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

hogs becoming more abundent at the lease.

hey all, this has been a very intresting read and hope it continues on. I was working on my deer lease in west Texas and wouldent you know it on the side of one of the trails I see an area that looks like some one took to it will a bunch of small plows... I started hunting there 7 years ago and there were no feral hogs to speak of. 3 years ago one sow was shot of the place, 2 years ago I think there were 2 shot and last year there were 2 shot.

I have never seen an area with hog damage there befor this last trip so Im thinking that we might be in for the same story as Flint has been dealing with in the coming years.

Part of me is excited to have a chance to shoot some hogs, but if it has a big impact on the deer hunting all excitment will be null and void. I do like a target rich enviornment, but I would prefer to not have the deer hunting messed up.

This is far and away the best thread I have read on THR and I have a feeling that all the info in this thread is going to become a real life situation for me come deer season and into next summer.

Hopeing to hear more from the war front on the east texas hogs.

t george
 
Mr Flint, You have created a complete hog hunting and trapping tutorial,FREE OF CHARGE! To the non hoggers it's like a great ongoing novel,and to the hoggers,your tricks are very useful. My brother and I are lucky enuff to get to hunt'em anytime we want in Ardmore Ok. and am going to pass along some of these tips.

It's clear to see you really do love to hunt and share your passion with your family,but for you to share that passion in such an informitive way with the WHOLE WORLD is truly a real gift to us all.

It's amazing to see so many people"wish I had hogs on my farm". Clearly they are not getting the fact that these critters DISTROY YOUR FIELDS and KILL OR SPOOK YOUR WILDLIFE.

Keep up the successful huntin and trappin bro,and if you can, find the time to keep us informed. As you can tell we're really rootin...I mean diggin it.!!!!
 
flint u should come to nc and help the park service out i went up part of the blue ridge parkway in class the other day and the sides fo the roads are shreaded
 
Oh man, I vote this hands-down the BEST THREAD EVER. Next time I go back home to Beaumont, I'm gonna have to take my FAL and bug my brother to go pig hunting.
 
Six days without a word from the OP! How is it going?

I saw this link on another thread:
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/huntwild/wild/nuisance/feral_hogs/#shield

It shows how to build a trap with door that continues to let hogs in, but does not let them out. It is not a one time door. Have you tried something like this?

It should be fairly easy to adapt your current trap by swapping out the door to one like this. It is worth a shot!

If they will use a door like this you could enlarge your pen area to allow them to pile in.

-Jim
 
when I was little I got to go on a ranch and run traps with the ranch manager, and he had traps like the one in that link that fryerpower posted. They were effective, but I think the most we ever caught at one time in one trap was like 3 or 4.

there is a local golf corse that uses traps like that and there is usualy one or two pigs traped somewhere on the corse when we go... Kinda makes it hard to putt with the pigs makin all that noise lol

t george
 
No, not the down season.

Normally....things start to pick up this time of year through February.

They are putting in a gas well on the neighbors property and all the ruckus has the hogs displaced right now. The well site is about 1/2 mile from the area that hogs frequent on our property.

Once, the drilling is completed they will be back.

Another factor...is the onset of the mast crop here.

Acorns are starting to drop and the hogs key in on that. In fact, they will walk right over shelled corn to go to acorns.

We don't have as many hardwoods as neighboring properties do....so for awhile....I am enjoying a reprieve.
 
i have really enjoyed this post,even i am sorry for your problems with the hogs,i was watching television last night and they had a segment on the wild pig population and how fast it was spreading,from i gathered they went from 17 stated to over 41 states that are having the hog problem,my question is,when do you think they will start to have a bounty on these distructive little suckers?well flint,hope you get your problem under control,even tho i will be sad to see it end,lol good luck
 
Flint, this has been great. When I got to the last page I totally expected to see another night photo and the caption "...here we go again..." I'm now thinking east texas isn't all that bad a place and might end up there to lend a helping hand. Keep up the good work!
 
Trapping and Sterilizing

Flint,

Saw this thread posted on an outdoor forum. Have to say great thread and tons of information. Thanks for your dedication.

I do not have any experience hunting or trapping hogs, but have recently noticed signs of hogs on our deer lease. First time in 25 years and we count ourselves lucky. I don't think we'll be taking the time to trap them, but we will dispose of and eat as many as we come across.

I have noticed you have a lot of hogs and are taking any means necessary to keep their numbers down. I heard from an old timer in Coryell County about sterilizing trapped boars and releasing them. He said it keeps hogs' litters lower than killing any and all of them. I guess the hogs biologically notice dropping numbers and produce larger litters when their population is in decline.

However, by trapping, cutting and releasing the boars they think they are still breeding and maintaining their population. I do not know if/how it works or how well it does/does not work, but it may be worth checking into. Just food for thought.

If it doesn't work happy shooting! I'll be doing the same
 
Had a few up here in Northern Wis a couple years ago....DNR was begging folks to erase them but were tough critters to hunt...conventionally...

Now that the wolves have thinned out the deer, maybe they'll switch to pork....
 
Just this morning I hauled 77 hogs to JBS Swift average weight of 273bs and less than six months old, btw several gave us trouble bacause they had entered first estrus, what a pita. Been around hogs all my life but have never even seen a wild one.

Flintknapper, how close together are you putting those posts holding up the welded wire fence? Back when we still had sows outside we had to put them every four feet to keep them from bustin up the fence in some places, mostly every 64" tho and the cattle hight fence was much more stiff than hog hight.
As far as climbing and jumping a hog can suprise a person, we had hogs jump out of a pickups stock rack, that was over 5 foot high land on their feet and walk away. Had a boar once flip me over a gate that was 6 foot high, I was 250 lbs but he was over 600 and POed that it wasn't his day to go breeding!

As far as eating a boar I will pass, just stink to bad, life is too short to spend it eating bad food. We used to butcher a sow if she broke a leg of sumeting and most of that was turned into ground pork, taste wasn't a proablem just tough. Used to kid the local guy who bought old boars that he had a special deal with the Jimmy Dean sasuage co.

For those who are wondering about hog hair, most farm hogs grow so fast and live so well they don't need much hair, pigs in a cold barn or underfed or sick can get wooly looking pretty quick and a hog over a year old can look shaggy.

As far as nutering old boars I don't think it's worth the trouble, he may chase off other boars for a while but sows come into heat every month and some other boar will get lucky eventuly.

Hogs are smarter than most give them credit for, they can be very stubborn in their habits, and get paranoid easy.
 
Thank you

Flint,
You think you hate hogs, well I have news for you if this is the end of your thread you could easily become the most disliked man in all the hunting community!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
NOT...... I and obviously many other really owe you big time for this enthralling saga.
Many Thanks
Colin
 
Best thread on the whole internet

Thank you so much for the fun. My wife had to ask me numerous times why I was laughing out loud. I can harldly wait until the hogs come back. Flint's headaches with hogs is my new favorite form of entertainment.
 
Please update. Hogs are starting to tear up our yards in liberty (texas). BAD! i haven't been able to stalk any at all. I don't own a trap but have two 308's .. i have taken my 20" heavy barrel hogue 700 with 6-24x50 out many times and followed hog trails and known rooting areas from as early as 11 pm through day break. NO luck.
 
Hi Tommy,

Sorry to hear of your hog problem.

I would be happy to offer some advice....but I need a little more info:

How much acreage are you hunting?

What kind of terrain is it?

Are hogs present year round...or is this an intermittent problem?

Do you have any previous experience hunting hogs?
 
How much acreage are you hunting?
about 40 acres is all that's being damaged. the 40 that ride along the backwaters of the trinity river, which unconveniently is the plot my shop, range, and house is on.

What kind of terrain is it?
about 400-500 yard by 300 yard pastures with treelines from my great-grandparents original fencing.. some trees scattered around in the back closest to the water. not pine, mostly pecan, oak trees. Swamp/bog backs up to the back with lots of foliage and cover. It's all private property, and Isn't hunted at all. We don't hunt the deer on our property, we have a lease outside sanderson (in west texas). that way if we ever NEED them.. we have them here. We won't have them long with this going on.


Are hogs present year round...or is this an intermittent problem?
It seems to come and go. Increasing more and more over time. This is the first time they've wandered all the way up to our house (approx 1000 yards from the waterline in back pasture). They have torn up bits and peices of the very back (under 100 yds from the waterline) for some time now.. and we just bulldoze it before we attempt to mow.. but now they're on dangerous ground. the house is lit up in the back and everything.. didn't seem to bother them. They are tearing up our families antique rosebushes even (some 40+ years old..)


Do you have any previous experience hunting hogs?
I have never had any luck killing them with anything except a truck. It does alot better job than people give it credit for though. My Grandmother (lives out here too, and had her yard ransacked a few times last month) has killed them with her car too. I think they're just wayyy too smart. My neighbors, about half a mile down the road towards town have tried to trap them and had little, to no luck whatsoever.
angryfire.gif



My backyard.
 
Last edited:
O.K.,

Good to know which "Liberty" you are in (there are 5-6 towns with that name in Texas).

The fact that your property is near the Trinity river is either good or bad news:

Good news IF you WANT to hunt hogs.

Bad news if your interest is in controlling their numbers.

I'm sure you already know that rivers are "highways for hogs".....so there will always be a population present.

Fortunately, hogs tend to be transient in nature. That is one reason why you don't have the problem full time.

If your main interest is to keep hogs (and the damage they do) away from your home, then I would suggest you advertise at your local feed store for someone with dogs to come out and run the hogs.

That way....you don't have to invest your time and efforts toward the problem. They may or may not catch any....but they WILL run the hogs off your place for a period of time.

Hogs HATE dogs....and there is no better method to push them off of your land (for short periods of time).

A little calling around (and reference checking) should yield someone responsible... who will come out (for free) and run the hogs.

Once a month would probably be plenty.

The only problem I can see with this...would be whether or not neighbors would mind if the dogs got onto their property in the course of a chase.

Since it is currently still deer season....I would wait until mid January to set out any dogs.

An alternative...would be to bait out a site, set up a game-cam to pattern the hogs... then shoot from an elevated stand. It does nothing to "keep hogs away", but does whittle down their numbers a bit.

"Snaring" can be effective too....but you really need to know what are doing in order to avoid catching "non-targeted" animals (deer, the neighbors Lab, etc...)

Personally, I wouldn't waste my time stalking them unless you already know they are visiting an area regularly. To do otherwise...is really just hoping to bump into them.

Hogs are smart and have excellent senses. They literally "evade people for a living", so remember to go slowly, pause often and be mindful of the wind direction.

Good luck to you, I know what a frustration it is to try to keep these pests at bay.


Flint.
 
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