Sunday, March 15, 2009

Basics to Hunting Wild Feral Hogs.

When you start thinking of feral hog hunting where do you start? For anyone just starting out hog hunting ( like myself ) probably the best place to start is at your local wildlife agency. Asking the right questions can give you alot of useful information to getting you headed in the right direction. For most of us just starting out probably the first and most important thing to hog hunting is locating a place with a substantial group of hogs on it. Most wildlife agencies can tell you all the management areas with feral hog populations on them and may even give you a list of farms or ranches. Almost every management area is open to hog hunting during the deer hunting season only and ranchers charge a fee to hunt game on their ranch so if you can, try to locate a farm that borders a management area with feral hogs and ask the owner for permission to hunt wild feral hogs on their farm. If you get permission to hunt hogs ask the owner if he can tell you any places he's seen hogs consistently or if there's any fields that the hogs are destroying. Once you've located a farm to hunt and created a good repoor with the owner your next objective should be to look over the farm and decide from the signs and sightings the best place to ambush the hogs. Decide whether you want to hunt from a stand, a blind or just standing by a large tree. If your going to be using tree stands be sure to get permission to use them and never attach them to the trees with nails or any other damaging hardware and the same goes for using screw-in steps, get permission first. Now that your set-up is complete, make sure you acquire all the proper licenses for hunting wild feral hogs. Here in Tennessee, law requires a hunting license and a big game license (either gun, archery or muzzle loader depending on the weapon you hunt with. ). Once you've taken a feral hog it's not mandatory to check it in at a checking station here in Tennessee however, the wildlife agency would appreciate notification of the location and quantity of hogs taken. Okay now, you've taken your first feral hog so now what? Do you take it to a local processor or do you process it yourself? This would depend on you and your abilities, do you have the right equipment? Do you have the knowledge to properly process and package the hog you've taken? Is there someone that can guide you through the process and help you? If you have any doubt about processing your hog properly then perhaps it would be best for you to carry your hog to a processor until you can gain the knowledge to do it yourself. Well your now armed with some of the basics for getting started into wild feral hog hunting so get out there and help thin out the feral hog population and enjoy yourself while in the woods and fields this year and good luck.

12 comments:

Caleb Pearce said...

The DNR in Wisconsin encourages the killing of wild bores and frill pigs. All you need is a small game license to hunt them. But there aren't manny in the state.

deerslayer said...

Deer Killer; I would say the climate may play a role in that. Perhaps if you look around a swampy area or watering holes you may find a good group of hogs to hunt. I plan on hunting hogs this year instead of deer as a change of pace but if the right buck comes along you can bet I'll take the shot. Good luck hunting this year and thanks for the visit.

Caleb Pearce said...

I do not think that climate has much to do with it. There just aren't many hogs in Wisconsin, there are some Russian bores in some northern parts of the state. I do not know about giving up deer hunting for bores thow. I think I would hunt them in the off season.

deerslayer said...

Real Russian boars are the meanest and the true wild boars. If you get lucky enough to hunt them be careful and take a friend. As for deer hunting, well that could be done and you could scout your deer grounds while hunting hogs. Just remember in most states you can hunt hogs and deer during the deer season.

R. Gabe Davis said...

The only hog I ever killed I was deer hunting. I need to make a real effort this year....I am out of wild pork.

deerslayer said...

Envirocapitalist; Though deer meat really better for you than any beef, chicken or pork you can get pork is great as a change of menu. You just have to make sure you cook pork fully to kill any parasites in the meat. Hope you fill your freezer this year and good luck hunting. Thanks for following my site.

swamp rat said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
swamp rat said...

I have been asking farmers, land owners and even local DNR agents in the area of these counties. They must count these ferals like they do deer.

muddrag1 said...

Guys,

I just moved back from the MS. coast and need to arrow som hogs!
Any intell as to locations for them would be great. I live in Washington Co.

Viagra Online said...

I want to ask you something, why we have to hunt wild feral hugs? I mean it cause some kind of damage or something like that, because is better to investigate before shot.

Unknown said...

Hey I'm hoping to go to Tennessee in about a week to do some hog hunting, but I'm from Wisconsin and I'm not really sure where to start. Do you have any suggestions as to what locations have high populations of hogs? Also, how much will the license cost?

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