Good state for hog hunting...

C

Catfish25p2000

New member
Ok, I posted the thread about eating hogs earlier. A gentleman on the boards said something about hunting hogs in OK. I asked him for some specifics and he never got back to me. Can anyone give me a good state reasonably close to Illinois that I can hunt pigs on public land. By close I mean like within 10 hours or so. I am looking to go somewhere with a buddy that we may be able to see some hogs and have a good hunt. Can someone please help me out? We would be rifle hunting. Any info provided would be great!
Thanks,
Ryan
 
Tejon Ranch has some of the best pig hunting in the U.S. Cabelas video taped a hog hunt here last year. A little far for you though.
 
Middle-to-East Tennessee has a ton of wild hogs, though I'm not sure if that's within your driving range. Also, many outfitters there have leased up land. But you could check out Big South Fork River National Recreation Area around Jamestown, TN. It's a huge public area and there are supposed to be hogs there. I've never seen any, but then I haven't been there in about 10 years.
 
I would check any area that has a good number of domestic hog farming. They always manage to lose hogs, these become feral. I would imagine that there are some areas in a neighboring state that has some industrial hog farming. I'd look into those.
 
Florida, Alabama (south) and Georgia are your best 3 outside Texas with Oklahoma pulling a tie for forth with Arkansas.

If you want to shoot them in Florida, you need either a short time Non res license or private land to hunt on. I have removed the gun hunting part of my offer to host TFL members on a hog hunt for free. It is just too hard to expect results with out baiting and scouting. I do still have the dog hunt offer open.

If a person wishes to go on a dogs/knife hunt than it is wide open.

If a person wants a gun hunt, I have to negotiate the expenses in advance as it will require several bags of corn and gas in advance to insure a better odds. As it stands I couldn't expect better than a 10% chance of success for a gun hunt as the hogs move so often and far.

I am in the florida panhandle as my info says.

I hunt Private lands (farms and ranches) for land owners. You will not even need a license to hunt hogs on private lands...

The big plus to dog hunting, is the butchering can begin immediately after kill if hauled home alive.:D

Brent
 
I would check any area that has a good number of domestic hog farming
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Research back to the early 80's. The pork industry collapsed badly, got down to $0.08 per pound. Farmers (especially small ones) couldn't even afford to keep the hinges on the barn door up to date. That is when this, so called, pig bomb started. The prices and rules in place today sort of limit the profitable to super mega farms. These rarely lose any pigs.

Look to where the rural areas were back in the day. Michigan actually has a recognized "huntable population" now. Just took longer to populate due to harsher conditions in the south.

Brent
 
There is an outfit out of Okeechobee, Fla. ,that guarentees the pig. $100.00--no kill no pay. I'm sure their is something in the agreement that has something to do with "putting the client on the pig" versus the client actually being able to hit it. Being a hunter I'm pretty sure these hunts are for the most part "canned". Fla. is a good state for piggin, even on public land. Do a little home work and ya might just score, or just check out the numerous outfitters around Okeechobee Lake and go for it. Oh yea, that $100.00 is for what we call a "meat hog"--if its got tusks it,s going to cost:rolleyes: ya more.
 
Western panhandle, North of I-10 is where we go.

We run curr dogs to find then catch dogs hold it while it is "legged". Then the call can be made to tie it up to haul it out alive or kill it with knife. We don't carry guns with the dogs as it isn't needed.:D
It is year around but we don't do much now that deer season is open.
Brent
 
Here's a link to the National Feral Swine Mapping System maintained by USDA. It should give you a good idea where hogs are. You can only go so far down as a public user, but if you need more specific info for any place, just ask and I can get it for you. Of course, its not perfect - its only as good as the info plugged in ie: see western Oklahoma, and the sudden stop of pigs at the northern california border - but it should give you a good idea.


I would check any area that has a good number of domestic hog farming. They always manage to lose hogs, these become feral. I would imagine that there are some areas in a neighboring state that has some industrial hog farming. I'd look into those.
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Feral Hogs aren't the result of escaped pigs from modern hog farms. Those pigs don't/cant escape. And as we've seen with trucks in accidents, they tend to not travel far from the accident because they have no idea what to do in the wild. They are pretty domesticated and don't want to run away. Plus, the males are all castrated.

Feral hogs come from people who have released them. They also happen naturally by migration of existing pigs. Also, the original pigs in this country were released into the wild by the Spanish who hunted them down. Game farms are also a big source of feral pigs. And so called "organic" and pasture swine operations have some problem with it, but not industrial farms. Older style farms - the kind that largely went out of style in the early 90s, had some problems with escapees - but those kind of farms really don't exist in any great numbers anymore.

As Hogdogs says, a lot of the problem happened when the industry totally collapsed in the 80s. Especially in Georgia and Florida.

The pig business, if you can believe it, is actually in the middle of an even more severe economic crisis currently than it was in the 80s. This one though isn't caused by market dynamics and the emergence of more efficient competitor farms - its 100% the result of the tremendous federal subsidies and tax incentives for turning corn into ethanol.
 
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Oh ok. I never knew that about hogs. I had always believed they were more modern hogs that escaped. This is why I joined. I like to learn things. I'm very new to all this. Even tho I'm almost 40.
 
How about some Russian Boar close to home

I know you mentioned you wanted public land, but this may
be worth your time.

www.RagingRussians.com
www.BearMountainQuest.com

Bear Mountain Lodge
Negaunee, MI. 49866
Greg "Mooseman" Johnson

This guy's got a permit that allows him to import
Russian Boar that are raised in Canada. He let's them
loose on his land in Michigan, and runs hunts.
Worth looking at.
Pretty close to home.
Don't deprive yourself of hunting the real deal, being
so close to Illinois and all.
Probably worth the money.
Check it out.
 
See here, eradication program. Not for tree-huggers
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I'm nothing close to a tree hugger, but that is ridiculous. Not even hunting. What’s the point really?? Just to kill them for fun and not even harvest the meat? A guy like that I would loooovve to come across in a dark alley late at night.
 
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