Well…………pookie! That didn’t work out too well. Got busted this evening…..(my bad).
I was going to wait a couple more nights before trying to trap the latest group of hogs. I usually wait until they are comfortable going into the pen but…the weather forecast is for a West wind the next 4-5 days and that won’t work for my setup. Today would be my only chance.
I set up a tree stand near the trap earlier today…so I could manually trip the trap doors when the greatest number of hogs enter. Everything was in place….so I went to the stand early (about 7:00 p.m.) determined to stay until midnight if need be.
I wasn’t on stand 5 minutes when I heard pigs coming from the neighbor’s property. They were grunting and squealing the whole way. By the sound of it….they were coming at a trot and it was only a minute before I saw a black sow pop out from under the fence line.
All the others were right behind her….with a small boar (about 140 lbs.) bringing up the rear.
They quickly found the corn trail and started feeding toward the trap. Most of the group was near the opening… when the lead sow suddenly stopped, looked to the far end of the trap and then slowly started walking around the perimeter of it.
I’m thinking….”what in the world is she looking at”? Then I spotted the object of her attention. When I dug a post hole inside the trap today (to put corn in), I left the post hole diggers leaning up against a panel at the far end (outside). OMG.....you big dummy!
Naturally, when she got close to it…she got a snoot full of scent, woofed….and immediately started walking away. That upset the boar…so he started “growling” and pacing back and forth. Next….the whole group… except for 3 shoats walked away into the brush.
Well….I figure they still might settle down and come back in…so I waited to see what would happen. Meantime, the three shoats that stayed... fed inside the trap. I thought the sound of them eating might entice the others to return.
Instead, the lead sow chose to make a big circle of the area (trying to cut my scent trail). I could hear her walking behind me and sniffing the air. At that point…I knew the jig was up. Sure enough…she busted me, let out a woof…and ran.
That startled the shoats that were in the trap… so they headed for the opening. I pulled the cord as quickly as I could, but one of them just made it out the doors before they closed. Unbelievable!
I wound up with two piss-ant shoats and a group of hogs that probably won’t come back for quite some time….if at all. Entirely my fault. I was in a big hurry to get out of there today and left the PHD’s behind. That’s all it took.
This is sad, just sad……….!
And here is why you need to use 5’ tall panels on your pen trap. Even the little ones will jump and climb.