Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Wildlife Management Wild Hogs

PA only has a 4 day bear season. Really the only successful way to kill bears in PA is to put a drive on and push them out of the thickets they like to hide in. Last year our group killed 2 bears this way. This year there was almost no hard mast crop, the acorns were non existent and the hickory nuts were light. So the bears were already sleeping for the winter or down in the valley eating farmers' corn.

However, we did put out at least 4 wild hogs. Hogs in PA are a new thing and are only found in a few isolated pockets so we were excited to get a chance to whack a few. Rumor has it they escaped from a high fence hunting preserve around 2000 and have been breeding and multiplying in the wild since.

Here's one of the guys I was hunting with yesterday and the hog he shot.



We also put out a sow hog who had piglets with her. We couldn't get a shot at her but were actually able to catch one of the piglets alive by hand! The thing was about 3-4 pounds and looked like an overgrown chipmunk!

Thankfully, no wild hogs here yet.

But, this year our WV bear season is running concurrent with deer rifle season for two weeks, and with few restrictions. The DNR did this in hopes of taking a higher number of bear this year. The season started last Monday.

The DNR is now concerned that because of the lack of mast this season, and because of this week's miserable weather, the bears have started hibernation already. We've just got way too many bears and deer right now.

Yeah, we didn't push a single bear out. With a lack of hard mast and the early winter weather, I think the bears went night night for the winter already.

That's cool, Travis. If they are up there in your PA hunting grounds, I bet it's just a matter of time before we see them. Last time I checked, we had hog hunting in just four counties down in the deep-south-you-don't-want-to-go-there counties that are famous for breeding the Hatfield-McCoy feud. Ken may know if the range for hunting hogs has extended beyond that area but I don't. I think it would be cool to be able to hunt them, but then I think to all the posts by our Texas buddies here who share the stories of devastation those things bring and the feeling passes!

We saw our first hog in 8 years this week on our wildlife camera; looked to be about 100 lbs.

I definitely have mixed feelings on the topic of wild hogs. The hunter in me thinks they'd be a lot of fun to hunt but the conservationist in me knows the damage they cause. They aren't up this far yet and I hope they don't make it up here any time soon. If I get an itch to hunt some I'll drive south a couple of hours.

With abundant forage in the form of wild hogs, in should come the apex predators. I hear Jaguars are becoming more common in AZ and TX - and those things are the 3rd largest cat in the world and males can top 350. That's a potential man eater there - but I bet they are eating well in TX. I would think that cougar sightings would increase in these hog areas, too. How's your cougar population in PA and WV? In Nebraska, the turkey and deer population spike resulted in a pretty stable cougar population. DNR actually created a hunting season.

As far as I know, we don't have any/many "wild boars" as far north as you and I. They were intentionally introduced in the very southern counties many years ago, but have not moved very far north. We can shoot them out of season because they are not supposed to exist in our counties.

Sometime, when you are visiting, I'll show you a funny story about a friend, who you have met several times, who encountered a wild pig on her school bus route. The pig wanted on the bus. It wouldn't let her move the bus. There was a great story about it, in the local paper about it, from about a dozen years ago. But, it wasn't truly a wild boar/wild pig like they have in Texas.



I don't want them. They have invaded the area where I grew up. The damage they cause is incredible. I don't want to fight them.




As far as I know, they are officially extinct in Virginia and West Virginia. I've seen, and reported, two cougars in-the-wild in my 40+ years living in this area. Both were on shores of the Shenandoah River.

One was an adult. It was near dusk, near one of my favorite SMB fishing holes, just up-river from where Gooney Creek empties into the South Branch of the South Branch Shenandoah. The cat was a little darker than golden labrador dog. I was floating in the river, it came down a well-worn wooded path on a rather steep bank. I watched it take a few licks of water from the river before it spotted me. It then slowly backed up the path, and completely disappeared into the background in just a few feet.

The second one was a juvenile that was darker than the one I mentioned above. I saw this one, just below Paris Mountain, near Frogtown, VA. I was just north of US Route 50, near the public access. It was early summer, and just above sunup. I was on the west-side of the river, driving north on an old trail. The cat was on the east side of the river, running north in a pasture across from me. It was about the color of a chestnut-colored horse. The really noticeable part was its tail. It seemed to be at least as long as the cat's main body.

There are regular sightings, and sighted kills of pets, in this area from these "extinct" critters.

I sure don't want to put CJBS on the spot. He may not be able to comment. If he can, it sure would be interesting to hear both sides of this argument.

If they haven't been reported in CJBS's patrol area, they have been reported just south and west, in the Occoquan area in the adjoining county, near where he patrols.

I'm a Sasquatch agnostic. But, I sure think I've seen cougars, or whatever they may be called, in our area.

I've never seen a wild pig.

It is kind of crazy. In the last couple of weeks, I've seen, what I assume, are bear scat piles near the ponds and chicken coop. We never see the bears. I need to get my game cameras out again. I've got the batteries charging now. I will set them out tomorrow.

Maybe, I'll be the first one to get a good clear photo of Sasquatch.

Having hogs and hunting hogs is different. I have a lot of pigs. But I rarely see one. They are about 99% nocturnal. The odd thing is that I see a lot of tracks but they shun the corn feeders with the game cameras.

A friend shot a 200 lb one on my place last month. That was at a feeder and he had it made into sausage. I'll bet that we won't see any more and they are still around.

Honestly, the depradation stuff seems to be blown out of proportion. I've seen them grazing on my wheat like a cow. They didn't root it up. They will muddy a small, shallow pond but that's unusual. The only problem I've ever seen is a neighbors coastal hay patch. They messed it up by rooting for the grass roots. That was once about 5 years ago and it hasn't happened since. But they have never done it to my place. I've never know them to attack anyone.

Open season around here. Need a CCW or any hunting license on State land. No restrictions on private property tho. Don't hear much about them on the news tho, unless an event has happened.

I think the Cougars, that we don't have, could be eating well

I have seen three hogs of them basically plow a part of a field of ours. Caught one, two remain.

My experience with feral hogs pretty much mirrors Dave's. We saw more sign than damage. Power pole/tree rubs and wallows during the summer were pretty much it. In fact, several times I threw limbs or yelled at them to get them away from a deer blind as I was approaching it. I never witnessed any aggression.

Biggest issue we had was at feeders, where deer numbers dropped tremendously if the hogs got used to the throw schedule and came daily. We wound up caging the throw areas, and the problem disappeared. On those we didn't, we had to t post the feeder legs to keep the hogs from rooting around the feeders and tipping them over.

I also had to use TPosts. Problem solved.

Ken, I found a pretty good sized pile of scat that appeared to be nothing but berries right next to my building on the farm. We've never seen a bear out there, but this looks to be almost certainly bear scat. It's pretty cool to think one has been through there and has gotten me to do exactly what you are doing with getting my camera ready to put out there.

I pretty much agree with Dave. The main problem I have had is they will get into creep feeders and clean you out. They also root up my hayfield to the point you have to level it out to not destroy equipment and your back. I have out cameras and very rarely get daytime pictures of hogs. Most of the land I own is open pasture.

Enjoy hunting them if its like Oklahoma you will be over run in a few years. Hogs will chase deer away from feeders my wife and I have seen it.
Just for eating them , trap them and feed them corn for a month or so.

Dale, the darn things seem to come and go on my place. When they first showed up about 10 years ago, I looked at the breeding statistics and thought I would be over run with them. I'm not. Or maybe I am and just don't know it. I have one monster boar that sometimes shows up at a corn feeder about midnight. I can back track him in mud and find that he passes a couple of other feeders to get to this one.

They are about like coons. They can be a pain in the butt but there's not one damn thing I can do about it. I have a trap but they will eat everything on the outside but never go into it.

I've got hogs a plenty here. I've killed 7 in the past 6 weeks with my compound bow. If anything they are good practice. When they show up I'll take out the larger sows first. Funny thing is if you shoot them with a rifle they go nocturnal, but you shoot them with an arrow and they'll come back in 5 minutes. Also our acorn crop is poor this year so the hogs are working harder for their food. So if my northern friends want to shoot a hog just let me know. Going out this afternoon to kill another one. And we have seen more mountain lion activity since the hogs have been here. If you have a few hogs in your area now, just wait. You'll have more next year.

A Friend works with a guy who uses dogs and traps or catches or kills how ever you want to word it. It always sounds like it gets pretty crazy his dogs get wounded and sometimes killed on a frequent basis. He sent me this picture just a few days ago and said it was taken in Medora Indiana. He does most of his hunting in Indiana and Kentucky I believe.

Hey travlinman, what area of Texas?

I should have seen this coming.

Drones to hunt hogs

If I could get a drone to find my cell phone in a pasture when I lose it bimonthly, I might jump all over that.

I saw them shooting wild hogs from a helicopter on a hunting show on TV. It was in Texas. The guy was using a crossbow.

Ken, I've got a Sasquatch livin under my trailer, stop over and snap away. PS I married her daughter.

Finally back from my hunting trip to PA.

Anyways, I didn't see any hogs and haven't gotten any on game camera in over 2 weeks. They just disappeared into thin air. A farmer down in the valley we are friends with said one was hit on the road in front of the local church the day before the opener for rifle season and showed me a photo of it. It was probably 180-200 pounds with some nasty cutters on it. I would have loved to made him into a shoulder mount had I killed him.

As far as mountain lions in the east. Hmmm... Well, with the 1000's of game cameras that are in the woods these days, no one ever gets one on camera. I find that amazing if they really exist. No hunter has shot one either... None have been killed on the roads either. Except for one mountain lion killed on a road in CT. Turns out that was a young male cat(they are known to disperse long distances) who passed through Wisconsin where he was caught on came camera and left poop behind. They did genetic testing on the dead cat in CT and determined he was the same cat photographed in Wisc. The genetic testing showed he was a Black Hills mountain lion, the furthest east naturally reproducing population other that those down in FL.

My opinion, if there are mountain lions in the east, they are escaped pets. I think people see things that may look like a mountain lion but aren't. Just my opinion, some day I may be proven wrong.

Modest cougar populations have re-established in NE, IA and KS from SD, WY and CO. Could it be just a matter of time until they disperse into the hardwood forests in the East - provided your deer or hog populations remain high? I'd think their chances of hunting success in forests would be far better than our open prairies. Are there cougars in IN and OH?

It all started with a few rogue males traveling along the North and South Platte out of Wyoming and Colorado about ten years ago...DNR said hey, these are just young male CO or WY cats pushed out of their territory.

Lots of game cameras out this way - big deer hunting state - but don't recall anyone getting shots of cougars in NE on their cameras - it was tracks, sightings, then we started seeing them hit on highways or interstate. Keep us in the loop Eastern Pond Boss family.

Dave
I have the same deal. I won't have any hog sign for a month or two then go out one morning and find an acre tore up. I work away from home so most of the time they seem to be long gone. I can get them to come to a corn feeder a few nights then gone. Sounds like you have some trap shy hogs. A guy that traps a lot of hogs swears by grape jello in the corn. I have tried several things , beer fermented corn, pancake syrup, just plain corn seems to work best for me.