Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Wildlife Management Hog Wild

When we bought our place last spring we noticed in the back woods there were 4 hog pens/traps. So this past week the local guy that watches our place baited one of the hog traps with some corn. We've been catching hogs ever since. I think we've caught 8 hogs so far. Yesterday we saw them for the first time. Last week he took a couple of hogs over to a gator farm that only accepts live hogs. When he got there they'd only give him $8 per small hog, so he said he's never going back there. It's a lot of trouble getting a live wild hog in your truck and then the gas to get over to the gator farm. Not sure if it's true, but the guy tells us there are about 4 million wild hogs in the US, and 2 million of them are in Texas. And I am told they do a lot of damage and it's getting worse because the reproduce so quickly.

Angry/mean black wild hog hiding pre-shot

Black hog shot, putting noose around leg to pull him out
while other live brown hog stays in pen for buyer later in week

My nephew pulling dead black wild hog out of pen/trap,
ribs and bacon soon!

Zep, are up butchering them yourself? The butcher in town says that hogs under 60 Lbs are very tasty. After that, they start to get gamy. I also hear from a few of the locals that there is a market for the really big one. I hear they are exported to Asia. If you want anymore info about that, PM me and I'll give you some names and numbers. That size looks very tasty! I'm thinking BBQ sause and ribs!!!!

Nicely done!!

Brian....

My nephew butchered the black one yesterday. I had a picture of that too, but refrained from posting it for the faint of heart. I'm not much on hunting or fooling with the mess. I was teasing him yesterday that I'm lazy and would rather just go buy a BBQ sausage sandwich for $4. Ha Ha.

But if you enjoy hunting and the cleaning...hey I say 2EachHisOwn.

I did enjoy watching the whole episode yesterday and if those guys wanna fool with it all and don't leave a mess we're going to let them keep trapping them....and like you say we may have a hog roast one of these days this Fall.

ps: Brian maybe one day we can meet at the gator farm over in Grand Saline, Texas. I hear it's kind of a neat place and they feed the gators at 11AM and 3PM everyday. Of course they have a diner that serves gator-k-bobs too.

http://www.easttexasgators.com/

The hogs ARE tasty! I've shot and eaten hogs (sows, not boars) up to 300# and they were good. A rutting boar? Spicy sausage is all that I could stomach from it. (buddy's hog) Those in the trap are really good eating size!

I've seen them turn a couple acre pasture into what looks like a chiseled field in one night.

Agreed on all counts!

I have the BBQ sause, just say when!!!

So how does one keep hogs like that out of your deer corn for your deer? I know shooting them of course but when your not there is there a best method to keep them from eating all your corn from your corn feeder? I got like 10 of them at my feeder. Fricken Hogs!

Build a hog wire fence, with lots of TPosts, around the feeder. The deer can jump in. The hogs can't.

We've killed a few of them on my place but only cooked one. I'll buy my pork at the grocery store.

Not sure RC....I guess this may be one way.

Hog No Like This Deer Feeder

or this?

Redneck deer feeder?

I would take hogs over bears any day... Black bears destroy everything! They tip feeders over and tear them apart to get inside. As soon as any of my fruit and nut trees start producing, the bears rip the branches off the tree to get to the nuts and fruit. It leaves me a pole.

CJ, I think you need a bigger trap!!!

I think we could make it a mini-pondboss day! I hope they cook the gator correctly!!

Zep,

Did you ever try the "redneck" feeder? I'd be worried that rain will get in to the feeding spout and mildew the corn at the bottom.

Dave's right. Between crows and hogs, deer feeders can be a problem if they're not caged. We've staked several slingers that the hogs tipped over rooting around the feeder legs.

I've just gone to gravitational feeders at my place, and so far so good.

I may be dreaming, but I believe at least in TX, that since hogs are wild game animals, they're held to different processing rules than domesticated stock. My butcher told me that they have to be alive to process and sell, otherwise feral hogs would be far more attractive to butchers. Maybe if feral hogs were rooting up the capital building in Austin, the laws would change.

"redneck feeders" are fine other than the fact that they have to be filled more often. I lose about a cup of corn each filling from mildew. But, I have drain holes in the bottom cap that let the water drain.

Plus, I have to have a tree limb handy. Slingers are so cheap now, it's hard to pass them up unless you have hogs. If you do, the whole game changes.

Al, drive TPosts parallel to each feeder leg and wire them to the leg in several places. Place them at the same angle as the leg. I haven't had a torn up feeder since I started doing that. With 3 posts in the ground they can't get the leverage to tip it over. They destroyed 2 of mine before I learned that trick.

Another redneck feeder: Use a piece of 4 inch or so PVC and put hardware cloth(wire) over the bottom. Lap it up over sides and screw it in place. The ones I've built are 3 or 4 ft long. Slice a "hole", using either a chain saw or other saw, about 3 or 4 inches up from the bottom. Cut about 40 to 50% through the pipe. Use a torch to heat the PVC right above the slice. Get it hot enough that it becomes flexible. Use a stick or piece of pipe to push the almost melted PVC inward about 1.5 to 2 inches. Hold it until the PVC again hardens. Fill with corn and put a coffee can or something on top and hang from a tree. The deer can nibble corn from it. You will get a little water but most of it drains out the bottom wire. Don't neglect the lid or squirrels can get in but not get out. That stinks. Actually use a heavy enough bucket that the squirrels and coons can't remove it. If you want to really do it right, use a threaded top and cap. I prefer heavy PVC so the squirrels can't gnaw through it.

If a coon or something tears up the bottom wire, I have also resorted to expanded metal for the bottom.

BTW, when hog or deer hunting, don't ever use "Sweet Feed" in any kind of feeder. The deer, coons and hogs love it but the wasps will go nuts for it. It also rots and becomes a heckuva mess.

Dave, any chance you have a picture?

Thanks.

Brian, I haven't built one in years.

At one time when feeders were expensive, that is all I used.

I'll be in the country this weekend. If I have one around, I'll take a pic.

A couple more:

Using a piece of PVC pipe, lap hardware cloth over and screw hardware cloth onto one end. Drill some holes in the PVC that are just a little bigger than a piece of corn. Fill it with corn. The weight of the corn will hold it in and the deer can nibble the corn from the holes. Drill a couple of holes for wire to hang it from the other end. Put a bucket on top.

Again, using hardware cloth, make a cylinder and wire it together. Build a bottom out of the same cloth and wire it on. This is a PITA and you need to wear gloves. Next, slide a piece of wire screen or more hardware cloth down into the cylindrical one to keep the corn from having too many places to get out. Put the inner one down inside but stop about 1 inch from the bottom. Push a piece of metal rod through about 7 or 8 inches from the top. Tie some wire to each side of the rod to hang it from a tree branch. Put a bucket or whatever size metal container on top to keep squirrels and rain out.
Hint: select the top bucket before you push a rod through. The deer will nibble from the bottom area that has only one piece of screen.

In all of these, I try to attract deer rather than supplementally feeding them. Squirrels will get a little bit of corn from all of these but not very much. I doubt that any of this stuff would work on bears.

To attract deer and hogs, I like peanut butter smeared on trees. Or even better, open a jar of peanut butter and set it on top of a feeder.

FIH do you have hogs?

I've got hogs on the bottom half my property which is kind of botton land, with a creek, and some flood plain. But I'm told they never come up to the top half which is more pasture with lots scattered trees and the lake. One reason may be the the entire top part of the property has electric fences and my neighbor said them hogs hated electric fences.

I've found wallows on the back 40, and I know they're across the road in the Lake Fork river bottoms. So far I've been lucky, but I know they'll eventually hit the front of my place, and when they do, it'll be ugly for them.

I have no tolerance for critters or people who ruin all that I've worked hard for. Anybody's stuff for that matter. Not a rant, just the truth. We've had to completely change the way we hunted, just to keep the hogs away.

LOL....poor little piggies.

FIH I bought my very first Texas hunting license on-line yesterday.

I was browsing the internet and was not aware you pretty much need a hunting license to shoot and/or trap wild hogs in Texas. I thought they were such a huge problem that they had waved the license. Not sure how strict the game wardens are and if they'd even be aware what was going on in the "back 40". I think Texas law says a land owner can shoot a hog without a license if the hog is caught in the act of destroying the owners property....so there is some gray area....but with 4 large heavy duty traps down on my lower property I wanted to play it safe.

ZEP,

go to:

Texas hunting reg 12-13

Download the current reg, and turn to page 31. Feral hogs are not welcome in Texas.

Last year Governor Perry declared October "kill a Hog Month" If you read further on Texas parks and wildlife's sites, you will see the liberal allowances they afford everyone to get rid of the feral hogs.

In short, I believe your game warden would be very happy with you getting rid of the pests. Mine sure does.

Zep, the back 40 sure looks a lot closer now that I found sign of the hogs. And, I will ruin their day/night.

I used to hunt near Eustace, where we had lots of deer. Many were trophy size. When hunting first started, it was more or less primitive, and hogs weren't a problem. Then, as we added feeders and blinds, the hogs showed up in masses. I may still have pics of as many as 30 hogs waiting for the corn to throw. We staked feeders, caged them, and set out hog traps, and still we couldn't control them. My last year there, I shot a very nice buck, and had to scare the hogs away from the box I was going to sit in. Gradually the deer started avoiding the feeders, and the hogs and crows got fat at our expense.

We ruined hunting there by trying to attract the deer.

Governor Perry gives me tired head sometimes, but highflyer is right. The Gov, as do all landowners in TX, wants these hogs gone.

EDIT BY ME.

Here's one example

Got any Big Cat's in the area?

Everyone Kills the Top predators, because they are afraid! Now you are infested with another problem that is more damaging overall.

Suppose the money circle and ignorance plays into this.

Human's are highly noted to be on the top side of these!

Al, let me know if you need some help, I have several choice firearms that would work well there!