Hogs

[HuntHogsnFish]

Since there isn’t a category in the hunting section for boar/hog/pig hunting. Who hunts them and how are you successful? Gear, stalk, locations, I’m interested in any contributions, it would be great to hear your stories and favorite pictures of your best pigs. I’ve been hunting public for a long time and haven’t been able to put a shot on one, getting closer in a couple areas. Hunted a private parcel in Gilroy 2 times and put my first on down this year. Looking to gain all the knowledge I can.

This is hunting public for me, constantly finding them just out of reach or on protected land, bureau of reclamation, private ranches.

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[HuntHogsnFish]

Feel free to move this anywhere, mods. Suppose it could be in the varmint category.


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[Bubblehide]

Yep, ferral pigs goes in the varmit forum. Lots of guys here hunt them, including myself.

 

[ReddingArcher]

I love pig hunting, I’m at the point now though it’s not worth it to pay to hunt them. I used to pay a couple hundred bucks for trespass fees and that was reasonable. Now a cheap one is 6-700. I’ve shot enough of them it’s just not worth it to me anymore.
We always just spot and stalked them.
Here’s the last one a shot, a huge sow with 3.5” cutters.

 

[Hoghead]

I use dogs. Hunt every week mostly Depredation on orchards cattle ranches golf course ect. Hogs are tough on public ground.

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[Sevens]

I feel they’re one of the most under appreciated species. Taste good, fun to hunt, year around opportunity. I’m sure if they all looked like gazelles with beautiful horns people would have different opinions of them.

I prefer spot and stock, which is not the norm for most of Texas. Much more exciting to move around to find them. Some shots can be long, many very close. Had one charge me even recently, that was a pucker moment (fortunately was wearing my brown pants that day).

They make great practice too if you’re trying out a new rifle or ammo.

 

[TSAMP]

I'll guess ill be that guy, that photo is rough man. Are you on a shoulder of a road? Looks like that thing got hit and you ran up and took a trophy photo.

 

[HuntHogsnFish]

I'll guess ill be that guy, that photo is rough man. Are you on a shoulder of a road? Looks like that thing got hit and you ran up and took a trophy photo.

Sure, you can be that guy, what do you mean by rough? I stalked this boar from the woods into my buddies field that the pig had been tearing up for weeks. Put moves on him to 30 yards and put an arrow in him, double lung and clipped the bottom of his heart. He ran ~60 yards and piled up on the road, made it easy to pull the side by side up and take him back to the ranch.


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[HuntHogsnFish]

I love pig hunting, I’m at the point now though it’s not worth it to pay to hunt them. I used to pay a couple hundred bucks for trespass fees and that was reasonable. Now a cheap one is 6-700. I’ve shot enough of them it’s just not worth it to me anymore.
We always just spot and stalked them.
Here’s the last one a shot, a huge sow with 3.5” cutters.

That’s a great looking pig! Huge cutters. Where do you hunt? How big are the groups you stalk?


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[Bubblehide]

Okay, now that I am at a computer instead of a phone, I'll play.

Weather significantly affects pigs as relation to activity. If the weather is hot, they are almost always exclusively nocturnal. However, since they do not sweat, they have very limited means to regulate their body temperature. what this means is that they dig and root out bedding places so they can lay on cool ground. They often use the same such bedding places over and over is such weather, so there is some degree of predictability of location. If it is really hot, you can often find them at water sources, in the water for regulation of body temperature.

In cold weather, like all animals, food becomes more and more important as temperature drops. Like all mammals, the less body mass the more they are affected by cold, thus they must fore often. As such, their activity level increases, making them easier to locate.

Keep in mind that in nature, unnecessary expenditures of energy can cost animals their life. So in general, in hot weather, movement means an increase in the need to water. Thus, most animals, in the presence of danger, will hold a position longer prior to escaping danger. As such, in extreme heat (relative to the animal (s), pigs in this case, must be relatively close to a water supply i-order to regulate their body temperature. From my experience, in extreme heat, pigs bed withing 100 yards of the water source, and are often found in the water source, actively cooling their core temperature, as it is necessary for their survival. In such conditions, more often than not, when I have harvested a pig in such conditions, the rest of the pigs do not go further than 100 yards. I have actually seen the pigs return to the source to continue cooling, while processing the animal, all the while with me being visible to the pigs.

The inverse although less likely from my experience, is true in extreme cold weather. What I mean here, is when the soil is dry and hard, making rooting not worth the energy expenditure, or costing more energy to be expended than taken in, when food supply is limited, I have harvested pigs, with the remaining pigs not going far, and remaining within sight, waiting for me to leave the area to return to feeding.

So in short, I prefer hunting colder weather as pig activity increases in direct relation to lower temperatures.

Hunting in hot weather, complicates the harvest process, as meat must be cooled must faster. So if you hunt private property, and can get to your harvest with a vehicle of some type to transport it, speeding the processing and cooling process, you are not hindered by the heat factors. But if you do not, or are hunting public land where such factors are relevant, you may find yourself in a position of passing on animals due to the time involved in getting the meat on ice. I have done plenty of trips on public lands where I have passed on animals due to the above. Those trips were however, great scouting trips that provided very valuable information. So it was not a total loss by any means.

Pigs make a living (survive and grow, in direct relation to the quality of their nose sensitivity). My point here is never discount a pigs nose. So what do I mean - I mean they find food using their nose, often times from miles away, depending on what the food source is, and the wind direction and strength. In my state, it is illegal to bait game and despite feral pigs being an invasive species, we cannot bait them, and yes, here they are considered a big game animal. However, as long as the pigs cannot ingest the source, which includes licking it, scents and inaccessible bait can be used legally. So scents, or any smell floating in the wind can and does have a powerful affect on pigs. Human scent along with predator scents send them in the opposite direction. Food scents bring them in. As such, what is in the air can often determine success or the lack there of.

Pigs are Polyestrous, just like humans. meaning they CAN continually cycle into heat, until pregnant. That does not mean they do continually cycle into heat, until pregnant. the ecosystem has a direct relation to pigs cycling or not cycling into heat. Thus the more harsh the conditions, the body of the pig will and does, place survival first. So when conditions are to harsh (heat, cold, lack of food), the female pig(s) will not cycle into estrus/heat. So what does cycling into heat have to do with harvesting pigs? It has a direct relation to boar movement. When females are in estrus, or approaching estrus, the boars nose knows it, and they are looking for receptive females. This translates into significantly increased boar movement, and boars fighting over females in estrus, meaning you can often hear them, thus locate them. So when are pigs in estrus if they can continually cycle into estrus?, the fact that they are capable of continuously cycling into estrus is very different from when they are in estrus. So what this translates into is that conditions and food supply matter greatly, making spring the highest likelihood of females being in estrus, and daytime activity of boars looking for receptive females, i.e., if you are after a large boar, spring is the best odds of finding and harvesting one.

Continued success in harvesting feral pigs is a matter of putting pices together and some luck. But, you are not going to harvest pigs sitting at a computer (not counting those texas computer controlled rifle hunts).

 

[bmrfish]

Did someone say hogs?
Georgia peanut field, thermal scopes


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[GSPHUNTER]

I hate pigs. bad boy was 3.75"

 

[HuntHogsnFish]

Okay, now that I am at a computer instead of a phone, I'll play.

Weather significantly affects pigs as relation to activity. If the weather is hot, they are almost always exclusively nocturnal. However, since they do not sweat, they have very limited means to regulate their body temperature. what this means is that they dig and root out bedding places so they can lay on cool ground. They often use the same such bedding places over and over is such weather, so there is some degree of predictability of location. If it is really hot, you can often find them at water sources, in the water for regulation of body temperature.

In cold weather, like all animals, food becomes more and more important as temperature drops. Like all mammals, the less body mass the more they are affected by cold, thus they must fore often. As such, their activity level increases, making them easier to locate.

Keep in mind that in nature, unnecessary expenditures of energy can cost animals their life. So in general, in hot weather, movement means an increase in the need to water. Thus, most animals, in the presence of danger, will hold a position longer prior to escaping danger. As such, in extreme heat (relative to the animal (s), pigs in this case, must be relatively close to a water supply i-order to regulate their body temperature. From my experience, in extreme heat, pigs bed withing 100 yards of the water source, and are often found in the water source, actively cooling their core temperature, as it is necessary for their survival. In such conditions, more often than not, when I have harvested a pig in such conditions, the rest of the pigs do not go further than 100 yards. I have actually seen the pigs return to the source to continue cooling, while processing the animal, all the while with me being visible to the pigs.

The inverse although less likely from my experience, is true in extreme cold weather. What I mean here, is when the soil is dry and hard, making rooting not worth the energy expenditure, or costing more energy to be expended than taken in, when food supply is limited, I have harvested pigs, with the remaining pigs not going far, and remaining within sight, waiting for me to leave the area to return to feeding.

So in short, I prefer hunting colder weather as pig activity increases in direct relation to lower temperatures.

Hunting in hot weather, complicates the harvest process, as meat must be cooled must faster. So if you hunt private property, and can get to your harvest with a vehicle of some type to transport it, speeding the processing and cooling process, you are not hindered by the heat factors. But if you do not, or are hunting public land where such factors are relevant, you may find yourself in a position of passing on animals due to the time involved in getting the meat on ice. I have done plenty of trips on public lands where I have passed on animals due to the above. Those trips were however, great scouting trips that provided very valuable information. So it was not a total loss by any means.

Pigs make a living (survive and grow, in direct relation to the quality of their nose sensitivity). My point here is never discount a pigs nose. So what do I mean - I mean they find food using their nose, often times from miles away, depending on what the food source is, and the wind direction and strength. In my state, it is illegal to bait game and despite feral pigs being an invasive species, we cannot bait them, and yes, here they are considered a big game animal. However, as long as the pigs cannot ingest the source, which includes licking it, scents and inaccessible bait can be used legally. So scents, or any smell floating in the wind can and does have a powerful affect on pigs. Human scent along with predator scents send them in the opposite direction. Food scents bring them in. As such, what is in the air can often determine success or the lack there of.

Pigs are Polyestrous, just like humans. meaning they CAN continually cycle into heat, until pregnant. That does not mean they do continually cycle into heat, until pregnant. the ecosystem has a direct relation to pigs cycling or not cycling into heat. Thus the more harsh the conditions, the body of the pig will and does, place survival first. So when conditions are to harsh (heat, cold, lack of food), the female pig(s) will not cycle into estrus/heat. So what does cycling into heat have to do with harvesting pigs? It has a direct relation to boar movement. When females are in estrus, or approaching estrus, the boars nose knows it, and they are looking for receptive females. This translates into significantly increased boar movement, and boars fighting over females in estrus, meaning you can often hear them, thus locate them. So when are pigs in estrus if they can continually cycle into estrus?, the fact that they are capable of continuously cycling into estrus is very different from when they are in estrus. So what this translates into is that conditions and food supply matter greatly, making spring the highest likelihood of females being in estrus, and daytime activity of boars looking for receptive females, i.e., if you are after a large boar, spring is the best odds of finding and harvesting one.

Continued success in harvesting feral pigs is a matter of putting pices together and some luck. But, you are not going to harvest pigs sitting at a computer (not counting those texas computer controlled rifle hunts).

Great info, thanks for that. I usually hit my public spots during winter. Hunting right after a storm is one of my favorite times to be out there. That said, and with your info in mind, I’m planning on hitting an area I’ve hunted multiple times earlier this year, next weekend. ~10 square miles with 9 different water holes, I’m pretty excited that this area could be where I take my first public hog.


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[Bubblehide]

Great info, thanks for that. I usually hit my public spots during winter. Hunting right after a storm is one of my favorite times to be out there. That said, and with your info in mind, I’m planning on hitting an area I’ve hunted multiple times earlier this year, next weekend. ~10 square miles with 9 different water holes, I’m pretty excited that this area could be where I take my first public hog.


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Best of luck!

 

[Hoghead]

Very well said. You have more patients than me to type all that .

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[HuntHogsnFish]

Did someone say hogs?
Georgia peanut field, thermal scopes


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That’s a lot of bacon! I’ve watched quite a few YouTube’s of people night hunting fields with thermals, looks like a great time.


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[ReddingArcher]

That’s a great looking pig! Huge cutters. Where do you hunt? How big are the groups you stalk?


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Thanks! I hunt Northern California, mainly tehama county. Killed a couple in Shasta County. Where I hunt big boats seem to stick to themselves. Packs are typically 4-10 but I’ve seen as many as 100+, it looked like the whole hillside was moving.
My dad has been seeing some pigs out at his place occasionally, hopefully he starts seeing them more regularly and I’ll kill one out there if the opportunity arises.
I’ve heard of a few places on public around here that has pigs every once in a while but I’ve never tried hunting them, probably need to though.

 

[HuntHogsnFish]

Very well said. You have more patients than me to type all that .

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Cmon man! With an avatar like that you definitely have some photos to share.


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[Hoghead]

How's this

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[Hoghead]

Some more

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