in at 1:30 in the afternoon, yesterday at 4:30 in the afternoon, but they’ve never been any later than 7:30 at night.
Figured I’d take my chances and go sit for them at 3:00 p.m. hoping they would show up before it got dark, but willing to stay a couple of hours longer. Not very cold this evening and I have an insulated and heated Box Blind, so what the heck…. off we go!
On stand at 3.00 p.m. 4 O’Clock comes and goes, no hogs. Then hours 5 & 6…..still nothing and it is now dark. Hog lights have come on at both bait sites, one at 130 yards the other about 95 yards away.
Soon its 7:00 p.m. and I am beginning to wonder if the hogs are going to show tonight or not. Just before 7:00 I catch some movement near the edge of the brush at the farthest bait site. Then I clearly see a wave of piglets descend on the corn I have broadcast on the ground. Soon afterward….a few medium sized Sows joined them.
I let them feed at that site….knowing they would go directly to the closer bait site (feeder) once they were done. That would give me a better shot opportunity and the hogs would be more ‘settled’ by then.
I passed on an excellent chance to take two Sows with one shot (something I always look for) because there was a spotted Boar in this group that I’ve been after for a while. I waited for him to walk by one of the Sows (he never would calm down and feed) and tried to time the shot (Boar in front, with a sow about 3’ behind him).
This is the ‘group’, but not the shot opportunity.
At the shot the Boar went down and Sow behind him went down, but got back up and ran with the rest of the group into the brush. I could hear the Sow squealing as it made its exit. I found good blood going into the brush and will go back in the morning and see if I can recover the second pig.
Spotted Boar:
Stony
Member
Don't know if I can actually get a video going here just for entertainment purposes, but I guess I can try. My computer skills are sorely lacking...
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Flintknapper
Member
Nice Video.
You know if you just reach in and scratch him behind the ear.....he will calm right down. NOT....!
The video shows what I've always said: A Boar can inflict a severe wound by hitting you with a tusk, BUT damage will be gruesome if they BITE you and shake. They have tremendous jaw strength and can shake you like a ragdoll.
You know if you just reach in and scratch him behind the ear.....he will calm right down. NOT....!
The video shows what I've always said: A Boar can inflict a severe wound by hitting you with a tusk, BUT damage will be gruesome if they BITE you and shake. They have tremendous jaw strength and can shake you like a ragdoll.
Stony
Member
I had half a dozen youngsters in a trap once that were about maybe 10-15 pounders. I was playing around with them a little and stuck my toe through the wire. One of them grabbed ahold of my shoe and did the shake thing. I wouldn't want to do that with a larger one. One of the last ones I got was close to twice the size of the one in the video and I went up to converse with him a little before his demise. He was so wild get got his nose through the door and threw it halfway open...but luckily didn't run out in time before it came back down. His demise had to come a lot quicker than he wanted.
I guess maybe I shouldn't play around with them as much as I do...but us guys do seem to like some small element of danger in our hobbies.
I guess maybe I shouldn't play around with them as much as I do...but us guys do seem to like some small element of danger in our hobbies.
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Flintknapper
Member
Update: Did not recover the second hog that was hit. I rarely lose one....but it happened this time.
Pretty good blood trail going into the brush, crossed the logging road and under the fence onto the neighbors property.
About 75 yards in total. Not worth pursuing any further. Chock it up as a hit, with no recovery.
Did happen across this little fella while I was blood trailing.
NO...not a Green Mamba !
A little bit cool for snakes to be out this morning....but I guess it was looking for a meal.
Pretty good blood trail going into the brush, crossed the logging road and under the fence onto the neighbors property.
About 75 yards in total. Not worth pursuing any further. Chock it up as a hit, with no recovery.
Did happen across this little fella while I was blood trailing.
NO...not a Green Mamba !
A little bit cool for snakes to be out this morning....but I guess it was looking for a meal.
