Tips and tricks for hunting and trapping wild boar and feral hogs.
Don’t pile your bait up on top of the ground! Use a post hole digger and dig a hole as narrow and deep as you can; then fill it up with your bait. The top picture shows that the hogs will gobble it up within minutes. If the bait is hard to get to; they will have to take turns; this makes them hang around longer and forces them to sneak in during daylight hours to beat the crowd. This will increase your odds of taking one.
Trail Cam Safety And Camo
My good friends Scott Young and Ivan Murphy came up with some great ways to keep your trail cams safe. The Top was made by Scott out of an old ammo can; the bottom was made by Ivan out of a cash box.
Trail cams have become a valuble hunting tool. They can help you predict the future and save you time in the field. I use them constantly for research and predictability. I like to check my pictures as much as I do hunting! I suggest investing in a good digital; they can take hundreds of pictures and video as well. It is almost a sport itself.
If you use a stand or blind; camo it please! Hogs don’t have the best eye sight in the animal kingdom, but they are not stupid either!
Shooting Lanes
Shooting lanes, trails, high lines, pipelines etc, are great places to stalk hogs and look for sign. You can walk quietly and see them from a distance. If you want to bait them in these places; scatter it out over a long distance to make them keep coming back to find it. I use my 4 wheeler with an auto feeder on the back to scatter bait here and there along trails.
Hog Wallows
Wild boar love to rub on trees and wallow in the mud to rid themselves of lice , blow flies, etc. Telephone poles are their favorite because they contain creosole (a preservative and bug repellent). I cut one up that fell in my yard during Hurricane Rita and took it to the woods for the hogs; they use it constantly. You can see the bed they have made beside the bottom picture.
Stand Location
Put your stand were the hogs are if your going to stand hunt! If you want to be succesful; you have to be willing to work , and get dirty! I have to wade to this stand sometimes, but I stick em in the pump station regularly.
The Dominant Boar and Feeders
Dominant boar are like an old buck, they like to be by themselves. Every now and then you will catch one in the daylight showing his authority.
While we are on the subject of dominant boar; hunting them can be difficult and challenging; because they are loaners, and they are well educated to survival. Large tracks that are by themselves usually indicate a dominant boar.
Stake down any feeder that you use. This boar picked up my barrel “that weighs about 500lbs when full” with his snout. He managed to crack the barrel. If you forget to stake down a barrel, they may run off with it through the woods dumping all of your feed out and ruining your feeder and hunting success.
It’s Hunting Time – Baby Hog Tracks
When you see baby hog tracks; its time to hunt. momma hogs have a hard time keeping up with the babies and feeding them; they love to eat! Not only does nursing deplete momma from calcium, and makes her eat more often, but the babies are learning to eat real food and are not educated to rules of survival. They will lead the whole heard into the daylight. They want to eat and the heard wants to protect them! Hunt them down now!