# Hog Huntin'!



## mojo4 (Feb 19, 2012)

So I was watching American Hoggers and I think going hog hunting would be awesome. Unfortunately we don't have a hog problem here in Colorado so I gotta hit the road. So I'm looking for references. Anyplace that you have hunted at or are willing to say was great! I'm coming from CO and I'm driving so I was looking at OK and TX areas. Also, is the wild hog meat the same as farm raised? Bacon and ribs right? Anyone with wild hog experience please help!!! Recipes too.


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## CrackbottomLouis (May 20, 2012)

I hunt in GA. Its not gonna be the same as store bought. I turn most of mine into sausage (boervors recipe). Treating the meat right is important. I do the same thing I do with venison. Leave it in a cooler filled with ice and the drain open, keep adding ice until the meat is bled out. The ribs are good the belly very thin compared to store bacon. Be prepared for awful stench during processing. Pigs stink something awful. Good hunting and eating though once you get your system worked out. Have fun with it


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## ras1219como (Jan 15, 2013)

There are a lot of feral hogs causing problems on Missouri farms. Generally in counties in the north and south...not much issue in the central area.


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## Marcus (May 13, 2012)

One of the guys at work only takes the backstrap off of feral hogs and leaves the rest for the buzzards. It'll taste gamier too.
If you know anyone with some land in Texas, most will gladly give you permission to remove the nuisance critters. And you don't even need a hunting license: http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/regulations/fish_hunt/licenses/hunt_licenses/

This page says you do need a hunting license: http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/huntwild/wild/nuisance/feral_hogs/
It's $48 for a 5 day non-resident license

http://feralhogs.tamu.edu/files/2011/08/Feral-Hog-Laws-and-Regulations-in-Texas.pdf


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## smaj100 (Oct 17, 2012)

Mojo, have we ever meet? IF you find a place to hog hunt you should enjoy it. I'll 2nd most of the other comments. Bleed it to death but make sure you keep it on ice and chilled, also the few times i've been I kill as many as I can. Even though its more work I usually only process the smaller piglets/hoglets. Anything hogzilla size or males I dont even bother IMO.

I've never had a chance to hunt several days back to back in the same location but have been told by more than one old timer, that if you field dress them in the same location other hogs will return and eat the entrails. Anyone else ever hear or have any experience with this?


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## valannb22 (Jan 6, 2012)

There is good hog hunting in SE Oklahoma. Chad used to go for fun quite a bit, but it's been several years. I didn't like the meat AT ALL. It was nasty.


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## Magus (Dec 1, 2008)

South Georgia has some 200 pound+ Russian cross breeds, they pay you to kill them and they taste like beef!


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## Hoghunterdiva (Jun 25, 2013)

mojo4 said:


> So I was watching American Hoggers and I think going hog hunting would be awesome. Unfortunately we don't have a hog problem here in Colorado so I gotta hit the road. So I'm looking for references. Anyplace that you have hunted at or are willing to say was great! I'm coming from CO and I'm driving so I was looking at OK and TX areas. Also, is the wild hog meat the same as farm raised? Bacon and ribs right? Anyone with wild hog experience please help!!! Recipes too.


 Texas is a great place to hunt hogs. That is my forte actually. I do hog removal for some of the larger ranches that don't have time or patience, and I run a hunting club so I have a whole posse of members to enjoy club leases hunting hogs, predators and varmints, but my club is arrow only.
The bi laws make it easy to join if you are a like minded hunter. We have members globally, and some just participate vicariously thru the internet.

So I do also butcher and cook a LOT of pork. The pork is different, pen raised vs. free ranging. First, the pen raised pork doesn't move much, so they are more tender when they are large than a wild boar hog who gets plenty of exercise in most cases. Not all. I have harvested big round boars that had food and water sources so close, they only walked less than 100 yards per day. In those cases, when I butcher, I do save the extra fat for my venison burger, and cut steaks and such.
The perfect hog to go to market is between 160 lbs and 220 lbs. That gives you an idea of what sized hogs you cut meat, or grind meat. 
Like last night, I was butchering a 300+ pound hog I shot Saturday night. The cuts were beautiful on what would be rib eye steaks on beef, but I knew better to package it this way and sent it to the grinder. I did sample it though, to be sure of my decision. It was very tasty but tough. 
Bacon is the belly fat. You need a large hog to be able and make those cuts of meat that allow for the bacon. 
Overall, the flavor is close UNLESS the hog eats a lot of acorns. I hate that! To me it makes the meat strong flavored, but the Chinese like that so well they purposely feed their pen hogs accorns.
One more thing you should know when choosing Texas vs Oklahoma for hog hunting. In OK, you can only hunt hogs during daylight shooting hours. In Texas, we hunt them mostly at night when they are on the move. Its legal with any tool, anytime, every day, over bait, it whatever you like. Summertime is HOT, so they lay up in cool dark places during the day. Also hogs have to have water daily, and use wallows to keep cool due to not having sweat glands. I also raised some wild hogs as pets.


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## Hoghunterdiva (Jun 25, 2013)

Marcus said:


> One of the guys at work only takes the backstrap off of feral hogs and leaves the rest for the buzzards. It'll taste gamier too.
> If you know anyone with some land in Texas, most will gladly give you permission to remove the nuisance critters. And you don't even need a hunting license: http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/regulations/fish_hunt/licenses/hunt_licenses/
> 
> This page says you do need a hunting license: http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/huntwild/wild/nuisance/feral_hogs/
> ...


 Here. let me help you understand this. You don't need a hunting license to hunt hogs IF it's not a commercial hunt, or the hog is a problem animal on private land with the land owners permission as his acting agent. Otherwise you need to have a license. Out of state exotic license is 5 day $48.00. Best to stay legal if there is any question.


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## TenHenAustin (Jul 3, 2013)

Soooo...we have a ranch in TX hill country about 1/2 hr from Ft. Hood. Problem 1: hogs...many, many hogs. They LOVE our deer feeders--tip them over all the time. I reckon they are healthy! Problem 2: hubby disagrees on management. I think an all out declaration of war on them needs to happen, and effort on eradicating should occur in order to preserve our trophy deer population (which affects business!) but that's just imo. His opinion wavers from let's have fun hunting them, to pretending they aren't there just b/c they aren't seen. Due to costs and limited $, hiring isn't reasonable. But, wouldn't mind hosting some ladies only hunts, and hunts in general for the hogs. Done a couple family hunts last fall & spring, but inexperience of all resulted in only one or two piglets being dispatched (and not successfully for food.) Need tips on best methods, best calibers, day vs. night, and processing/butchering, to feel comfy in inviting public. Suggestions?


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## Jimthewagontraveler (Feb 8, 2012)

stockton missouri
no law 
no proscribed method
no proscribed or restricted weapon.
no season
no lisence
please come
please kill
As per all governing bodies such as Corps of engineers and Conservation department.
The last conservation agent jokingly said they had not ruled out hand grenades.[whoops did i say that out loud?]


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## helicopter5472 (Feb 25, 2013)

I guess that grenade hunting has it's plus too....Bacon Bits


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## helicopter5472 (Feb 25, 2013)

I like the NEW show that just came on called "Siberia" It's starts like a game show. A bunch of people set out to survive in the wilderness for a year ,but looks like a real deadly survival as a camera man dies from some creature. It's got me going...


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## d_saum (Jan 17, 2012)

I'm interested in this as well.. I've been wanting to go hog hunting for quite some time. I'm dying to know what a wild hog tastes like and experiment with it on my grill. 

Please keep us posted on where you end up going and how it goes!


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## Caribou (Aug 18, 2012)

Jimthewagontraveler said:


> stockton missouri
> no law
> no proscribed method
> no proscribed or restricted weapon.
> ...


Hand grenades? I never considered using fishing gear to hunt with.


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## hiwall (Jun 15, 2012)

Arizona Fish&game says there are feral hogs all around me. Though I hike hundreds of miles per year I have never seen ANY. Though I assume they are totally nocturnal here. See plenty of Javelina. I'll have to look harder for them. I'd like to shoot one to eat! No license or anything needed here.


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## Marcus (May 13, 2012)

TenHenAustin said:


> Soooo...we have a ranch in TX hill country about 1/2 hr from Ft. Hood. Problem 1: hogs...many, many hogs. They LOVE our deer feeders--tip them over all the time. I reckon they are healthy! Problem 2: hubby disagrees on management. I think an all out declaration of war on them needs to happen, and effort on eradicating should occur in order to preserve our trophy deer population (which affects business!) but that's just imo. His opinion wavers from let's have fun hunting them, to pretending they aren't there just b/c they aren't seen. Due to costs and limited $, hiring isn't reasonable. But, wouldn't mind hosting some ladies only hunts, and hunts in general for the hogs... Need tips on best methods, best calibers, day vs. night, and processing/butchering, to feel comfy in inviting public. Suggestions?


I'd use what you already have available.
Choose a deer feeder near water and set the timer to go off a little after dusk. Make sure you have a deer stand fairly close by (~50-100 yds.) Start feeding the hogs with the feeder and get them used to going there. Give it a week or so then get in the stand a bit early one evening and wait.
A lot of my friends use either NV or a spotlight. Your choice.
I recommend using an AR 15 type weapon since you want to basically ambush the hogs at the feeder which means you'll want a large capacity magazine.
Cut off the timer for a couple of weeks then start over again.

Depending on the size of your hog problem, it may not be feasible to process the meat.

You may also want to contact the Ag teachers in Lampasas/San Saba and ask them which kids are into hog hunting. It's a good way to get the problem solved and you can always offer $2/ear to help defray bullet costs.

You might also want to talk with your neighbors and see what they're doing to control hogs. A concerted effort will generally produce better results.


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## webeable (Aug 29, 2012)

I can't believe you all want to kill babe!!! They are so cute, and what little harm they do. If you want a hunting partner if I can get the time off willing to go. As for the first two lines is total crap but what I hear when deer hunting.


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## mojo4 (Feb 19, 2012)

So I called a few places down by San Antonio. They all said it was too hot right now so I guess I need to wail till Sep or Oct. And jimmy if you have the land I have a crew of hog assassins just waiting to load up! Seriously! If anyone has land and hog problems please PM me and we will set up something.


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## flaprepper (Dec 11, 2012)

I'd like to offer my services as a hog hunter....I've been hunting them all my life here in Florida. They taste great and are fun to hunt. I use a .243 or a .308 and have had no problems.


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