Wild hogs

[Alan]

With the post about Caustic getting bite from a hog, I got thinking... yes it hurt just a little.

No hogs up here, what do you all do with the ones you kill, eat them? bury them? sounds like some of you get a lot over the year. Is there a limit on them or a season? Just curious out here during deer season you get 1 (buck only in most places) a year, elk most places is 1 bull during a short season.

Hogs it sound like no season and all you can kill.

Thanks,

Alan

 

[Arnold Ziffle]

No season in Texas --- or I guess I should say it's open season 365 days a year. Folks are encouraged to send as many of them to the promised land as they can, as they are very destructive and their population has really exploded in the last 10 years. A few years ago one of the guys on my deer lease killed over 40 of them over a 4 month period, and that was from stand hunting, not not trapping. Most folks of course eat the ones they kill -- roast, BBQ, grind with venison or beef for sausage, etc. In many parts of Texas there is a market for the bigger ones that folks can catch in their traps -- our deer lease rancher claims that some of them wind up in restaurants in the northeast as "wild boar" and there is also a fairly stong ethnic market in some places. The rascals are very prolific: sows can breed at an early age (around 6 months as I recall), have two litters per year, have no real natural enemy once they get a little size to them.

 

[Caustic Burno]

No season in Texas --- or I guess I should say it's open season 365 days a year. Folks are encouraged to send as many of them to the promised land as they can, as they are very destructive and their population has really exploded in the last 10 years. A few years ago one of the guys on my deer lease killed over 40 of them over a 4 month period, and that was from stand hunting, not not trapping. Most folks of course eat the ones they kill -- roast, BBQ, grind with venison or beef for sausage, etc. In many parts of Texas there is a market for the bigger ones that folks can catch in their traps -- our deer lease rancher claims that some of them wind up in restaurants in the northeast as "wild boar" and there is also a fairly stong ethnic market in some places. The rascals are very prolific: sows can breed at an early age (around 6 months as I recall), have two litters per year, have no real natural enemy once they get a little size to them.

Very well stated AZ I read somewher on TPWD that one sow could produce 50-60 pigs in one year after predation which is small.
She will have 2 ltters a year and her first litter will have litter in that year.

 

[Calman]

Have killed and ate hogs for several yrs. I have learned that if the hog has a terrible oder leave it lay and don't try to eat it which the meat will have a strong wild taste.
I shot one about three wks ago here in north tex.
about a 120lb boar.No smell other than a normal hog.
When skinning it out was amazed that it had about an inch and a half of fat under the skin.
Sure made some good eatin.

Cal

 

[D.R. Cattle]

We don't bother trying to eat them. We just enjoy baying em and sending the bulldogs in for an ear. After catching them, the guys I go with relocate to another place to hunt again, or sell the bad boys to trophy hunt ranches. Occasionally we'll get a nice little squealer that looks good for the fire, or someone will inquire about having one for their own cookout. Most landowners encourage their removal. I think they should be thinned out, but not wiped out. And somebody needs to prosecute guys who do it just for bloodsport. When a hog is caught, get your dang dogs under control. And put cut collars on them dogs too.

 

[Beefy]

piglets are pretty good to eat.

 

[backhoeboogie]

We trap them. We pick out the ones we want to eat and sell the rest. There's a circuit that buys them. Anything under 60 or 80 pounds doesn't sell. Prices escalate with size. The bigger they are, the more per pound you get, If its over 200, you get 60 cents a pound and a $20 bonus. (e.g. 250 pound boar gets you $170) If you catch one that big, don't even take it out of the trap. Load trap and all with the front bucket of a tractor right into the back of the truck and deliver it right then.

There has been a challenge or two on hunting legalities and trapping with the Dept of Widlife. The hogs are feral. Once you catch one and put it in a pen, it is no longer feral.

Do not. DO NOT!!! Sell them to game preserves for canned hunts. Otherwise they'll be back out on the street soon wrecking your fences and rooting up your pastures. Or someone elses.

They are worse than fire ants and way more destructive.

 

[jersey lilly]

The get "trap wise" too. I'm postin a few pics of what's been goin on at our place the last couple months with hogs. Still haven't had any luck at catchin any, but we aint givin up. What is strange is, we've been out at all hours of the day and night and still haven't seen a hog.....but we know they are there......

This is what our pastures look like.....I'd say nearly the whole backside of our place that's across the creek, ruffly 150 acres......

Here's a trap we've used in previous years and had fairly good luck. but NOT this time....

got out the other day, and started on a lil fence trap made out of bull panels, and had to quit because of the rain and lightnin, but ever one we've talked to are havin good luck with this type trap, 3 bull panels, in a heart shape, the top v of the trap, wired together at the top, but open at the bottom where they can squeeze thru, but when they try to go back out, it doesn't open up, just squeezes shut......Not a good pic, we'd just got started, but it's held in place with T posts.I'll try to post a picture of the finished trap, in a day or so when the water goes down and can cross the creek.

 

[Arnold Ziffle]

Lilly, that really is some significant damage to your pastures! Have you not found that those guillotine traps are good for catching only the first two or three that get in and spring the trap -- possibly leaving a bunch of porkers outside the trap, but having just received an education that serves to quickly make them trap-wary? I like the swinging door traps with large pen area, so as to be able to let the whole group of them walk on in.

 

[jersey lilly]

WEll in the past the trap shown has worked fairly decent for us, just not this year. It's been about 2 years since we've had the hogs on our place. they tend to move around, and our place seems to be somewhere they like this year. that's why we are goin with the different trap style. it will let however many in that wanna go in, now if we can just git em....

 

[buckaroo_bif]

I haven't seen any wild hogs myself but a feller kilt one that weighed 400 lbs. last summer about 5 miles southeast of where I live. Guess they are moving up from the south along with the armadillos. I have no use for either of them.

 

[Caustic Burno]

Allright Mrs Langtry I'm going to tell you how to get them hogs gone, this bunch will avoid you like the plaque. First bait you up a spot with doctored corn, second set up 3 lean too deer stands about 50 yards apart in a triangle. Get you some car batterys and wire up some 12 volt light bulbs painted red.
Now set three shooters up with 12 ga. auto's or pumps plugs removed load up with no 6 or 5 shot. When them hogs come in you shoot the crap out of them in that triangular crossfire this will be the dangest squeling and hollering you have ever heard. You will not kill the hogs but when this is over they will never come back and they will teach the little ones to avoid your place. As soon as this new bunch that has moved in on Camp gets trap wise we are going to educate them.

 

[bigjohn513]

or you could just put me up for a few nights and shoot every one you have...

 

[aplusmnt]

Maybe you guys should become hunting guides charging to hunt these pet...I mean wild boars Read were a place in Wyandotte, OK you could pay to hunt them, and I never even knew there was any around this area. Wyandotte is one of the most North Eastern towns in OK, just 7 miles from MO,

I did see some once when we went Mule riding at Shell knob MO, down on Table rock lake once on government land.

I sure hope they are not working there way up into OK.

 

[Caustic Burno]

or you could just put me up for a few nights and shoot every one you have...

You would get one hog a night maybe. You shot one at x place tonight and they will move six miles. Hog is smarter than your average varmit you only get one screw up and they are trap or gun wise for life.

 

[Dusty Britches]

Jersey Lilly -

The reason your trap stopped working is because the previously trapped hogs dug out the dirt under the bottom of the cage. Try filling it back in with dirt and layer some old, rotting hay on top. Then bait and set. If they are still in the area, you should be able to catch some fairly quickly. The problem is, when they step into the cage, they feel the wire on the ground and learn to back out.

Also, tease them by putting corn on the outside of the trap. They will get into a frenzy and forget about the trap.

We are building a fence trap like you mentioned, only bigger. If it is too small, you will have to put a top on it to keep them from jumping out. If it is big enough, they will feel like they can run. We like the heart shape design, too, because we can load them out and haul them to a buying station. Make them pay for the damage, right? ;-)

Here's a 256 pound boar we trapped in a 4x3x3 trap with push up doors.

Here's the big boy loaded on our STWHTT (Steve and Tracey's Wild Hog Travel Trailer). That's my dad in the background. He is 6'3".

 

[Alan]

You guys can keep the hogs down there, I thought I had a problem with the Elk running through fences, I feel blessed.

A few years back Oregon Dept of fish and wildlife got an offer from their Montana counter parts. Montana want to introduce Black Bear into the state (or increase population). They offered Oregon to trade 1 Grizzly bear for each Black bear. Thank god we had someone with brains in office at the time, he said "you keep your Grizzlies and we'll give you all the blacks you want".

We are starting to get stronger rumors of wolves coming into state out of Canada and some other states.

Good luck with the hog problems.

Alan

 

[Caustic Burno]

Lilly you are fighting a losing battle you will never ever be able to trap or hunt hogs to eradication, they are to prolific and smart. Until the feds decide its a problem and we start poisoning them. All we can do is keep them in check the russian boar has created this problem. When I was a kid you could take one good hog dog and get every PWR in East Texas as the hogs wouldn't run far and would pack up, after the dog bayed them you could kill everyone of them. Put a Cur dog on these hogs they scatter like quail and run like deer.

 

[sidney411]

I would guess hogs are pretty much in most of the southern states? I'm not sure where they have migrated to. I do know that we have a bad problem with them here in S. Central Texas. We have pastures that look like yours too Jersey, and what is amazing is how much ground they can tear up in ONE night. They hit the freshly cut hay fields and shredded fields the night after they've been cut. Sometimes it literally looks like someone came in and disced that pasture during the night.

There is no season, so you can hunt them all year long and they are good to hunt all year long, they don't have a rut like deer do. There are many effective ways to hunt/trap hogs. There are as many different methods as people doing it. Hogs are smart, if a population is continually stressed due to hunting/trapping pressure they get smart to it. You have to change your hunting routine/trapping method. Change trap locations/bait/design. You will most likely get more numbers of hogs trapping them rather then hunting because usually you will trap mulitiple hogs in one trap. But it's a lot more fun to stalk hunt them. I have had different experiences hunting them. During the day they will generally scatter when the 1st shot goes off. At night I have had them scatter and stay gone, scatter then come back to the same spot, and not even run off. I think it all depends on the animal that goes down and if it goes down cleanly or if it squeels and thrashes. I've shot one that went straight down and the others came over to investigate it, I picked off 2 others.

I have seen hog calls at Bass Pro, and I've been seriously thinking about getting one but I tried a tape on a caller once and I didn't get any results with that. If anyone has tried a call I would like to hear what you thought about it.

They will come in to a feeder but you will probably have to set there an awful long time because they don't seem to follow a routine like deer feed in the morning and evening. I've had them turn over a tripod feeder too.

 

[backhoeboogie]

Lilly,

The bull panel is good for big hogs but the tiny ones can get right out. The mesh is too big. I couldn't see your trap pics earlier. I just now saw them. You have likely caught yourself some 20 to 30 pounders that squeezed out and will never go back in. Now they are grown. They are tearing up your pasture and giving alarm to any takers that would have otherwise entered.

Get you some sheep panel with 4 inch mesh and line the entire bull panel with it before you ever use it again. That is a nice trap every other direction.

You can bend the sheep panel to fit by either using hickey bars or else just use a tractor front bucket and press the panel between boards or over a cross tie. If you tie the heck out of the seams on the bottom side with some #9 wire, it will hold. It would be best if you could weld it.

I have seen 30 pounders go through bull panels while the guy who trapped them was scrambling to hold them all. I had two by the hind feet and couldn't do much to help. They will go through that thing. I have witnessed it. No telling how many he had caught before we got there. He didn't know pigs got "trapwise".