Yankee Came Down😉

[SwampCat]

On another forum, a good ol boy from Ohio was coming down to the sweltering south for a short vacation with his family, 45 minutes from my place. He is a hunter and was curious about maybe working in a short hog hunt one night. Several forum members offered something up but mostly woods to hunt that had hogs at times. Just so happened, I had a good herd of hogs pretty solid on a feeder - just prime for a short thermal hunt. He arrived at his destination at about 6:30 PM Sunday eve and gave me a call. He headed out to my place not too long after and arrived about 8:15. He was headed back to the motel at 9:30 pm after reducing the hog population by two. They spooked before we got in position or he might have got another or two. A sultry 90 degrees and 92% humidity broke him in right. As an Ohio hunter, he was impressed with the skeeters, although I told him they werent really out good - yet




Good guy - glad I got to meet him and glad it worked out

 

[swat1018]

Very nice of you. Guys up north don't get too many chances on hogs. I winter in FL and killed 7 down there this winter, but at home in Indiana, no such luck. Although, glad I don't have to deal with them here or at my farms in MO.

 

[matinc]

I have to say you can have them. Thank gosh we don't have that to deal with

 

[SwampCat]

I have to say you can have them. Thank gosh we don't have that to deal with

No doubt, if you are a farmer, hogs can be the devil. As a land manager with an emphasis on wildlife, I dont have many big problems. They do graze clover and eat wheat seed heads, same as a deer - but they do very little ground rooting - except in the fall under the native pecans when the nuts start dropping. They are fairly well behaved - staying for the most part in the bottoms. Half my 350 acres is bottoms and half is upland. They rarely come up out of the bottoms - maybe a big lone boar roaming around. I know people with land a mile away in the uplands who have never seen a hog on their place. They do displace deer for the most part - 100 yards maybe. But they often feed in the same two acre food plot - but rarely at the same feeder at the same time. They are much more nocturnal than a deer - some times I go all year without seeing one during daylight - while I might see fifty deer in a single day. As a deer hunter, I might kill one or two deer a season. As a hog hunter, I might kill fifty or more a year - some years a lot more. Living on my property, and being a person who likes to shoot and hunt - hogs are a welcome addition to my place. If we had lots of turkeys, quail, rabbits, and ducks - it would be different. But we dont - whether in hog country or not.

 

[hunts_with_stick]

Are they good eating? I have just heard they are pests

 

[Wind Gypsy]

Where abouts are you @SwampCat ? I had a little roadtrip between Shreveport and Crossett, AR last week. Was my first time in that region and i was looking around at the habitat thinking about some of the stuff you post. Cool to see different country first hand.

 

[SwampCat]

Where abouts are you @SwampCat ? I had a little roadtrip between Shreveport and Crossett, AR last week. Was my first time in that region and i was looking around at the habitat thinking about some of the stuff you post. Cool to see different country first hand.

Due north of shreveport about 130 miles. Daughter, SIL, and two grand daughters live just south of shreveport. I am 40 miles north of Texarkana

 

[SwampCat]

Are they good eating? I have just heard they are pests

The right hog is pretty good. A gilt - 75/80 female that hasnt had a litter yet is probably best. They 140 lb boars and up are pretty strong. Most folks that keep them mostly grind them and mix with their deer for sausage. A 30/40 lb whole griller aint bad. But, we shoot a whole lot more hogs in summer than winter. Working them up in 95 degree heat - at night - makes them very difficult to give away

 

[matinc]

Swampcat. Do you just shoot them and let them rot if there no good to eat. I am surprised that they spend more time in the swamps than upland.

 

[SwampCat]

Swampcat. Do you just shoot them and let them rot if there no good to eat. I am surprised that they spend more time in the swamps than upland.

Yes - I shoot most and let them rot. Most are shot at night in 90 degree heat and cant give them away. If we happen to shoot one when it is cooler and not a rank boar or drug down sow, we may give it away of grind it with deer to make sausage. Fall hogs are milder after feeding on wild pecans