alsaqr
Member
Just noticed the photo attached to your post. That hog got over its head.
The other boar getting inside the fence was shot the other evening. Heard him crash in the woods. i don't search for big hogs after dark.
Not again.......! Feral Hog Control in East Texas
- Thread starter Flintknapper
- Start date
Just noticed the photo attached to your post. That hog got over its head.
The other boar getting inside the fence was shot the other evening. Heard him crash in the woods. i don't search for big hogs after dark.
Jeff Flannery
Member
- Joined
- Jan 1, 2018
- Messages
- 195
We're moving to northeast Texas next year and I CANT WAIT to hunt the varmints!!!!!
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Flintknapper
Member
Welcome to Texas. Anything you can do to help thin the hog population will be greatly appreciated.
Jeff Flannery
Member
- Joined
- Jan 1, 2018
- Messages
- 195
when we get there... how do I go about getting permission to help with the hog problems on other peoples property. I can afford about a house with 15 or so acres and I'll hunt that, but i'm afraid i'll wear it out after a short time
NcongruNt
Member
I've got a house on 15 acres. There's no wearing out hogs if you have them with enough nearby land to support transient populations.
If you have young kids and a job, you'll not be able to make a dent in them, provided your place has the habitat to attract them. Late nights and early mornings are the only real practical time for getting a handle on them, and that requires lot of work to figure out their movements and habits to know when and where to set up and wait.
If you have young kids and a job, you'll not be able to make a dent in them, provided your place has the habitat to attract them. Late nights and early mornings are the only real practical time for getting a handle on them, and that requires lot of work to figure out their movements and habits to know when and where to set up and wait.
Double Naught Spy
Sus Venator
A buddy of mine has a piece of property a bit smaller than that in central Texas. He has a feeder at 500 yards from his porch with a small berm he put in behind the feeder. He has his 6.5 Creedmore zero'd for 500 yards. In the evenings, he uses his binos to check for hogs during the commercials. He can spot a hog, step outside and sit down, chamber a round, sight in on the hog, squeeze the trigger, drop the hog, open the bolt, go back in and get a beverage from the ice box, and be back in his lounger before his program comes back on. He shoots 3 or 4 hogs a month like that. He calls it porch hunting, LOL.
Nothing wrong with that.
glockky
Member
Flint any autopsy pics from the heavy cast bullets?
I just started ordering parts to build a 458 socom and I plan to use the mihec 462 hammer bullet.
I just started ordering parts to build a 458 socom and I plan to use the mihec 462 hammer bullet.
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Flintknapper
Member
I've never done a formal Necropsy on any of the hogs I've shot with the heavy hard-cast bullet. Typically...I am aiming for 'bone' (specifically the neck vertebra or the spine high in the shoulder) when shooting at a single hog. I most often use the heavy hard-cast when I expect to get 2 or more hogs 'lined up'. The first animal in line may or may not present a CNS shot...the angle of the group and proximity to one another (the closer the better) is what dictates the shot angle.
I load the 540 gr. hard-cast to be just barely subsonic to trans-sonic, so disruption of soft flesh (temporary cavity) I'm sure is not too impressive. But the large frontal area of the bullet (meplat of 3/8") does seem to help impart the bullet's energy. I won't take a shot on multiples unless I know the bullet path is likely to strike the animal(s) behind the first... in the vitals.
I have had some hogs (usually the 3rd in line) go down and get back up. But they don't normally run very far before expiring. Shots that impact bone simply destroy it. I have dragged off hogs that have been hit in the neck/spine and it sounds like someone put a bag of gravel inside of them.
I have never recovered one of the hard-cast bullets from a hog. They ALWAYS shoot though as many hogs as you can get lined up. I know they stop somewhere, maybe when they reach Magma
I have done Necropsy on hogs I've shot with the .405 gr. Remington jacketed softpoint. I load it to about 1650 fps and have been so impressed with its performance that it is my staple load for feral hogs...especially the larger ones. The Barnes 300 gr. TTSX is another good bullet.
MCgunner
Member
Heck, I hunt THREE acres. It's long and skinny. I do have neighbors on both side of me BEGGING me to shoot pigs when they come in, so acreage totals 27. It's all thick post oak woods. They move in and out different times of the year. I have two feeders set up, one in front just behind my back yard and one out back, and watch my game cameras. I know when the hogs move in. Tell ya the truth, I'd rather hunt hogs than deer. It takes out pests and it's just plain fun, plus the meat is much better IMHO. You can smoke or grill pig meat. They're generally pretty thick around here. I'm not in the piney woods. I'm east of Hallettsville near Sheridan about 100 miles from Houston. Pigs inhabit about EVERY biome of Texas, even in the deserts of west Texas near river bottoms.
Heck, I hunt THREE acres. It's long and skinny. I do have neighbors on both side of me BEGGING me to shoot pigs when they come in, so acreage totals 27. It's all thick post oak woods. They move in and out different times of the year. I have two feeders set up, one in front just behind my back yard and one out back, and watch my game cameras. I know when the hogs move in. Tell ya the truth, I'd rather hunt hogs than deer. It takes out pests and it's just plain fun, plus the meat is much better IMHO. You can smoke or grill pig meat. They're generally pretty thick around here. I'm not in the piney woods. I'm east of Hallettsville near Sheridan about 100 miles from Houston. Pigs inhabit about EVERY biome of Texas, even in the deserts of west Texas near river bottoms.
It is surprising to see them in desert areas, but where there is water there will be hogs. They even spread west to the Pecos River system in NM, supposedly those have all been exterminated by the state. Had to laugh at an article in the local paper about it, some government honcho said "You don't want to eat those wild pigs." Send them to me.
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Flintknapper
Member
Feral hogs should be able to survive in fairly arid climates. Anyplace you would find Javelina...hogs could probably make a living too. Javelina do get some of the water they need from the vegetation they eat (Cactus in-particular) so that gives them an edge, but I'd wager we will continue to see the spread of Feral Hogs Westward. They will just exist in 'pockets' instead of being Statewide in some areas of the country.
Arid ranchland always has some water available for cattle, wouldn't surprise me if hogs would use those water tanks also.
And they don’t stop. Top photo from a couple weeks ago. Not my pig. Buddy of mine shot it while deer hunting public land. Took a 300WM to the boiler room and ran 200 yards. The next photo is one of the bigger pigs I’ve seen on the property. He’s definitely on my list for my 45/70 to meet. But he’s only coming in around 02:00. And the next two photos are typical sounders that come in. However we’ve got groups of 30+ on camera. Just talked to a friend of mine that hunts this property with me. He was out there last weekend. Said there at least 4 new groups of babies. He counted 33 babies and 9 adults. I’m so ready for January 16th when deer season is over so we can start going after these things with rifles again. It’s getting out of hand.
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Flintknapper
Member
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Flintknapper
Member
I am always amazed at how 'plump' our pigs are. No matter their age (these are young still), no matter the time of year, they seem to always be in good shape. The pigs below are not big ones or large (yet)...but they represent what we normally see for their young age. It is not at all unusual to kill Sows weighing 180-200+ pounds when they get older.
I don't know what all they find to eat...but they manage to stay healthy all the year 'round.
I don't know what all they find to eat...but they manage to stay healthy all the year 'round.
Whistlebritches
Member
Back when we had a peanut dryer and literally thousands of acres of peanuts the hogs were thick.......both in population and size.The best eating pigs I've killed over the years came off peanut fields.Well long story short,the dryer closed,most of those fields are now wheat or cotton.Don't get me wrong we still have a huge pig problem just less healthy in my opinion.I don't see groups of a hundred or more anymore.We also have a helicopter service that has contracts to hunt some of the larger properties.They have taken literally 200-300 in a day only to come back to the same property a few weeks later and find that there are as many pigs now as before the previous shoot.
I hunt a property up in the panhandle bout 8-10 miles north of the Canadian River.Lots of pigs killed down around the river but til this year we had never seen a pig on our property.Jumped a group of 10 100-180 lb'rs........I managed only one as they were on the run 175 yards out.Bout a 150 LB's...........cut out the backstrap and drug her as far up the creek as I could.I'm not looking forward to what this does to our deer herd or property.
I hunt a property up in the panhandle bout 8-10 miles north of the Canadian River.Lots of pigs killed down around the river but til this year we had never seen a pig on our property.Jumped a group of 10 100-180 lb'rs........I managed only one as they were on the run 175 yards out.Bout a 150 LB's...........cut out the backstrap and drug her as far up the creek as I could.I'm not looking forward to what this does to our deer herd or property.
Ole Joe Clark
Member
Good Morning Tony k,
You know you have to go into great detail about your fire arm, caliber etc, how far away were the pigs, how many you saw and so on.
Good Shooting,
Have a blessed day,
Leon
You know you have to go into great detail about your fire arm, caliber etc, how far away were the pigs, how many you saw and so on.
Good Shooting,
Have a blessed day,
Leon
Lol, thanks ole joe!
PSA 20" 5.56 AR shooting 70 grain Hornady GMX over Varget.
I was in a blind overlooking two feeders about 100 yards away. About 20 hogs came blasting in, mostly babies. I waited until the biggest ones showed up, then shot the most interesting looking one. It was a head shot directly facing me. She dropped like a ragdoll. Shot entered above right eye and exited behind left shoulder, breaking two ribs. I got a lot of meat off her, including 20 some pounds of sausage.
After that I saw that some of the smaller ones had just run over to the other feeder. I shot one through the shoulders. Turned out to be a heart shot. She was drt as well. Exit wound busted up shoulder pretty bad.
Third one shot placement was a little low in the lungs begind the front legs (pinkish foamy blood trail). She ran about 75 yards into a Marsh. My dad talked me out of dragging it out.
Pic below is pig #2. Most of them were this size with just a few adults. We quarted and smoked her in pecan wood. I'm still eating it.
PSA 20" 5.56 AR shooting 70 grain Hornady GMX over Varget.
I was in a blind overlooking two feeders about 100 yards away. About 20 hogs came blasting in, mostly babies. I waited until the biggest ones showed up, then shot the most interesting looking one. It was a head shot directly facing me. She dropped like a ragdoll. Shot entered above right eye and exited behind left shoulder, breaking two ribs. I got a lot of meat off her, including 20 some pounds of sausage.
After that I saw that some of the smaller ones had just run over to the other feeder. I shot one through the shoulders. Turned out to be a heart shot. She was drt as well. Exit wound busted up shoulder pretty bad.
Third one shot placement was a little low in the lungs begind the front legs (pinkish foamy blood trail). She ran about 75 yards into a Marsh. My dad talked me out of dragging it out.
Pic below is pig #2. Most of them were this size with just a few adults. We quarted and smoked her in pecan wood. I'm still eating it.
Ole Joe Clark
Member
Great story, thanks for sharing it with us.
Have a blessed day,
Leon
Have a blessed day,
Leon
Chickm1
Member
duplicate
Chickm1
Member
I dropped a boar at 113 yds, with a head shot, with a 22 mag, a couple weeks ago.
Chickm1
Member
Dr. Tad wrote:
Believe me.....you don't.
Yeah, they're fun when they first appear in an area...but they quickly become a nuisance.
Perhaps from a hunter's perspective...they could remain a novelty, but you will be hard pressed to find a land owner that finds them desirable.
They are considered "four legged fire ants" around here.
We are able to keep our population in control, and they taste better than deer.
G'dale Mike
Member
I cant use a tripod feeder. The hogs rub the legs and break the feeder where the legs mount to it
