Hogs are hanging out at the feeder.

[EddieWalker]

As some of you know, I have wild hogs on my land and my wife and I enjoy hunting them. They are sort of seasonal, as they come and go when they want. Sometimes they are all over the place, including our front yard, and other times, you can't find a track anywhere on our land. I keep a deer feeder going year round with corn and have a Stealth Cam digital game camera also set up year round.

Most of the time they come in to eat the corn just before midnight, or a few hours later. There is one really big boar that is a regular at around 2am that will probably live forever because of this.

This week, I've noticed that the corn is all gone during the day. My feeder goes off once a day at 7:30 am. I do this on purpose so that if they are feeding in the morning, I can tell by the corn being gone. What happens is they figure this out and start coming out in the mornign and waiting for the feeder to go off. This group has gone one step further and seems to be hanging out at the feeder all day long. I've never seen them come back so many times during the day to check on the corn, but like the pictures show, they are doing just that.

Yesterday morning at 7am, I went out there and watched them feeding for a few minutes. Nobody wanted to go shoot one before going to work, so I let them be. This morning, I went out there again and watched them for about ten minutes. They are fun to watch run around and fight with each other. Their attacks on one another are incredibly fast, and the one who's attacked will squeal very loudly. Again, it's just fun to watch them.

Steph hasn't shot a hog all year. We've watched them three different times, and she's had them in her sites, but never had a shot that she was comfortable with. She's killed five hogs, so this isn't anything new to her. I even gave her a Remington 30-06 r**** for her birthday a few years ago so we didn't have to share one r****. Saturday morning, we'll be out in the deer blind to see if the hogs hold true to their pattern. We're hoping for fresh pork for Fathers Day!!!!

Eddie

 

[SkyPup]

Wow, that is simply unreal. Looks like you'll have some good hunting come Saturday!

Ever since it got into the 90*F range and above here this year, all my feral swine have turned into night owls.

Only once have I laid eyes on one and that was right after the sun went down right before dark. They show up only at night now no matter what I do?

 

[foggy1111]

Nice Pics Eddy......but from the looks of things......I think you should have given Stef an AR15 with a 30 round clip. Lots of hogs to thin out based on your pics.

We dont have hogs in MN....and from what I have read that's a good thing....but it would be fun to hunt 'em.

 

[Bird]

Eddie, have you thought about setting traps and selling those pigs?

 

[jinman]

Eddie, I look at those pictures and think what one of those hogs could do to my beautiful unfenced garden. I can't help but be glad they are on your property rather than mine. Good gosh! I've been upset because a deer ate a few of my young flowers out of a flower bed, but those hogs would totally wipe out our garden in no time flat.

 

[Ridgewalker]

Eddie, have you thought about setting traps and selling those pigs?

That's a great idea, I would haul them all off to market except for the one or two I put in the freezer. Corn fed pork! Tasty stuff!

 

[dfeck]

I ran across a TV program a few days ago about the wild hog over population in America. The program was very interesting and said they cause major destruction to the land they occupy. Many farmers are having major issues with their crops in the mid-west and south. Are wild hogs good eating? Is there a season for hogs or can you shoot them anytime?

Doug

 

[Bird]

Doug, in Texas, the feral hogs are considered a nuisance animal; no season, no limit, no restriction on killing or capturing all you can. I think it's about the same in the other states. And yes, it's good meat. There are even a few high dollar restaurants that serve feral pork.

When I lived in Navarro County, across the road from Navarro Mills Lake, I knew some people who trapped them on Corps of Engineers land around the lake, kept them penned and fed for awhile, then sold them, but I don't know what kind of money they made doing that.

One year, the Corps even hired an outfit to fly around over the lake property in a little helicopter for 3 days and shoot the hogs from the air with a shotgun. I heard they only shot about 125, mostly young ones, so most folks said that wouldn't even put a dent in the population.

 

[LBrown59]

I ran across a TV program a few days ago about the wild hog over population in America. The program was very interesting and said they cause major destruction to the land they occupy. Many farmers are having major issues with their crops in the mid-west and south.
1* Are wild hogs good eating?
2*Is there a season for hogs or can you shoot them anytime?

Doug

1*better than tame ones i hear.
2* open.

 

[The Dougster]

Once again, I am a "little bit envious" of Eddie... while I hear my neighbors in Lampasas County complain about feral hogs, I don't have a single one.... Yeah, they say that if you don't have then , just wait.... I'm still waiting. <sigh>
The fellow that leases our ranch for cattle is, by trade, a government hunter, and he often tells of hunting from a chopper, feral hogs and coyotes and even he relates to the large number of hogs around the county.... Here I sit, still waiting.
Feral hogs are both fun to hunt and very, very tasty... My son had one that he caught in a trap and kept it to feed out... He tells me that the hog is very, very mean and will be happy when it is in the freezer...