Feral Hogs: Exotic Game

[hogdogger]

I just happened to see this thread and noticed some were asking questions about hogs/hog hunting do you wanna know about hog hunting in general or for a specific location???

Just thought i'd ask as ive been hunting boars all my life. I hunt them mostly with dog and knife but have used just about anything you could consider a weapon on them;D

I have been cut in altercations ive had with boars and almost lost my left thumb to one about 9-10 yrs ago was a bit careless on that one I have to admit didnt wait for the dogs to get there before grabbing him ;D

 

[25AI260]

hogdogger..
looks like7 of us got together found private property like 40 acres in Johnston County NC.. don't think they have such ferocious type pigs in the area... now i nothing of the area or NC's wild life.. i just moved here a couple yrs ago, i've hunted deer an small game but never pigs.. anyways, sounds like 2 of the fella's are gonna set up tree stands an bait?
what tips mite you have .. ?

 

[hogdogger]

Hello Rich,

Sounds like a good plan to me once you have them coming set up some feeders as well. Not sure of NC law so you might wanna check if this is ok to do. You can also make a pig pipe and set that up I love this set up. All depends whether they are in the area or if youre trying to draw them in to your area too.

I live in Hawaii and hunt them every chance I get I also do animal control as well so I see my fair share of hogs.

If hunting with a bow and they area youre hunting is thick then it would be wise to have a backup firearm of some sort if this is legal of course. If not then be very careful when tracking an animal especially if a bad shot was made in very thick brush they come hard and fast.

Goodluck on your hunts and be sure to keep us updated I dont come here as often as id like so it might be a bit before I reply in case you may have a ? or two.

 

[cliffy]

Hi HogDogger! I'm a bit too old and feeble to wantonly attack a boar with my skinning knife. My .243 Winchester caliber Remington rifle is my primary pig-stopper and only after a solid hit would I venture forth with my Buck Folding Alpha Hunter knife. Wounded pigs are DANGEROUS, maybe more so than many other wounded creatures. Blood-in-the-Eye viciousness personifies a MAD wild pig. Cliffy

 

[25AI260]

hogdogger / cliffy
as the info comes in on the hunt coming up, we'll be there two days.. i have to wonder what reaction do these pigs have to noise from firearms ... will they scatter after a shot an not return to the area,? what length of time does it take for them to come back to bait...?? like maybe sweet potatoes..???

completely new at this pig stuff...

 

[hogdogger]

Aloha Cliffy/Rich,

Cliffy- nothing wrong with a 243 my friend very capable round in the right hands ive taken out many a hog with a 243.

Although I do prefer chasing them with dog and knife I love hunting them with firearms if given the chance

Rich- It depends on the hogs they will more than likely scatter at the shot and may or may not return to the bait soon. In my experience they comeback more often then not some return rt after the shot while some may take days and anything in between.

If I may ask why are you using sweet patatoes as bait? Is it a crop in the area youre hunting? do the pigs identify this as food meaning do they know what it is? These questions may sound strange but I have reasons I ask. One is that if they dont recognize it it may take them a little bit to warm up to it vs something they know is food.

For example: On my Island there is a bunch of fruit trees Mango,Guava,Rose Apple,Mountain Apples etc that grow and are plentiful and pigs are attracted to them because they know its an available food source. Whereas on some of the other island they use macadamia nuts because the pigs LOVE IT there. But because my island dont have much macadamia nuts at all when I tried them they didnt work well at all but once the pigs became used to them and started eating them then it was all good.

Again I am guessing here as im in Hawaii and youre in NC so I could be way off these are just my observations and experiences here in Hawaii.

Aloha!

 

[25AI260]

Howdy..
not knowing much on the pig an new to the state its hard to answer that one Hogdogger about potatoes... i 'm not sure why they picked them for bait two the 9 of us going seems to know more about them the rest of us ... what i did hear was they have already put the bait all over the 40 or 50 acres around the blinds an stands.. we will be up there next week an only for there couple of days, i'm learning as i go... an definitely exciting
why i asked what happens after the shot.. i've hunted deer before an when the pressure is on sighting them in the same area is nil for days.. at least where i've hunted.. so Thinking if i'm not one of the first to get a lucky shoot at these piggies i may not even see one..
maybe with a little luck private property will be different in terms of them staying in the area
hoping for the best

 

[hogdogger]

Hey Rich,

Dont get me wrong pigs LOVE sweet patatoes actually some of the farms I do animal control for have sweet patatoes that the pigs just go to town on they prefer this to the other types of fruits and vegetables. Jst was wondering if its an available food source where youre hunting thats all. But if it is then watch out the pigs will be all over it.

Having the guys drop some before you guys go out is very good more like pre baiting the area gives the pigs time to find the bait spots and get used to them before you guys head up there so hopefully you guys get some action fairly quick.

40-50 acres should be big enough I would think I operate in some pretty small properties and they seem to come back but who knows.

If you wanna read up on some stuff you can check out texasboars.com they have some good info. You can also see if Cody has a Black Gold distributor near you etc its a hog attractant it works well ive used it here and it keeps the hogs coming.

Goodluck and keep us posted...ALOHA!

Heres my son with one we got with the dogs:

 

[25AI260]

Thanks hogdogger..
looks like good Eats... your son looks happy ... !
whatever happens i should be fun for a first timer.. will let know what events take place......

 

[cliffy]

Pigs are omnivores and eat whatever is available to them. Acorns through young animals. They'll eat whatever whitetails eat, and beyond. Pigs are supreme survivors, so erraticating an established pounder (herd) becomes quickly impossible. I enjoy Macadamia Nuts, so don't waste them on pig bait. Many acorns fall in my backyard and gutters, so I'll gladly trade them for Macadamias. The resident squirrels might not like this idea, but I'll bet they'd relish a Macadamia in exchange for an acorn. Cliffy

 

[25AI260]

Curses&*^)^)(*&(_&_&*_... looks like rain in the area for the next two days that we will be their [ 70~100%]..... do they move around in the rain or do they hold up like deer sometimes do ...?

 

[cliffy]

Since I hold-up in the rain, I'd expect hogs to be as smart or smarter than me. Cliffy

 

[hogdogger]

Not sure about there but here in Hawaii they LOVE the rain and move alot during the rains we have here. One of my favorite things growing up was hunting in the rain and watch all the pigs come out in the pasture on the ranch my grandfather lived on.

Cliffy, I love Mac Nuts too but the ones we used were the culls from the factory that didnt make the grade but we enjoyed them just the same LOL!!!

PM me your address and i'll send you some chocolate covered and caramel ones.

Aloha!

 

[wapiti25]

I've killed about 15 or so here in Calif. and they like rain and kool weather. I got five 1 weekend- thats too much cleaning. 100 pounders are really good to eat. Dont underestamate what it takes to kill one. Heavy Grisle plate over the front shoulder. I've see thicker than 1/2". used a 7-08 w/139's the most.

 

[25AI260]

Well we didn't get to come home with a pig... nine of us made the 90 mile trip up state with me being the stranger in the group, i only met them a wek ago, like me they're just a bunch of ole farts look'n to have a good time.. actually it was a very interesting group of people at that,...
we arrived around 1PM met up with the guide settled in an got ready it already started to rain but we got in our stands anyway by 4'ish...
on the 1st nite one fella shot a oppossum that kinda started it off.. most everyone saw deer an commented what good size they were..
Man it was rainy an wet the first two days, we had to all dry out in front of the fire place for hours at time when ever we got back to the club house... on the second nite about 7:45 i hit a pig but i guess it wasn't a good enough hit, the pig may have been closr to 200 #'s... what happend [murphys law] was the 1st shot i took was CLICK no Boom [sh!t did i forget to load a round] Nah.. it was a dud... crap! i planned on using using my .35 marlin lever gun with a low power scope for the nite hunts an the 700/.308 for days with big scope.. So.. i jacked another round up in the .35 an got back on one the pig i could see best, the second i pulled the trigger the lite went out an all i could see was the flash from the muzzle blast in the scope.. i was positive i hit the pig so i didn't move, thought i'd just wait for the guide come get me... thinking it would give the pig a chance to settle down an die.. besides the deal was we could shoot two in a day, "so i was a sit'n an a hope'n " .. !
i found out shooting up at 14' in the air at nite ain't so easy... now what they did was to set out feed [bait] piles of sweet potatoes about 50yrds or so from each of the stands all done ahead of time an put car battery's that were wired to A head-lite [not the greatist] bulb.. only thing my lite wasn't a flood lite [%^$%^$] an i couldn't get the thing to stay on the animal.. we all used our walkee talkees or cell phones when in need, but i decided to wait..the guide came around 9PM an we started tracking we tracked it till near 11PM an lost it in the swamp, it wasn't till almost 200yrds before we actually found blood, by this time we were full of mud i fell once my boots got stuck deep in the muck.. it was late we were hungry we had an early din so as we could hunt late into the nite an by this time i was done-tired.. we took another look late morning the next day but still no luck...
as a small event during the last morning, a funny thing that happen to me... a turkey buzzard tried harassing me an almost got itself killed ... first he flew straight at me an i thought he was coming straight in the high stand with me but veered off... then he comes back again an lands on the roof i could see his tail hang'n over the edge, thats when he decides to takes a crap an just mist s h!tting on the barrel of my rifle... he mist it, is what that saved his life,... then he flew or glided off to the ground an makes a landing to flashed me or maybe dared me or something sprading his wings way out.. he stayed sprade like that for what felt like 4 or 5minutes... "crazy F'n bird" the guide came 9'ish an it was back to camp Breakfast Yippee we were out at 5AM on empty stomachs just a cup of that Brutal coffee.. but i grabed a slice of bread a water bottle an small bag of chips on the way out..
anyways for the 3 days we all ate an drank pretty good, we had pasta in a meat sauce, BBQ chicken BBQ beaver now i wasn't fond of the beaver it tasted Fishy to me we had wine an beer to scotch an soda pop an bottled water, breafast was eggs an wild boar sauage an deer too.. all goooooood eats But the coffe was brutal Wow !.. there was lots of jokes going around, we had a dart board, pool an card table to mess with, this club house is like 4000sq.ft. with a 40 acre lake out front to fish in an 2200 acres of property which adjoined sweet potato farms an cotton an corn fields..
after the morning hunt Sat. it cleared [ of course we was go'n home] up.. the last fella the guide went to pic-up had shot a coyote, most of us were already back an packing when they pull in.. everyone ran out to see the ugly dog it was a mess till they hung it an hosed it off
all in all it was a good experience for a first hog hunt i think i'd be much better prepared if i was to do it again
i found out how out of shape i've been too.. my legs still aren't moving well lol's. i'm not sure if it was the high stands or the mud walk probally both the guide did say " you did a pretty good job " for an ole fart,... hey i kept up with him thru the mud the woods an the swamp tracking that f%ucker
it was fun an i don't regret it [except for the weather] and its always nice to come with your quarry... it was a little disappointing for that.. but better luck next time i say..


i just wanted to catch up an say thank you guys for the posts an help ya'all wrote in on it was some help not knowing anything in the first place

 

[cliffy]

I'm impressed, Rich. I'd live in a tent for a day, but would seek a motel for the following night, to shave and shower. Yep, I'd down a pig if the opportunity presented itself, but I'm no Crocodile Dundee afield. I am one with nature, when nature is kind. Whilst I live in the country instead of the city, I'm adverse to roughing it too much. For a few dollars more, I prefer going first class to the gaming grounds. I'm a naturalist if nature is kind, but living among bear and wolves remains the realm of stouter than me. Cliffy

 

[bankenfeld]

Hallo to all the pig hunters , I just became a member today after reading and enjoying this site for more than a year.
Iam so glad to see that other people also have problems with "mud goats".

Iam a cattle rancher in RSA and we also have problems with pigs,namely warthogs, and wild pigs.

The wild pigs I am revering to is across between feral pigs and european wild boar,looking allot like the pigs that the gentleman from Hawai showed.
These pigs are a hell of a menace in maize fields and we shoot them at any chance we get because of their destructivenice

Hope you guys shoot strait and happy hunting

Willem

 

[cliffy]

Hi and Welcome Bankenfeld! Where is RSA? Real South America or elsewhere? I plan to hunt a vicious hog in Texas within a few months. What caliber do you use and what bullet? I use a .243 Winchester with 100 grain Speer Grand Slams loaded to a muzzle velocity of 3100 fps. They work nice on piggies, and one can hear them hit the target. Cliffy

 

[bankenfeld]

Hallo Cliffy
I am living in South-Africa,not in South-America, North-west province , wich used to be the western Transvaal,we run a commercial cattle ranch and i am also a stud breeder ,we also do some crop farming and have game on the farm like blesbuck,kudu,warthog,steenbuck,duiker,mountian reedbuck,etc.
The feral pigs we have here is a cross between normal feral pigs and european wild boar,seeing that all domestic pigs have been bred from wild boar they just cross back and do look like boar in just one generation.

We do have warthogs on the farm as well,in fact the world record in Rowland Ward came from our farm and is registered in my sisters husbands name Mr J C Kruger , look it up 24" tusk lenght.
On the question of calibers we use, basicly anything that you have on hands,but with light guns like .222 Rem ,243Win we just go for brain shots,with 270Win,7x57mm,7x64mm and 300H&H,and bigger you shoot the buggers to make them go down even "Texas heart shots" on running away shots as they are so destuctive and they have no commercail value.

If ever you came down this way ,you must lett me know ,i would like to meet you.

Kind regards and happy hunting

Willem

 

[cliffy]

Hallo Willem, I'd enjoy traveling to South Africa. A warthog is on my list of top ten animules to encounter. I'd come to Africa with a mere camera if necessary, except for Leopards. Leopards require my favorite .243 Winchester load. It's the same load I'd use for Warthogs. It's the same load I use for American Mountain Lions (PUMA): 100 grain Speer Grand Slam! America relinquished much of its power making to Sweden, but WE still make some dandy bullets. Cliffy