Shoot hogs on sight, even when not hunting?

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redneck

redneck

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This is kind of a hypothetical question at the moment, and I don't want to turn it into a what caliber for hogs thread or anything like that. I'm just wondering how many folks shoot hogs on sight? Even if you're not hunting and don't have the time/means to do anything with it? On public land?

Reason I ask is hogs are taking hold in Ohio. Population is growing, farm reports are starting to have articles on crop damage, trapping, DNR contacts for research etc. , and one of the areas showing the biggest population is an area where I occasionally take my horses to camp and trail ride.

Got asked the other day if I were to see a hog while riding in the state forest if I would shoot it ? Now I can't imagine them really bothering us when on horseback, and doubt that I'd come across them near trails during daylight but it did make me think. I have a hunting license, concealed carry license, and haven't found anything to suggest it would be illegal. There is no season, tag, or limit on them here, and the area in question is a state forest/WMA. So from a conservation side of it, it seems like if you see one you should kill it. On the other hand, it doesn't seem quite right to shoot it and let it lay near a bridle trail to rot.

I do see alot of wildlife while riding. Lots of white tail, a couple fox, and the largest coyote I have ever seen in my life. So it might not be that big of a stretch to see a hog.
 
Depends. But in general I support the shoot on sight approach if a shot is safe, practical, and a sufficient caliber used. I don't care about the meat. Leave it for the vultures, crows, coyotes, and skunks.

After they get a good population in an area, the damage is substantial to the woods enviroment. I wouldn't worry too much about defending yourself against one, but it could happen if one is cornered or particularly aggressive. You will find them to be very smart and illusive animals and shooting them on sight is not easy. They breed and have lots of piglets. Based on other state problems with hogs, the survival rate seems to be quite high for the young.
 
No. I don't shoot living things to let them rot. I would shoot it and harvest it though. You can always get rid of extra pork!
 
any pest species should be shot on sight.

we don't have feral hogs in s.d., but given what i know about them i would treat them as skunks or feral cats: shoot on sight.
 
SHoot them is what most farmers would like to do. Hogs destroy crops and mess up the land , fences, compete with food plots intended for deer as well as corn feeds.
 
If you can hit them and have a big enough gun, shoot them on sight every damn time you see them.

Don't shoot at them though, they get smart very quick, so make sure that you can hit them.

As other have said, let em rot if'n you want. I don't like shooting animals and not eating them, but I can't give away a hog on most good days, and the places for hunters against hunger don't always take them (the ones that I know of don't).

If you shoot a small one, eat it, they are delicious. Big sows are delicious to. I wouldn't bother with boars, they always seem to die in the most god awful spots, even if its 200yds and you've taken out their shoulders and vitals (I've shot one boar that didn't make it to a swamp or briar patch that I couldn't get him out of by myself).
 
Last I heard ODNR would like them shot on site. Personally, I find the opportunity to hunt them appealing. I also understand they can do alot of habitat damage in short order. I don't like killing anything I don't eat , but I don't have a problem doing so for a greater good.
 
Not only is it "O.K.", its your duty!


Feral hogs are a scourge, worse than cockroaches.


DO NOT feel bad about leaving the carcass to be consumed by scavengers. IF you can find a way to utilize the meat resource, by all means do so, but don't feel about it... if you can't.

You are only hastening what Mother Nature had planned anyway.

If the DNR, Landowners and Sportsmen allow hogs to become established in Ohio, they will regret it.... believe me.

My advice:

Get on 'em NOW
Get on 'em HARD
Show NO MERCY!


IH8HOGS!
 
But in general I support the shoot on sight approach if a shot is safe, practical, and a sufficient caliber used. I don't care about the meat. Leave it for the vultures, crows, coyotes, and skunks.
Click to expand...
Just think of them as not a whole bunch different from cockroaches or houseflies--just bigger. At least they're edible if you are in the mood...
Click to expand...
I agree whole heartedly with the above philosofies. Just be careful shooting off horseback. You might start a "RODEO" :D
 
I shoot them any time I can get a firearm aimed at them. Some are harvested, and the others are left for the other animals to enjoy.

Unless your horse is used to gunfire that close to his head, you'll be in for the ride of your life shooting from horseback.
 
I agree , shoot on sight ---- they breed faster then Chicago rats !!! If I could , I would drag away any I killed from near a rideing/walking trail at least a hundred yards.
 
First check with the folks over the WMA and your area game officer, as some of them are pretty particular about shots being fired in some areas. Just be sure ahead of time that it is all on the up and up.

Then hold no quarter, get them by any legal means available.

You probably notice that quite a few responses are from Texas. Well we have been fighting a long battle with them and loosing ground the whole time. As mentioned, if you shoot make it good, if you trap, change the way you do it, the location, and vary the feed, if you hunt them by any means keep things changed up as they learn faster than you can imagine, to avoid things that do them harm. Once they go nocturnal all bets are off.

When I first started helping out a friend on their property I was told over and over again if I saw them shoot all I could hit. I never saw any for the first year or so, then one evening we were on a ride around the property and came up and over a hill back in the woods and there must have been a hundred or more. I managed to get off 4 full clips from an SKS and they were still running everywhere. After the shooting stopped, I was like man we got a lot of cleaning to do now huh, the owner told me pick out the best one if I wanted any and leave the rest. Well that didn't sit too well with me that trip but after fixing roads and tractors, and mowers, and disc due to the holes they had rooted up in roads and pastures, it got pretty easy pretty quick to bust there backsides and if I had time I take them if not I move on.

There are times I will try and find someone who can use the meat, but with the way pork will spoil quickly, unless I make arrangements to have ice on hand ahead of time, anytime the temp is up over 75, they have a good chance of feeding the local scavangers.

Good luck to you and the rest of the folks in your area.
 
My wife's grandfather and I chatted about hunting hogs. He is a nice guy, old, but nice. He went into some detail in explaining to me about resource conservation and selective hunting in order to maintain the hog population on my property. The old guy probably had not been hunting in 25 years and can't now because of eyesight issues. Anyway, there was nothing I could say to convince him that my hogs didn't need conservation.

Sometimes we feed the buzzards and 'yotes. Sometimes we find someone who wants the meat. Some folks just don't want to be called after midnight to come pick up a free hog.
 
They should be treated just like Norway rats.
Killed on sight.
I do and everyone that hunts on our lease does without hesitation.
These things will soon be affecting the Whitetail herd very negatively.
And on some places it already has.
Not to mention ground nesting bird species such as turkeys.
Hogs are nothing more than hooved locusts.
 
I wholeheartedly agree! So far, in this area of Missouri I haven't seen or heard about much of a hog problem. Hope it stays that way.

My brother feels the same way about Canadian Geese. I did go play 18 holes with him at a course in KC a couple of years ago. We got bombarded by goose crap and had to putt around it on the greens. A very minor and insignificant problem in the scheme of things, but over population by any animal can eventually become serious. And it's against the law to shoot the geese!
 
Out in central TX where I hunt, the hogs are all nocturnal. The only way we know they are present is from the huge patches of ground that they shred when rooting. If I could see 'em you bet I'd shoot every one I could. They're certainly in no danger of being extirpated, more's the pity.
 
ive seen the damage they do here on the blue ridge parkway if i see oen where ic an legally shoot it its dead
 
Well I kind of figured the overwhelming majority would say shoot it :D Guess this was kind of a biased poll :evil:

As far as a rodeo, I've shot small bore stuff around my horses a fair amount and it doesn't phase them. I'm more concerned with what one will do in the event we see a hog! The mare I usually ride isn't really bothered by anything unless it catches her completely off guard. We've gotten within 10 ft of deer before (it actually walked next to us on the trail for about 200 yards), and once I even threw her some rein when a doe blew by us on a narrow trail and she did her best to run it down.
The mare my girlfriend rides spooks randomly at deadfalls and tree stumps. Usually 2 or 3 times in the course of a days ride we'll be going through thick pine forests or old growth hardwood with downed trees all over and she will suddenly just miss a step and end up standing there bowlegged and snorting at a stump along the trail. Nothing else seems to bother her though and she aways goes right down the trail after giving the stump a good snort and stare down :scrutiny:. She really is a pretty solid horse and hasn't been bothered by any of the deer or other animals we've come across.


As far as where shooting is allowed on the WMA's I do think there is a minimum distance from the posted trails for hunting. And of course I have to be careful of the trails that border state parks or cut through them. I really doubt that I ever come across a feral hog hanging out on a bridle trail though. If I do, I'm sure it will be on one of the less used trails that are more then a couple hours ride from camp and we would probably be the only people within a half mile. I'm not holding my breath. Mainly just thought this was an interesting scenario to get opinions on after someone asked me.
 
Shoot them all. If you don't, they will eat you out of house and home...literally in some cases.

Just my .02,
LeonCarr
 
Most hogs on my place are nocturnal, too. They really don't bother anything down there as it's all pasture and while they wallow, it's not a crop they're tearing up or anything. I think they're pretty cool as an inexhaustible source of protein and year around hunting. I might take a different attitude if I was a grain farmer. There are no more quail coveys down there anymore and the hogs may be the reason, but I've never owned a pointer and he'd have to be snake proofed to keep from getting killed down there, anyway.

I trap 'em, mostly. The trap works 24/7. :D I have had 'em die in the trap when the weather got too hot and fed the coyotes and buzzards with 'em. Funny, when I have a hog in the trap, I can usually tell as I'm walking into my place. The buzzards seem to know and they'll be hanging out in nearby trees just waiting. :D Disappoints 'em when I kill the hog and haul it off, I guess. I can't get down there every morning, so I don't set the trap when it's hot weather.
 
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