Do Boars Hogs rut like whitetail Bucks do?

In the past two weeks I have seen more lone solitary boars moving around then usual. I took some pics of one in particular that crossed downwind of my feeder three times in one hour. The file was too big to post.
There were sow and piglet tracks all over the feeder. This time of year, all of the tender grasses and new roots start growing, easy food to claim.
In the fall, the pecans and acorns start falling late October and early November, and the males start showing up, again, easy food.
I am convinced that the boars feed up at that time and rut at least twice a year around those times. It doesn't really matter what you shoot since most people meat hunt them. But, if you ever want a good skull with longer tusks to have mounted, this is the time to hunt the males.

I've never seen two males fighting, I assume that they do because I've shot some that were pretty torn up, but I have seen the bigger males toss the piglets away from a feeder so they can "Hog" it all.

I think that the Pigs are less predictable than a Whitetail, and harder to hunt.

Since turkey season starts Saturday, I'l bring a digital camera, shotgun for Toms, and rifle for Pigs. Let the show begin!

Tom

Save some for seed, Tom - I'm gonna be on my way the 8th!!! :D

Save some for seed, Tom - I'm gonna be on my way the 8th!!! :D

Ken, I only hunt for the dumb ones, I always let the smart ones go.
I'll find you a dumb one.
How's that-

:D :D :D :D

Happy hunting! These were taken about 2 1/2 weeks ago in S. Texas on a hunt with RanchDog. Yep there are 8 there. We just quartered the little ones.

Dave :p

Happy hunting! These were taken about 2 1/2 weeks ago in S. Texas on a hunt with RanchDog. Yep there are 8 there. We just quartered the little ones.

Dave :p
What a variety!
90% of ours are Eurasian. Russian/feral, long brown black hair. But a few weeks ago I saw my first pure white one. How he got there, I'll never know.

tpv,

That brown one in the middle had real grizzly curley hair. I did see a really big one like you describe with long black hair that was with the 4 largest ones in the pic but he was crossing a sendero with the group and I never saw him again. I had three different groups come in that night. What a blast!

Dave

Gee Whizz!!!!!!
Still don't think it's fair you guys get to have so much fun in the winter! :D Oh yeah, what's a "sendero" anyhow?
Happy Huntin"
Bryan

Ab Rifleman,

Here is my definition of a sendero and why. The brush and cactus in S. Texas is so thick that most folks use tower blinds especially for hunting deer. You just cannot really get thru the flora. Everything in there sticks, stings or bites. If you try to run thru the stuff you will come out full of thorns and/or needles and/or snakebit. The folks down there use dozers to open up what looks like wide roads that are actually shooting lanes that are also used as roads. When driving down the highway you can see the tower blind but not usually the tower. Sorta strange and different to me. But so is hunting at night.

Dave

Ab Rifleman,

Here is my definition of a sendero and why. The brush and cactus in S. Texas is so thick that most folks use tower blinds especially for hunting deer. You just cannot really get thru the flora. Everything in there sticks, stings or bites. If you try to run thru the stuff you will come out full of thorns and/or needles and/or snakebit. The folks down there use dozers to open up what looks like wide roads that are actually shooting lanes that are also used as roads. When driving down the highway you can see the tower blind but not usually the tower. Sorta strange and different to me. But so is hunting at night.

Dave
That's my definition too.

This week-end is also a great time to look for shed horns. I usually ride around the edges of the wheat fields, and along the fence lines. They are easy to see this time of year before the grass starts growing.

Also a good time to see rattlesnakes so be careful.

A friend of mine called me last night and asked me what to do with 4 hogs that he trapped behind his house. He lives in a suburb called Willow Park, just West of Fort Worth. There are houses on three acre tracts, and yet the pigs come in at night and root up the gardens. I am wondering when the state of Texas will start initiating a bounty on pigs like they use to do on coyotes.
Good luck to all this week-end.
Tom

About 95% of the senderos are actually seismic lines or pipelines, the rest are fence lines. From the air, you can see that many of the seismic lines run for miles. About 5 years ago, Western Geophysical mapped about 65,000 acres in my neck of the woods. They cut a N/S and E/W line every 1/4 mile across that acerage. In most of south Texas it is the only place that a whitetail deer will find "edge" to operate in, the rest is just a sea of dense brush.

TPV... I think that it is a biological fact that females within a clan will eventually drop in to their estrous cycle at the same time. Having a wife and two daugthers I can attest to that fact! I think that's why you see groups of piglets about the same age. A hog cycles every 3 months, 3 weeks, and 3 days.

Morning Fellas,
Thanks for the info! :)
I always find it interesting that things in other places are so different and yet somewhat the same. Here in Alberta the eastern slopes of the Rockies are full of "cutlines" originally dozed in for siesmic and oil exploration purposes.
I believe most of this work was done in the late sixties, and really opened an otherwise inaccessable area up to recreation.
The downside is that pristine hunting forest has been over-run with off road vehicle traffic pretty much year round.

Anyhow, off to work, good day to all.
Bryan

About 95% of the senderos are actually seismic lines or pipelines, the rest are fence lines. From the air, you can see that many of the seismic lines run for miles. About 5 years ago, Western Geophysical mapped about 65,000 acres in my neck of the woods. They cut a N/S and E/W line every 1/4 mile across that acerage. In most of south Texas it is the only place that a whitetail deer will find "edge" to operate in, the rest is just a sea of dense brush.

TPV... I think that it is a biological fact that females within a clan will eventually drop in to their estrous cycle at the same time. Having a wife and two daugthers I can attest to that fact! I think that's why you see groups of piglets about the same age. A hog cycles every 3 months, 3 weeks, and 3 days.

Lo Siento Mucho! I have a wife and one daughter too.
One of the best books I have ever read on Whitetail Buck behavior was " Hunting Rutting Whitetails" by Gene Winsel.
In his book, he stated that he went so far as to use his wife's used Kotex ( he'd freeze them in a plastic bag), and put them on a scrape line. This guy was a doctor, and he said that the hormones actually caused the bucks to peak in activity along their scrape line.
Don't think my wife would be so understanding.

By the way the word Sendero in english means path.
There's a great web site called : www. free translation.com.
I agree with your theory.
Winsel said that the does go into pre-rut on the full moon in October. Their hocks will be black but they won't accept a buck. When I used to bow hunt, most of my Buck activiy was around the third, fourth week on the month in October.
Then 28 days later on the full moon in Nov, they will peak in estrous. The ones that weren't breed or didn't take, will come in again December. Up here in North Texas, we have bucks rutting still in January. Fresh rubs, Black hocks, fresh scrapes that late in the year. These bucks rut about a month earlier than South Texas. I think that the weather conditions have dictated that cycle.
I really believe in that period from the new moon up to the full moon for most of the month's buck activity. Does and Youngsters move all of the time but not big bucks.

Best time of all up here is late November coming up on a full moon with a fresh Norther blowing in. The mornings after the front blows through are great. I think the front blows the last remaining acorns off the trees as well, and that helps.

I'm getting Buck fever

Friend lives outside of Austin in a rural subdivision. Had hogs come up from the canyon behind his house, destroyed lawns, etc. Finally trapped them - caught 16 at once. Lotsa fun!!!