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Thread: Hunting wild Hogs

  1. #1
    Tool & Die Maker
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    Default Hunting wild Hogs

    I could use some tips on wild hog hunting. Some may find this amusing but I have over 40 years experience hunting ducks and geese. Never hunted a critter with four legs before. I have spent 8 winters in the Crystal River, Florida area. Last winter I found where hogs had been rutting along a highway only a 1/2 mile from the RV resort. I began waking up early in the mornings armed with my camera and began hunting hogs from my Ford Focus and taking pictures of them. I began researching hog hunting. Then began contacting land owners for permission to hunt hogs on their property. Out of 15 landowners contacted, Three granted me permission to hunt their property. Now I have 140 acres leased within a mile of the RV resort for hog hunting.
    pics from 2015: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...close%20up.jpg

    http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...ry/2%20hog.jpg

    I began blending my own hog corn bait around Jan 1, 2016. Around Jan 6, 2016 I began setting out the fermented hog bait and constructed an 8' treestand. I placed the bait in areas where the hogs had been rutting. I thought this was going to be pretty easy. I placed the bait in the mornings, check it at sundown, and the bait was untouched. Check again in the morning, bait was gone. Something was eating my bait during the night. I began checking the bait at 3:30AM and caught raccoons eating my hog bait.

    After two weeks of baiting the hogs I realized all I was doing was feeding raccoons. I concluded the
    hog rutting was not fresh and never really found any hog tracks. Three days ago I discovered fresh hog rutting along a highway about 2 miles away so I know wild hogs are not far away.

    Here is my question. Why haven't I attracted hogs to my bait? Not enough time? Wrong bait?
    It is possible a hog or hogs have found my bait but don't leave obvious tracks.

    A wild game camera would be great to have. Then I would know for sure what is eating the bait and the exact time of day, probably about 2 hours before sunrise.

    Thanks for any pointers you may have. Jim Glass, Homosassa, Florida
    Last edited by jim Glass; 01-23-2016 at 12:22 AM.


  2. #2
    Senior Member kyratshooter's Avatar
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    How are the other food sources in your area?

    Hogs will move around to where the food happens to be and if there is plenty in other places it may take them a while to run out of anything to eat where they are and come to your site in their travels.

    Keep baiting and keep checking your bait. Eventually they will find what you are putting out and assemble as expected, you just have to keep watch and not miss their activity.

    You know they were in your area last year and you know what the season was, chances are they will be back at around about the same time this year as the plant growth cycles.
    If you didn't bring jerky what did I just eat?

  3. #3
    Tool & Die Maker
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    Thanks for the reply kyratshooter. This area has little to no farming in progress. This is mostly jungle and swamp with limited food sources. I made some wild hog feeders out of 4" PVC pipe. The pipe has 1/2" holes drilled where the hog can roll the pipe to dispense kurnels of corn. I can see where the raccoons roll the pipe but seem to loose interest after a few they dispense the corn.

    I'm baiting 2 different areas now to see how that works.

    I suppose by the time the hogs find my bait it will be time for me to return to Illinois.

    Anything else I can try?

  4. #4
    Lone Wolf COWBOYSURVIVAL's Avatar
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    I used to "walk them up" Basically a walk and stalk, listen, moving slowly covering a lot of ground. You could hear the hogs when close. Sounded almost like laughing from a far. We typically would close in on 2 to 5 hogs at a time this way. There was 3 of us hunting.
    Keep in mind the problem may be extremely complicated, though the "Fix" is often simple...

    "Teaching a child to fish is the "original" introduction to all that is wild." CS

    "How can you tell a story that has no end?" Doc Carlson

  5. #5
    Tool & Die Maker
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    Home after 10 weeks in Florida. We killed 5 wild hogs, I personally killed 3. This is what I learned about hog hunting. I spent weeks sprinkling corn around from a coffee can. All that did was feed the raccoons. I met a couple of new people at the campground interested in wild hog hunting. We combined what little knowledge we had about hog hunting and began experiments.

    First find places where the hogs are or have been active by looking for disturbed soil. Don't waste time with small amount of bait. Use 50 lb bags of corn. Spread the entire bag of corn. Check the corn 1 or 2 times per day. When the corn disappears place a game camera on the bait and see what critter is eating the bait and at what time of day. At first it appeared we would need to hunt all night for the wild hogs. We continued to hone in on the hogs. When the corn was gone every morning we began placing 20lb of corn in the bait area at around 3:00 PM and began hunting the hogs 30 minutes or so before sundown. When we arrived at the blind we dumped the remaining 30lb of corn in the bait area. Some of the corn had already been eaten. The wild hogs came to the corn at sundown but still daylight so we killed a couple of hogs well before dark. A couple of times the hogs arrived 10 minutes after dumping the full bag of corn.

    The first time I saw the hogs come to the bait it was daylight. I tried to get a shot with my crossbow. I aimed but could never get a hog into the cross hairs of scope. Finally the hogs ran off before I could get a shot off. Mad at myself, I put the crossbow down and picked up my 12 gauge loaded with rifle slugs. We waited over an hour and by then it was pitch dark. My hunting partner whispered to me the hogs were returning and to aim the shotgun at the bait. There were so many hog running towards the bait it sounded like rain. I could see many hogs below us in the darkness. My partner tapped me on the shoulder and held up the spot light. He lit up the hogs and I fired and killed our first 50lb hog.

    Another hunting team had their best luck hunting in the morning at sunrise. They had piles of corn placed and they hid behind trees and waited for the hogs to come. I thought my 4 x 8 trees stand was a much better way to hunt. The tree stand offered safer shooting because we always fired into the ground. I also felt safer in the tree stand..

    I roasted the hog in a roaster the RV resort had. I sprinkled the hog with Tango Spice, spice blend, wrapped the hog in aluminum foil and roasted at 200-250 deg for 4 hours. It was the best pork I ever ate. My wife even loved it.

    Hopefully I can lease the same property again next year. My hunting partners are counting on it but who knows for sure. I'll find out soon.

    Hope this info is helpful. Jim
    Last edited by jim Glass; 03-14-2016 at 06:28 AM.

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