I present to TradGang the smartest hogs in all of Texas

[Rank Bull]

And I say this without a single doubt. I have hunted this herd for 2 years and have only been able to get one small one, and that was about a year ago.

When they are in the area they come in around 2 am or later....normally. If I lie in wait and I leave at 2:30am, then they will come out at 2:31am. LOL I'm not kidding that has happened a couple times.

They will hang downwind of the feeder for an hour before they come in, so there is no hunting around the feeder.Also they send the little ones as sacrificial lambs before the bigs ones come in.

They are migratorial hogs I believe,because they will go months without paying me a visit which makes them difficult to pattern. Also they rarely move if there is much moonlight.

My current tactic is to wait till I hear a squeal, then I backtrack around them. This particular stalk takes about an hour and a half. I've gotten close, but they hang out in the shadows of the woods, so even if it's a full moon, I can't see squat.

These pigs live in an area with more people, so I think they are particularly wiley.

This nonsense has to end! They've cost me too much sleep.

     
     
     
     
     

[Mike Most]

It looks like they are nice and fat......
I feel your pain......

[Friend]

They are from the school of Hogwart's.

[Rank Bull]

Originally posted by Friend:
They are from the school of Hogwart's.

I had a feeling they were. They just disappear every time I'm around.

[owlbait]

Claymore, then shoot the survivors!

[bttsj1]

I know whatcha mean bud bout them smart Tx hogs. When mine come in they will not turn broadside. Even though I'm way up in a tree & they haven't seen me. Lots of fun!!

[Night Wing]

When they get this smart, they're always noctural and if you try and wait them out all night long, their sixth sense for survival knows when they're being hunted.

[Bel007]

Friad to say it, but night scope on a rifle and 150 yards downwind. Thats what it looks like it's gonna take to make bacon outta that crew.

[SL]

Find their trail,back track and set up a blind about 100 yards from the feeder.
I've had success dong this... if they have been hammered on a feeder before they are very careful about coming in.
They aren't so careful a ways off because they are concentrating on checking the feeder.
You can also wait until the moon phase changes and try to call them in, just don't do it from around the feeder.
good luck
SL

[Biggie Hoffman]

Originally posted by Bel007:
Friad to say it, but night scope on a rifle and 150 yards downwiind. Thats what it looks like it's gonna take to make bacon outta that crew.

If you hafta resort to that strategy, the hogs have won and youre just killing them.8-(

[Chester Thompson]

Originally posted by Biggie Hoffman:
 

Originally posted by Bel007:
Friad to say it, but night scope on a rifle and 150 yards downwiind. Thats what it looks like it's gonna take to make bacon outta that crew.

If you hafta resort to that strategy, the hogs have won and youre just killing them.8-( [/b]

They have already won. I counted at least 10 in each picture, so at least 5 of the are sows (probably more), and each sow can have 2-3 litters of babies every year, of which 6-8 piglets are born then with very basic math the pigs are up almost 200-1, and that does not include the babies having babies which they can start having babies at 6 months old.

As much as I love traditional archery it is not he answer for the feral hog problem.

[straitera]

Some might not think Texas has a hog problem but Chet's description is accurrate. Get to killin! Field dress them & give to the poor if you don't use them.

[Ray Hammond]

Embrace the swine see it as an opportunity not a problem

Theyre not nocturnal because of bowhunting- they're nocturnal because you -meaning texans- are hell- bent on extermination of them so you're killing all those that move in daylight with firearms

Deer wouldn't be any different if circumstances were the same for them- it's just that hogs are generally three times smarter than deer and have better noses.

That's why you can't trap hogs more than once. Hogs have been on our land for 500 years...chased by Spaniards, Natives, and now the white man. Our pigs aren't nocturnal- just because you don't see them doesn't mean they aren't moving somewhere on the property in daylight.

Is it hot where you're hunting? Nocturnal feeding is a response to extreme temps as well, you know?

When it gets colder does their behavior change? Obviously our terrains are very different- yours looks like brush country....mine is pine tree plantations and big uncut swamp with oak overstory...but hogs are gluttons everywhere.

Hunting them over feeders is the least productive thing we do- they know they're going to get whacked at feeders if a shot has ever been taken there in the past, and one of their brethren is put down.

Maybe think outside the box and do something unique to get them? As suggested above, a pop up blind along a well-used trail would be more productive....especially there, where trails are eaten by javelina through those nasty sticker things you guys call brush....here they use a different trail every five minutes....I would imagine its more defined in TX.

[coaster500]

That feeder can be used to back track those hogs. Where do they go after they hit it. What’s the coolest darkest hole you have in your hunting area. Where do they bed, try and catch um coming and going. They don't just disappear?

[charlie phillips]

I've been hunt'n 3 times and did get with in 25 yards of 1.I just started bow hunt'n this year.I've hunted for 30 years and hogs are harder to hunt than deer.maybe when it gets cold I'll get one.It's been hot here and I need a north wind to hunt my little hunt'n spot.


   TXCP

[owlbait]

Those pigs are smarter becaue they were part of the No Pigs Left Behind program  
Those Georgia pigs that graduated from the Hogs Advanced Material Systems would smoke those Texas hogs. Bet your bacon on it!

[Burnsie]

Aren't there timers on the feeders so you can control when they come for the feed?  I have no experience with hogs,   but I've heard of guys who bait/feed deer having them almost trained to the sound of the feeder going off.

[straitera]

Funny stuff owlbait. I dig hog hunting. They make you thimk.

[owlbait]

I would like to try it someday. Don't want them here in Michigan but I would like to travel to give it a go someday. 4 years till retirement. Hopefully the smart ones will be gone by then!

[Rank Bull]

Thanks for all the tactical advice.

Yeah I figured out pretty quick sitting over the feeder was not going to work with these guys.

These guys are so random in when they visit the area. And as soon as they do come they can't stay long because the neighbor likes to chase them with the 4 wheeler and shoot at them with the rifle. haha

I'm sure everyone in the county does that which is why they are so dang smart.

I really don't mind them coming around though.It's fun! Also these here educated hogs haven't really damaged the farm in any way.

I did have a big sow that kinda roamed by herself and hung around for a while. I could have nabbed her, but I was hoping she would lure the others in more regularly. Eventually she left...having had a free meal for several weeks. She planned that all along I'm sure.