Quick hog hunting question for y'all

[sean_bart1]

I have a place in Farmersville and I have a few herds that run in and out. They come and go as the run up Brushy Creek. I use an AR or 12 gauge with 00 buck. The buckshot works the best and a lot better up close. I haven't hunted them in a while due to all the rain.

 

[Big country]

I need to check with some family south of San Antone, they've got a farm down there and I know they want hogs shot. maybe I'll give em a call this week end?

 

[JoeinTX]

What ever happened to farmers and ranchers just letting you pic off 1 or 2 just to keep property damage down?

Well, a number of things. Fewer long term land owners who know the peope they're dealing with around their area. More absentee owners who have no connection with their neighbors. More owners who've purchased land for their own recreational purposes and don't have any interest in sharing it with strangers. Concerns with liability and insurance regarding those on their land who can easily find a "slip and fall" lawyer who'll if they've had any type of material injury or such. As an owner, I let no one but family hunt or fish on the property for this very reason. Lastly, not many old time farmers left. Land is now more valuable for hunting and rec rather than farming....you can find people today willing to pay money to come out and pay money to shoot your pigs. You won't find people today willing to come out and pay money to share-crop your fields.


So what ever happened? They show back up again and was there a bar-b-que?

Not sure who that was aimed at, D, but I have seen and killed more. Pigs can be tough animals to figure out and their travel patterns are dictated most by the moisture conditions you have. Wetter? They spread out and hit anything where the ground is moist enough for them to root. Dryer? They restrict their movements mostly from one tank to the next on established trails. Just when you think you have them figured out there can be a change in the weather and they'll start confounding you.

Pigs eat roots and tubers and in our area they are interested most in Johnson Grass roots or cat-tails. They have even burrowed completely around grown Mesquite trees trying to get at the root system which, obviously, was not to their liking. Also, if you are feeding anything as bait, they will show up......corn for deer, etc. and so one. An aside as I espouse here, pigs don't have particularly great hearing..........they don't seem to really hear any better than you or I. I've managed to sneak up on them rather easily on foot and in vehicle and kill them making noise that would send deer scattering long before I had the chance to take aim.

And, while wild pig has been some of the best BBQ I've ever eaten, I simply don't care to clean the darn things myself and with their erratic patterns I simply never know when I will run across/kill one so it's difficult to find someone who can come out and pick one up afterward on short notice. The prices for them have fallen so some of the people who were making a side business out of them have lost interest understandably.

I've killed some very nice young adults that would have made fanstastic meat and I know it..........but I don't hunt and kill game animals like deer, etc. for the same reasons......I don't like dressing them out.

 

[DCortez]

And, while wild pig has been some of the best BBQ I've ever eaten, I simply don't care to clean the darn things myself and with their erratic patterns I simply never know when I will run across/kill one so it's difficult to find someone who can come out and pick one up afterward on short notice. The prices for them have fallen so some of the people who were making a side business out of them have lost interest understandably.

I hear that, especially with Randall's, Sam's, and Walmart on every corner. How long does it take the local predators to dispose of the carcass?

 

[JoeinTX]

How long does it take the local predators to dispose of the carcass?

Maybe a week. Bones and all will gone from the immediate site and you wouldn't even know that you'd killed an animal there. In fact, today while hunting I came across a few scattered bones from a pig I killed over a month ago and they were about 300 yds from where he fell.

 

[Big country]

What ever happened to farmers and ranchers just letting you pic off 1 or 2 just to keep property damage down?

Well, a number of things. Fewer long term land owners who know the peope they're dealing with around their area. More absentee owners who have no connection with their neighbors. More owners who've purchased land for their own recreational purposes and don't have any interest in sharing it with strangers. Concerns with liability and insurance regarding those on their land who can easily find a "slip and fall" lawyer who'll if they've had any type of material injury or such. As an owner, I let no one but family hunt or fish on the property for this very reason. Lastly, not many old time farmers left. Land is now more valuable for hunting and rec rather than farming....you can find people today willing to pay money to come out and pay money to shoot your pigs. You won't find people today willing to come out and pay money to share-crop your fields.

It was a rhetorical question. But Thanks for the info.

 

[Hoji]

I hear that, especially with Randall's, Sam's, and Walmart on every corner. How long does it take the local predators to dispose of the carcass?

Really depends on your scavenger density. If you regularly shoot every coyote you see, it will take longer.

I dumped 20 carcasses last year that were between 50-70 lbs each {these were whole pigs} and in 2 days all that was left were blood stains on the ground. A carcass in my neck of the woods is gone in a day or two ...max.

 

[kingofwylietx]

You must have some hungry scavengers! We put deer & hog carcasses out at the dump, the hogs stay longer than deer. Hog parts will still be around several days later, with the better parts eaten. Turkeys are always gone the next day.

 

[Hoji]

You must have some hungry scavengers! We put deer & hog carcasses out at the dump, the hogs stay longer than deer. Hog parts will still be around several days later, with the better parts eaten. Turkeys are always gone the next day.

Just a healthy population with no pressure from hunting. Helps that they are not picky eaters

 

[Big country]

Just a healthy population with no pressure from hunting. Helps that they are not picky eaters

Yeah it also helps to steady supply easy meals to. Nothing like steady supply of free food to gather a crowed! Now all you need is a spot light/night vision to control the predator population.

 

[Hoji]

The predator population will control itself lol.

 

[Big country]

The predator population will control itself lol.

That all depends on the shot placement of the dominant predator!

 

[juwaba98]

HEY, quit hijacking my thread........

 

[Big country]

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