What Got You Into Hog Hunting?

HogKillaDNR

Senior Member
Hey, I'm rather New here and New to hog hunting? I was just wondering what got everyone interested in the wonderful hobby? What type of equipment did you start out with? I'm currently using my Deer rifles and I have a couple of ground blinds. I've been mostly doing the stalking thing; getting use to the public land.
 

Son

Gone But Not Forgotten
Hogs got me into hunting them, they began showing up everywhere I used to hunt in Fl. Went the catch dog thing for several years. Then decided to run and shoot em, that was more fun. Only thing wrong with those two methods is. It's gets the hog mad, worked up etc, and ruins many when it comes to good pork. Now, I opt to sit in a stand, and drop em with one shot below the ear. Even some boars are good to eat if dropped in their tracks. Also trap em, drop em with one shot before they get too excited. Bait em up, sit in a stand is the easiest method for folks my age. Sorry, didn't mean to HOG the thread.
 

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HogKillaDNR

Senior Member
Hogs got me into hunting them, they began showing up everywhere I used to hunt in Fl. Went the catch dog thing for several years. Then decided to run and shoot em, that was more fun. Only thing wrong with those two methods is. It's gets the hog mad, worked up etc, and ruins many when it comes to good pork. Now, I opt to sit in a stand, and drop em with one shot below the ear. Even some boars are good to eat if dropped in their tracks. Also trap em, drop em with one shot before they get too excited. Bait em up, sit in a stand is the easiest method for folks my age. Sorry, didn't mean to HOG the thread.

That's an awesome story. I can't wait to see how others HOG the post lol.
 

sleepr71

Senior Member
I don’t really “Hunt” them per say. I trap all I can,then try to shoot the trap shy ones. They are a major nuisance & cost those of us with Hay fields/Pastures tens of thousands of $$$$ around here. They may not be here a month...then show up 30-40 at the time..:hammers:
 

antharper

“Well Rounded Outdoorsman MOD “
Staff member
It started for me when I started deer hunting at about age 8 , 40 years ago . The area I grew up and lived over half of my life on the Ocmulgee river has always had hogs and always will . I guess the first several I killed were by chance , sitting in a deer stand deer hunting. Since then I’ve hunted them any and all ways possible . And usually only go when I need a couple for the freezer. My favorite way to hunt them the past several years has been at night over a feeder watching my daughter do the shooting , and she don’t mind shooting ! Lost my lease and my new one doesn’t have any so I’ll be getting my wild pork from public land now I guess . Unless I can find someone complaining about all the damage they do to let me kill some ? These were all in one week just sitting a couple hrs after dark after deer hunting 8CFB6F9A-B88C-473B-9273-301AEE62F309.jpeg5726B046-EF43-4E44-A334-7A8121C3F6CD.jpegC7643A9F-F738-4713-9289-326F84161A65.jpegDBCA1386-7D77-479E-BB60-F52575663847.jpeg95151533-4DBF-4713-96EA-8F866DD2DCF7.jpeg
 

HogKillaDNR

Senior Member
It started for me when I started deer hunting at about age 8 , 40 years ago . The area I grew up and lived over half of my life on the Ocmulgee river has always had hogs and always will . I guess the first several I killed were by chance , sitting in a deer stand deer hunting. Since then I’ve hunted them any and all ways possible . And usually only go when I need a couple for the freezer. My favorite way to hunt them the past several years has been at night over a feeder watching my daughter do the shooting , and she don’t mind shooting ! Lost my lease and my new one doesn’t have any so I’ll be getting my wild pork from public land now I guess . Unless I can find someone complaining about all the damage they do to let me kill some ? These were all in one week just sitting a couple hrs after dark after deer hunting View attachment 1084719View attachment 1084720View attachment 1084721View attachment 1084722View attachment 1084723
Congratulations and looks like she puts the hurt on those bad boys.
 

frankwright

Senior Member
I don't know what got me into hunting pigs. I know a long time ago in the middle 1980's. me and a friend were scouting and as we approached a wet area with tall grass we heard snorting and grunting and something running. Scared us to death. I saw one from the stand around the same time but only for a second.
I* think Traditional Bowhunters may have got me started as they are a favorite animal. We found a place in North Florida that was bowhunting only, one long weekend a month for boars only. My friend and I each killed one with longbows and saw a good many pigs. We went back twice more before we started exploring Georgia WMA's and then finally found a place to hunt them in Georgia almost all year and I have been hard after them ever since. I have killed them with a big variety of weapons including several handguns which, to me ,make them so much fun to hunt!
 

baddave

Senior Member
what got me was they finally started coming on my land 3yrs ago . acquired this land about 50 yrs ago . I have so few and so rarely I feel like I'm hunting Bigfoot . I have several bait places and i have installed driveway monitors to let me know when one comes in . I have 3 boars that come in sporadically . The driveway monitor wakes me up constantly with mostly deer . I want to be the 1st ever to shoot a wild boar while in pajamas
 

ditchdoc24

Senior Member
I grew up in Washington DC so I never really got the opportunity to do much hunting as a kid. My dad grew up hunting but didn't stick with it after he went to college. I knew early on that I wanted to hunt but had to wait to start learning until after I got off on my own. I didn't kill my first deer until after I moved to Georgia and none of the leases I joined had hogs.

I killed my first hog a few years ago while I was deer hunting on a neighbor's property. I had a sow and about a dozen piglets come trotting by and I killed the sow with my .308 bolt gun. After that, I didn't have much of a regular opportunity to hunt hogs until 2 years ago.

My mother-in-law, who lives across the street from us, started seeing rooting in her side yard. Then we came out of the house one morning and found a very large sow dead in the road in front of our house where someone hit it during the night. I started trapping hogs last year but they got very wise to the trap quickly. I knew hogs were still in the area from trail cameras but they wouldn't go into the trap.

Then I borrowed a rifle with thermal scope from a friend. This changed my life because I had the opportunity to see what was moving around late at night. Because of my work schedule, I'm frequently up in the middle of the night anyways so it was a perfect chance to ease out and scan with the thermal. I was fortunate enough to be able to find a thermal scope and suppressor in my budget.

So now my hog hunting usually consists of waking up early in the morning, picking up my rifle and walking out to the neighbor's field to scan for hogs. It's convenient, close to home and helps my neighbors out in the process. I've killed several hogs over 250 lbs and it's become my hobby when deer season is out.
 

KentuckyHeadhunter

Senior Member
Son said it best....hogs got me into hunting them. They are easy to hunt and easy to kill if you know what you're doing. And if you HAVE pigs. I've taken a leak off the porch at night at deer camp and seen 7 or 8 of em standing 15 feet away and didn't care. They make nice table fare and are pretty easy to dress out. Sometimes they ruin a good deer or turkey hunt though. I don't consider a pig a trophy game animal but that's just me. Maybe a boar with big tusks is a trophy to some people. I just say kill em all. Coyotes too.
 

Hillbilly stalker

Senior Member
I always wanted to hunt them after reading about them in Sports Afield and Outdoor life. They called them "The poor mans Grizzly bear hunt". After I got out of the service and moved to the Carolinas it became a real possibility. Another buddy of mine from WV found a WMA about 2 hours from the house that had a low population of highly pressured hogs. Game on. I was hooked the first time I went. I grew up still hunting squirrels and I love slipping around in the woods finding sign and game. I found out quick that a hog is much smarter and can smell better than a deer. I love a challenge in the woods. The place we hunted was around 2700 acers and often had 20 plus trucks signed in, several people to a truck usually. Totally flat ground. I often worked a 12 hour night shift, drove straight to it and hunted for 2-3 hours, drove home and worked that night. It took me a little while to catch on that you couldn't hunt them like a deer, but I figured it out and I got pretty rough on them. The place we hunt is surrounded by clubs that feed deer and hogs, and one club runs dogs on both. You kill a hog in there you have some good luck or serious determination. We have walked up to 12 mile a day and never seen or kicked one up. Bowhunting them is my favorite, but you can see literally day to day how sensitive they are to pressure. I love it. I cant imagine living somewhere where there are several WMA places to hunt them.::; I sure wish I had gotten into the hog doggin game when I was a younger man and more limber, I'd be a hunting bum, probably have to marry an old rich gal and be her pool boy or something just to get by.:fine:
 

Public Land Prowler

Senior Member
I shot my first hog in my uncles hunting club back in 1988 or so with a Remington 1100 and OO buck..they didn’t have many,so I didn’t shoot another for quite a few years..I started hunting public back in 1997 and they were fairly plentiful,so we would shoot them with .22 Lr during small game and our bows during archery..

I’ve shot them with compound,muzzleloader,recurve,long bow,xbow,slug,buckshot,turkey loads,pistol and several rifle calibers,and I just enjoyed being able to get some action and they tasted good to me.I never shot many big ones back then,mostly eaters..Eventually I started using them as my test subjects for various broadheads and bullets..and since I could hunt them pretty much year around I just took one when the opportunity presented itself..I also love the various colors.I was learning the properties and feeding the family..One summer I shot 33(that’s spot and stalk no bait or dogs on public)

At one time I had a pretty thorough sticky here on the forum but I don’t see it anymore..anyways pigs got pretty popular and a lot of guys figured out where I was going..population nearly got wiped out..I usually shoot half a dozen or so just because I still enjoy them..I have noticed in the last year a few wads of piglets so maybe they are trying to come back,but no where near as plentiful as the 90’s-well basically before the internet
 
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