Skunked on tags, need hog advice.

[Sean Gadhar]

The wife, two hunting buddies, and I all got skunked on all our Colorado tags. I for one think this is a sign I should go on a hog hunt. Having never been I'm looking for advice on where and when.

Much more interested in the " helping a land owner get rid of problem pig type of hunt, then the hunting lodge and guide type. But I don't know if the former even exists

 

[BillinOregon]

Sean, I think your analysis of the situation is absolutely correct. With the ongoing swine jihad an easy drive away in Texas, I'll bet you'll find someone who is sympathetic to your cause. I'd come along if I were closer. Always wanted to bonk a 100-pounder for the table.

 

[satx78247]

Go near water, look for a hog-wallow, build a blind, put out corn/sweets & sit over your cache of food. = The hogs will come to you.

yours, satx

 

[satx78247]

ImVho, the "wee piggies" that field dress about 40-60# are the best tasting, with a young sow next in line for taste.
(There NO shortage of feral swine out there, so you can be "picky" about which ones that you take for the table.)

yours, satx

 

[Silky921]

I would agree with that statement on the size of hog for table fare. I shot a young but big 250 lb one, who ended up being pretty good actually.

Also shot a gray haired grizzled one who was missing his reproductive organs, meaning he lost them in a fight or was hog-tied. He was a little "tough" to swallow. Most of him became jerky.

 

[nwtradegun]

tx. is the closet to you. use at least a 50 cal. or larger. aim for the neck. hogs have a grizzle sheald on ther shoulder areas. use the heaviest charge you can shoot accuratly. real feral hogs go no larger than 150 to 175. these hugh ones are shot in fenced preserves. limit shots to 50 yards

 

[FishDFly]

Much more interested in the " helping a land owner get rid of problem pig type of hunt, then the hunting lodge and guide type. But I don't know if the former even exists

Go near water, look for a hog-wallow, build a blind, put out corn/sweets & sit over your cache of food. = The hogs will come to you.




No land owner in Texas is going to let folks he does not know to hunt on his land to hunt for free, it is called a liability risk.

Find water, hell for a change we have plenty, I have spent almost $30,000 repairing rain damage and looking at another $10,000.

The hog trappers have quit until September.

In all honesty if you showed up at my place, you could not find a hog in a week, they are there, but they are the smartest critter in the woods.

 

[nwtradegun]

I was not infurring you go with a corralled hog hunt. contact the tx. dept of agriculture and wild life comm. to steer you in that direction.

 

[FishDFly]

Check with Texas Hog Hunters website, you might find what you want.

 

[okawbow]

I hunt hogs in central Texas every year. We hunt a 3000 acre ranch, and have the whole place to ourselves for the week. The landowner allows archery only, though, but only charges $75 a day per hunter trespass/ camping fee. We can kill as many pigs as we want.

A 5 day non resident special hunting license cost $48 and you can buy it online, or at many stores along the way.

We usually put out our own baits, or spot and stalk. I usually get 1 or 2 with a longbow. I could get several more with a flintlock, I think. That doesn't mean they are a push over. Some of our hunters hunt the whole week without a shot.

 

[FishDFly]

"We usually put out our own baits, or spot and stalk. I usually get 1 or 2 with a longbow. I could get several more with a flintlock, I think. That doesn't mean they are a push over. Some of our hunters hunt the whole week without a shot"



Is the ranch high fenced/hog wire where they cannot escape??

Seems folks from up north think that they come to Texas, hunt a place they have never seen and eradicate all the hogs in Texas.

If it was easy. we would not have all these hogs running around.

Hogs, for the most part are nocturnal. As we move into summer, they are seeking water, coolness and do not move around in the heat of the day.

I am on the ranch daily and do not see that many in the daylight.

 

[satx78247]

SORRY to disagree but OBVIOUSLY you aren't from NE Texas, as I am. = I can think of a dozen farms in each of CAMP, FRANKLIN, MORRIS, RED RIVER, TITUS & UPSHUR counties, where you will be welcomed by farmers, provided that you are WELL-MANNERED, "don't act a fool", aren't obviously drunk/"high" & don't leave the gates open, so that stock doesn't get out in the road.
(Some of those area's small farmers will ask for "a token fee" to "day hunt" for hogs, though many farmers will respond positively to a POLITE request.)

I've personally hunted ALL of those counties over the last 4 decades.
(We now reside in BEXAR county, as we had to move there for my beloved "Duckie's" medical treatment at Ft Sam Houston MEDDAC & at the last big SA gun-show I saw FOUR "venders" that were asking 25-75.oo per day to hunt their place for hogs. - Personally, even in south TX, I seldom pay to hunt swine & have no shortage of hunting places, including the 3 HUGE ranches that the Texas Crossbow Assn has leased for a pittance per annum. - Our yearly dues are LOW, btw.)

yours, satx

 

[okawbow]

High fence?? That's insulting. I will never hunt anything inside any enclosure.

We hunt a working cattle ranch. It's not unusual for me to see dozens of pigs in one day of spot and stalk. These are unpressured hogs that have been wild for possibly hundreds of years. Most are black with a "razorback". The landowner even sets aside one large pasture for archery hog hunting only. It has lots of brush and water, and lots of hogs. This is hill country, so we can sit the ridges and glass for them.

There's nothing easy about hunting these hogs. I have over 50 years of hardcore traditional bow hunting experience. To me, a flintlock is much easier than a longbow, because I can kill at over 50 yards, instead of having to get under 20 yards, and then having to move to draw the bow!

A good hunter can expect to see and get shots at hogs when hunting hard in a good area. It doesn't matter where he's from, just how hard and smart he hunts.

 

[FishDFly]

"SORRY to disagree but OBVIOUSLY you aren't from NE Texas, as I am"

I do own a ranch in NE Texas and pay taxes on it......

OBVIOUSLY, you do not know of what you speak.

 

[FishDFly]

High fence?? That's insulting. I will never hunt anything inside any enclosure.

All fences are enclosures.

Insulting, I do not think so, most ranches have gone in to high fences and hog wire on the bottom to keep critters in or out.

High fences are also used to keep out trespassers.

 

[okawbow]

A fence is not an enclosure when animals can easily come and go through the fence at will. It's just another part of the free range they live on.

I only hunt free ranging game. Shooting an animal trapped inside a high, inescapable fence is just farming.

 

[Sean Gadhar]

I think we are a bit >>>>>>>>>>>>>>
ff

Help wise I'm looking for. Things like. Counties to hunt, how you find properties ie. the coop? Brand inspector ? Craig's list?

We are spoiled in the west. There is so much BLM and forest service land a guy can go years & years and never need to enter private property. And there are really only 3 ways you get on pp out here, guided hunt, trespass fee, get invited. Really the last one requires matrimony in most cases & you still might not get asked for 5 or 6 years.

 

[satx78247]

WHICH county in NETX?? - NOT any of the counties that I listed above, unless things have radically changed in the last 90 days since I was at "home" in Camp County.

Btw, there are FEW places in "my home area" of NETX that are commonly called "ranches"; even IF you have a BIG place, we usually call them "farms", up there, as "locals" think that calling a place a "ranch" is bragging, "putting on airs" & PRETENTIOUS.
(Offhand, the FEW that are called "ranches" there are owned by "outlanders", like The BROSECO Ranch that is owned by a corporation out of NYC.)

yours, satx

 

[Sean Gadhar]

:hatsoff: thanks all I got some info PMed to me that gives me a starting place or two. I sent out one email asking some questions. Hopefully something will pan out.

 

[nwtradegun]

you will see miles of fence to keep cattle and live stock in. also to protect crops .the hogs can easly get thru them into the fields. these are not penned in hunts.