I rarely see them in my part of northeast Florida but see them all the time every time I'm in southern Georgia. Would be a total blast to add a night vision scope to my suppressed 45-70s.
I shot some hogs in Texas several years in a row using my 1894 with Nosler and Winchester .430" soft nose bullets over 23.0 grains of IMR 4227. We brought the meat home on ice and the local butcher made it into Bratwurst. Just excellent. I was recovering one 90-100 pound pig near a water hole, and on ground was a red Swiss Army knife, a Victorinox. Great bonus. Shooting hogs is fun, especially when they run off through the brush and die in the middle of a big patch of prickly pear. The .44 Mag leaves a good blood and lung tissue trail, always a pass-through. I shot about a dozen and never did recover any bullets.
They won't allow us to hunt them anymore in Missouri. Conservation Dept wants them all trapped now, they say hunting just spreads the sounders all over creation while trapping if done right can capture the whole sounder or most of them in one fell swoop. I think anything goes in Texas outside of tactical Nukes.
They have the same law here in Kansas. I've been told its to prevent people from creating profitable pig hunting businesses by "accidentally" releasing some pigs.
I've lived in TX and all I'll say is if they could get their hands on tactical nukes, they would use them to kill wild pigs!
Two things here. 1) I don't think Texas has as BIG a problem as they say BECAUSE...I have a group of 13 hunters who have been to Georgia multiple times hunting pigs. We were together at the Harrisburg Pa sportsman show and we offered to :fill the camp" as many hunters as they wanted/could handle BUUUT because we were going to take all available space for however many days they would allow, we wanted a substantial discount from the &500-600 a day per person. Nope Nope Nope. We asked many outfitters and all had the same answer. Seems a little odd that you have a HUGE problem but when a group of experienced outdoorsmen offer to help you out with this problem, for a reduced fee, that you can't agree to it. How big a problem do you really have, then? When people come over to help me clean my garage I don't usually charge them much.
By the same token, I will be down in Georgia again the first week of January with a suppressed 1895 and a AR(same suppressor) in 458 Socom. Gotta be daytime hunting though as it is a deer/pi combo hunt.
I grew up in Southeast Texas during the 70's and 80's. We would see the occasional wild hog, but nothing like what I see reported now. There was also a lot of public ground to hunt or at least places that I as a teenager could go to hunt fish and trap. Now everything is privately owned and they ask big money to hunt on it. Hurts my soul to see what its become. Public hunting places are few and far between and they are definitely not prime hunting ground. I moved to Kansas in the late 80's and I have numerous public hunting grounds and they seem to be well managed. KS has a strickly no shoot policy on hogs. They have to be taken out by permit and only by the landowner or the game wardens.
They're mean and smart. Also tend to go to areas where folks have a hard time getting if you don't drop em in place.
They learn quick and damn near reproduce as quick
Two things here. 1) I don't think Texas has as BIG a problem as they say BECAUSE...I have a group of 13 hunters who have been to Georgia multiple times hunting pigs. We were together at the Harrisburg Pa sportsman show and we offered to :fill the camp" as many hunters as they wanted/could handle BUUUT because we were going to take all available space for however many days they would allow, we wanted a substantial discount from the &500-600 a day per person. Nope Nope Nope. We asked many outfitters and all had the same answer. Seems a little odd that you have a HUGE problem but when a group of experienced outdoorsmen offer to help you out with this problem, for a reduced fee, that you can't agree to it. How big a problem do you really have, then? When people come over to help me clean my garage I don't usually charge them much.
By the same token, I will be down in Georgia again the first week of January with a suppressed 1895 and a AR(same suppressor) in 458 Socom. Gotta be daytime hunting though as it is a deer/pi combo hunt.
The anti-hog hunting laws are just that, anti-hunting laws.
Hogs are smart enough that they don’t like going back to where death awaits. There are plenty of videos showing hogs not entering traps because they are educated. large sounders tearing up crops all around the traps and never entering. Trapping only works for a limited time.
I’ve been part of a group that used to get paid to eradicate hogs on several ranches. It was never much money but it offset costs. Now they want us to pay to remove their problem. I still get phone calls from the ranchers begging us to come back but they still want money. I don’t blame them but they can have their hogs!
Only one ranch owner is still smart enough to know we do them good. Our group are the only hunters (including some of their own family members) or cull team now allowed on the ranch. We do pay a very nominal fee to stay in the bunkhouse but all the hogs are ours to keep whether we sell them or eat them. They also give us huge discounts on exotic game and a 10 fish per person per day limit from the ponds. We mostly catch and release anyways.
One of the problems opening up to hog hunting is many hunters are pigs and do not respect the business operation, property, crops, livestock or land. They have to restrict access and charge money to repair the damage and clean up. Some ranchers do see hunting as simply a business opportunity. Many hunters will drive through crops, cut fences or simply leave the dead animals in the field. All of which causes damage. What do you think a rancher should do when when their tractor or harvester are disabled by a rotten stinking animal left in the field? It did just as much damage as that hog left alive, or more.
When not hunt, we have repaired fences, four wheelers, side-by-side‘s, pick up trucks, tractors, feeders, well pumps, picked up beer cans, trash, even brass, etc that other hunters have left or damaged. We treat their place better than our own, that’s why we are invited back.
A mature male hog is by far more intelligent than any other animal on North America than any deer, elk, moose, or your dog or cat.
They learn very quickly and change habits thusly. Killing a 25-50-125 pound hog is great, but not really difficult. Taking down a 200-225-300 or 400 boar is much more different.
TNhunter, we had gone for years with a guy outside of Savannah but he sold out had other issues and disappeared. We then tried a place near Wrightsville. We had a good time the first time and the last time we were VERY disappointed...so we are trying a new to us place in Toomsboro Ga. We will see how this works out.
Two things here. 1) I don't think Texas has as BIG a problem as they say BECAUSE...I have a group of 13 hunters who have been to Georgia multiple times hunting pigs. We were together at the Harrisburg Pa sportsman show and we offered to :fill the camp" as many hunters as they wanted/could handle BUUUT because we were going to take all available space for however many days they would allow, we wanted a substantial discount from the &500-600 a day per person. Nope Nope Nope. We asked many outfitters and all had the same answer. Seems a little odd that you have a HUGE problem but when a group of experienced outdoorsmen offer to help you out with this problem, for a reduced fee, that you can't agree to it. How big a problem do you really have, then? When people come over to help me clean my garage I don't usually charge them much.
By the same token, I will be down in Georgia again the first week of January with a suppressed 1895 and a AR(same suppressor) in 458 Socom. Gotta be daytime hunting though as it is a deer/pi combo hunt.
MarlinOwners.com is a community of Marlin Firearm Owners - Dedicated to discussing Marlin Firearms, Marlin Rifles and more. Pictures, help, discussions and more.