hunting hogs in the winter
#1
Fork Horn
Thread Starter
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: GR Michigan
Posts: 204
hunting hogs in the winter
I plan on hunting hogs soon and was wondering what the best hours of the day to hunt them are and the best places to hunt them, should scent control be taken into account as much as a deer and how nocturnal are they b/c we can hunt them at night legally with a 22, i know it sounds crazy but we are going to try it, thanks for any imput
#2
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 3
RE: hunting hogs in the winter
Yeah hog hunting is great cuz it's year round out here in california. If you like pig hunting check out this website. offsafety. It's made by some hog hunters its pretty cool kind of like a myspace for hunters.
#3
RE: hunting hogs in the winter
ORIGINAL: Robv2007
should scent control be taken into account as much as a deer
should scent control be taken into account as much as a deer
Even more than deer, if you're leaving a scent, you might hear hogs, but you will not see them. They have an incredible sense of smell. They can't see squat in front of them, but they dang sure can smell you.
#4
RE: hunting hogs in the winter
ORIGINAL: Robv2007
Sunrise and Sunset
Where you see Rootings, Wallows and Tree Rubs
They can't smell you if you're down wind from them, but the wind changes all the time. If you're hunting with dogs,your scentdoesn't matter.
Depends on how hungry they really are and what the temperture isthat day.
,
Unless you can print your name on a piece of sheet metal & 25 yards with a .22, I wouldn't be trying to shoot hogs at nightwith a .22.......
I plan on hunting hogs soon and was wondering what the best hours of the day to hunt them
and the best places to hunt them,
should scent control be taken into account as much as a deer
how nocturnal are they b/c we can hunt them
at night legally with a 22
Unless you can print your name on a piece of sheet metal & 25 yards with a .22, I wouldn't be trying to shoot hogs at nightwith a .22.......
#6
Fork Horn
Thread Starter
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: GR Michigan
Posts: 204
RE: hunting hogs in the winter
its kind of complicated here in MI, there are very few hogs here, like 50 taken in the last 6 years so there is no season for them and the dnr wants to get rid of them, so the only rule is that you need a valid hunting license for a species in season and a valid weapon for that species, so basically you need to be legally hunting a valid game species when actaully you are hunting hog, so if we hunt at night we will be legally hunting racoon but if we come across a hog we can legally shoot it, and during the day we will use our large caliber rifles for coyote and use them if we see a hog
#8
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Houston, Texas
Posts: 3,224
RE: hunting hogs in the winter
We hunt at night all the time and used to use a .223 until we had some hogs run off after shooting them in the head. We normally use a bigger gun now because they learned once to light comes on what it means. So we shoot them behind the shoulder since we don't have much time for a shot. If you hunt on a night with full moonlight and you have a good scope on your rifle you can shoot without a light. I set up a .450 marlin just for hog hunting and with a Zeiss Conquest I don't need a light. You don't need that big of gun though it is nice to know they won't run anywhere. It is no fun to track a wounded pig at night in heavy brush.
#9
Fork Horn
Thread Starter
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: GR Michigan
Posts: 204
RE: hunting hogs in the winter
the thing is, if we hunt them at night the largest caliber we can use is a 22 otherwise we will be using a 30.06 during the day, but what ammo would you recommend for a 22, i think the biggest that they come is 60 grain but i cant seem to find them anywhere, i figured something from CCI would be good, like a 40 grain hollow point or something, and are they afraid of shiners b/c we can use them legally but if they are scared then we will just hunt during full moon
#10
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Houston, Texas
Posts: 3,224
RE: hunting hogs in the winter
the ones where we hunt have been hunted enough they know when a light comes on they will be shot. You could use a .22 and shoot them right behind the ear though you need to be close and make a good shot. Unless you can get them where you can take your time and aim carefully I wouldn't recommend a .22 for hogs.