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

You'd think they'd just make stocking hogs that way illegal. Shouldn't be too hard to write a law that way that doesn't impact legitimate hog farmers.
 
sixgunner455, it doesn't affect the hog "farmers" in any way whatsoever. It only affects the WILD hog industry. If by the hog farmers you meant the professional hunting industry stocking hogs on open land, then hell YES it SHOULD impact them severely! Those idiots have been seeing the problems that arise from placing wild hogs on open land for several years now and their short sighted dollar signs in their eyes kept them from giving a damn. What Tennessee has done is taken that money incentive away from them. Hopefully they will lower the boom on anyone caught stocking hogs. I love pig hunting as much as the next guy, but no amount of fun is worth the problems that arise from wild hogs.
 
FFiI - what I meant was that if the state, instead of banning hog hunting, banned stocking of wild hogs, keeping of wild hogs, commercial hog hunting operations, and so forth, it would be more effective. As I was thinking about that, I thought that, if such laws were written carelessly, they could ban keeping pigs altogether. Thinking through it should prevent causing difficulties for regular domestic pork production, which was what I meant by hog farmers.
 
Flintknapper, you have any experience with 5.56/.223 on hogs?

Anyone is welcome to answer.
 
Kinda looks like a saiga 12?
The .223 does great on hogs especially the smaller eating size ones. I would use a heavy weight premium bullet (TSX or similar) for the bigger trophy size hogs though.
When I build an AR I am going to build it in 6.8 SPC II, so I have just a little more crunch for the bigger ones.

ID
 
Just about froze to death this evening waiting on a group of hogs.

They have been coming in regularly (about 7:30) the last three nights…(per the game cam), so I thought I’d go sit on my Daughters Deer Stand and wait for them.

I figured the wind would “lay” about dark so I didn’t put on too much clothing…not expecting to be there all that long. It got pretty “nippy” once the sun went down and the North West wind was calm for periods, then it would pick up again, stop…then start!

About 7:00 p.m. I was pretty sure I heard some pigs behind me…. :eek:…definitely NOT good…since the wind was blowing right to them. Sure enough… things suddenly got quiet. No doubt… they got a “wiff” of my scent. :(

But…they didn’t blow out of there…so I thought MAYBE they will come back later and MAYBE not circle around me this time.

All the while… it is getting colder and colder and finally I am forced to light the propane heater in the box stand.

I ran it just long enough to warm up…then turned it off. It felt REALLY good…but it makes too much noise if the wind is calm and the hogs are on ‘Alert’.

Finally…right at 10:00 p.m. I could hear hogs squealing as they approached the feeder. This time they went directly to it and started eating. Even at 100 yds. I could easily hear the crunching of corn.

I let them settle in and looked through my 8X binoculars to see how they were positioned under the feeder.

My scope only goes up to 4.5 power and a slight fog was starting to form, I wanted to be sure of my target.

There was a good sized boar with the group but he wouldn’t stay under the light. Once it was apparent I would not be able to get a shot at him… I picked out what looked to be the “Lead Sow” and took the shot when she turned broadside.

She was a Big ‘Ol Roly-Poly thing. (Hadn’t missed any meals). 225 lbs. on the scale.

Sow11-29a.jpg

Sow11-29d.jpg

I called a friend of mine to come and pick her up. Too good a sow to let the Buzzards or Coyotes eat.

Got to go get some Hot Chocolate now….my hands are STILL cold, burrrrrrr!
 
I've been trying to concentrate on Deer Hunting of late, but when the hogs come in...you have to get them out...or they will run all the deer out of the area.

Not literally of course, but deer scatter whenever the hogs are nearby.

I've had many a hunt ruined when hogs came barreling in to the same area where the deer were feeding. :mad:
 
i snagged 5 this weekend. all from 50-100 lbs. .223 and ATI gen 2+ NV running and gunning with jeep :)
jeep took care of a few ;)
 
nice trap ya got set up there flintknapper... trapping is definately the most effective way thin them out. me and my dad set up to portable traps on a cattle lease a couple of years ago and wiped out 50+ in about 2 months. we also shoot them on sight, and have our land pretty much clean of them, except the occasional 100+ groups that go straight through. we usually manage to almost half those groups before they get out of our wheatfields though.
 
I'm headed out to the range this morning to sight in the 458 Socom (Flint inspired me) for a hog hunt next weekend in NE Texas. Friend's property. I was in the area last week, pretty chilly. Good news for skeeters, the state bird, I guess. :)

Is there anything different about hog behavior when it gets cold? I mean about the timing of their movements? Never hunted them in winter.
 
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Lightninstrike wrote:

I'm headed out to the range this morning to sight in the 458 Socom (Flint inspired me) for a hog hunt next weekend in NE Texas.

Can't wait to see a report. Glad you got it!


Friend's property. I was in the area last week, pretty chilly. Good news for skeeters, the state bird, I guess.

Yes, the skeeters (State Bird) have abated with the colder weather (finally)!

Is there anything different about hog behavior when it gets cold? I mean about the timing of their movements? Never hunted them in winter.

You'll get different answers depending upon where you hunt and who you talk to... but generally speaking... there are some differences.

We've actually had some rain most places (meaning more water available) and the cooler weather lessens their need to be around it.

This time of year they still wallow some...but primarily they are going to water only to drink it. So...don't spend too much time hunting water sources.

FOOD...is what hogs are after more than anything else right now. If the place you hunt has hardwoods that are still dropping their last acorns...that is where I would go. If the property has "feeders" on it...then that is always a good source to hunt too.

The cooler weather will sometimes encourage daytime movement of the hogs but it really depends more on how much hunting pressure they have had.

Moon phase is another consideration, some scoff at it and say "it makes no difference", but my experience has shown that hogs move MUCH more during the dark periods than when the moon is up and bright. They are also much less nervous in the dark.

Your trip will have you hunting the moon just coming off of being full...so although it will still be bright (if no cloud cover)...it won't be coming up until nearly 1:00 a.m.

That is good news...since you should have decent hog movement for at least 8 hours (5:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m.)

Of course, you know from experience....any time you try to put a "time table" to hogs...they will do the opposite and make you look foolish. But, those would be the peak hours...IMO.

I don't know what the long range weather forecast is...but if there is front coming...be sure and hunt all you can before it arrives. Hogs seem to move a lot in anticipation of the wind and less favorable weather. Again, immediately after the front passes through...get out there.

Remember, Neck Shots or through the MIDDLE of both shoulders= DRT.

But the SOCOM...(with proper bullets) does give you angle options and I certainly wouldn't let any hogs "walk away". ;)

Best of luck guys, have a great time and I wish you much success.

And....Thank You for helping whittle down the population.

Flint.
 
flint, i agree with what you say. when its black as ink, i have my best luck. when its super bright from the moon- i sometimes never see them. weather makes them move, ESPECIALLY after a rain.
 
Does time of year make that big a difference? (I'm inferring a 'sorta' from Flint's comments above)

I'm moving to the DFW area next month. New job (finally after 12 months unemployed)

While I'll be living near Dallas don't hold that against me. Well not too much anyhow.

I'll be trying to find somewhere to go hog hunting near the end of winter or early spring.
 
yup hogging is a year long thing, as long as you can stand it. I can handle the cold (ish) of winter but hunting in the heat of summer is no fun at all to me. But you can hunt hogs all summer long too if you wish just be prepared to sweat through anything you are wearing and to be doing most of your hunting in the middle of the night during the summer.

Good luck
ID
 
lol, its funny how it works. in summer time you sweat to death and have skeeters suck you dry, then you get a few weeks of perfect no skeeter weather that may need a light jacket, then you freeze your ass off...... then the cycle repeats... perfect weeks, then hot as hell again!

winter time for me is synthetic performance long johns, wicking thin socks, thick socks, insulated coveralls or overalls, balaclava, beanie, and gloves. then again im driving around in an open top jeep with no doors and the windshield down.... it can get chilly :D
 
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