Anybody have any luck finding them? The MDC website says they are scattered. I was just curious if there were actually huntable populations.
Scott
They are few and far between. Sorry I can't help.
Scott:
I don't know where you are in MO so this may not do much but first do a search on here in Pow Wow. There are a number of threads. I can not get my puter to give me a hot link to the results. I just did "Hogs in Missouri" and got a good bit.
OK... I suspect Semo Hunter and another one or two will chime in here.
The hogs I know about are in SE MO around Lake Wapapello. That would Wayne and Butler Co's. I have been over there and hunted them. They are dispersed around the lake and up and down the Black and St. Francis Rivers and their environs. There are also some in the refuge north of Hwy 60 between Sikeston and the Bluff.... can not remember the darn name... (crs.. and I just talked about it within the last month)
This past spring I was with a friend on some private property near the lake and saw some but saw a good bit of evidence of hogs using the place. I had planned to get back over there to hunt but it did not happen.
Several years ago a member here on TG got a group together to hunt around the lake. As I remember he baited for a good bit before the hunt. I am sorry but I do not remember who that was nor the outcome of the hunt.
The MO dept had a map on line that gave some good ideas as to where the hogs were. Hope this helps
I know only one person that has seen wild hogs and he did kill one during firearm deer season around Ft. Leonard Wood.. The MDC has done a great job of getting them killed/trapped ect...
Additionally, from what I have been able gather talking with biologists privately, the greatest populations seem to be in SE MO where I mentioned in the above post.
Yea the map I found on their site just has counties highlighted. I was hoping for some specific conservation areas.
Scott
Scott:
Mingo NWR is the one I was trying to think of.
The MO site lists areas in the various countys. Read the list under the map.
Where are you located?
I actually live about 50 miles west of St Louis but we have property in Texas county near Houston.
I read all the info under the map but I was kinda iffy on regs on the national forest land that they keep mentioning. Also, they have Texas county highlighted on the map but they don't mention it underneath.
I guess I was hoping for some inside info on hotspots.
Scott
Hogs are considered a pest by the MO dept. As such they can be hunted any time by any means.
Property access and tresspass are still controled by landowners and public agencys. That having been said its a year round season to the best of my knowledge on FS and Corp grounds
fort leonardwood has them, my cousin killed a few there with a gun some yrs. back..but if you drive out there you may or may not get in depending on whats going on there with shooting big guns and stuff..
and down around salem, along the current river....you just need to put in a lot(a lot) of time scouting to find them..
a freind of mine has cattle down in potosi and said theres a bunch around there also..
im sure there ferel pigs........
if you got time rite now would be a good time to scout with the snow on the ground.....
hope i helped a little..let me know when you findem .
I'm not far from Potosi and I have never heard of any hogs in or around that area, but then if a guy knows their whereabouts he may keep it under his hat?
There are hogs down at Mingo because the one time I hunted there this passed fall right after rifle season ended, I found places where the ground was all tore up and thought it was deer. Another member on trad gang that knows that area like his own back yard said it was hogs and not deer. He also said that a big boar had been spotted in that area several times right behind where we parked the truck and I found all the sign.
Texas county should be just about in the thick of things as far as hogs go? Just head north and a little further west to Truman lake, I hear there's a healthy population around there. I think there's a quite a bit of public ground around the lake that you can hunt also? Not real sure how much, but if it belongs to the corp of engineers.....it's open to the public.
That would be my best advice on where to start, but then I'm not the one to be giving it because I have yet to see an actual hog in Missouri. I've only heard rumors of their whereabouts.
You'll just have to put in some leg work and talk to people to get zeroed in on them.
Let me know when you do and if you need any help with the extermination.
Huntschool, arrow30, and myself will be on our way with razor sharp broadheads and bow in hand! :thumbsup:
Interesting you mentioned the area around Truman lake. I will be down there this spring turkeyhunting around the lake.
It has been a few years (6) since I have been down that way but i never saw any hogs or sign from them in the past when I hunted it every spring.
Looks like I need to due some research and see if I can't make it a two species hunt!
If anyone has any pointers on hogs in that area I would appreciate it.
mdc says the west side of the lake is the best,
Thanks!
I wouldn't count on seeing any in MO. I think the MDC's kill on site by any means and trapping has about got rid of them. I don't know of anyone that's ever seen one. Now MDC can focus on shrinking the state deer herd. Apparently it's to large ?
I know that I sure would like to kill a hog in my own home state, but actually for all the leg work that's involved, fuel cost, running and gunning from one CA to another......time and money spent. A guy may just be better off to take a drive to Mississippi or Georgia where they are over run with hogs and need the help getting rid of them.
Mississippi has lots of CA's open to public hunting and they welcome hog hunters with open arms, I doubt it would be very difficult to ask some of the locals and they would probably point you in the right direction. Or give one of their Agents a call and ask him/her where would be a good place to start.
You would probably cut your losses in half and come home with a hog or a couple of them, rather than walking your tail off and depleting your savings account for gas and groceries.
Just a thought.