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

[Flintknapper]

In order for us to have the best understanding of the skull, it is important to see it Bisected as well.




We are not able to see the many chambers of the skull this way (as we could when Transected), but this view lets us look at the entire length of the skull and better shows the Brain Pan, its relatively small size and the relationship to the Sinus and Nasal cavity.





And last, a closer view clearly showing…the only area with an appreciable thickness of bone is at the Crest of the skull (rear, top).



I find more thickness and a hardier construction in the lower jaw (mandible) than any other place on the skull.

Hopefully, this will help someone “understand” what might have happened…. the next time a bullet fails to drop a headshot hog. Personally, I recommend taking headshots only from the side, (and only then….IF you are a good marksman and confident of your abilities).

There is much room for error when attempting a “brain shot” on a wild hog, but it can be done. A much better shot IMO… is a neck shot, (circumstance permitting).

 

[Double Naught Spy]

And last, a closer view clearly showing…the only area with an appreciable thickness of bone is at the Crest of the skull (rear, top).

Very nice!

Even the thick part is NOT composed of dense bone. The only reason you see such a buildup of bone near the rear of the skull is to provide structure supportion for the neck muscle attachment.

 

[The Termite]

This is an excellent thread. I just discovered it, and it has made the night shifts go by quicker. It's also been a very good tutorial.

Our family is also fighting a hog war on the farm. Since last October we have killed 12-14 hogs. The latest was a really big "bar"(castrated boar) that we think weighed 375-400 lbs. This estimate was based on our past experience raising hogs for slaughter, and the opinion of an elderly gentleman(89 yrs old) who has killed hundreds of deer and hogs. I wish we had known about the heart girth measurement method.
However, I have since purchased a Moultrie analog scale that goes up to 440 lbs. If that maxs out on a hog in the future, we'll just have to rely on Flintknapper's formula.

Flintknapper, our place is located west of Nacogdoches's "sister city" in Louisiana. You've heard The Legend of the Two Brothers, yes? http://wikitravel.org/en/Nacogdoches

 

[Flintknapper]

Yes, Termite.

Very familiar with the legend of how the two cities got their names.

Although it can not be substantiated 100%, the account makes sense to me and I choose to accept it as such. Beautiful and unique cities both.

I wish you good luck with your hog problem, hunt SMART...and keep after them.


Flint.

 

[The Termite]

Flint,

Your arrows are works of art. You should consider selling them at craft fairs.

PM incoming to you.

 

[thralldad]

Nac is one of my favorite towns in Tx.

 

[Flintknapper]

New visitors......

A couple of days ago…I went to check the water level of a small “stock tank” on my property. Normally, I don’t drive right up to this one or get out and check for hog tracks or wallows…. since I have NEVER seen evidence of hogs having visited this small water source.

The stock tank is only 200 yds. from my back door and in an open part of the pasture. Since it isn’t large, isn’t secluded and is close to my home …..it has never been attractive to Feral Hogs. However, I noticed what appeared to be a small wallow in the shallow end… and upon further inspection… concluded that at least one hog had indeed visited.

I checked the bottom strand of barb wire on a fence between pastures and found hair and mud at one particular spot. Put out a camera last night and lightly baited the area with corn where I found the fence crossing.

I dribbled out a trail of corn that would lead the hog(s) right along some utility panels that block off the levy of the stock tank. Figured I could pretty much force the hogs to walk by the camera that way.

Checked the camera this morning and saw that a small boar, a sow and 5 shoats had come in.


Boar:


Sow and shoats:


Sow and Boar (boar in back):


Shoats (2 spots, 2 black, 1 Red):


Don't know yet if these will continue to come in, but if they do...I will have formulate a plan to get rid of them. Several complications with this one.

 

[Mike1234567]

"Special complications"? Due to their proximity to your house?

 

[Flintknapper]

Yes,

Several challenges Mike, (and a few decisions to make).

The short distance from my home may (or may not)…present a problem depending upon how comfortable these hogs are with dwellings and associated noises.

The same night those game-cam pics were taken, two of my Brothers were here visiting and we were up all evening reloading cartridges.

We made no effort to be quiet and certainly made a lot of noise while walking/talking between the house and my shop. We loaded up steel targets and other items into the truck…for the next day’s shooting session and didn’t settle down back at the house until after midnight (well after the hogs had shown up). So, that is encouraging.


My hope is that THESE hogs are used to foraging in close proximity to dwellings and that normal sounds (at normal distances) simply do not alarm them. My “concern” though…is that if I leave the house to hunt (or sit) on the bait site, my dogs will take notice and start barking/whining. They are free to roam my fenced in back yard and are quick to notice anything out of the ordinary in the pasture behind the house.

Although, they can’t get out….they DO bark if they see something….or if I leave them behind. Dogs barking at such a close distance might be something the hogs would spook from. BUT, I have witnessed both hogs and deer that seemed completely unconcerned with the dogs as long as they were not advancing their position (the dogs).


We frequently have deer feed close to the house and I’ve shot hogs in my pasture from as little as 125 yds. away (dogs barking the whole time). Conversely, hogs that have been “run” by dogs will usually vacate the area at the first sound of a dog, a truck door closing, a trailer rattling, a four-wheeler cranking up, you just never know.

Another potential problem (though solvable) involves livestock. I have 9 heifers and two horses in that pasture and they like to “loaf” around the stock tank until well after dark. Most hogs are not particularly bothered by livestock, but the cattle prefer to hang out in the same small corner the hogs are entering. I can pen the heifers up….if need be, but prefer not to do that every day.

My last “concern” involves the structure of this group. We have a single sow w/litter (not part of a sounder) and a young boar in attendance. Anytime I see a lone sow with little ones….I assume her to be more transient than sows in a sounder.

Sounders tend to have a home range (though it might be fairly large) and they claim the best habitat possible. It is not unusual to see the same sounder over and over again, whereas…I rarely see a lone sow more than once… unless she is trying to join another group.

This sow appears to have weaned her young….so will now be receptive to a boar and should breed again soon. I am really quite surprised to see this young boar tagging along with her instead of a dominant boar.

I suspect she is not yet in estrous or she’d likely have a larger, older suitor in tow.

What that means to me…is that time is fleeting if I want to catch the entire group and the odds of them staying in this area long enough for me to put up a trap and get them used to it…is slim.

So, my choices in this case seem to be:

1. Continue to feed at bait-site (while moving them about 75 yds. to a more open area), put up a trap and hope they stick around a few more days, then set the trap when they’ve become used to entering it.

2. Set up a stand, shoot the sow and immediately remove the carcass. Attempt to trap the shoats in the following few days (they will most often return to the spot the sow was), and just write off the boar.

3. Shoot the boar and hope that the sow and shoats will return to the bait site later for trapping (possibly with a larger boar attending her).

Risks:

Risk of scenario #1…would be that the entire group moves off before I can get the trap in place and get them “conditioned”. But, the small pigs work in my favor…since they will readily enter the trap (unless the sow happens to be trap shy and warns them). The boar is always a “maybe”… unless the sow is in estrous (or about to be)… in which case he would be more inclined to follow her.

In this instance, I would prefer to manually trip the release (when the greatest number of hogs are in the trap), rather than let them set it off themselves (one little pig might do that). But, putting up a stand close enough that I can trigger the doors… presents an additional risk I will be detected.


Risk of scenario #2 ….is simply… the shoats choose not to return. It’s a given that you’ll lose the boar but it’s a pretty good bet the shoats will come back for one or two days. The chances of getting a good clean shot on the sow are good, the chances of the shoats returning are decent…but they still have to be trapped.


Risk of scenario #3….. is the sow and shoats leave and don’t come back. Although this scenario potentially has the highest return (and would allow me more time to put up the trap), it also carries a high risk factor.

Decisions, decisions………………..!

 

[Twmaster]

Flint,

I've been reading this thread for a few weeks now as I have an interest in hunting hogs and coyotes here in Oklahoma.

It's enthralling to read your explanations surrounding your tactics and field craft.

Thank you. This is both educational and entertaining.

 

[Flintknapper]

This is encouraging. Hogs came in to the bait site right at dark and stayed until after midnight, had many pics of fairly relaxed hogs on the game-cam this morning. (Boar is on other side of panel next to the stock tank)



The amount of time spent there (3-1/2 hrs.) is a good indicator they are comfortable with the area. I am not surprised… since they are only a hop and a skip from some REALLY thick cover.

 

[Mike1234567]

@ Flintknapper: I'm very impressed with your immense practical experience and common sense approach to trapping/hunting.

 

[Twmaster]

Flint, have you decided how you are going to pursue this bunch?

From what you say it almost sounds like you can shoot at them from the kitchen window while sipping iced tea!

 

[Flintknapper]

TW,

I think I will try and trap these first.

Shooting from a window is possible, but that practice got “nixed” about 10 years ago when my Daughter shot a buck from her bedroom window about 7:00 a.m. one Saturday. Atta Girl! (Just 14 yrs. old at the time)



Startled my wife in no small way…. so shooting from the house has been strictly “Verboten” ever since!

 

[sixgunner455]

Flint, it sounds like you need to send your wife to visit her mother, and stake out that waterhole from your kitchen with your daughter and her 7mm!

 

[Golden Knights Karate]

well I almost made it to the end of the thread without posting...

first, FK...good grief this is easily the best thread I've ever read on any forum

second, i thought I was a hunter until I read this thread...I see that I am not and have much to learn

third...I hope this thread continues so I have something to read each night after I go back to AF

and fourth...I see spotted hogs in those pics...is that one of the complications? are Spot's offspring off-limits as well?

regards,
Mark

 

[Mike1234567]

I fully agree with GKK and others. I don't hunt but this thread has taught me quite a bit regarding how to deal with feral hogs which is pertinent to my area. MUCH APPRECIATED FK!! BTW, I'd really like to see you start a "How To Hunt & Trap Feral Hogs" thread that can be stickied.

 

[Flintknapper]

Update:

Hogs are so frustrating!

Just when I have the group of hogs (Sow, Five Shoats and Black Boar) coming in regularly, something changes.

I decided it would be best to attempt to trap this group…so I set up a trap, set up a light, set up a stand nearby….then continued to bait them past the camera and toward the trap. All is going pretty well (hogs not entering trap yet, but probably will soon) when this spotted boar shows up.




He ran the other Boar away and this one is either “trap smart” or has just kept the Sow and Shoats too busy for them get past the bait site at the camera. All feeding beyond the camera came to a halt.

Here… you can see the Boar with the Sow on the pond side of the fence and the shoats feeding on the bait/trap side but they did not feed past the camera.




Camera goes on the blink the next night, so I have no clue what took place except that the corn continued to be eaten at the bait site only. Worked on camera the next night (found a cold solder joint on the PC board) got it up and running again.


Well…wouldn’t you know it, last night’s pictures show only the spotted Boar (about 20 pics over a 2 hr. period) and no Sow or Shoats. I did notice in the background of most pics…. there was a definite “eyeshine” signature just the other side of the fenceline. Something back there…but no way of knowing what.

Either the Boar has covered the Sow, run her away from the bait site….or she has left of her own accord.

This Boar will not hang around very long…..so I will have to try something pretty quick.

The Boar seems to use one spot at the fenceline to enter or leave, so that would be a good place to set a snare. Only problem is…this hog doesn’t have a very prominent jaw, which means the snare is much less likely to stay in place.


I don’t use Cam-Locks on my snares in case I catch something other than the target animal. A Berkshire lock can loosen enough to let an animal escape if they will stop pulling, slowly back up and the jaw-line or ear-bases don’t prevent it from slipping off.

Of course, THIS pig has a real straight neck (top and bottom) and a head the shape of a funnel, almost snare proof (with Berkshire locks).



Shooting him is probably not going to happen since I can’t get a stand near enough to the bait site to see him. Also, it doesn’t appear that he is using the pond to cool off in.

All of the pictures of have of him…when he is wetted, show no evidence of any mud on his feet or legs. My guess is… this pig is lying down in the water of a spring fed branch located about 75 yds. below the pond. It is impossibly thick back there, no way to intercept him.

Well….I need to go set up a “Hail Mary” snare and re-scout the area before it gets up to 100+ degrees out there.

Hogs! Be prepared to change “plans” often when dealing with these pests.

 

[texas chase]

looking forward to seeing the results!

 

[Flintknapper]

^^^^^^^^^

Yeah….me too.

I just got this pic in an email from an anonymous source.



Somewhat curious, I searched the IP address and it came back with the hostname “SHUT-UP”.

Further investigation revealed that to be an Acronym for the group:

Spotted Hogs United To Uplift Porcine.

Now…..tell me hogs aren’t smart!

 

[Golden Knights Karate]

who knew?

I find it somewhat amusing that not only are the Hogs intelligent, but somehow Spot's offspring has access to email.

 

[Flintknapper]

Well....seriously, some hogs ARE really smart...others not so much (but learning).

We'll just see how this turns out. The best you can do is scrutinize each situation, apply what you know and hope for the best. If you can manage to keep a sense of humor along the way...all the better.

I'll report back....when/if I have significant results (one way or the other).


Flint.

 

[Flintknapper]

No Mas Marrano......!

 

[Golden Knights Karate]

nicely done

 

[Harley Quinn]

Good job... Warm nights, do you grow tomatoes???