Super Duper Hog info thread

[Stalker58]

WOW!
I never knew there was so much to hog hunt'n.
This is great.I'm save'n this thred!

[Mike Byrge@home]

One thing I've notice about pigs, whether it's  free-ranging South Texas pigs, or "game farm" pigs, is that they'll usually give you a 40-50 yard distance without just completely leaving the area even if they know you are there or "sense" something isn't right.

I've spent hours trying to close on pigs like this and have never been successful.

I'm not good at slipping up on them and I'm learning that if I see a pig, or pigs, and I'm downwind to just sit tight and hope the work in my direction instead of slipping in and blowing my cover.

My experience is with pigs that have only been bowhunted..I'm sure if I was somewhere where they had been gun hunted it would be different.

[Mike Byrge@home]

I've got a question for you experience pig hunters?

Do pigs see colors better than deer...I've noticed several times lately that pigs have seen me even when I'm in good cover and being still.  My hunting arrows have pink and yellow feathers and they really "stand out" in dark woods.

I went to a local pig-hunting outfit yesterday mostly just to take pictures and I had several pigs look straight at me and "stop" even though I was in good cover and being still.  I had my bow leaning on a tree next to me and my arrows were in plain view.

These pigs have been on this place since last summer and have not been hunted at all...at least not on this place anyway.  Most were trapped and brought in.

[Charlie Lamb]

Mike...I've come to believe that a pigs eye sight has been under rated.
Like most animals, movement is key to getting busted... but good camo practices are as important with pigs as other critters.

Who knows what an animal really sees anyway? Better safe...!  

[Ray Hammond]

On the place I hunt in South Carolina, the average adult sow probably weighs between 125 lbs and 150 lbs...they get a lot bigger though.

Boars, 200 lbs is normal if they get the chance to live long enough..350 is a bruiser..top end..well above normal

Here is a shot of a decent pig(ugly, but decent size)

 


Here is a shot of the biggest sow we ever ran across there..so big we thought it was a boar..in high brown grass rooting, couldnt see that it was a dry sow...467 lbs

 

[the Ferret]

Dang Ray that sow is a HORSE (pun intended)

[Stalker58]

Ray,
What part of SC,were you in?
I'll be in fairfax,about 1hr south east of Savanna.

[beyondmyken]

How about using solar powered dusk to dawn yard LED lights, the kind that light up pathways?  They give off a soft light with bluish tint.

[NorthShoreLB]

As someone mentioned before, you have to be able to loose an arrow without notice, espetially hunting solitary boars, I always have an arrow on the string while snaking around the woods, they can appear out of nowere, and you have to be ready to make a moving shot, because they seldom stand still.

I couple of times I left my guard down, and boom, a beautifull boar appears from nowere, and of course that split second chance was gone before I could recover.


.....This is by no means a proof, but the hogs That I shot with selfbows hardly run away, a couple, after the arrow pass tru, kinda just stumble around and layed down in sigth,even shot as close as 10 yards,... all the ones shot with a glass bow took of in a hurry, making the trailing considerably harder.

Noise matters    

Manny

[Charlie Lamb]

Taking advantage of a green "night light" in one of Curtis' hog patches, I shot this little red hog one night in south Texas.
 

Night hunting is a total blast and a little surreal!

[tms]

Hey Curtis,

All this talk about how nocturnal hogs are, has got me a little worried.  I'm going on my first hog hunt with the Wensels in a week.  By the end of my week, it'll be dark of the moon.  I'm beginning to think that I chose the wrong week.

As the moon wanes do hogs become more dinural, or am I just out of luck?

Tom

[Roughcountry]

Never hunted hogs, been soaking all this info up.

Thanks Ck, and the rest of you for puttin all the info out  

[Littlefeather]

Eyesight- This is something I've seen time and time again. HOGS SEE!!!!! I can'yt tell you what it is that a hog sees when he sees but I can tell you that I have had far more hogs bust me by sight than I've ever thought about with deer. I don't think they see details but they definitely spot movment far better than any deer I've ever seen. I can make slow movments around deer but wouldn't think of moving a finger in front of an allert hog.

Lights- Hogs will get used to any spectrum of light over a period of time. If lights come on every night, hogs will get used to them quite soon. If you are cole calling a hunt location, don't try just any old light. The only ones I've seen work cole calling are green lights. Red lightswork too but only when used in spotlighting situations. From what I've seen myself, hogs can actually see red light.

[trashwood]

have waited a while to post this.  I it could be pretty conterversial but .........   for years I had been hearing stories about pigs shot in the hams that had short recoveriers, much better recovery than liver shot pigs.  I had perosnally experienced this a couple  of times.  a pigs engine is the back end.  the hams are loaded with vascularization.  this is a good spanish that Curtis talked about.  I put my ham shot theroy to the test on this old fellow with a very sharp woodsman.  bow is 65# at my draw.  had the BH hanging out the off ham.  best blood trail i ever had on a hog.  i let the hog go for about an hour. he went about 100yds i guess.  had a fair blood trail to fellow.  I'm not sawing that a ham shot is a good shot but it is sumpin to think aoubt.            

       

       

ya can tell from the teeth that he was an ole geezer.  he was on the way down.  still came in at 174#.

rusty

[trashwood]

now don't bust my chops to badly.  I'm just teliing ya experience I've gathered, right or wrong  

rusty

[Littlefeather]

I spoke in depth with Dr Ed Ashby about this very subject Rusty. I'd always had no good to say about shooting the hams till our conversation. I learned that the shot was a favorite of Fred Bears on certain animals. This pic which you see on the other thread proved the theory but totally by accident. I thought this hog was facing me in the moonlight. I put one through his brisket only to find later that I actually put it through the opposite end. Hell of a blood trail.

 

As you can see, in one end and out the other. CK

[trashwood]

way to go.  the stories I had heard and the experience I had were by accident too.  This is the only hog I shot in the hams on purpose.  It worked out that time.  sitll can not say it is truly a good idea.  going to put it to the test again.

rusty

[trashwood]

btw did Ashby mention if hogs were one of the aminals that it was fair to use the ham shot on?

rusty

[Littlefeather]

Fair? LOL! Im not going to speak for the good Doc but if there was ever an animal it would be fair on it would have to be hogs. I was totally amazed at the blood trail. I've heard multiple stories about Fred using the shot due to the incredible vascular system in the back legs. CK

[Charlie Lamb]

I've had real poor luck with shoulder shootin Javelina and was thinking about this same thing. (probably shot the Javies too high)

On one of my early Javelina hunts I noticed that all the Javies shot in the back end (by accident by the way) were recovered with profuse blood trails and short recovery distance.
Couldn't say that for the shoulder hits made by the group.