Texas, Florida, wherever they are hiding. I grew up in missouri, lived in indiana, and now southern Ohio. Never have i seen a hog in the huntin woods and i have SEEN some stuff. I know they are destructive but can we just get a few of them ferel ones to bridge the gaps between seasons???? Any of yall own a big rig wana drive some up this way and turn em loose in my yard feel free!
Just cause ya not seein them doesnt mean they aren't around. They are extremely elusive and maybe the smartest of all wild animals. Ive read that they are pretty much every where
^ Agreed. Be very careful. Saw a video from a mans place in Missouri this past fall, and they had their first hog sighting. Remember they are invasive, and from what I have seen, the deer don't like them.
I had another thought to add. If I was going to wish for another off season hunt-able, I might wish for another deer species such as Axis. There are some free range pockets of the around the state, and I believe they do not like the browse as much as whitetail so food competition is limited to some degree. Or maybe Feral Goats, but I have not been anywhere they are yet so they may impose some real issues as well??
Deer can care less. If you own land you'll care. They can plow up acres overnight. The dirt has to be dragged to smooth it out and is so rough you jar your teeth driving over it.
If you're in southern Ohio go to the northern part of Zaleski State Forest in Vinton county. There's not a ton of em but there's a huntable population. They get some pressure tho so even seeing one takes patience and hard hunting.
4nolz, its all the counties up here. I live in a subdivision where each owner has between about 2.5 acres of land so its urban but spread out. This was taken in my back yard. 24 yards from my deck. I have many more like it and several other bucks just as good.
Lol, here's some of the bucks killed in Ohio in 2016. These are just the ones people chose to enter in Buckeye big Bucks Club. Bucks have to score 140 typical and 160 non typical to get in but since it cost 30 bucks or so to enter most do not.
Just saw the problem in the Everglades with Pythons. Went from a few pets dumped to 100,000+ and they are eating every animal in sight. The English Sparrow, Starling, Asian Carp, Snakehead are prime examples of invasives destroying habitat and native species.
Once the area farmers find out you wanted hogs brought in, you may need to move to a state that has them. 8^))). No thanks. Someone thought it was okay to release some here in southern Pa. some years back. So far they have been kept 'relatively' in a rather small area but likely will never get rid of them. That was from a small bunch dumped out in a local State Forest. It's likely that some of them are already in northern Maryland since the area was only about ten miles from there. Farmers shoot them on sight and bury them where they fall. Kubota Bacon.
Starlings, pigeons, house sparrows, monk parakeets, pythons, boas, anacondas, nutria, snakeheads, carp, burros, horses, dogs, cats, pigs, goats.... If they can survive without human assistance, Ferals and Exotics are almost always a bad idea. Even stocked trout have found ways to outcompete the natives and then what? Whirling disease anyone?
If I lived where there were ferals, I would hunt them as often as I could... But that's one Genie that would be best if we could get it back into the bottle...
Gray squirrels are beneficial around here. They are a great prey base for the many fishers we now have, and help to bugfer the predation on our yohng turkeys. Without the squirrels we'd probably have zero turkeys now. They are dwindling as it is. Its the non natives you want to eradicate or prevent, not the indigenous species.
Big trouble here in WV if you get caught importing those pesky things into the state. They take over and pretty well ruin the habitat for everything else. I love to hunt hogs, but much rather go where they are than have them destroy my hunting woods here.
Dan, you can shoot squirrels, chipmunks, etc., if they are damaging property. That's legal in most states but check with the DNR to be sure. I live out in the country and have all kinds of issues with them, mostly in the bird feeders. At least in the feeders they only cost me extra corn and seed. I even made a squirrel feeder for them in the winter time so I'm as much the problem as the squirrels. 8^)
Not in Ohio George. If there's a season on it you have to trap them and release in the country. Columbus puts out a flyer each year saying you can catch and drown possums but to catch n release squirrels and raccoons
Lol ,here you get a poaching violation if you hit a Canada goose or duck with your car if you didn't try to break or try to miss it. Of course you would need a snowflake witness to report you and testify for you to get fined.
I did not read all the comments but it is beyond me why anyone would want hogs in the state they live in. Be very careful what you wish for. I have seen places in Georgia where a 10 acre field looked like a golf course and went back the next day and it looked like someone spent 1/2 a day in there with a bull dozer!! Shawn
I own over a hundred acres here in ga and live on the land planted about 36,000 pines trees hogs have rooted and rubbed to death several hundred maybe a thousand trees sows can have over 20 pigs a year and breed as early as 6 months they are way smarter than a deer and are 99 percent nocturnal,they are extremely destructive animals they are fun to hunt with a bow but other than that worthless
Hogs are destructive? 36,000 pine trees on 100 acres is a biological desert. 100 acres was destroyed and useless to critters for 20 years now. I'll take the hogs, the damage they do is minuscule compared to a couple D10 Cats with 200 feet of anchor chain from a battleship strung between them turning 1000 acres of Texas scrub into a winter wheat field for cattle. Hogs have been in Florida for 500 years and didn't bother anyone. Sorry but you're dumb for building a house were hogs have always been. Humans are the invasive ones.
And who is to judge a good "invasive" critter to a bad invasive critter? Brown Trout good, carp bad. Smelt good, snakehead bad. Pheasants good, pigeons bad. Zebra mussels were a miracle cure for Lake Erie, a life saver but folks still complain. How do you decide value of one non-native over another?
Deer are way over rated as a game animal. They are simple to kill really but because a few can sport a large mass of bone on their head guys go goofy for them. Don't tell me killing a deer with big antlers is tough. You know what it takes to kill a deer with big antlers? Hunting places that have deer with big antlers.
Sneaking around trying to stick a pig is 100X's more fun than sitting in a tree waiting for a deer plus they cook up better than a deer. I'll take the hog and be 100% that they root things up from time to time. The world isn't suppose to be flat.
Dan its not city rules but state wildlife laws. The city can't give permission to kill animals. Call ODNR in Columbus n ask them about nuisance animals. My sister has a serious squirrel problem. She hadn't been on her back patio for a few days. When she did go out back her cushions on her swing were almost all gone. There were just pieces laying around so she figured a neighborhood dog had torn them up. Till a few days later a neighbor pointed out that a squirrel in her back yard had built a new colorful squirrel nest. Her cushions were mostly in 2 squirrel nests in her yard and the neighbors,lol. She also had a problem with her car transmission. When she took it to a shop for repairs they called her right after she got hom and told her it was fixed. An anima, probably the squirrels has chewed a wire in two and about a foot of it was missing. Anyhow you just can't go and kill them tho because they are NOT an invasive species and have a hunting season unless dnr has a nuisance law. They've always been here. Some don't seem to know what an invasive species is. Its a non-indigenous species and in most cases they ruin habitat for native species. It doesn't matter to anyone how much fun they are to hunt, or how hard they are to hunt. Hogs aren't from here and they ruin habitat for native species, kinda like sparrows have pushed our bluebirds almost to the point of extinction since they were brought here from Britain.
Lmao, 36k trees is normal for mining restoration of 100 acres. Its also normal for private logging lands and even on national forests that are logged. Not all the trees will live and once they reach a certain size they are thinned out except on national fforest lands, they leave that up to porcupines. It keeps you from having to replant a few years later cause so many died. As for not hurting Florida , here's University of Floridas take on that.
I have hunted land with deer,turkeys and hogs on it my whole life. Hunters tear up more than the critters. If you are a baiter naturally the pigs will put you out of business,same if you are a farmer. But in the swamp they all live together..except the ones I run an arrow through. I feel lost hunting woods without pig sign in it.
Texas has put on hold a plan to use a pesticide containing the blood thinner warfarin to eradicate feral hogs. Hogs eating the pesticide laced food would die from internal bleeding in about four days time. Special computerized feeders were designed to open only when they detected hogs approaching. Any other animals approaching the feeders would be given a minor electrical shock.
The common pig is one of th most adaptable and succesful invasive species we have ever introduced. By no means is it a good thing. Pigs may be fun and challenging to hunt but the long term cost of having them is much too great.
It would be a very bad idea to whitingly introduce them any where.
Those who think it a good idea to introduce any species: Autumn Olive, rainbow trout, wasps "PIGS" etc. Would be well advised to do some reading and look at real research and facts concerning the matter, not Fake News.
People who think this way are likely the same people who think killing off wolves and Cougars is good for the overall ecosystem. Everything in nature has. Balance to it and sometimes that balance can be easily and irreparably upset.
Killingstuff dumb for building my dream home on dream land that I've worked all my life for seriously you don't know me don't appreciate your comments either jeez take a breath I knew exactly what I was doing always have I don't like hogs and take every opportunity I can to take them out trapping shooting they are killing 4 year old pines that I also worked and paid for and will help pay for my retirement one day don't have a big retirement portfolio just got some land and trees I guarantee anyone that gives cares about their investment would take steps to prevent loss,i know a farmer who is a close friend that lost his entire 60 acre crop of peanuts to your precious hogs walk a mile in my shoes
Robins? Killinstuff, let me clear something up. Being a fisheries and wildlife biologist, I have to agree with much of what you said. I like,to catch them, don't thing brown trout should be in our US streams and lakes. I dont like brookies west,of the Mississippi and I agree that zebra mussels cleaned up the Great Lakes. And yes humans are the biggest impact on all of nature. Had humans not made such a mess of the lakes in the first place, they would not have needed zebra mussel help. As for pheasants, I love hunting them, but probably would rather have sage grouse and prairie chickens in greater numbers in their home ranges, and ruffies and turkeys make up for lack of roosters here now in the east (few ruffies tho). So as for my comment before about Russia, take that with a grain of salt and tell me to go pound it, I was just being a smart ass. The biological desert you mentioned with tree plantations and crop fields being plowed is a pretty accurate assessment. Although under no circumstances would I want hogs to be present in any US State, compared to anything inc. us human locusts.
GLF I know some trees die I lost about 10% last year to the drought what i'm talking about is when hogs get so numerous that they are rubbing young pines around the base to scrub off mud from wallowing and once the bark is rubbed all the way around the tree dies and they are killing hundreds it is a problem think of it this way every tree that hogs kill is a hundred dollar bill when the trees are old enough to cut and boar hogs will cut and rub young pines as a territory dominance thing they are destructive animals we have caught 19 in traps within 200 yds of my house in one month.
I love living in the woods and know the risks love the land trees and animals
If I had the ability, I would make sure you got every wild hog in Texas. However, I suggest if you want to hunt them, just go to where they are. I detest those nasty, stinky bug infested critters. I do admit they are an excellent target for the bow. You just do not want them residing anywhere near you.
I'd say send every last one of these hog vermin, esp. the tusk laden fat boars, and the preggy sows (they are hungry for the kill) to ISIS infested areas and turn them all loose on those sonsa-beeches. x10 76aggie, I loathe them stinking vermin.
On 4/24/17, a group of Isis fighters near Kirkuk, Iraq, were mauled by a herd of feral hogs while setting up an ambush. Three of the Isis were killed and five more injured. bvd
Well, I would gladly give you every one of those stinking pieces of vermin that I have in my woods and yard. The only people who want them are the ones who dont have them. They wreak havoc on native species and on the terrain. They are destructive and they are inedible and nauseating to anyone who has any semblance of a palate. Can you tell I don't like em? They and the stinking non-native armadillos have destroyed my yard over the last 10 years. I don't understand this romance people have with these stinking feral hogs.
I don't like them either and we don't even have them. But I have to say, I was in Italy in a piazza in Sienna eating at some restaurant, and I tried wild boar. It was actually pretty,darn good the way they served it, like roasted beef medallions. Tender, brown, and lean, it was good. But they have it down, and them porkers are native to Europe so I took a stab at it. As for here even farm raised hogs can take a hike across the pond as far as Im concerned. We drove past a hog slop farm last weekend and the dogs even started wretching.
Oh and as for armadillos, they carry leprosy so stay clear of them too. Don' t stick one with an arrow, you might have to pull it out. Ya might end up in some colony on a deserted island in the Pacific, with hogs present even.
Ga I was referring to killinstuffs funny post about that many trees making a desert. was lettin him know that's not alot if your planning a pine forest and that it tkes that many to make sure your not replanting. The ones that grow DO get thinned.
I wish we could but can't...against the law. 3 people from Mississippi and Louisiana just got jail time and huge fines for transporting and selling live feral hogs. We can find them just about everywhere down here. They can do several thousands of $$ in damage a night. Killed this one a few months ago. Marsha
stuck her with 2 arrows and still one of the guys had to use knife to finish.....they can be very difficult to kill. She would have eventually died but we would have never found her in the swamp. My first arrow hit the plate covering the shoulder and did not penetrate much. I finally got close enough to put a 2nd arrow but she still was going. Found her 3 hr later but was still putting up a fight. No way I could get close enough for another shot. They are fun and dangerous to hunt. Marsha.
If you want to hunt hogs, best to travel to where they already are, during your off season. I know guys who travel from Mass. down south to hunt 'em every year or two, after deer season closes here. They come back with plenty of pork. Prices are usually reasonable for hog license, trespass fee etc.
Ask around over on the Bowsite state forums.
Without adequate controls, introduced hogs are a problem. There's a population in upstate New York that has folks troubled.
hogs killed are smart animals they love corn though ,I killed a 240 lbs sow with my AR back in feb she had about 10 shoats with her amazingly resilient animals.
Calm down Al! (lol) I can't stand those nasty, stinking, ugly, vile, flea infested, tick hosts either but they are not inedible. If you can muster up the guts to clean one they can actually be pretty good. On our place, we kill them just to get rid of them but occasionally, I will cut the backstrap out of a smaller sow or a choate. Their backstraps fry very nicely and are even pretty good on the grill.
All the landowners with hogs can bite me. Everybody talks about how bad hogs are. And everybody I know who hunts would love to go get a free hog to butcher. But oh my, no way. It's like my state of indiana. Everybody complains about coyotes, and I along with my AR, are coyote killing machines. Yet, the land is locked down. I can't help you with your predator or hog problem if I can't set foot on your land. Any numb nut land owner with a hog problem want to envite us? Now is the time to speak up.
Come stay at my camp in Florida I'll have a feeder going.Free.I think you'll find its harder than you think and most trophy pictures are "put and take" paid for hog hunts.Bring a thermacell and deep woods off.
The Obama Admin. probably released hogs throughout numerous parts of the country, like they did M-13 Gangbangers and probably ISIS recruits. With about the same result eventually. Simpleman, why don't you go fight a war and take out some of them and have something worth bragging about?
"Sneaking around trying to stick a pig is 100X's more fun than sitting in a tree waiting for a deer plus they cook up better than a deer. I'll take the hog and be 100% that they root things up from time to time. The world isn't suppose to be flat."
Maybe one of the most ignorant, ill-informed statement I've ever read on this forum.
"root things up from time to time..." LOL
Another person who doesn't own the land they hunt on, no doubt.
I still like them. They are smart have a better nose than deer and the closest thing to dangerous game we have. My favorite game to hunt and eat. Two ranches that I hunt, they just don't seem that difficult to control. One rancher says shoot any one you see on sight. The numbers stay in control,they get smart,more fun to hunt,and a lot probably move on to the ranches that don't allow access,or charge $200 a day to hunt them. I know different areas are different but you will not see a pig standing around in the open in broad daylight.You will never see a sounder standing outside a window like above. How many do you see hit on the road compared to other animals? It is just easier to poison them than deal with hunters. As always there are 2 sides to the story. We hunt and trap. They are good meat and there are lots of hungry folks. We should be able to work something out.>>-->Ken
Thats not a window 2bears its a picture of a computer screen looking at game cam pictures.Pigs DO travel in daylight in the off season quite often when not pressured (at least here they do).Words like "always" and "never" dont apply usually when talking about hogs.Once the Fall gun season opens ours are almost completely nocturnal.This bunch is huntable right now.We arent ranches with high fence here we are large pine plantations with unplanted thicker spots near cypress ponds etc.
Perhaps it wasn't clear but those words were only for the two ranches mentioned. I have hunted there for years and never seen a pig on the road or in the open in daylight hours.The ranch house is 5 miles from the gate and probably has near 25 miles of ranch roads. A computer screen is different they won't detect it like a noisy smelly human.Yes maybe more than 2 sides to the story. Yes they do go completely nocturnal or leave. I have never hunted a high fence area but don't understand why they can't be completely eliminated inside one. They seem to want them for paying hunters and some have even been stocked inside the fences. Before the law changes, there was a good market for live pigs.You just have to go with the flow.If they have food,year round deer feeding,low fence,but only one season hunting,You will soon be over run with them.Cut the feeders,year around hunting,not so much. Rice fields are a different story. A crew with flood lights and deer rifles maybe once a week makes a big dent and causes them to look for another field. It is work/maintenance to not let them get out of hand to start with.Just one perspective. >>----> Ken
I run about 10 camera's during hunting season and to try to keep more does on my land during the rut I spread corn by the 350 lbs at a time with a tractor driven pto spreader most of the pics were of hogs they would come in after dark and leave before daylight around here it's a rare thing to see a hog in daylight hours
Although there is a fairly new but growing wild boar population in Western New York, our DEC prohibits hunting them. I thought that sounded strange. Here is the explanation from DEC website:
Why is the Hunting of Eurasian Boars Prohibited? New York wants to eradicate all Eurasian boars in the wild. To achieve that, the DEC had to ban the hunting of Eurasian boars. The most efficient way to eradicate Eurasian boars is by trapping the whole sounder (the name for a group of pigs) at one time. Research and management experience has taught us that this task is best accomplished by wildlife management agencies who are committed to total eradication. Trapping takes a lot of time, effort and money because boars are very wary and need to be slowly baited in and accustomed to the trap. When a hunter shoots at a boar, the animals in the sounder run off in all directions and don't always come back together again. Hunting prevents us from trapping all the animals in the sounder, makes the boars harder to trap during subsequent attempts (boars learn to avoid traps if they are shot at around a trap), and instead of one large sounder, we must now have to locate and eradicate two or more smaller sounders.
Hunting is an inefficient and ineffective way to control or eradicate a population of Eurasian boars. Because the boars have a high survival and reprodu
...Because the boars have a high survival and reproductive rate, hunters must take 70- 75% of the population each year just to stabilize the population. That is nearly impossible to do. Even in Texas where wild boar hunting is very popular, hunters take less than 40% of the population each year
Simple man, you could become a land owner and solve that problem altogether. That's what I did and it's working out nicely. And while I own a farm, I'm not a "farmer" so the pigs that do roam through here from time to time don't upset me too much. But just like ga bowhunter, I've planted a lot of long- leafs and loblollies, and the pigs destroy them. I've even seen hogs kill 75' long leaf pine trees by "girdling" the tree- rubbing the bark off all the way around.
That invitation to Florida sounds fantastic but there are those of us that just don't have the vacation time to travel. That's why we'd like to have them closer to home.
For me, getting to Florida with time to hunt would be about as easy as getting to the moon. LOL
Again, two sides to ever story (or more). When a 1/2 dozen pigs venture on to your ranch it is no trouble at all to kill 75% of them. Ignore them for years let them build up for (hunting opportunities) Even trap them and turn them loose in your area and you will no doubt be over run with them. Then you may have to resort to poison or government hunters and trappers. After all the goobermint always knows best. A common thread here is how they become nocturnal,how they learn to avoid traps,they will also learn to avoid certain ranches.We tried for years to get bow hunting permission on flood control land. They said archers would not make a difference. Eventually hundreds of pigs were tearing up levies and dams. Now the politicians are right. Archers can't make a dent in them. We are still not allowed to harvest any. Ken
I hunted a property 45 minutes from down town Houston. Cost $300 a year. I took many pigs from baited spots and feeders. Owner would not allow non archers. HIS REASON gun fire would keep the pigs from coming back to the feeders. Sooo the question, are they difficult to control or get rid of? It seems to me like most folks want them until they are over run. Then they are right it is hard to control them. Just my 2ยข worth. I like to hunt and eat pigs. >>>----> Ken
Sorry but been on the road this week. Yes Trap I wouldn't mind Siberia as long as I could get to Savannah for the winters. Not many boar in Russia these days but they do have the biggest moose in the world and I'd like to kill one. And I've never been with a Russia gal before so.............
If hogs are rubbing your tree sink some telephone poles (can they even be called telephone poles anymore?) and add some diesel fuel. The hogs will be rubbing those instead of your trees. By the way, you don't get bucks rubbing your trees daed? My old man wanting to kill every buck cause they rubbed his apple and pear trees dead. Again, there's that one critter is re valued that another critter aspect. And G the mining companies don't row plant single specie cover in their restoration. It's replanted for a useful varied ecosystem which single crop is not. Single crop row planting is useful for humans only because of easy of planting, maintenance and harvest.
And I can't call pigs invasive since humans brought them here. When all those white folks left or died the hogs hung in there so they are waaaaay more native than you! Plus hogs are the second most popular "GAME" animal in the US. If they had horns on their heads you guys would have them hanging all over your walls.
