Not again.......! Feral Hog Control in East Texas

I've had a bunch of new hogs tearing up my property, and one in particular seems to like digging up the trails themselves. He's also started tearing up the edges of my driveway. That same hog also likes to show up right about the time or shortly after the feeder goes off at 6:30.

I've been taking walks with my young son to change out the cards in the cameras around that time, so we've come across him a couple of times. Young boys tend to not sit quiet enough to sneak up on a hog, so usually he's either just left or just leaving before we're in a spot where I can get a shot off.

The last couple of days he's been sick, so I've been making my walks alone and being extra quiet coming over the rise from the tank dam to where the feeder/clearing is.

Last night, I come up over the rise as stealthily as possible, and I get a view down the trail from there where I've cleared most of the branches that are in the way. There were a few left, but I keep forgetting to bring my loppers.

Lo and behold, he's down there, munching corn and completely unaware. I wait a few seconds for a shot that won't pass through and hit the leg of the feeder. He moves and gives me a perfect broadside neck shot, and I squeeze the trigger... and the pig runs off into the brush.

Now I've seen enough posts from Flint to know that pigs don't generally run off after a shot though the middle of the neck from a .458 SOCOM 405 grain bullet. I also know there's no way I could have missed such an easy shot like that at a distance of maybe 25 yards. But there I stood, no pig, and not a hint of a blood trail, even with my blood trailing light .

After some examination of the scene, here are some things I learned:

1) Even a 405gr SP can be deflected by a little pine branch or two, so that an easy 25y shot is a complete miss. In this case, it seems my bullet notched one branch and severed another, along with some pine needles immediately prior.

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2) I should trim those branches.

3) Pigs run awful fast when you don't hit them. :banghead:

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John, good to hear from you!

Hate it that the hog got away. You've had so many close encounters and near opportunities on your property. You did a good job getting up close to him.

Still a possibility he will come back. Hope your Son gets well soon.


Flint.
 
Thanks, Flint. That hog hasn't shown up on my cameras again, but he's previously left and then shown back up again after a few days following an encounter.

I've got two others that regularly hit the feeder, sometimes together, sometimes separately. They tend to do so at 4am, though (including this morning). That's not nearly as compatible with my work/sleep schedule, but I may make an effort if they keep a predictable enough schedule.
 
My friend gave it a .45 in the head and it dropped immediately. I drug it out of the trap and we threw it on the tailgate of my truck and went about our work on the trap. The hog had a twitch or two still in it, but I figured it was about done for. I heard a noise and looked over to see it standing up in the front of the bed staggering around and it proceeded to jump out over the side of the truck and hauled into the woods next to us....which are very thick and hard to negotiate. He took off after it with a rifle, and followed the signs for 60-80 yds. where he saw it laying down. As he tried to get in position to shoot it again, it got up and made it into a swamp where it made a clean get away. Maybe the coyotes will appreciate the hog, but was a strange experience for us. He lost a lot of blood in my truck before he ran off....I never would have thought he had it in him to run off like that. I even lifted up his lip to check out his teeth while he was laying in the truck and got no reaction from him.

The corneal reflex test is the best test I have found to assure that a downed hog is actually dead. I like to use the muzzle of my rifle in case the hog needs to be shot again. You simply touch a foreign object to the surface of the eye. If the eye or lid moves, then the involuntary corneal reflex has worked and this indicates that the animal is still alive.

Great story, none the less!
 
The corneal reflex test is the best test I have found to assure that a downed hog is actually dead. I like to use the muzzle of my rifle in case the hog needs to be shot again. You simply touch a foreign object to the surface of the eye. If the eye or lid moves, then the involuntary corneal reflex has worked and this indicates that the animal is still alive.

Great story, none the less!

I do the same. The last thing I want is for me to be bending over a large boar, wrestling it onto my hand cart or loading it up and have it decide it wants to fight me! If there's any doubt, I poke 'em in the eye with my rifle barrel.
 
Strangely enough....I did give that hog a poke in the eye with my finger, and got no response. That is when I lifted up his lip and checked out his teeth and did notice a little twitch in his nose at that point. I guess maybe he was in shock or something, don't really know. He was missing a pretty good chunk of his head and bleeding bad at that point, so I thought maybe he was close enough to death that I need not worry about it. Live and learn....
 
Make Shift.......!

Yep, ‘Make-Shift’ AND ‘Low-Tech’.

Got a group of hogs (about 25 all included) coming into one of the pastures.

Thankfully, they are hitting the corn I have put out and not rooting the pasture (yet).

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If this group hangs around a few more days and I can get a South or SouthEast wind, I might be in business.

I’d like to get a shot scenario where several of the pigs are ‘lined up’, in order to make the most of the first shot taken. Making that happen from an elevated stand/position is difficult….so I decided to throw something together on the ground.

I picked a small tree about 65 yds. away from the bait site….from which to make a small ground blind.

I scrounged around my shop and came up with a folding chair, a couple of metal stakes, a piece of PVC and a length of Aluminum Square Tubing that I fashioned a rifle rest out of. This is definitely ‘low tech’ guys! ;)

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Continued Next Post:
 
Since it is possible the pigs will come in before dark and because I will not be very far away, I needed to fashion something that will hide most of my body.

I am 6’-5’ and 260 lbs. so I can’t just be sitting out there in the bald arse open!

I mounted the swinging rifle rest to the tree, set up my folding chair and made make-shift framework from which to hang some foliage.

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With that done, I need to ‘brush in’ the framework. I really wanted some Cedar Boughs to dress the frame, but the nearest Cedar Tree was about ½ mile away.

So looking around the pasture for something easy to cut….(and something the cows won’t eat), I spotted this little stand of Smooth Sumac.

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Got my Machete and went to work. Ten minutes later…we are all brushed in.

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I then backed up a little less than half the distance from the blind to the bait site….and looked back at the blind.

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I think we’ll be O.K.

The plan is to let the hogs come in and feed for a little bit until they settle down. Watch for an opportunity when two or more hogs ‘line up’ and shoot.

Then switch on my rifle mounted white light and let my laser be my sighting method until they clear the pasture.

Yes, its low tech (no thermal, no drones, suppressors, etc), but it has worked before.

Now…. if the hogs will just cooperate.
 
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We found my friend a cat

We were out scoping out the traps and stuff this morning and I happened to find this cat stuck in one of the traps with his mother. I tried to get my friend IbMikey to keep the cat, but he said it makes too many strange noises for him....so we turned it loose.
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LC wrote:

As long as that is not Poison Sumac you should be OK .

Yeah, that would be bad, REALLY bad! :(


I hope you kill every hog you see.

Well....I'd like that too, but no way...will I get all of them.

In fact, the game plan has already changed. The hogs came in again last night right at dark, so they are doing their part.

BUT, the wind direction for the next few days is all wrong for my ground blind.

I don't want to wait until I get a South wind because they might leave before that happens. I will have to back off to the pond dam (again) and shoot from 250 yds.

I called my brother awhile ago and he is going to come up and bring his 6.5 Creedmoor. We will set up like last time, except we will have separate tables this time. I don't want to be blinded by his muzzle flash again.

We are also going to work on our 'count down' cadence too. I don't know if he shot early or I shot late, but it definitely wasn't synchronized. :eek:

If we can take the 'lead' Sow out of this group and at least one other hog, I might be able to trap the smaller ones if they come back.

Anyway that's the NEW plan.

"The best laid plans of Mice and Men". ;)
 
Update:

Got the rifles sighted in dead on at 250 yds. this morning.

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Tables are set up on the dam overlooking the pasture.

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The wind is still a little 'iffy'...even this far away. Definitely wouldn't work for the short range set up I constructed. But I think if we let the hogs come in to the bait site and then sneak in to the shooting tables...we will be OK.

I don't want to be there before dark....because there is some chance the hogs will approach from an angle that is a bit behind us and thus downwind.

Corn is out, hog light is set. Now we'll just see if the hogs show up. Hoping to take at least two from this group (lead sow and whatever else presents a good target).
 
Flint, if you've talked about this previously I'll go back and look again...

A buddy and I have a blind setup about 70 yards from a feeder and pig pipe.

We have red LED lighting. I'm having a hard time seeing through my scope even at that short range. I've got the magnification set to the lowest (4 power) and the lighted reticle set lowest too.... any suggestions?

I can see fairly well with my eyes (wearing my glasses).
 
If I can butt in here and offer a suggestion for your lighting problems, I'll tell you what I have found works for me. I bought some solar powered porch lights from Harbor freight and use them on all my feeders. I've found at 100 yds I don't need the lit reticule and the hogs don't seem to mind the lights at all. They start burning at dark and run for about 8 hrs. and even get brighter when they sense motion near them....so you get the bonus of a warning that you have something near your target area. I think they were about 25 bucks each and I like to put two out on each feeder. Easy setup and minimal maintenance.
 
^^^^^^^^^

Mike, not knowing the wattage of your lights or how you have them set up, I can only tell you how I use mine (at bait sites) and offer some other generalities.

Before going into the light discussion...I will comment on your illuminated reticle.

I have (and use) illuminated reticles on nearly all of my rifles and as you already know...you'll want to the lowest setting that still allows you a good sight picture.

Some scopes do not have an adjustment low enough (for nighttime use) that the reticle doesn't compete for your focus.

In that case... do your best with the lowest setting. If you have good lighting (properly placed) you might well find that you don't have to use the illuminated feature at all.

Moving on to light placement. I use 10 watt LED lighting (red) and try to place them as close to....and as high as I can get them to the bait site. I try not to 'bathe' a large area with light by moving the light farther back and mounting it lower.

I try to create a 'spot' of light approximately 20' in diameter. You will want to get the light as much 'overhead' as possible but still have the light shine on the near side of the hogs (you don't want the light coming from the off side).

I can plainly see hogs with my naked (62 yr. old) eyes at over 100 yds. In fact, I can see smaller animals (rabbits, coons, etc) just as well.

Setting your scope on the lowest power possible will aid in light transmission and make the 'eyebox' less sensitive.

Be sure the lenses are clean on your scope, practice looking through the scope so that you can quickly get a cheek weld that allows full field of view under the lights. Some scopes have a very limited eye relief/eyebox in low light conditions.

At 70 yds. you should not have any trouble seeing hogs or the bait site. Also, if your scope has an adjustment for parallax and reticle sharpness, be sure and set those (in the daytime).

Scopes without parallax adjustment...are usually set to be parallax free at 100 yds. Since you are closer than that...your image might not be sharp looking.

Same thing for adjusting the focus of the reticle though the eyepiece, make sure it is clear...for the distance you intend to shoot.

Good light placement and proper scope adjustment should give you a fairly clear sight picture.

Let us know. We are here to help.
 
Arrrrrghhhh!

Hogs 1
Flint 0

'Most' of the plan worked out this evening. Waited until dark to go to the set up, because I was concerned that the hogs might come in from slightly behind us. The wind this evening would have been bad for that. By waiting, the hogs were already past our shooting position and 250 yds. downwind on the bait.

We walked in quietly, stopped at one point to look through the binoculars, hogs were on the bait, lit up like a Christmas tree under the hog light.

We made it to our tables, set up the rifles... being very careful to be quiet. Two of the Sows we were after were eating from the holes I had dug and filled with corn. The rest were milling around.

I confirmed with my brother that he was going to shoot the one on the left and I was going to take the one on the right. "Affirmative".

His hog turned a bit so we were waiting for it turn back broadside. I saw that I needed to make a minor adjustment with my crosshairs... and when I shifted the rifle, the bipod made a slight (and I mean slight) chattering sound on the table!

Well, that's all it took. Up came their heads, tails shot out behind them....and off they trotted into the darkness!

They didn't really BLOW out of there, but it was a definite 'spook'.

We waited an hour, but they didn't return. Not a good sign.

For those guys who maintain that hogs "just have average hearing" and "are blind as bats" I have to wonder if they are hunting the same hogs that I am.

250 yds. away, one slight 'foreign' sound and that was it! Hopefully they will return later tonight. If so, we might get a chance at them tomorrow night.

I blew it! :rolleyes:
 
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I apparently blew it, too. The other two hogs I mentioned in my last post came in at 8:40 last night, left a little while later to tear up the edge of my driveway and trails, then came back again at midnight.

I built an 8ft secondary stand and put it about 15 yards from the feeder a few weeks back. I had a favorable light breeze tonight, so set up on there at about 7:40 and sat and waited. I heard them coming in from the direction I was expecting, rooting up the ground as they went.

By the time they hit the feeder, it was after 8:30, and pretty dark. There was a half moon almost directly overhead, so I could make them out when they arrived, but just as shadowy figures. I don't have lights set up out there, but I've got a red CREE light mounted on my rifle, so I lit them up and picked a pig. They seemed to sort of notice the light, but didn't startle and I lined up a shoulder/neck shot at the pig I'd picked, which was quartering away from me.

I squeezed off a shot, and was rewarded with an empty clearing, and again, no blood trail. :eek:

I've got my rifle and those rounds in a ballistic calculator, and it says I would have hit about 2 inches low (definitely on the pig, and about what I expected) at that distance and angle, so something certainly has to be going on with my sighting. I've not shot the rifle at paper in some time, so it's possible it's somehow gotten knocked out of whack, despite my laser still co-witnessing at the expected distances.

I'm definitely going to get to the bottom of this in the morning. :fire:
 
^^^^^^^^ Sorry to hear that John.

Yes, definitely put that rifle on paper, something isn't right. You should have hit pig at that distance.

They'll be back. You will get them.
 
Flint,

As always thank you for your sage advice.

Our lighting is a mix of some LED I've not seen before and a pair of the LED lights like you'd find on a boat trailer for brake lights. Plenty bright. They are mounted to the top of the feeder and are on arms that extend about 3 feet on each side of the feeder and point just about straight down. I can see the bait sight ok with my eyeballs wearing glasses. The lighting is on a deep cycle battery with a 15W solar panel charger with a light sensor that turns on at dusk.

In short I think the lighting is not really the issue.

I need to get some more time out there with the rifle and see about all of the settings including the parallax and reticle focus.

One thing I am sure that is not helping is this scope (a Bushnell Banner 4-16) has a very, very sensitive eye relief zone.

More time will be required....
 
War Zone ???

Just finishing up cleaning up after my morning's endeavors, and realized this sort of looks like a war zone here! I normally just take the hind legs off them unless they are big fat ones and then I take the backstraps too.
It took me 4 knives this morning to get the legs removed and skinned off of these and there was only 6 small ones. No matter what I use for a knife, that sandy pig skin is tough on a blades edge.
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