okiejaco

My cousin has seen 3 hogs on some of his land. This is the first time he has seen any around our part of Oklahoma. I was thinking about trying to hunt them and wanted to some ideas on how to get started. The land is mostly mesquite trees, so they will have a lot of cover. There are wheat fields around also.But I didn't think they ate wheat like deer.Should I find out where he saw them and look for some kind of sign? I am really not sure what to look for. If he saw 3 good sizes hogs, I wonder how many are really there? What I really need to know is what kind of signs to look for, should I use some kind of bait, or what should be my first step? What is the best time of the year to hunt for them? As you can probably tell, I know nothing about hogs.

alsaqr

"But I didn't think they ate wheat like deer."

They don't eat it like deer, they root it up and devour it. You should see what a bunch of hogs do for a wheat field.Look for hog tracks and rooting.

ryanaller

Tell your cousin if he saw 3 he will see 30 in less than 6 months. Those things are some baby makers like you wouldn't believe. We have 1 trap out and catch at least 5 a week. While deer hunting I probably saw groups of 10-25 hogs at a time everytime I went out. I will hunt them via a climber and sometimes stalk hunt then in their bedding area.

As for eating wheat, hogs will eat ANYTHING that is available!

okiejaco

Is there a certain time of the day that is better to huntfor them? Maybe in a couple of weeks, I can get down there and do some scouting. I will probably have more questions later. Do you gut them like a deer? How hard are they to skin? He said the ones he saw were decent size, so I am guessing around 100 lbs or less. Thanks for the help.

hunter9022

Im guessing you're in southwestern Oklahoma? Regardless, look for big mud holes with lots of tracks that look like deer, only more rounded. They look like a heart. You can bait in Oklahoma, just throw out anything. Start keeping any type of food scrap, save it up, then just go dump it in an area they are traveling through. Evening hunting is the best, unless you can find them for a mid day stalk. Swamps, ravines, and scrub brush will be your best bets. Pretty much, any type of country you wouldn't want to go to is where they will be. And they're cranky little buggers.

okiejaco

I actually live in Tuttle but hunt in Greer County. I just thought it would be fun to gohog hunting.

KC10Chief

Actually, the hog tracks look similar to deer tracks, only the points are farther apart. Deer tracks are heart shaped. Hogs have the toes further apart. Look for areas that look like a roto tiller has been through there. Sometimes the areas even smell bad. The hogs dig up everything in sight! If you want to bait them, I'd suggest digging some post holes as deep as you can go, pouring some corn down in there, a quart or so of diesel fuel or jello mix and then fill the hole in on top of it. I've read that these hogs can smell stuff buried up to 15 feet below the surface! I did the posthole thing a few weeks ago and sure enough, the hogs showed up. I didn't give them a chance to start digging though. I came back a while later and there was a big hole dug where they had been trying to get at that corn! Anothe thing you could do is get a feeder and set it up for the hogs. You can get a depredation permit from the Oklahoma wildlife department and then you can shoot them at night!

ryanaller

I had no idea about the depredation permit, thanks. I am filling it out as we speak. I have trail cameras that take hundreds of pictures of hogs at night. Does this permit allow for me to use a spotlight?

okiejaco

How much corn do you suggest? I guess I can dig a hole in the pasture and find a place 100 yards away to watch it. If I do this on a Saturday, what are the chances they will be there on Sunday?

KC10Chief

Not sure about the spotlight, but I'm pretty sure that you can with a depredation permit.

For the corn, I'll usually take one 40 pound bag and a gallon of diesel with me when I go hunting. I'm no expert, but I'd dig two or three holes, fill them halfway with corn and diesel and bury them. Then dig a small hole with a shovel, fill with corn and diesel and leave it exposed. Get the pigs to eat all of that, and then they'll be looking around for the rest. I've put corn out in the morning, and had the pigs come that night.