Why hog hunting

Author: Hogmanadmin Posted: March 06, Many seasoned hunters of other game have attempted to tackle the continuously growing hog problems around the country and have gone home empty handed. How smart are pigs? Pretty darn smart! Smarter than dolphins. Smarter than 3 year-olds? What this means in the wild is that they can easily outsmart the average hunter because every hunter that has tried to kill that animal and failed has further educated it on how to survive even better.

Porter stops to let his own two dogs out of their pens in the bed of the pickup and they, too, are off in a flash. When the truck reaches the area where the pigs had been, Porter, his partner Andy Garcia and I hear frantic barking and a low-pitched sighing sound.

Running into the brush, we find the dogs have surrounded a red and black wild hog in a clearing. Two dogs have clamped onto its ears. The dogs back off and quiet down as he grabs its rear legs and drags it back to his truck. Stewart and his hunting and wildlife manager, Craig Oakes, began noticing wild hogs on the land in the s, and the animals have become more of a problem every year. Many hunters prefer working with dogs.

Two types of dogs are used in the hunt. Bay dogs—usually curs such as the Rhodesian Ridgeback, black-mouth cur or Catahoula or scent hounds such as the foxhound or Plott Hound—sniff out and pursue the animals. A hog will attempt to flee, but if cornered or wounded will likely attack, battering the bay dogs with its snout or goring them with its tusks. Some hunters outfit their dogs in Kevlar vests.

Catch dogs grab the bayed pig, usually at the base of the ear, and wrestle it to the ground, holding it until the hunter arrives to finish it off. Dogs show off their wild-hog skills at bayings, also known as bay trials, which are held most weekends in rural towns across Texas. A wild hog is released in a large pen and one or two dogs attempt to bay it, while spectators cheer.

Occasionally bayings serve as fund-raisers for community members in need. Ervin Callaway holds a baying on the third weekend of every month. His pen is down a rutted dirt road off U. His son Mike is one of the judges. We count off any distractions, a tenth of a point for each. When it tries to move away, a young man uses a plywood shield to funnel it toward the dogs.

They stop less than a foot away from the hog and make eye contact, barking until the animal shoots between them toward the other side of the pen. As the dogs close back in, the hog swerves hard into a fence, then bounces off.

The smaller dog grabs its tail but is spun around until it lets go. The pig runs into a wallow and sits there. The yellow dog bays and barks, but from maybe three feet away, too far to be effective, and then it loses concentration and backs off. The pig exits through the chute. Neither dog scores well. Several states, including Alabama, Mississippi, South Carolina and North Carolina, have outlawed bayings in response to protests from animal rights groups.

That five-day event began in and draws about 10, people annually. The event was canceled because of disputes among the organizers. But bayings continue to take place on a smaller scale elsewhere, as do bloodier hog-catch trials in which dogs attack penned-in wild hogs and wrestle them to the ground. The legality of both events is in dispute, but local authorities tend not to prosecute.

A local prosecutor would have to argue these things, and so far nobody has. Quaca, 38, began rifle hunting when he was 4 years old but switched to bowhunting at age He likes the silence after the shot. As a teen, he eagerly helped neighbors clear out unwanted hogs.

A customer dubbed him Pig Man, and it stuck. About an hour before sunset, Quaca takes me to a blind near a feeding station in the woods. A slight breeze eases through the blind. I asked why he had to stop himself. We tell each other lies as the afternoon wears on. When Thomas laughs, the whole stand shakes.

Around 5, three deer materialize silently and work their way toward the feeder. Eventually, something beyond the feeder spooks them and they take off. Five minutes before legal light ends, five or seven hogs show up. But these make almost no sound. I put the scope on nice one but then it faces away. Thomas is telling me to shoot, so I move right, to another hog. As is the scope reticle. I also have to center the reticle solely by the visible parts of the crosshairs.

I fire, a cloud of dust rises by the feeder. I had. We looked all over for blood, which would have been easy to see on the dusty ground. We went out the next day and both sat in stands and drove around in the gator hoping to jump some pigs. We saw one group but they skedaddled well before we could get our rifles on them. Long story short, no pigs. Turns out hogs are just like deer or geese or turkeys.

Wild hogs are expanding their range across the country. Hogs are largely nocturnal, though, and can be difficult to find. These tips can help put you in the swine zone. If the tip of the toe is blunt, a hog likely made it. Look for doglike scat without the ropy shape common to predator scat.

Hogs roll around wet areas to get caked with mud, which gives them relief from heat and biting insects. Trees, logs, telephone poles, and fence rails coated with mud are undoubtedly hog rubs.

Fresh mud means hogs are nearby. Hogs rip the ground to shreds looking for tender roots and any grub, worm, or acorn they turn up in the dirt. The relative moisture of a rooted area is a clue to its age, but hogs roam far while feeding. Wild hogs typically dig a shallow bed in thick, nasty cover.

Find a tunnel-like trail opening facing open woods or water sources, then get in position for a downwind ambush. To make a good hit on a hog, you need to keep your shots close and follow these steps:. Wait for the pig to quarter away.