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Hawg Hunting?

2K views 20 replies 15 participants last post by  lightsoutcalls 
#1 ·
Have you seen those videos on the web? Those ones where running hogs are shot from helicopters? Where they're shot at feeders, at night? Where shots are taken as long as any running pigs are still in sight? Where 30 round mags are emptied at hogs running through cover, or running over the visual horizon?

Catch me up on this.

I've never hunted hogs and I don't live where feral hogs are a problem for me or anyone I know. I understand how they are extremely destructive to crops and even athletic fields and suburban lawns. That they are roundly hated. I get that.

But have hogs sunk to the level that there is no ethical responsibility to hunt them humanely? To be sure of the shot? To follow up and recover the wounded? Are hogs now in the same category as city dump rats?

Hogs reproduce frequently and often have litters of a dozen or more. Recreational hunting (if the examples above are to be considered "recreational hunting") cannot reduce the numbers enough to have a substantial effect on hog populations, since probably half of them get away from the shooters. One breeding cycle and the numbers are back up to where they were. These shoots are minimally effective, at most, for population control.

Hunt them? Heck yeah! Hunt them all, hunt them hard, and hunt them often. Hunt them from stands, hunt them over bait, and hunt them at night with imaging scopes. I hope to be out there myself one day one day before too long. But those videos are not doing ethical hunters of other game any favors. Those videos are the closest many people, read voters, will ever get to hunting. Please, I say, hunt them ethically, just as you would hunt deer, or bear, or anything else, and stop posting those irresponsible videos.

If I'm missing something here, please fill me in.
 
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#4 ·
Hey HK, I tend to be a little unethical with the feral hogs that come on my little 15 acres of heaven. There is a major game trail that cuts across the corner of the property. I have a game camera on the trail and knew that sounders >40 were going through and killed a few "ethically" with the 45-70. But I woke up one morning and the entire 15 acres looked like someone had spent the night working it over with a disc or turning plow. I'm a little unsteady on my feet after a major illness and this creates a mobility issue for me. So now, I shoot them as long as I have a safe background without regard for their concept of good sportsmanship.
 
#6 ·
They are Like fleas on a 2 dollar dog in these parts.
More than you could shoot in a lifetime of hunting.
Perhaps I am just Old Fashioned , but I hunt them on foot, and try to make sure I have a killing shot prior to squeezing the trigger.
They may be pests, but they cook up just fine, why waste them indiscriminately.
I have killed them with just about every caliber of rifle I own, excepting the 22's, and with slugs from a 410 as well, and also with my Delta Elite.
Its nice to have some sort of No Season , No Limit Game that is actually edible.
 
#8 ·
The situation with hogs down south is like our coyote problem here in Ohio. A few guys going out to shoot them once in a while has no effect on the population. Trapping or poison is the only way. Pioson is out of the question and trapping is expensive and time consuming.
Being that there is money in hog hunting it's going to be hard to stop them. The control of hogs could be done with the birth control baits they have used on other species in the past.
 
#9 ·
If the Farmers and Ranchers want more people to come down and shoot hogs, maybe they could drop the price a little. $400 for a day and a half, or sometimes two days, and you get 1 or 2 hogs is too spendy. They get guide fees, skinning fees, and tips, so it adds up to the point where it's just not worth it. I don't mind hunting a well managed 10,000 acre operation, I have before, but some just charge too much. No food and cold water shower for $200 per day isn't a fair price.
 
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#11 ·
It's a catching situation. Property owners can't open up their property to everyone. There are all kinds of legal issues of liability for the owners. Hunters will not kill enough hogs to make a difference. The owners who are letting hunters in for a fee have to charge enough to make it worthwhile to them. Hog hunters are a supplement to the income and probably not near enough to make up for damage. I would guess the property owners that have major hog trouble are running a trapping program. It the only method reasonable at this time.
 
#12 ·
Thirty years ago peanut farmers would pay me to shoot hogs off their fields. Now they want people to pay to shoot them. Today - I would not walk across the road to shoot one - even if it were free. The farmers want their cake and eat it too. This is why we see videos of these idiots on You Tube. They are not hunters or even close - they just own a gun and want to shoot something and have the money to pay for it. They cannot do this with deer because States have laws, but no laws for feral hogs or for ethical or common sense hunting of said creature. We could control feral hogs,but the cost would be great and who is going to pay the bill.
 
#18 ·
Same down here! Used to be that farmers were happy to have someone (usually commercial hog guys who would then release them on their own property) trap hogs on their property (getting it for free). Then they started to charge the trappers ~$25per hog (only thing better than gettin’ your dirty work done for FREE, is to charge someone to do it for you)! THEEENN, they realized they could make more $$$ by holding hunts on their farms essentially cut out the guys that were helpin’ them out from the beginning!
 
#14 ·
I see both sides of this. Farmers do get subsidies but they also take big losses when weather, critters and other things give them a bad year/years. I know farmers who lease their land to guides and such but if someone is willing to pay stupid amounts of money to hunt, would you say no?
I am currently working with a farmer to eliminate hogs, ground hogs. Lots of them up there. Probably going to shoot and trap them. Guess they are still willing to allow me to kill them for free. Hope they don't catch on as the game of choice in the future. Whacking ground hogs is fun, endears me to the farmer, and gets me access to hunt deer and turkey.
V
 
#15 ·
Yeah, always a weird deal when you hear about the destruction caused by these critters and then you see what folks charge to shoot one. I have a feeling that if I were a local in those parts that I'd be able to wrangle up some free access, but to do so remotely is a lot tougher. Maybe I'm wrong on this tho?

My doomsday prediction:Hunters a few generations from now will be happy to have hogs to hunt after cwd completes its plunder of our cervid population.
 
#16 ·
They are trying to poison them but can't keep up with the population. The feeder they use is portable and has several feeding slots in it and when it hears hog sound the computer is activated and the hatches open and the pigs feed on a blood fhinner poison. They say that if you kill a pig and the meat is a blueish color not to eat him. I don't like all the pigs as they compete with the deer for acorns and run a lot of dee off the feeders. They will really tear up your yard after grubs and worms just the other night they came up in my sons yard and rooted up his flower beds around his house. They are a pest but are fun to shoot but after killing a lot of them over the years I can kinda take or leave them.
 
#17 ·
Mountain Guy,Agree with most you say, but CWD isn't going to do that. At least the current evidence shows it won't. EHD has killed many more deer than CWD.

Horseshoe, I know they are pests but the poison thing is a mistake in my opinion. Where I use to live they poisoned the rats for basically the same reason. I found a lot of dead rats in my yard since I lived near the water. They head for that when poisoned. I had to really watch my dog so she didn't get poisoned as well. I think hunting could help control populations but since it is a money maker, they don't want to exterminate them. Trapping is a good alternative. They have been using it with good effect at Ft Benning. However, until they decide whether they want or don't want pigs around there will be an issue. I think that is a driving factor.
V
 
#19 ·
There use to be groundhogs galore in these parts. There wasn't many farmers that would turn you down. Much of my access to hunt small game and deer came from friendships built up from shooting Ghogs. There was one old guy that didn't allow hunting on his farm. One evening I was talking to some neighboring farmers and the old guy pulls in and ask me why I wasn't shooting his Ghogs?
That's all that was said. I started shooting on his farm and hunting game too. I only had one restriction, there was a 5acre patch of prime squirrel woods he reserved for himself. That was 1965. He never would sign a permission slip for me and I was the only one allowed to hunt on his property. He passed at 92 a couple years back and new owners allow no hunting of anykind.
 
#20 · (Edited)
I hunt hogs, my buddies hunt hogs, the farmers we lease from want them pressured as much as possible. That does not relieve me or my buddies from ethical treatment. Trap and shoot or bait and shoot works for us. Of course line them up and try for the double! Mono flex works from my 308MX
Snout Peccary Rodent Capybara
 
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#21 ·
I am all about killing hogs anytime and as often as I can. That said, unless it is a rank monster of a boar, all of our hogs get processed and eaten. I had 1 hog years ago get up and run off. That was enough for me to know to anchor them with a second shot if they make any efforts to get back up. My preferred shot is behind the ear or between eye and ear, whichever shot presents. I have let hogs walk that I couldn't get a quick kill shot on.
 
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