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

Checking game cameras this afternoon, was hoping for a few quiet days to relax. But no…..!

This group of pigs at one bait site:



And this group at the other:




They just keep coming. Thanks a lot ‘Hernando de Soto’…..!
 
Flint - blessedly so, we've not had much hog infestation here in Ohio. I hope it stays that way as I enjoy deer hunting too much!

I'm hoping one of these days to make it south and do my part in reducing the population in your great state.

May all of your shots result in a good, long dirt nap for those hogs!
 
So blasted hot and humid here lately, I've decided to just let the pig trap do the work.

Was able to get 4 smaller pigs out of one group to go into a large pen trap. So...that takes the number of one group down from 16 to 12. Not great, but something.

trapped%20pigs2_zpsqxj1sart.jpg

Unless the cameras show a large Boar....I doubt I will spend much time waiting on a stand for any hogs for the next couple of months. Instead I will focus more on utilizing the trap(s) and snares.
 
So blasted hot and humid here lately, … Unless the cameras show a large Boar....I doubt I will spend much time waiting on a stand for any hogs for the next couple of months. Instead I will focus more on utilizing the trap(s) and snares.

Smart. IBM had a commercial in the '70's that said "Machines should work, people should think!" Let the traps and snares stand sentinel in the heat and dark.
 
So blasted hot and humid here lately, I've decided to just let the pig trap do the work.

Was able to get 4 smaller pigs out of one group to go into a large pen trap. So...that takes the number of one group down from 16 to 12. Not great, but something.

View attachment 269336

Unless the cameras show a large Boar....I doubt I will spend much time waiting on a stand for any hogs for the next couple of months. Instead I will focus more on utilizing the trap(s) and snares.

4 is still a good result 4 less to breed and root up the countryside
 
So blasted hot and humid here lately, I've decided to just let the pig trap do the work.

Was able to get 4 smaller pigs out of one group to go into a large pen trap. So...that takes the number of one group down from 16 to 12. Not great, but something.

View attachment 269336

Unless the cameras show a large Boar....I doubt I will spend much time waiting on a stand for any hogs for the next couple of months. Instead I will focus more on utilizing the trap(s) and snares.

Good lick on the hogs.
 
Flintknapper, keep up the good work, I'm fighting the hogs every chance I get. Every time I go to the ranch I kill at least one. This is a great thread, I haven't read the whole thing yet !
 
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Haha…..these young pigs were ‘thinking’ about going into the trap, but ultimately decided against it.



Same group has been coming in to a feeder I have placed nearby for a couple of weeks now.

I recently trapped four from this group, hoping for a few more.

IF we get a little rain this afternoon… or at least some cloud build up to cool things off, I might grab the SOCOM and sit on that stand for a while this evening. There has been a small boar hog coming in about 7:30 p.m. the past few evenings. The rest of the group shows up about 9:00 p.m. I can handle the heat for that short period of time.
 
What do you use for bait/feed? I've always heard sour corn was excellent bait.

Just re-cleaned whole kernel corn.

There is no need to go to the trouble to 'sour' or doctor the corn. Once they've found it....they will come to it just fine.

On occasion, I will use 'cracked' corn if there is large group returning on a regular basis. The purpose of that is it takes them longer to pick up the small pieces and you can use slightly less bait (broadcast).

Soured corn 'might' serve to attract hogs to a feed site...since the smell obviously is strong and it carries on the wind well. But once they come to a bait site....plain corn is sufficient.
 
Just re-cleaned whole kernel corn.

There is no need to go to the trouble to 'sour' or doctor the corn. Once they've found it....they will come to it just fine.

On occasion, I will use 'cracked' corn if there is large group returning on a regular basis. The purpose of that is it takes them longer to pick up the small pieces and you can use slightly less bait (broadcast).

Soured corn 'might' serve to attract hogs to a feed site...since the smell obviously is strong and it carries on the wind well. But once they come to a bait site....plain corn is sufficient.
Ok thanks for the info. Good luck this evening!
 
Ok thanks for the info. Good luck this evening!


Well….as it turned out, the hogs and the weather were both cooperative. About 6 p.m. a few storm clouds started to form which brought with it a fairly cool breeze. I was happy for that since it made the ¼ mile walk to my stand much more bearable. It didn’t do anything for the humidity, but when you live in Deep East Texas…..you just accept that.

Got on stand about 7:00 p.m. just as a light misting rain began to fall. Pretty much perfect! It wouldn’t be dark at this stand until a bit after 8:30 p.m.

All settled in the stand….I casually watched the bait site, let my mind wander a bit (OK a lot) and just generally enjoyed the woods and my surroundings. About 8:00 p.m. I saw a small patch of black moving through the brush at the distant feeder. Then out popped a couple of medium sized pigs. They went directly to the corn. In just seconds…they were joined by about a dozen more with the Boar being last in line.

I let them eat the broadcast corn for a couple of minutes…knowing they would slow down and move more methodically. When hogs first ‘hit the corn’ it can be pretty dynamic with hogs fighting for position until they realize there is plenty for everyone.

Not seeing an opportunity for a ‘double’ (two hogs lined up), I focused on the Boar…which had been pretty much broadside to me the entire time. I settled the German #4 crosshairs high on his shoulder and sent a 405 grain soft point his direction. My aim was true and the Boar crumpled in his tracks. All the others made it into the nearby brush….offering no additional shot opportunities. But I am certain they’ll be back.

So all in all….not a bad outing. I didn’t sweat (much), I didn’t have to wait long and there is one less Boar in Texas making little ones.

BH_07_15_17_zpswo1s1hds.jpg
 
I am always amazed at how quickly Buzzards can clean up a carcass.

I placed this boar (originally over 200 lbs. on the hoof) at a spot on the ranch that I like to use when 'recycling' hogs.

This boar was set in place at approximately 8:00 a.m. in the morning. I went back by the area at 6:00 p.m. that evening and there were about 40 buzzards on or around the carcass with another 20 or so roosting in trees nearby.

As you can see...they had already eviscerated the hog, eaten all of the meat from the hind quarters, ribs and spine. Basically, worked their way up to the shoulders. That's a lot of hog to eat in a short period of time. The next day, the carcass was completely gone (Coyotes having found the remains of it over night).

Buzzards1_zpstnor2jeg.jpg
 
Indeed! Here's a carcass of a 140 Lb. sow, from which I had removed the left shoulder, both hindquarters, and both backstraps, after just 15 hours. I dumped it about 10PM, this photo was taken at roughly 1PM the next afternoon.

Carcass_after_TBPS.jpg
 
I've heard of the deep south, but what does "deep East" mean? Is there a "deep West"?


It is a Sub-Region of 'East Texas', comprised of 12 Counties.

This is 'East Texas' :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Texas

And this is "Deep East Texas":

DET2_zpsiqaoykce.jpg
DET1_zpsrwriarvu.jpg

Then there is West Texas and 'Far West Texas'. These labels being Colloquialisms (more or less).

Native Texans generally break the State down into the following: North Texas, Panhandle, Central Texas/Hill Country, West Texas, Far West Texas, East Texas, Deep East Texas, South Texas, The Coast and The Border/Valley.
 
Glad to see people are killing more hogs. I love this thread. Very educational for those of us who do not have hogs yet.
 
This little guy fell to my 45-70 with Hornady 350gr RN over H 4198 at about 135 yards yesterday evening. Bang, "thwack", flop. It never ceases to amaze me how much of a pig's weight is in their intestines.
 

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I took out a small bore earlier in the week at my deer feeder in the back yard, 100yrds. The SOCOM sure does a number on them. I was raining so I did not take any pictures. I've noticed the activity has picked up in the last couple of weeks. Seeing more and more on the cameras. They came through early this morning, a group of around 10. Some how they got out of my hog trap. I'm thinking one was in the door when it tripped allowing them to get out. May have to set the camera up to monitor it.
 
So I've had this little bait site set up for about 3 weeks by a very small pond. It's a different pond than the small pond in my thread "My Best Day".

The site is nothing more than two T posts, some bailing wire, and a 2.5 gallon bucket I converted into a bump or nudge bucket. That's a bucket with holes cut into the bottom. When the pigs bump or nudge the bucket it shakes a little corn out. Well the pigs took a couple days to find it. But once they did, they would empty the bucket in a day. I never put a camera out there because my cameras always get stolen. But I figured yesterday I'd take the chance.....again.

So I fill my backpack with corn, load my catahoula up and head out there. When I get there, sure enough, the bucket is empty. So I refill it about 3/4 full, set up my camera up as close as I could but not in an ideal proximity to the site. My dog was playing around the site marking everywhere like young males do. And we headed back. A couple hours later, I decided I wanted to move the camera closer so I could be sure to get good pictures. No point risking the camera getting stolen for crappy pictures. So I filled my backpack again, grabbed a small spade and headed back.

When I got there the corn I'd put on the ground was gone and there was fresh sign all over. I checked the camera and it had 73 pictures. 4 hogs had come in not 5 minutes after my dog I left and had stayed for 2.5 hours in the middle of the day (14:00-16:37) until 7 minutes before I got back to the site. So I dug a hole, set a natural post, and reset the camera. They didn't care that my dog had been there marking everything. So I suspect they are held up close enough that they can hear me refill the feeder and just wait till I leave. That's easy enough to deal with. I'll just go fill the feeder, walk off, circle around, and set up with the right wind.

So I should have some pics of dead pigs for this thread soon.
 
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