Because you can apparently not have too many hog threads in the summer... :D
I've seen lots of discussion and tips about shields, shot placement, baiting, broadheads, poundage etc. Seems to me (or I'm looking in all the wrong places...again) there isn't much discussion about how to get close (other than wind) and how to draw undetected, ground blind effectiveness etc...
The more tips the merrier! I can use all the help I can get! :help:
Same as every other animal, downwind, move slow, shoot when their not looking at you. The hog pro's will weigh in shortly.
I'll go the other way on this....I've always done best by moving in quickly and taking the shot IF IT PRESENTS ITSELF. If it doesn't or you spook em, back out and circle around in front ofthem and try again. IME, the longer you are there the better chance they have of smelling you.
So, spot them, get the wind, move in and shoot! It doesn't hurt to make a little noise as if they're in a group, they won't pay mch attention to shuffling. You can't break a limb or anything but a little crunching won't hurt a thing.
Move as quick as you can to get into position. They don't hang around long usually. Try to get ahead of them if you know their route. Also waterholes and feeders are good to stalk em at or set up a blind.
You can also put the sneak on them in their beds if you can find them, which is a blast, but once they are busted snoozin they almost never bed down in that area again, in my experience.
What biggie said.
It's been my experience that you trying to sneak up on them sounds like something trying to sneak up on them. Pigs are not stealthy. I think that if you're just moving along they think you're another pig on it's way over.
Also, my trick I've found is that when you get close to them or are in a blind and they come in close, close one eye while you're looking at them. I think they identify 2 eyes as a predator while one eye is just a funny looking leaf or something.
Also, my trick I've found is that when you get close to them or are in a blind and they come in close, close one eye while you're looking at them. I think they identify 2 eyes as a predator while one eye is just a funny looking leaf or something.
You are kidding, right? :saywhat:
Spot them first. When you move in, watch out for the little bitty pigs, them running around all over the place is usually busts me, one will get down wind and that will be that. Try to get in front of them, wait for them to move up to you. Pigs never stop moving. The wind at ground level may be going in a different direction than the wind on your face. Bill
i like what Ray told me in SC: "don't walk like something that's trying to be silent - you can't. Walk, instead, like something that lives in the woods. Take a few steps, stop and look around, then take a few more steps and stop again." Sage advice that ended up with me on top of two hogs, but the brush was to heavy to shoot.
I believe every minute that goes by after you spot pigs under 50 yards your chances go down.If they bust you because of some noise you made you can get on`m again. If they bust you from the wind your done and in the swamp the wind never stays steady.Move fast and try to get in front of where they are headed.RC
This is great stuff! keep it coming!
All of the above sounds great but you gotta find them first. Use your eyes, your ears and believe it or not, your nose when stalking heavy cover looking for hogs. I will normally hear or smell hogs before I see them. Once you smell them you'll know just what I mean.
Lay in the road and make corn noises! I just had to use that one, because I still think it's funny.
What everyone else has already said. I will add that you need to cover lots of ground in order to find them sometimes. I have started hunting faster, and seeing more hogs. If you still hunt like you would for deer, you just ain't gonna cover enough ground to routinely get the shots at hogs. RC taught me that, and it's taken me several years to see the truth in it. :knothead:
Apex, I will do one better Go to Wallmart!I can't remember who wrote that a while back. I wish south eastern Jersey had 4legged hogs to hunt.I hear they are moving closer from the west.
Tie a Wensel to a tree with a fried chicken leg dangling in front of him just beyond his reach. When he starts squealing like pig have an arrow ready and let-r rip at the first approaching porker!!
Nice ideas keep`em coming :biglaugh:
Margly
Let me see if I can boil all this great advice....
Run past the hogs, lay down in the road with one eye closed while making popcorn noises and when they come in to eat me hit them with a chicken leg...or was that a Wensel, which one Gene or Barry?
Do I have right now?
:bigsmyl:
I once attracted some spooked javelinas by crunching down on some hard candy. I didn't lay down in the road, though. Can't shoot well from that position. I found a broken Wensel arrow under one of the bunks in the cabin, so I guess the peccaries had been conditioned to the sounds.
hog still ,i'm still..hog move, i move..like RC says it should happen fast or it probably won't happen.
I agree. Be aggressive with your movement and always be aware of the wind. Tie a feather to the tip of your bow with a piece of dental floss, have a puffer bottle handy at all times and it wouldn't hurt to carry milkweed seeds in a plastic bag to check wind currents. You can't check the wind enough.
I had a hog follow me in Texas this year as it tried to wind me. The hog saw me but didn't recognize me as a threat. I was on the up wind side but the hog hadn't crossed my scent stream yet. So I started walking away from the hog and cross ways to the wind. I wanted to get down wind, out of the hogs line of sight and then circle back in on it.
This was cool! The hog and I were on the average about 30 yards apart most of the time. The hog began to follow me and was trying to cut down wind of me. It wouldn't let me out of its sight. I started out just walking figuring the hog would lose interest, but n-ooo that hog was very curious about me. So I began to jog and the pig picked up its pace and continued to close the gap between him and my scent stream. Since that wasn't working I started to run and began to aggressively cut down wind and the hog again picked up the pace and out ran me. When it got my wind it tore out of there never to be seen again.
They are a blast to hunt, mainly because you can be aggressive with your movement. Spot them and go after them and if your in Texas do some night hunting... what a rush!
Good luck!
Great story
Be flexible-a group including sounders will bust you so move in fast-you got nothing to lose. A pair or lone hog, move when faces are down eating-freeze when not. Smell is everything to a hog. Like was said before wind beats all-sometimes they can tolerate hearing you and seeing you; but they will never tolerate the smell of you.
QuoteOriginally posted by Biggie Hoffman:
I'll go the other way on this....I've always done best by moving in quickly and taking the shot IF IT PRESENTS ITSELF. If it doesn't or you spook em, back out and circle around in front ofthem and try again. IME, the longer you are there the better chance they have of smelling you.
So, spot them, get the wind, move in and shoot! It doesn't hurt to make a little noise as if they're in a group, they won't pay mch attention to shuffling. You can't break a limb or anything but a little crunching won't hurt a thing.
Yep....
QuoteOriginally posted by Bill Skinner:
Spot them first. When you move in, watch out for the little bitty pigs, them running around all over the place is usually busts me, one will get down wind and that will be that. Try to get in front of them, wait for them to move up to you. Pigs never stop moving. The wind at ground level may be going in a different direction than the wind on your face. Bill
Yep.....
QuoteOriginally posted by RC:
I believe every minute that goes by after you spot pigs under 50 yards your chances go down.If they bust you because of some noise you made you can get on`m again. If they bust you from the wind your done and in the swamp the wind never stays steady.Move fast and try to get in front of where they are headed.RC
Amen.....
I would have paid for a ticket to see that track meet with Gatekeeper and that TX hog!
What Gatekeeper might have been thinking: "I'll start to walk fast now; dang, that pig is starting to walk faster than me! ... OK, I'll start jogging; now how can pigs jog that fast for such porky critters? ... OK now I'll just flat out run that swine showoff; well, you won the foot race this time Mr. Pig, but next time I might decide to see if you can out run one of my arrows!"
Thanks for the great hog hunting story Gatekeeper.
And thanks to chopx2 for asking the question, and to those who answered. After seeing what is working for many here, I think I will quit putting the sneak on those hogs, and kick it up a gear or two when I get amongst them. :archer:
Corn. Hogs love corn! If you're in an area where baiting is legal, set up a feeder and have the hogs get used to it being there. Approach downwind and put an arrow through both lungs. Hogs think with their stomach. When their feeding it's a little easier to stalk in. If you're still having a hard time, give matt and Cheryl at Shiloh ranch a call.
I agree with biggie, joey and RC. but the best luck Ive had getting close to them is by putting a razor sharp abowyer through the pocket. Then it's easy. you just walk up to them . LOL Lots of good advice above. If I live to be 100 yrs old I won't have the expertise of these guys. Don
QuoteOriginally posted by rastaman:
Also, my trick I've found is that when you get close to them or are in a blind and they come in close, close one eye while you're looking at them. I think they identify 2 eyes as a predator while one eye is just a funny looking leaf or something.
You are kidding, right? :saywhat:
not at all. It's worked for me a bunch when they're Lookin at you bun don't. Know what you are yet and are still trying to figure out whether or not they're lookin at a predator.
I tried that one eye thing today, and it didn't work at all. He did wink at me before woofing out of there though! :)
QuoteOriginally posted by Battle_shaft:
Also, my trick I've found is that when you get close to them or are in a blind and they come in close, close one eye while you're looking at them.
That makes sense! Hunting E. deer, I always turn my cap visor sideways so they think I'm lookin the other way and they try to sneak by. Just remember to open dat 2nd eye before ya shoot or you'll never have depth perception to pick a spot!
:laughing: :nono:
quote:
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Originally posted by Battle_shaft:
Also, my trick I've found is that when you get close to them or are in a blind and they come in close, close one eye while you're looking at them.
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I just wear Shades like the Movie Stars....
OK....other than copying others posts.....
If you get on a SINGLE big boar.....GOOD luck sneaking into range....best NOT hurry in on him....one little sound outta you and he will be gone. Best bet is to get the wind right...and PRAY it stays right long enough for you to CREEP into range.
If ya get on a dozen or more, don't worry about the little noise you are making ....when you get into range, you will see that they themselves are idling chainsaws and what noise you are making is just another hogs as far as they know.
My experience is exclusive to California so I will add that as my context to what others have written. A lot depends on the area and how and how hard the hogs are hunted. If you are hunting in an area that is gun hunted a lot you really have to be extra carefull on how you approach a sounder of hogs. Although miopic, wild hogs are really good at picking up deviations in contour of the landscape and they can tell if a "bush" or "tree" has changed position...sometimes at a pretty good distance. Hogs are even spookier if the area you are hunting gets hunted with because dogs make them hyper wary of every noise and are as likely to charge a "sound" as they are to run away from one. In areas where the hogs are not "hard" hunted (ie: they may get shot at but are then left to settle down for a long time) you are fairly safe in either getting in front of them if you can and allowing them to feed into you, approaching them if you see them bed up during the day, or, simply watch the wind and approach with the wind in your favor while keeping a low profile. Assuming this latter situation is your situation tall grass is always a problem with a good sized sounder because you cannot see the small piglets that are moving around in the grass and those are the ones that can bust you in that situation. Whatever you do have fun.