Do PIGS Stay on a Piece of Land or are they CONSTANTLY Moving???

[Nala]

Hey all,

I have never hunted hogs and I am wanting to give it a try.  I am in south western Florida and have access to a piece of private land, but I would like to ask those of you that have LOTS more experience than I do, about it.

The piece of land is 250 acres with a lot of ground cover and a 5 acre lake.  A pretty busy 4 lane road borders it in the front and a busy 2 lane road borders it on one side.  The back of the property is bordered by lots open lots that have a single house on each lot.  These lots are clean with little or no undergrowth on them.  On the last remaining side there is a BIG piece of land that stays relatively clear but I am guessing that at some time in the year there is some kind of farming going on there, but I have no idea what kind of crops are grown.  Lastly, the entire property is gated and locked with a 4 strand barbed wire fence.

I am trying to figure out what the likelihood of there being a huntable population of wild hogs on that property.  I don't see dead hogs on the roads that border it, so it doesn't appear that any hogs are coming and going via those 2 sides.  I can't speak to whether they come and go on the other 2 sides.

Do feral hogs stay put on a property that BIG for a while or will they clear it out of food sources fairly quickly and move on to another bit of land?  Do they stay on the move?  For example, if I go there and drive around and see several hogs running around, if I leave and come back the next day with my bow can I expect to see those hogs again or are they more than likely gonna be a couple of miles away?  I am trying to see what kind of pattern these boogers follow, if any.

I don't think there is any swamp type areas or bottom type areas on this land.  It is sandy, fairly dense with native plant life and has a nice 5 acre lake on it that is FULL of Tilapia.

Can you all tell me how these feral hogs behave?  I know you can't give me a detailed answer because you haven't seen the place, but could you give me your thoughts on the area and situation?  I want to know if it is worth me investing my time to hunt there or if I should seek out other private land that would be more productive.

What'cha think?

Thanks for your time and advice, I appreciate it.

[bushytail]

Do some scouting.That`s the only way you`ll know what kinda population there is and where there moving to and from.Take your bow along on the scouts.You never know.It might be a good area for turkeys too.

[Al Natural]

Can you bait hogs in Florida?  I would think you could keep them interested in staying on the property by placing a feeder.
Al

[Nala]

Yeah you can bait them.

Nalajr

[ChrisM]

Hogs don't have a home range like a deer.  They move great distances in short amount of time with what seems no rime or reason.  I will have hogs in a place with great sign and food and over night they will vanish like a ghost, just to suddenly reappear some time later.  I do believe they have haunts but the size of their range is large.

[hogdancer]

they move but if you see them one day and are not pressuring them they likely will be there the next day?  Does the property have hogs on it ? have you seen them? have you seen sign ? if there are hogs present there will be no doubt they are there, on 250 acres if there is a group of hogs there the ground will be torn up and tracks everywhere.

[T Lail]

we have alot of ferals around us and you may not see them for three weeks at a time...then for no reason, they are everywhere.......the one thing that moves the ones around us out quickly is pressureuf any kind.....us, dogs ,the neighbors walking through the woods , whatever......we may not see them in the daytime, but we still see where they have been....food sources seem to keep them closer but if they get too much disturbance, they will leave for a while......good luck as pig hunting is ADDICTIVE !!!!

[Chris Surtees]

To add on to Hogdancer's post once you confirm that hogs are there find a spot where you want to setup put some corn down. They will find it and as long as they are not pressured to much they will hang around. Remember hogs are eating machines and as long as there is a preferred food source available they will come back.

[straitera]

Hogs are smart & prolific breeders. They survive by adapting to the environment (confined areas) +/or becoming nocturnal. Look for many fresh tracks & setup an ambush. Corn works early or late.

[wscruggs]

Pigs are very nomadic. Here today gone tomorrow. Best way I have found to keep them in an area for a few days is to dig a hole about three feet deep and put corn in it and cover it back up. Once they find it they will keep coming around until they have dug up all the corn.

[michaelschwister]

Hogs go to where to food is.....find the food.  They are called hogs for a reason;-)

[hunterace]

i have never hunted hogs and don't know much about them, but why would you want them on your land. from what i know they decimate the food sources, and make it hard if your trying to plant food plots. they also breed like mad so if there are some around soon there will be alot more. just curious???

[Earthdog]

The Pigs where I live do a circut of the area they live in through out the year ,,,,and 250 acres is nothing to them.
We can expect them to start showing up in certain places pretty much the same time they did the year before.
Spring always brings them out on the grass and after the new born lambs,while during winter they tend to stay deep in the bush.
They roam huge areas and need a reliable food source to stay in any one place for long.
A friend of mine who owns a hill country farm dumps any cows that die for what ever reason into a gully at the bush edge of his place.
He's been doing this for over 30 years,and any pigs in the area show themselves within a day or two after a new dead body shows up.
We've shot some mean pigs over his dead cow gully.

[Bjorn]

Like others have said scout and look for very fresh sign-lots of rooting and poop; but it has got to be fresh to mean anything. They often will take a swing through an area and come back a few weeks later. Trail cams help. 250 acres is a postage stamp to a pig.
With a lot of scouting and studying you may start to see patterns. Pigs are very social and extremely smart animals but the love to eat and %$#*& so they can get distracted.

[swampdrummer]

SW Florida has so many hogs that they may indeed pass thru a 250 acre parcel but chances are if theres one group of hogs, theres another group right behind it. I live on 20 acres, surrounded by hundreds of acres of woods and agriculture in sw Florida and have hogs almost year round. Mostly the same hogs day to day but always somebody new showing up from time to time as well.
Like everybody else said, get out there and poke around. If your finding fresh sign, hunt it.
Soured corn can make old sign, fresh sign in a matter of days as well.

[bwillhunt]

Lots of CORN = LOTS of hogs in SW Florida.  If the hogs are there  you'll have more than you know what to do with.

We have 80ac that butts up to a big ranch, we run 3 feeders and average 2-4 hog sightings per evening.  Sometimes same hogs sometimes different.

Were outside of Fort Myers, send me a pm if you have any questions.
Bill