Skooch208

Just a thread to talk about what crossbow ya'll like to use for hog hunting. What fps it shoots, etc. Also your best hog you've killed.

MudderChuck

Nobody else is answering and my answer might not be what you are looking for. People that have done a lot of Hog hunts will tell you most of the time the only time they are truly dangerous is when they are wounded.
Professionals and semi-professionals that hunt them all the time usually pick a heavy bullet that leaves the barrel at double the speed of sound. And when they go after a wounded Hog, they go carefully.

rickt300

I have been crossbow hunting hogs for a couple of weeks now. Or I should say I have been setting up a shot for that long and have hunted twice. We have hogs coming in but a variable wind has messed things up both times. These are trail cam pics and only are a few of the pictures of hogs I have. Next time the wind will be right is Saturday. As for bolt speed I think broadheads are a more important consideration. Penetration being the most important aspect. My chair is on the ground less than 20 yards from these hogs. They destroyed my hog toy last night so I have to build a couple more today. I have another stand a bit farther in that is elevated and will hunt it next after the hogs start coming in to my new hog toy.

rickt300

Not one trail cam pic of a hog in the daytime.

Oldtimr

If you set up a feeder and set the timer to throw corn during the day you would see them during the day. As a matter of fact you will hear them coming to the feeder several minutes before it goes off.

rickt300

No offense but I have been running feeders for more than 25 years and have never had hogs come to any feeder set for daytime or dark in any way, shape or form of predictable behavior. In fact this corn was hand sown around 11am. By the way the trail cams are running 24/7 as they have been when set up to monitor feeders. So if a hog had come during the daytime it would have been recorded. Rarely compared to night time visits will you see a hog at a feeder in the daytime. Down south where there are huge numbers of hogs competing for available food yes they are more active in the daytime but generally in a great deal of Texas feral hogs are nocturnal.

Oldtimr

No offense taken, I have killed many many hogs in SC that came in just after the feeder went off during the day and so did all the guys I took with me. You can believe it or don't believe it. We do very little night hunting. I will not argue what happens in Texas I have never hunted there

MudderChuck

Hogs tend to form their habits following the lead Sow and often by age. The younger and stupid ones (adolescents/teenagers) die young. The survivors learn to keep to darkness and pay attention, the very young stay close to the older Sows. The only ones I've seen come out in daylight were usually adolescents separate from the sounder. They were breaking away from the sounder and cover early to head for food, late in the afternoon just before sunset. A few times I've seen adolescents fall behind the sounder early in the morning near sunrise and cut corners from the usual paths, trying to catch up, probably ignoring the old Sows movement to cover to feed a little longer. I've seen the old Sows follow a zig zag path through the countryside as far away from established shooting towers, high seats, and likely ambush sites as possible, usually keeping to deep cover. They say Fox are smart, I've seen Fox feeding out in the open at the same time I've seen some wise old sow slinking up the tree line at night and still keeping to deep shadows. They are always torn between staying safe and eating enough.
I used to set out small wooden boxes with some corn inside, a lid on top with a big rock on top, and a cheap battery clock that stopped when the lid was moved. Hogs can get pretty darned punctual. This was back in the day before game cameras. I'd also dig some small holes and put some corn in the holes with a rock on top. You could see from a long distance (while driving by) if the rocks were moved around and then you knew if the Hogs were in your neck of the woods. A five-year-old Sow can be dam smart, a year old not so smart. One reason we avoid shooting the old Sows and pick off the adolescents, the old Sows keep the sounder somewhat predictable. Feeders are illegal here, the legal size of bait piles is small. It is also technically illegal to hunt at night, a law everybody (law and hunter) ignores for Hogs.

Bocajnala

That's kinda like shaking a can of corn on a pheasant hunt lol.



-Jake