hog behavior

[robert bw]

Anyone got any idea why a sounder of hogs will tend to stay still(at least for a shot or 3)when you commence hostilities?

Im thinking they don't want to run into the danger, or maybe its just surprise.Some body starts shootin at me im gonna start truckin for cover, then again, I aint no hog.

I think they get to much credit in the smarts department.Any time ive disturbed a group, they just run out of eyesight and go right back to what they were doing(eating, of course).

Anytime im out in the woods and see some(without a gun)I try to see how close I can get(within reason of course)just to learn more about their behavior.

Ive never encountered any aggressive behavior even when there are little ones present.

Who knows what exactly goes on behind those beady little eyes? What say yall?

 

[Zonie]

I say I know nothing about hogs except they make for pretty good eating.

Now, Javelina (or Peccary if you prefer)which are not related to hogs in any way, will run if something frightens them.

They are not really aggressive critters but when they scatter, they will go in every direction.

With their poor eyesight they won't recognize a person as being any different than a tree or large cactus so they often will run right at a person.

They aren't very big but they do have big tusks like a hog and will sometimes "pop" them if they are scared.
Adding the running and popping together, it's no wonder most people think Javelina just wait until some dumb person comes around so they can attack them. :grin:

Anyway, I'll try to put the train back on track and say,
maybe hogs are too lazy to spend a lot of energy running?

 

[satx78247]

Like everyone else in TX who has a farm/ranch land, we have LOTS of hogs on our farm (so many in fact that we have a contracted hog trapper who catches/removes them to OK) & I suspect (but do not know) that before they run (unlike the Javelinas) that they try to figure out where the danger is & then flee from that perceived danger.

Feral hogs are smarter than the Javelina.

just my OPINION, satx

 

[robert bw]

Here in Fl we got plenty of em, as I live in a predominately agricultural area, im allways on the lookout for oppurtunitys for taking nuisance hogs.

Alas, it seems its all wrapped up.If I get the chance, Ill offer free labor(or cash)to get acsess to hunting land.Its a hard sell though.

Wild hogs are worth cash round here.Local paper says so :idunno:

 

[Don Steele]

Hogs don't know it's "Gunfire". It's been my experience hunting them in S.E. Georgia on timber company land that they hear a lot of random man-made noises from varying distances in their environment. Only ONE of which represents immediate danger. These aren't "Wilderness creatures". As a result, there's often a hesitation in bolting from fright until they get an idea that the noise is connected to the close proximity of humans.

 

[robert bw]

ive heard many people swear they are nocturnal and perhaps they are.However,all the ones I see are out at varying times of day.

I suspect, due to the fact that im sleeping at night,I possibly aint the best one to know.

I suppose they respond to changes in their enviroments(seasons changing ect.)by subsequently changing there behavior as well.I guess the best answer to this question is to spend some time in the woods and observe firsthand. :idunno:

 

[satx78247]

Fwiw, I've had GOOD success on hogs (shooting over bait) in every hour from dawn to it's too dark to see the sights, with rifle & XB.
(Given that I shoot for BBQ & the freezer, I'm really picky about taking the young shoats & seldom any pig over 100#.)

yours, satx

 

[FrontierMuzzleloading]

Not sure what hogs stay still for 1-3 shots. The one I got back in March, there was 3 of them and after the shot, those piggies scattered. All but one in fact. But she was dead on the spot :haha:

 

[BrownBear]

So many different "sides" to pigs we're reading here, it could almost be different species we're talking about.

Been a few years since I hunted, but I've seen lots along the West Coast in our wanderings the last few years.

When I was growing up right along the border in New Mexico in the 1950's and 1960's we hunted both ferals and javelina. Maybe it was the open country, and maybe it was experience with people, but either would be gone like rockets the moment they sensed you.

Spent a few years in the coast range of CA after that, hunting largely in grasslands and oaks. Same there with the ferals. They'd be gone the moment they sensed you. The ones we see in the same area these days behave the same way.

Shake it all in a box, and I have to wonder if prior experience with people and especially hunters is the big difference in reports.

 

[robert bw]

Not sure what hogs stay still for 1-3 shots. The one I got back in March, there was 3 of them and after the shot, those piggies scattered. All but one in fact. But she was dead on the spot :haha:

I killed one with a cap n ball 44 few months back, there were two sows that I managed to stalk up on pretty close. Still getting used to my piece(they tend to shoot high).

Shot twice at the first one,apparently sent the lead right over the top.Took a third shot at the second one.At this point they both took off.First sow went over a ridgeline, second sow run 15 fett or so and faltered, DRT, double lung shot with round ball 20 grains of pyro.

Now is this the norm?Couldnt really tell ya as this is my first pig bagged.But I do know ive been able to walk up pretty close to a sounder several times in daylight.FWIW

Now all this being said I got plenty of cover in a swampy riverside area.Im pretty sure it would be a different story in open country.

 

[robinsroost]

Swamp Chicken, I believe that since a hogs ears face forward, they won't know which direction the shot came from, unless they are facing you......robin :hmm:

 

[robert bw]

That's a thought :hmm:

 

[Choctaw]

Which may be the reason hogs in their confusion may actually come towards the hunter in what some folks will mistake for a charge, when in reality the pig is only trying to clear the area.

I fired into a group of four hogs last year. Two dropped, the other two came towards me. I fired another round to anchor the first pig I had shot. When I did, the surviving two realized I was to their front and quickly peeled off into the brush. They were not charging me, they just didn't know where to go.

 

[hanshi]

Maybe they are kind of like deer in that they hear thunder, trees breaking, machinery noises. On quite a few occasions I've fired and killed one deer and a couple of others just pop their heads up until I reloaded and got another. Many times I've got three in a row. They don't necessarily recognize gunfire for what it is.

 

[blackpowderscout]

Probably the same reason deer do it all the time...

What that is I have no clue but it's not just a hog thing.

 

[robert bw]

Thank the Lord, because of it I love me some pulled pork. :v

 

[Patocazador]

Ive never encountered any aggressive behavior even when there are little ones present.

I went to the emergency room with a tear wound in an unmentionable place when I got between a sow and her pigs.

Don't short-change a hog when it comes to potential danger.

 

[FishDFly]

My hog hunter called a couple years ago from his cell phone and asked for some help. He was on top of my very tall trap which as full of piglets, mama hog was laying near by and when he tried to get down, she would rush at him. Trap was tall enough so he was safe.

Mama and I had a talk, she moved off, the piglets were turned loose.

 

[BrownBear]

When I was a kid down in the desert there was a stock pond 8 miles down the road from home. Beyond the "legal" range established by my folks, but when they were off somewhere and it seemed safe, I'm mount my fishing rod and tackle box on my bike and pedal like crazy for a meeting with bass and bluegill, trying to be home before they were. I'm sure they noticed a fishy smell on me, but they never said anything because they hadn't caught me at it.

My last and final trip down there I'd been lazing quietly on the bank when a bunch of piglets came up over the berm right above me. They went to squealing and carrying on, then black-and-white momma tore over the top with blood in her eye.

Put me up a cottonwood in a heartbeat. When she couldn't get to me, she proceeded to stomp and tear at my rod and tackle box. Wasn't even worth digging it out of the mud when she finished, checked me out in the tree one more time, and set off through the mesquite.

Hard to explain the missing tackle a few days later, any more than there was any explanation for my newfound enthusiasm for pig hunting! :rotf: