It’s a hog’s life.

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G'dale Mike

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[/ATTACH] 6ABF90D4-70C1-4D0C-B4C8-C75392FE75A5.jpeg interesting week, learned some new things concerning hogs and hog life.
So, previously I have posted that I have a large group of hogs that I feed 2-3 times per day. It had gotten to where I could throw out corn, and here they’d come, as long as I sat quiet, they’d come with in 20 yds and not pay much attn to me.
Middle of week, big boar hog that I successfully posted video of preciously giving me the stink eye, well, he does the same, but bluff charges me. Thats a little different behavior, eh, maybe he’s having a bad day. No harm, no foul.
Friday, the group of wise sows with their shoats, nor the alpha boarhog showed up all day. Had my group of 12 thug nasty “teenage “ hogs spend all day eating my corn, that was all
So , Saturday early, i drive my diesel gator down to my clearing, get out with a bucket o corn and start walking down the steep hill to where i’ve been feeding . As soon as I start down the hill, there’s a real good size boar heading up the hill , he looks just like a 1.5 yr old boar that still hangs around with the sows, and alpha boar hasnt run off yet, but as I walk down the hill, he’s acting a little different, and my antenna are up now
Get down to my spot and start flinging corn and here comes the whole herd, probably 30 in all. And i see the alpha boar, but also, the 1.5 yr old. And then, the big hog came down, and he mustve been 1.5’er’s Dad!!! Going up the hill, i didnt have a reference. But now that he was with the normal crew i see every day,, well, this guy was a stud! He was a good 4” taller than the alpha boar, who is not to tall, but is thick all day long. This new guy looked to have heavy Russian influence. And he was really stink eyeing me, and approaching, backing off, sneaking behind me, really sizing me up.
I am definitly keeping an eye on him as i finish chking game camera. While i’m doing that, he goes over and challenges alpha boar, they put on quite a performance.
I decide to go ahead and institute my plan of harvesting a boar with my grandad’s browning lite 12 using my dad’s 1 oz western X slugs(purchased in the mid 1960’s)
Go to house, gather gear, more corn, and head back to the clearing where i parked earlier, have a tree stand there, throw corn, ascend tree stand
Sow and shoats come out, and then a big boar. Dang boar comes right under treestand, and lo and behold,, 55 year old western X slugs get the job done! To my disappointment, the boar I shot was the 1.5 year old, not his dad. Oh well, a good test of equipment and ammo.he had nice 1-1.5” cutters and whetters were just starting to show good.
2 obvious things I learned.
1) dont get complacent and forget that wild animals are wild. Also, animals may act a certain way, but sometimes new actors are added to the play. And when sows are in heat, testosterone causes some altered behavior
2) when harvesting, be patient. I missed the perfect chance to kill a wallhanger, after working for years to modify hog behavior and patterns, i blew my chance to get the one i wanted. When i shot, pigs went everywhere, it will be a while , if ever , to get to where i can sit while they eat. Plus, today, my sounder is half size it was. I had a four week old lil shoat, that was lost that followed me around all day but wouldnt let me catch it. Finally, i turned a dog loose, it got caught, but it got away ..sorry this took so long to write , but,i certainly had a busy day
 

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And when sows are in heat, testosterone causes some altered behavior

Aren't sows always in heat?;)

You need to kill both of those boars. If you don't want to fool with the stinky boars, give them away. The more they get used to you, the more aggressive they will get. That equals a dangerous situation.
 
OP glad you got a hog and excellent work, but I'm 99% positive that all states have regulations against releasing a caught feral hog, and it must be killed. Just something to research and make sure you are following all game laws.
 
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I typed that wrong, the little dog isnt a catch dog, just a lil mutt i rescued, i meant to say it tried to catch but lil hog got away. That dog is my “ghetto hound” , rescued as a pup literally in the gutter in a bad section of town as a puppy. She hates hogs but dont know what to do with em. Had him near a fence when i took that picture and still couldnt put the brakes on that lil fella
 
Couldn't put the brakes on him to catch him but he was still long enough to get a pic...ooookkkkk
I actually believe him. A few years back I accidentally got into a group of sows with I don’t know how many piglets, a bunch. Shot (at) one of the sows at about 40 yards. My scope was lose and didn’t know it. The group exploded in every direction. So I took off after the sows. Walked up on a group of ~10 piglets huddled underneath a big deadfall. I could get within about 6-8 feet of them. Easily close enough for a picture. But one more step and they all took off. I could get close. But not close enough to catch them. I know because I tried. My buddy was watching me from the opposing hill. All he could see was his friend sprinting and diving onto the ground, get up, and repeat. He couldn’t see the tiny piglets. Thought I’d gone crazy.
 
What I like about a big wild boar is that their head looks like it covers 1/3 of their body. Such a huge head. The other thing I like to see is long hair since most tame hogs have short hair. If I see a black hog and a brown hog together I always shoot the black one first because if one gets away I would rather it be brown. With a bolt action rifle in heavy brush I can usually only get one shot because at the shot it looks like a bunch of Volkswagen Beetles flying through the brush. I am always interested to see what will happen.
 
I know a few folks who have captured piglets by running them down and catching them while out hunting. They released them. At that point what’s the point in killing a little baby? These hogs are a nuisance but I’m not going to kill a young one I just held in my hands.

Here the law doesn’t exactly read out that this would be illegal. It more pertains to capturing and then holding them in some way like in a cage as well as transporting them.
 
I know a few folks who have captured piglets by running them down and catching them while out hunting. They released them. At that point what’s the point in killing a little baby? These hogs are a nuisance but I’m not going to kill a young one I just held in my hands.

Here the law doesn’t exactly read out that this would be illegal. It more pertains to capturing and then holding them in some way like in a cage as well as transporting them.

The point in killing it is that if you let it go it’s going to grow into a big one and that big one is going to wreck stuff. I kill big pigs, average pigs, small pigs and pigs so small you’d swear it was a field rat when looking through a thermal scope. They all die. Every last one of them that gives me a chance, dies.
 
I know a few folks who have captured piglets by running them down and catching them while out hunting. They released them. At that point what’s the point in killing a little baby?

As noted, they grow up. That is a real problem and they do a lot of damage along the way. As juveniles, they eat roughly 5% of their body weight per day. Adults eat 3% of their body weight per day. Pound for pound, little hogs eat more than large hogs. Your "alpha boar" wasn't always an adult. It started off as a piglet. The sows with piglets started off as piglets. They grow up with a high survival rate.

These hogs are a nuisance but I’m not going to kill a young one I just held in my hands.

Then don't pick them up, LOL.

Here the law doesn’t exactly read out that this would be illegal. It more pertains to capturing and then holding them in some way like in a cage as well as transporting them.

I think you may be making a very generous interpretation of GA law.
 
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