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Seems to me then, if you want to get rid of the group bust them in their bedding area - yes?
That will "move them" yes.
However, my purpose is not to simply "move" hogs to another area, (their offspring are sure to return at some point).
Remember: Hogs are very intelligent, they make "associations" quickly. Every time you have an encounter with a hog and fail to kill it, you have furthered its education.
So, while you might succeed in running hogs off of YOUR property, you have in the process done yourself and your neighbors a disservice by spreading them out and making them smarter (read: tougher to kill next time).
IMO, every landowner should be fully dedicated to killing these pests by whatever means necessary.
Just my .0002 on it.
Flint.
This is so true. folk's do not give them nearly enough credit in the learning dept.
At my bud's place, they have close to a 35acre a gravel pit in the middle of an 800 acre cotton field. The surrounding edges are overgrown with all sorts of vines and such that make perfect cover for the hogs. During most of the year we make drives around the edges to see how many we can cull out. When we first started they would run a few yards and hold up in the cover. We would get on them again real quick. Then they started breaking out across the open cotton field, which for a while worked to their advantage due to the cotton being high enough to cover them making shots nearly impossible.
We changed tactics putting at least one person up on the highest ground with a long range rig to pick them off being able to see down into the cotton. Once the cotton is picked and cut several of us will get high enough to wreak havoc on them when they make the break. Nowday's, in the past couple of years, they have actually started to zig zag while running across the open land instead of simply running straight away. It may not be in a fashion associated with any tactical training, but it has been effective for some of them numerous times.
We consistently change things up to try and keep them from getting too smart to one trick. Traps are for the most part not an option due to us only being able to work them on a limited basis. Normally we spread out and work them so that one person starts the shooting which results in them heading directly away from the noise, and the other will be waiting a goodly ways down out of range of the first hunter to pick up the on coming pack. This usually will cause them to about face or break into the open at which point they really get hammered.
When we really try it is not uncommon to run out of bullets before they get out of range. We for the most part are using bolt guns over the semi-auto fire version. We have used the SKS's to a certain success, however once they get to the longer ranges, reliable hits are less frequent than we like.
As mentioned this is mainly for eradication and we generally can get all but one or two of a pack. It only takes a week or so for them to be replaced by another, so it is for the most part a never ending saga. Combined with the fact they have some 600 or so acres of river bottom, plus the surrounding farms also with huge acreages of river bottoms, they are pretty much going to be a never ending problem. They do move in and out of the areas, but where there is water there will be hogs close by, even if they have to travel a while to get to it.
On our family place we have an area of artesian springs in a bottom. It is only about 3 acres of thick stuff, but over the past couple of years the hogs have found a sanctuary. I work on them as much as possible and they move over to the neighbors place for a week or two and then right back again. They move out at dark and return before day break, and we work them over, when we can, in between.
] buffet!
