I must be crazy....
Really frustrating hog!
Not even a big hog, but very cautious. I’ve been trying to bait this hog up out of a wet weather creek bed for about 3 weeks now.
The banks of the creek are about 8’-10’ high most places …so it is difficult to set up a stand where you can see the hog.
This animal will eat corn right up to a trail that leads out of the creek bed, but no farther.
It doesn’t go to the Fish Pond, which has a good water supply and is only about 400 yds. away, but instead…. prefers to drink and wallow in a nasty little mud hole (see pic) in the creek bed.
Hog is definitely camera shy, I’ll get a single pic (like the one above)….
always in the wee hours….then the hog doesn’t come back for two or three days. I had to mount the camera down in the creek bed about 20’ from the water/mud hole.
Even though I covered it well with brush, it stills gives off an IR signature and makes a very slight sound when the shutter trips. That’s all it takes for this hog to spook.
I went ahead and set up a stand today and put up a hog light that will shine down onto the water hole, so we’ll see if the hog will tolerate that or not. I dread having to put in an “all nighter” for a single hog (not even a big one), but the only other practical method would be to snare it. With this hog…I don’t think I could get in and out of the creek without leaving too much scent behind (thus spooking it away).
In years past….only big mature Boars….or the Alpha Sow in a sounder…were this wary, I honestly believe hogs (as a whole) are getting smarter….with respect to being hunted.
Anyway, we’ll see how it plays out, only one of three things can happen.
1. I’ll get lucky and will get a shot at the hog before it detects me. (Flint wins).
2. The hog will come in and circle downwind, detect me and slip away quietly. (Hog wins).
3. The hog will wait until about 4:00 a.m. to come in, by which time…the mosquitoes will have sucked the last drop of blood from my body. Then…when my dead, dried up carcass falls from the stand….the hog will come and eat me…in a final act of triumph! (Hog wins).
Why do I do this?