Most popular game hunting sport ?

[Hammer]

In the United States…

Is feral wild pig shooting now the most popular, most participated in, hunting sport for game size animals ?

More popular than whitetail deer hunting ?

 

[mmcu]

I'm pretty sure the Whitetail still tops the list.

 

[nakneker]

In the United States…

Is feral wild pig shooting now the most popular, most participated in, hunting sport for game size animals ?

More popular than whitetail deer hunting ?

I doubt it, feral pigs don’t exist in much of the USA. I wish they did, looks like fun, wish we had them in Arizona as far as the fun goes but I’m glad we don’t considering the nuisance they are.

 

[Gary in MD]

Pigs not even close to the white tail deer.

 

[CJ6]

Small Game. Which includes waterfowl, Squirrel, Rabbit, Upland birds, Varmint etc.

 

[K22]

I don't know about the rest of the country but here in PA it's white tail deer, bar none!

 

[DRK]

I actually looked this one up because I was curious if anyone reported on it. The US Fish & Wildlife service does. White tail deer by a large margin. See here:

 

[SD guy]

In my state I would expect Ring neck pheasant leads followed by deer & then Water foul. No hogs here. Some times, primarily winter months I wished I lived in the south where Hogs were a option to hunt year around.

 

[DLT]

Don’t know about the rest of the county but coyote hunting here in nc has exploded in the last 5 years.

 

[JB10]

I doubt it, feral pigs don’t exist in much of the USA. I wish they did, looks like fun, wish we had them in Arizona as far as the fun goes but I’m glad we don’t considering the nuisance they are.

They are in Arizona, just in limited numbers. I have heard recently a couple spots. Now that its warming up here im going to check them out this fall. My step brother has seen them first hand in one spot just north of the vally.

 

[ISS]

From friends in the SE, hogs are waaaay less popular than 10 years ago. Farmers/Ranchers have started charging serious money to hunt them on their property.

I had a ranch that sold to a wealthy SOB from Kal I used to hunt. He raised purebred Arabian horses and posted it all. A friend became his manager. About two years after he posted the place a $200,000 stud horse stuck a front foot in a hole a Badger had dug after Rockchucks.

Then he took a notion to put poison out. It worked fast enough that some 'Chucks died outside their burrows. The Feds got a tip, and found a dead Golden Eagle outside a hole with a half-eaten 'Chuck.
That got the gentleman a $10K fine and a year suspended Prison sentence. My friend called me, said the owner wanted to pay me to kill every Rockchuck and Badger on the entire ranch.

Two or three years later, the SOB sold the place and moved to Oregon.

 

[Pyscodog]

We seem to have an abundance of hogs here in Okla. Deer season is still probably No1 but if I'm deer hunting and a pig or coyote comes by me, the season just changed. I never pass the chance to kill a pig or coyote even during deer season.

 

[ISS]

Varmint Season, here in Idaho; runs 365 days a year. It's killer to fun Coyotes down on cross country skis and shoot them with a Ruger or High Standard 22lr.

 

[JEFFPPC]

Deer , not even close on a nation wide basis . Now 65 years ago when about every kid in most cities in the country had a bb gun it was perhaps chipmunk. No kids with bb guns today, just electronic screens.

 

[JMA]

Grouse nothing like a couple exploding from under your feet in heavy cover

 

[moondog]

I thought I heard somewhere that more rounds are fired opening day of Doves than all other game seasons combined.

 

[STOMP442]

I doubt it, feral pigs don’t exist in much of the USA. I wish they did, looks like fun, wish we had them in Arizona as far as the fun goes but I’m glad we don’t considering the nuisance they are.

We do have them in AZ, just not many of them. I got into a bunch of them one day Coyote calling in Unit 32. Best eating Pig I have ever had.

 

[nakneker]

We do have them in AZ, just not many of them. I got into a bunch of them one day Coyote calling in Unit 32. Best eating Pig I have ever had.

They had a few when I was growing up in unit 5A. When the word got out you could shoot them with no limit or season they got cleaned out pretty quick. We went over to hunt them and we didn’t find any but we did find a lot of pigs skulls…. We were just too late. Nothing like these areas that are over run with them. Watching some of the hunts these guy do in Texas looks like fun!

 

[MClark]

There are AZ hogs near Mojave Valley (west of Kingman) along the river. Problem is it is a patchwork of private, public and reservation land.
We were there a couple years ago and saw lots of tracks. Was hot, time of year like now with wild temperature swings and we hit it wrong.

 

[tennesseeshooter]

I doubt it, feral pigs don’t exist in much of the USA. I wish they did, looks like fun, wish we had them in Arizona as far as the fun goes but I’m glad we don’t considering the nuisance they are.

Feral pigs don't belong anywhere in the US. "Hunting" isn't exactly the correct word; eradication would be more correct. The damage done to crops and property exceeds many Billions of dollars a year by feral hogs, and the damage done to indigenous species is even worse. They exist in 42 states and growing. The problem is so bad, in some states you can hunt with dogs/at night/with all manner of electronics (IR/NV/etc), no limits, no season, over bait, in short everything that is Not allowed for hunting Big Game-in the same state. I hope every hunter, is able to harvest at least one feral hog this year and continues until they [the hogs] no longer inhabit one square inch of the US.