Mhuffman

Okay guys, our property in central Florida was overrun with hogs. At one point in time last month I shot two in the morning, went back a few hours later and shot two more, then came back and shot two more that night. It seems like I could go every day and get at least one before I crossed half of the property. And that was only burying fermented and whole corn.

The corner of another property protrudes into ours and they bed down on the other property not far from the fence line, so I put a feeder up about 20 yards from the main spot they cross. They were on it that night. I went out a couple days after putting it up and got a 300+ sal and a 250+ boar about 100 yards from the feeder then over the next two weeks shot 2 more that weren't on the feeder but near it and I haven't seen one since then, that was last week. I just do not understand how it goes from shooting fish in a barrel to nothing..? Should I just stay away for a week or so?

Oh and the property is a wide, long patch of cow pastures and woods between to major road ways and has a good number of cattle on it if that matters, and there are also two very large body's of water on the property. And quite a few coyotes that I haven't had the pleasure of giving lead poisoning to yet even though i can always hear them. And between the sounders I've seen at minimum 75 piglets. some advise would awesome!

Oldtimr

Hogs don't stay in one place, they will make pretty big forays and sometimes will not come back to an area for days. They will be back, they coyotes aren't the problem, the hogs can kill and eat any that try to mess with them.

Tufrthnails

I agree we have cameras monitoring a property 24/7 at work and see hogs everywhere one week then nothing for a few weeks then all come right back. We also have yotes rolling down the road like it is a highway and it doesn't do anything to the hogs pop.

flags

Where in FL are you? My advice is you ask someone as deadly as myself (hint, hint, hint) to come help you shoot some of the pesky critters!

Swamp_slayer

Depending how far up in central Florida you are. You may have a panther or two around and trust me they will clean out the hogs! There aren't many hogs left south of lake Okeechobee anymore due to that alone.

JoeA

As long as there is a food source the hogs will come back. They are craftier than many folks give them credit for, so some of them may still be around. Piglets are often careless and follow their stomach before their nose or brain. The "aunties" who help the sow...they're the ones that survey the scene.

To keep hog numbers (and damage) at a manageable level, concentrate mostly on the gilts (unbred sows) and young sows with just a few piglets.

It sounds like you have a good thing there, great times and free range, organic meat.

super_hunt54

Sorry Swamp but your incorrect there. A panther will take a lone piglet or 2 but they won't mess with a sounder at all. A sounder of hogs would kill a panther in no time flat out. I don't know why people seem to think hogs are all like Porky Pig in the Toons. Hogs are a VERY dangerous animal and they have very few natural predators. They are strong, smart, pretty quick if needed, tough hide, and strong jaws with a very nasty bite. An adult male panther would be a good match for a lone Boar (and it would be a pretty dang good fight too) but you pit that same Cat against 2 or 3 Sows protecting their piglets and you will have a dead or badly injured Cat.

Mickey Finn

I'm always a little jealous when I read posts like this.

MudderChuck

That is much like we do it. We Harvest the middle age group out, mostly those in their second year (give or take a few months).

Keeps the population down two ways. Limits the new breeders and the highest mortality rate is in the young ones anyway. It also has the largest return for the bullets fired or hogs harvested. The most meat you can harvest without upsetting the sounders routine much.

The older Sows and the lead Sow are the memory of the sounder. If you leave them alone it makes the sounder much more predictable.

What I do is I don't often hunt on food. Most times you shoot two or maybe three at the most and the sounder changes it's routine (territory) in other words you drive them off the food. I ambush them on the way to food (evenings) or from food (mornings). They will often feed the same spot and just change there route to food. It may keep the shooting active longer doing it this way. And if you want a sure thing you can harvest *one* from the food source and there is chance it won't upset there routine much.

Were I hunt there is maybe three bedding areas, one large food source and four ways into the food. On their path to food, I often dig some little Cat holes, put some corn in there and cover it with a rock so the Varmints and Deer don't get the Corn. Gets them to stop for a few minutes and makes for an easier shot.

Don't forget the wallows or small Duckweed ponds. In the hotter weather they will visit the wallows daily.

I leave the food or the bedding areas alone, unless I host a hunt I want to be a sure thing. And even then the bedding areas are my last choice. They often change feeding areas and keep the same bedding areas.

On my lease there is rarely two weeks in a row when there aren't any Hogs around.

They also tend to follow roughly the same game trails in a broad sort of way. Unlike Deer who often use he same paths, the Hogs often travel roughly the same directions, but along a broader front. There are often choke points though.

I've got fifty, hundred yards swaths of forest the Hogs have been using for centuries. Fallen trees sometimes have a saddle worn in them 8-12 inches deep from the Hogs dragging their belly across as they jump over. Or the small branches and other Forest junk is trampled into small bits along a wide swath going from one feeding area to another or from a bedding area to a feeding area.

One other tactic I use is to harvest out the juveniles in places where they tend to cut corners or travel in pairs away from the Sounder. The lead Sow will often lead them on the safest route to food. While the teenagers don't listen to Mamma and will cut corners and take short cuts. Less likely to upset the Sounders routine if you pick off the stupid ones.

Some of the older Sows are flat canny, one reason I enjoy hunting them so much is they are much smarter than a Deer. You often have to match wits with them as much as you need to have superior skills and equipment. i shoot way more Fox than I do Hogs and Fox are famous for their smarts.

JGFLHunter

Just like Mudder said. They will feed about the same time or times everyday. Finding the travel route to and from the food will be better. At least where I hunt in Saint Augustine the hogs will eventually come back if I shoot at feeder which is what I mainly do. Sometimes it's a couple days other times its a couple weeks. This year I want to hunt with my crossbow so I will be setting my climber up in different locations throughout spring and summer. My uncle came down last Tuesday to visit. We hunted and he missed one Tuesday night. They came back Thursday (no hunt). Went Friday and he hit one but couldn't find it and I got a little one as they scattered. Now is been a week since then and no sign of hogs. They will be back eventually because easy food is scarce during this time as no one in the club hunts or feeds during this time. They are smart animals. When they notice there buddies missing, especially in the magnitude you were able to do they will peace out. Just be patient and continue to feed like normal. Best thing in my opinion is just check camera 1x a week or maybe go a little longer. Good luck. Don't forget to post pictures!