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

Sheeshhhh....hogs have no decency.

Hogs are making it tough on an old man.

Went and checked the game cams this afternoon. A group of hogs have been coming into one bait site every evening between 8:30-9:00 p.m. since this past Tuesday.

Not only would that make for an early night, but that particular stand is also my Daughters Deer Stand and is quite comfortable. Large Box Stand with a nice padded swivel seat, welded steel frame, insulated walls, floor and ceiling. Carpeted, 12 volt lighting, 12 volt fans, Heater, Thermacell, plexiglass windows on gas struts, etc...

Suffice to say....I can stay in that stand for a long time while waiting on hogs.

Only problem is....the hogs have MOVED! Almost as if they knew I was going to go there tonight. :(

And where did they go?

Well..... they went to a bait site that is about 400 yards behind my house. In a low lying snake infested, mosquito breeding ground. Basically a small opening (50 yds. by 75 yds.) that I carved out of a patch of green brier and willow trees.

There is a two man ladder stand on that site, that we have named the 'Blood Donor'....because of the abundance of Mosquitoes (until cooler weather).

To make matters worse, the hogs are coming into that site at 4:00 a.m. !

Forecast is for unseasonably cool weather in the morning and an East Wind.

East wind is the only wind direction that will work for that stand. So...I am going to get my Old Butt out of bed at 3:00 a.m. and head on down there.

Even though I know....in actuality, there will be NO wind that time of the morning and the thermals will take my scent right to the ground and to the hogs (which will be slightly down hill from me). But I have to try.

I called my Older Brother and told him that if he doesn't hear from me in the next couple of days, he could assume the mosquitoes had drained me dry and that only a shriveled up carcass remained in the stand. I instructed him to come get my rifle but to just leave ME up there until Deer Season.

That way the deer will get used to seeing someone on stand. Then...in November, he (my brother) could climb up there (shove me out) and maybe get a crack at a nice buck. By Thanksgiving...my Wife should notice I've been missing and can collect on my life insurance policy. So this is bound to work out for someone.

IH8HOGS....!

Flint.
 
I've been trying the evenings out in the stands lately until about 1 am, but they end up there at maybe 5 am on the cameras. I often try the 3am till dawn thing also and they either have already been there and gone or don't show up at all. It's like the buggers are playing with us!
We have that beautiful cool breeze this morning you are talking about. Maybe it will get them moving around a little bit more.
I'm feeding smoked hog butt to a bunch of guys at a muzzleloader meet today, but I could use some more in the freezer right now.
Flint...you must not be too far from me if we are getting the same morning breeze? I'm in Canton....home of the famous First Monday Trade Days!
 
Couple of hours South of you Stony. Not far from Nacogdoches.

Got to go look for a Sow...now that it is light. Got three of them 'lined up' this morning. All three went down at the shot, but the sow (third in line) managed to get up. The other two stayed down. Will report back later.
 
OK, got up early this morning….took a shower, got dressed, grabbed my rifle and walked the 400 yds. from my house to the bait site. Once there, I looked to see if any hogs might have already been there.

Yep, all the corn was already gone. Not to worry, I anticipated such might be the case and had taken a quart size ‘baggie’ full of corn with me.

Threw the corn out and then up in the stand I went. I was hoping that other hogs were responsible for the missing corn and not the group I was there for. That turned out to be the case as the game cam would later show

All was quiet for about the first 45 minutes. A group of three raccoons showed up not long after I got on stand, so I had something to look at…but they also make good sentries.

Another 20 minutes passed when one raccoon stood up and looked to the left of me, the other two were already beating a retreat…so I knew something was coming.

Another 30 seconds and the unmistakable grunts and squeals of hogs were heard. I went ahead and trained my rifle on the lighted bait site.

I was quite concerned the hogs would smell me before settling in on the corn.

The thermal I was worried about was indeed present, but I guess I was just enough to the right hand side of them that my scent didn’t ‘pool’ and give me away.


They went right to the hole and jockeyed around for position, ending up with two smaller pigs in front of the Sow.

See pic below:

Lined_Up_zps1bal6rma.jpg

When possible, I like to let at least two pigs get ‘lined up’. I don’t advocate this for everyone, but under certain conditions and with a proper bullet, I will take this shot.

My options above…were to take the Sow by herself, take the two smaller pigs (with a vertically centered shot), or take a calculated risk and shoot high on the first two pigs….also striking the Sow.

At just 40 yds….I felt pretty confident I could make the 3 pig shot work. At the shot…all three pigs went down, but the sow (third in line) got back up and ran into the brush before I could get off another shot.

The wound channels (angle of entry and exit) are consistent with what my line of sight was.

First pig in line:

HD1_zpscydyul7m.jpg

Second pig in line: Entry hole was about 1-1/2” diameter, as was the exit.

HD2_zpshubdrxr5.jpg

I found a good blood trail where the Sow went under the fence and onto the neighbor’s property but the blood color was not too encouraging.

I believe the bullet’s intended path was changed just enough that I hit the Sow very high over the top of both shoulders. Normally the 405 gr. softpoint tracks pretty true.

Then again, I may have just mis-judged the alignment. But so far…I have not recovered the Sow.

Flint
 
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I don't think I'll ever beat that shot with 3 of them....great shot! I'm heading for the woods in about 10 minutes to try to initiate a Savage Weather Warrior in .308 that I put my night vision on. I had a small bunch around the corn hole area about 9:30 last night, and I need to see if I can introduce myself to them.
 
That .458 SOCOM never ceases to impress me. 2 outta 3 ain't bad :).

As always Flint thank you for sharing your knowledge.

Just my .02,
LeonCarr
 
Picked up #506 this morning. This one fell to a 45/70 405 grainer going pretty slow. I don't know what rifle to use next, as I have been playing with different calibers just for a little variety.
DSCN1341_zpsxiywzufz.jpg
 
This Boar is offering a mighty good shot opportunity. Any time they are relaxed enough to commit to going down on their knees (to get to the corn placed in the hole) they will usually stay there long enough to present a good angle for a well placed shot.

Boar_10_03_knees_zpsopzcf3gj.jpg

IF this guy shows up another night or two…I will go sit and wait on him.

But right now….I’ve got a younger boar on another bait site that is coming in every evening at 7:15 p.m. (give or take a few minutes).

That is NOT good for him! If I have an East wind tomorrow night, we will take him out of the breeding pool.
 
Still trying your "corn hole" technique at one of my feeders, but not having any luck so far, but hogs have been pretty scarce around here lately. I have sand to work with, and the deer keep caving the sides of the hole in. I think I probably have corn buried to about 1 1/2 ft. deep now and I keep putting more in. One of these nights I expect some to root out a swimming pool in that area.
 
^^^^^^^^^^

Brian, I just saw that over on THF.

Congratulations...my friend. That makes you the only person I know (personally) to have taken more than one (let alone three)!

Actually, most folks would never even notice the anomaly.

Domestic 'Mule Footed' hogs still exist, but at one time... were highly prized and more than a few 'breeders' were raising them as far back as the mid 1800's.

To see that some still are roaming around (feral/recessive), is heartening.

Thanks for sharing your good fortune and for bringing attention to this rare prize.

Flint.
 
^^^^^^^^

Wow, wasn't sure if that one in the middle was a hog or a Musk Ox!

Nice bunch of pigs.

I shot a pregnant sow last night in the pouring rain. Didn't know if they were going to show...or if the wind and rain would have them holed up. But right at 8:00 p.m. the sow and 3 mid-sized boars strolled out of the brush and under the feeder.

Good luck with that group, keep us posted.

Flint.
 
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Flintknapper, thanks for the excellent thread. I spent yesterday evening and this morning reading all 68 pages; close to reading a good book in a day and a half. While I've learned a great deal about hog hunting, more importantly, the thread is a great read read. This is the only thread I know of that's over five years old and still going strong and rightfully so.
 
I'll second LastShot's comment, Flintknapper: great thread. Thanks. It's a testament that it's years old.

I found it a while back when I got bit by the hog hunting bug. Haven't read it start to finish yet, but making headway, and reading all new posts. There's a wealth of knowledge here.

I also started a hog thread of my own recently -- see sig line -- but only because there were some topics related to hogs that didn't appear to be addressed here in this one, and I'm always reluctant (out of respect) to suggest tangents, especially when the OP sets out clear guidelines about what the thread is in the subject line.

So, just to be clear, I wasn't intending to be disrespectful by starting another thread, or competing in any way. I see it more as collaborative, symbiotic (pardon the biologist in me). In fact, this thread is listed prominently in my second post as exemplary of good hog threads.

I hope y'all will drop over and teach me some stuff. Sky's the limit when it comes to hog talk. :cool:

I'm moving down to Florida for winter/spring, and my friends there are eager to go hog hunting. Color me excited. :)
 
Double Naught Spy said:
Okay Flintknapper, I think it has been a couple of years since the last time I thanked you for bringing mulefooted hogs to my attention. Thank you again! I got my third last night and the mulefooted hog was the prize of the hunt!

Here is the video...
https://youtu.be/p9-JBJEJF-M
Click to expand...
Brian,

What is the effective range on that Zeus? And holy pigs feet! Is that right? 7+ kilobucks for that thing?
 
This diverges from the thread quite a bit so I will answer here and if you or anyone else has further questions, be glad to answer on PM.

Prices are coming down as new technology emerges and competition increases. I don't know the range of the Zeus Pro 4, LOL, but I could have shot a coyote at 550 yards the other night had I actually known what dope was needed on the rifle to make the shot. https://youtu.be/cgK-GzLfFb4 Most hunters do not need that much scope for typical hunting situations (<200 yards).

"Range" of a scope is dependent on a variety of factors and often determined based on the ability is Detect, Recognize, or Identify a human being, but that differs considerably when dealing with critters.
 
Flint,

If I remember correctly, yesterday was your birthday. Happy Birthday and a very Merry Christmas!

Best wishes from a newish reader.

Just finished reading from post 1. Wow, what a great blog. Thanks everyone, I'm learning a lot.
 
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I live in AL & other than a farmed hog you cannot move one alive & I wish this had been so 200 yes ago I Hate hogs. They destroy everything ,eat everything, run other game into other counties & break your back when bush hogging . they eat good but if you don't posses a boatload of money you cannot get rid of them. I hunt them because I have to but I Hate them. Buzzard food is all any of them are good for
 
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