Those piggies are tough to hunt

U

Unlicensed Dremel

Moderator
during the day. Much more leery than deer. I've been out three separate single days this summer, with an amazing amount of pig sign - unbelievable stretches of torn up ground and scat. More sign than I've seen anywhere else. Saw lots of deer, mostly who just stare at me as I go by (not hunting season and they know it) - but no pigs. Well some other members of the hunting parties have spotted a few, but me, none. And I really thought I'd get one this last time because I hunted in the rain - medium-heavy rain most of the day. There's no way they heard me and very unlikely they saw me, so they either moved on down a ways, or scented me. They are moving & feeding during the day, so I think they scented me. I love hunting these dudes - smart and very challenging. Try, try again. I want some pork before deer season gets here!
 
Here is one thing you probably don't know about pigs - they are much "cleaner" than other animals in their eating/sleeping/pooping habits. A deer will poop and eat and sleep all in the same place. Not so a pig. They will get up from their bedding area, travel to a different area to eat, and poop somewhere in between.

If you are seeing pig poop, that is not where they are bedding down during the day. See if you can figure out where they are bedding at mid day and position yourself so that you catch them traveling from there to their feeding area.
 
some people I know once plotted to release a pregnant sow in the wild so that in a couple years there would be a viable population for year round hunting. I thought it would be pretty neat until I read that they can have up to a dozen piglets twice a year and after I saw how quickly two juvenile pigs could destroy a 16' round enclosure... I would never wish pigs on anyone after that.
 
Well, they're bad for farmers and ranchers, but good for tilling up & aerating the soil, to allow fresh plant life growth, I suppose. Make a pro and con list, and to some people the pros outweigh the cons, and to most people the cons outweigh the pros. But if they're already there, they ain't going away. I don't buy that keep the deer away, as many deer as I always see in proximity. But yeah, they breed "too fast" and too many, so check/control is the name of the game - mainly through trapping. But hunting can't hurt. We need that same law that Texas has, which allows night hunting - I'd be on that like a... uhh, like a pig on a corn feeder.

Thanks for the tip, Doyle. Yeah, I see a lot of scat in the open fields, presumably from night, and lots of torn up ground but less scat in the woods. I really don't know where they're feeding, or bedding - that's the $64K question, as always. Just really surprised that I didn't see any roaming around during or just after that heavy rain. I put out one can of wet dog food on the ground, but that didn't draw them in either. Sat on that for an hour at a time, twice that day.

I think the main point here is that their general sensing powers are roughly equal to whitetails, taking all into consideration (sight, hearing, smell) - can't see as well, but can hear and smell about as well.
 
It's hard for me to believe all the information out there about hunting pigs that makes no sense. I'm an old retired bugger and I hunt/trap hogs on a daily basis. I'm sure there are people out there that have killed more than I have, but I'd guess not a lot of them. I have killed over 600 of them over the past 5 yrs. or so.
I read guys giving their opinions about techniques of hunting them, calibers, litter sizes, calibers to use...and a lot of it should be taken with a grain of salt. Hogs are not mystical creatures that are more intelligent than other mammals, nor do they care where they relieve themselves. You will find a normal litter of piglets ...as verified by the University of Texas guys in studies..as an average of five, but they do have a good survival rate among their young.
You are hunting them in the most difficult way, trying to sneak around the woods in hopes of surprising some. I would suggest establishing a regular area in the woods and keeping it regularly supplied with corn...even better if it is soured a little...as they have a very keen sense of smell. Watch that area at sunrise and sunset and you might catch some feeding. The only other way to be really successful is to use dogs or trap, and using dogs is not for an old guy.
 
Old Stony, what are some tips in dealing with trap shy hogs? Any tricks you have learned?

To the O.P. Smell is the pigs best friend. They Don't see good, don't hear good, but have much better sniffers than a bloodhound. Some people swear they can hear good, but I drive up within 50 yards of them on the ATV and open up on them with the AR. If they hear well, maybe they just dont listen too well.:rolleyes:
 
"It's hard for me to believe all the information out there about hunting pigs that makes no sense. I'm an old retired bugger and I hunt/trap hogs on a daily basis. I'm sure there are people out there that have killed more than I have, but I'd guess not a lot of them. I have killed over 600 of them over the past 5 yrs. or so.
I read guys giving their opinions about techniques of hunting them, calibers, litter sizes, calibers to use...and a lot of it should be taken with a grain of salt. Hogs are not mystical creatures that are more intelligent than other mammals, nor do they care where they relieve themselves. You will find a normal litter of piglets ...as verified by the University of Texas guys in studies..as an average of five, but they do have a good survival rate among their young.
You are hunting them in the most difficult way, trying to sneak around the woods in hopes of surprising some. I would suggest establishing a regular area in the woods and keeping it regularly supplied with corn...even better if it is soured a little...as they have a very keen sense of smell. Watch that area at sunrise and sunset and you might catch some feeding. The only other way to be really successful is to use dogs or trap, and using dogs is not for an old guy. "

Sage advice, in this heat they are moving at night. To survive they need water and mud to stay cool.
 
Here is one thing you probably don't know about pigs - they are much "cleaner" than other animals in their eating/sleeping/pooping habits. A deer will poop and eat and sleep all in the same place. Not so a pig. They will get up from their bedding area, travel to a different area to eat, and poop somewhere in between.

If you are seeing pig poop, that is not where they are bedding down during the day. See if you can figure out where they are bedding at mid day and position yourself so that you catch them traveling from there to their feeding area.
Click to expand...

I am on board with Old Stony on this.

Maybe your pigs are different, but I find hog scat in and around my feeders where they have been eating. I find plenty of hog scat in the food plot where they have been eating.

I also have found scat immediately adjoining bedding areas. I can't say that they pooped or peed in their bedding area, but they certainly did within a few yards of it.
 
I must say if you look at domesticated pigs(which are where all of these wild hog populations started from), they crap, sleep and eat all in the same spots, even if they have several acres to work with. I've seen dogs crap in the corner away from their food and nap areas but never anything that is raised for food.
 
Reynolds....I am very careful about smells around traps for one thing. I never touch them without gloves on and stuff like that. I don't know if there is any real reasoning that can be considered an absolute with trapping the hogs. Some guys will tell you to never shoot a hog in a trap as the smell will scare off the rest for a long time, but I shoot them in the traps and often catch more in the same trap the next day. I do shovel a little sand over the blood and try to make things look sort of back to normal with the surrounding area and put a good amount of corn in there. I think putting a pretty good sized amount of corn in a trap works better. Being stingy with the corn is sort of counter productive, and I usually put at least 1/2 of a five gallon bucket in at a time, with a trail outside the trap to lead them in.
I prefer the falling door types of traps as compared to the rooting doors. I think you can entice more into the trap if they don't have to work their way under the door. You can build a pretty functional trap of this type for 200-300 dollars...and less if you can scrounge some of the materials. Anybody that has a small home welder can build their own traps.
I place some of my traps near my deer feeders and I keep them going all year around. The corn on the ground helps keep the hogs in that area longer with a resulting better chance of some wandering into the traps.
If I can remember this morning I'll take a pic or two of traps and give you an idea what works for me.
 
Thanks, I would love to see the pictures. I have a particular sounder of hogs that is giving me fits. All I can figure is one of the old hogs must have been trapped and released or either trapped and escaped. They will eat right up to the door and then stop. I have tried different things on the floor, sides, top, etc. and to no avail. I have the same traps set the same ways in other places and am tearing the hogs up.
 
Interesting that their hearing may not be nearly what is claimed. I'm not going to use a feeder - it's public land and a long drive. If I can't get 'em the "hard way", then I won't be getting them. But of course it's easier come Jan-Feb, or even fall for that matter (slightly).
 
As usual, I am having problems posting pic's..I'm lucky to get this machine even turned on. Only got one this morning, but they will keep coming. I wish you luck, but just walking up on a bunch doesn't happen very often, although I have lucked out a few times that way. In woody areas even jumping a bunch, you better be quick on the trigger and lucky to hit one.
 
I think I might have figured out posting pic's again...I guess we'll see. These are from this morning...one with pig and one without. You will note I put a lot of corn in the traps to entice the little buggers. I also have to leave things across the doors to keep the deer out as that can be a big problem. The open doors like these make it more likely the pigs will follow the corn into the traps.
 

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Your second trap is like the box traps I use now. I believe I will build one like the first trap this weekend. I really like that design.
 
I have used box traps like those in the past, and was fairly successful. However, I would only ever get 1 hog per trap closing, even with a 45 degree angled door installed on 1 which was supposed to allow them to come in, but not get out.

I would up going with round, pen style traps to try and catch more with so-so success.

Hogs will get trap shy after seeing the results of their brothers and sisters getting caught.

I've been following a group of retired Army SNCOs who built what I would consider my dream job down in Georgia. They are called Jäger Pro. They have an excellent website and specialize in feral hog removal. They also developed their own hog catching technology and tactics that focuses on getting the whole sounder vs catching singles or doubles. They also have a lot of videos on you tube you can peruse. Even if you don't buy their stuff, you could glean some ideas from their tactics and setup.
 
I love pigs!!!
Had a hunt once where the property owner baited them with soured grain mash.
He poured the mash out that morning about 5:00 AM and by 6:30 it was like feeding time at the pig zoo.
You could smell that mash for miles down wind.
There were 3 of us that day and we killed 6 pigs.
It was like a buffalo hunt.
You would drop one and the pigs would scatter and 10 minutes later they strolled back in their noises to the breeze.
They would sniff and poke at their dead buddies and go back to eating.
Best hog hunt I ever went on.
Pig are smart creatures but soured grain mash seems to be a hypnotic food source and I say this because I have never seen pigs ignore so many danger signs that would normally sent them back into the woods and not return so quickly.

The next best hunt was with dogs but dam I never ran so much on a hunt as we did with those dogs.
 
Pigs are nasty vermin that will destroy habitat for indigenous wildlife, ruin crops for farmers and wreck forest plantations for timber companies. Whatever moron(s) think that releasing swine in order to hunt wild pigs is a good idea should have their hunting privileges and weapons taken from them for life.

Hot summer months look for pigs around a water or wallow source during the day, they don't want to be far from somewhere to cool off. Plus the mud keeps the bugs at bay.

Pigs don't see you, they're not far from being blind. They'll see movement more than anything. They'll hear you and smell you for sure though. Hard to put a stalk on a sounder if you don't have a perfect wind, lots of noses to pick up a bad scent.
 
Lol, pigs visual acuity is actually pretty good. They see well enough to run full speed through the trees in the dark without crashing into the trees, lol.
 
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