I've noticed feral hog hunting in Texas mentioned in a number of topics across the forum so I thought I would open a like topic here. Post your pictures, stories and info about the hunt to share with others!

On MarlinTalk and over a trade of Lee Loaders, a friendship developed between a fellow in NJ and myself. We had a number of things incommon and we often checked each other via email and telephone. We finally decided to hunt together and on the last weekend of January he traveled to South Texas to hunt feral hogs and javelina around my hometown.

This wasn't to be a big time outfitted hunt, just hunting like I normally participate in. On Friday morning we started off by driving from Cuero into Karnes County to hunt my 115 acres on the San Antonio River. Hogs and javilena aren't really morning critters and hunting from tower blinds all we saw where deer and lots of Rio Grande turkeys.

We went into Kenedy for breakfast tacos and then back to Cuero for an afternoon hunt on the Lost Creek Ranch. This is a 1000 acres of hog country where Lost Creek runs into the Big Sandy Creek and from there into the Guadalupe River. It is just west of my house on the edge of town but on the other side of the river. A good friend of mine, Joe, gave us access to the place.

We did some driving around to give Mark a lay of the land and then right at dark we split up and still hunted in opposite directions along the Big Sandy. We weren't apart five minutes and while I was standing on the edge of a ravine that leads to the creek, I heard a clue about the presence of some hogs. I heard a flight of morning doves leave the ravine I was along and then a mockingbird started to scold something. I quickly crossed the deep ravine and came up on the opposite side sitting down where a road parallels the creek. About two seconds later, I saw a large hog step out into the road and turn around. Sitting where I was I knew that I wouldn't have a good clear, steady shot so I crab crawled two quick moves into the middle of the trail. The hog reappeared immediately and from a braced sitting position the shot was off. I was shooting my Marlin 336D with the 180-grain Speer FN being pushed with 38.0-grains of H4895. I shot the big sow right through the heart at 100 yards! My GG has a 1.5 X 4.5 Bushnell Banner scope mounted on it.

http://www.baitshopboyz.com/forum/uploads/RDHOG0402.jpg

While I was field dressing the animal, I saw a number of hogs including a boar that probably would go 400#. He cross the trail, stopped and looked at me from only 20 yards! When you are hog hunting always pack about a 2.5' length of 4x4. It sure makes the gutting easier. Lay the animal on it's side and the 4X4 along it's back and roll the hog into the 4X4. The hog will lay perfectly on their back for field dressing. I didn't have my timber and there is nothing in the field in Texas that diameter so as I was trying to dress the hog it kept rolling back and forth. What a job when you have a bad shoulder!

We hunted Lost Creek the next morning and Mark didn't see anything. I hid from the wind and damp weather by sleeping with in the Jeep and my dog Sheila kept watch. She woke me up twice; once to look at four coyotes and then to checkout 10 feral hogs walking about 15 yards in front of the Jeep. Later that day we ventured back into Karnes County to another friends 1000 acre pasture to hunt javelina. While sitting in a tower blind, Mark shot this fine boar.

http://www.baitshopboyz.com/forum/uploads/Javi02.jpg

This is what a typical tower stand might look like. The brush down here is thick and if you do any walking you are not going to see a thing... period. We use stands to watch over senderos... these are typically pipeline right-of-ways or siesmic lines.

http://www.baitshopboyz.com/forum/uploads/Stand01.jpg

That's it for now... I will add more pictures as I continue to hunt through the Spring.

Great story and wonderful pictures!

We don't have feral hogs here in Oregon, it's really nice to see and hear about different types of hunting from unfamiliar places.

I've often wondered about how those hogs taste on the table? Do you treat them like a domestic?

They are excellent for the table, a bit less fat than a domestic, so keep that in mind when cooking to make sure they don't dry out.

Clint, like Mike said... just about anyway you can think to cook them they are darn good! In November I killed a boar that field dressed 285 lbs. I took it into my local butcher to get it cut up and we discussed the facts of it being big and a boar. I decided to have it just made into fresh link sausage and not and any beef or additional pork to it in case it was not the best. Turns out, that fellow is quite tasty. So far, I haven't met one I didn't like.

These critters have been floating around this area since the Spainish explored this neck of the woods. In fact... that is how most of the feral goats, sheep, cattle, horses and pigs where established in this country as they just moved there livestock with them and let them range.

Ranch Dog -

Thanks for starting the thread -- pig hunting is something I have never done but is high on my list. I hope others will chime in with their stories, and lots more pics!

Ranch Dog -

Thanks for starting the thread -- pig hunting is something I have never done but is high on my list. I hope others will chime in with their stories, and lots more pics!

Pig Hunting down south has opened up a new hunting season which is all year long. More and more hunters are leaving their feeders on year round, and all of the supplemental feeding they are doing to bring in more whitetail is also bringing in more pigs.
Some people cuss them out but more people are enjoying the opportunity to hunt them. If I've got the right picture, here is one strain that we see a lot. It's has a long snout, chocolate brown in color. Some call it a Eurasian hog. Its got some Russian is in. But I can tell you that in my humble opinion, they taste better than venison.

We are finding them in areas that never had pigs and I don't think that it will be long before they show up all across the lower states.

One thing though, they are a hot blooded animal, and don't like the cold very much. I stumbled on a creek bottom a few years ago, in 28 degree weather. There were about 50 of them and they were all huddled up together for warmth. I would have done better with a shotgun.
This fellow hit the dirt shortly after he posed.

Texas Parks & Wildlife will send you mucho information on them if you are interested.

Good Luck,Tom

A couple of years ago I saw some TPWD maps that had shaded areas of where the feral hogs where at 10 year intervals from about the 50's or 60's. It's amazing how much ground they are taking.

Right here in Dewitt Co back in the mid sixties I was deer hunting in a creek bottom as a very young boy. I came upon a hog that had to weigh about 600 pounds. I thought it must have gotten away from somebody but later found out that it was one of those feral hogs that people sometimes shoot. I had never seen one. Heck, now you can't drive down a dirt road at dark without see one.

Oh, when the hog noticed me it left quicker than the deer. If I knew that it wasn't our neighbors hog that young boy would have sure enough been bold enough to hammer it with that Savage 340 in .30-30!

A couple of years ago I saw some TPWD maps that had shaded areas of where the feral hogs where at 10 year intervals from about the 50's or 60's. It's amazing how much ground they are taking.

Right here in Dewitt Co back in the mid sixties I was deer hunting in a creek bottom as a very young boy. I came upon a hog that had to weigh about 600 pounds. I thought it must have gotten away from somebody but later found out that it was one of those feral hogs that people sometimes shoot. I had never seen one. Heck, now you can't drive down a dirt road at dark without see one.

Oh, when the hog noticed me it left quicker than the deer. If I knew that it wasn't our neighbors hog that young boy would have sure enough been bold enough to hammer it with that Savage 340 in .30-30!

I used to have an old Savage 340 in .222 Rem, with the side mount for the scope. That was a good rifle.
I'm having trouble sending pics to the forum, I'll figure it out eventualy.
Tom

I didn't have the scope on mine but it was a pretty fair shooter. The extractor broke which was real common. I see them pretty regular down here... both in use and at the pawn shops or gun shows.

I thought I would add this picture... last year I came to a spot where the hogs had cut one of my roads in half... they did this during the night.

http://cuero.nodial.net/~lindareamy/images/cutroad

What part of Texas you call home Tom? County is okay...

I didn't have the scope on mine but it was a pretty fair shooter. The extractor broke which was real common. I see them pretty regular down here... both in use and at the pawn shops or gun shows.

I thought I would add this picture... last year I came to a spot where the hogs had cut one of my roads in half... they did this during the night.

http://cuero.nodial.net/~lindareamy/images/cutroad

What part of Texas you call home Tom? County is okay...




Ranch Dog,

The ranch I've been on for almost 14 years now is located in Jack County. That's about 1 1/2 hr NW of Fort Worth.
There are only about 7000 people in the whole county, Most of the county is made up of large old style ranching families.
It wasn't until about 1982, with the drop in oil prices, that some of these ranches finally decided to start leasing. The ranches that we manage have a lot of creek arms that end up in the Upper Trinity River. This is the reason for the good hog population I think. They love to travel these creeks.
I've seen that kinda damage in your picture. Your right, there's only one animal that will do that.

Think I'll go to the first gun show of the year this morning, and then go sit in a stand this afternoon.

The counties to the West of us, Stephens, Young, Throckmorton, Shackleford, Haskell as well as Jack, are all big buck producers as well as pigs. It just doesn't get as much publicity as South Texas.
Good Luck,Tom

Tom,

I've never been up in that part of the State. I used to order some camo from a fellow that had a business in Jacksboro. That was some of the best stuff for hunting anywhere in Texas. Can't remember the name of the business. I bow killed a lot of deer, turkey, and hogs wearing that stuff.

Yes, hogs are coming to town; literally. We took 4 of them out in Taylor, a small farming town 15 minutes east of Austin, whereas 5 years ago you'd have been laughed at if you posted hog hunting on your unfenced crop land, but they are here and no farm is safe, as they are chewing and rooting to the tune of $100 per day per acre damage. Some land owners are still asking nice folks to come and shoot as many as they can for free, but there are plenty more 'trophy" shooting ranches that somehow turn out huge hogs for every hunter willing to pay big bucks.
Still, they've provided me with some of the best sausage I've ever had, and hopefully next weekend I'll have some more sausage to grind.

A friend caught 16 of them at once, and he lives in a subdivision near Lake Travis, right off of 620.

I helped him build the trap, but was out of town when he set it. The carnage was impressive....

Hey, SFT, you ever try curing a ham from a wild pig? It's pretty easy, I use Morton Tender Quick, let me know if you need any information on that, if you get some, I'll show you how.

A friend caught 16 of them at once, and he lives in a subdivision near Lake Travis, right off of 620.

I helped him build the trap, but was out of town when he set it. The carnage was impressive....

Hey, SFT, you ever try curing a ham from a wild pig? It's pretty easy, I use Morton Tender Quick, let me know if you need any information on that, if you get some, I'll show you how.

Mike, Forgot to ask you. Ever see a white one?

About a month ago I was stand hunting and had some come in to a feeder. The last one was pure white and looked like he just excaped from a pen at the Fort Worth Fat Stock Show.
I thought I saw a Blue Ribbon on his rear end.
He was pure feral, but was fat with a short snout. I don't think he had been wild for long. I took pictures of him, but haven't seen him/her since.
Tom

Are all free roaming hogs fair game?

I'd love to be close enough to get in on some of that! The best we can do here is clear out ground squirrels and coyotes.

Never saw a fully-white one, Tom.

Most I've shot are black, sometimes with white spots or a bit of stripes. Once I got one that was pretty red (or maybe my dad did, I forget which one of us pulled the trigger).

You sure get some funny patterns when the mommas and daddys forget which 'breed' they're supposed to be, LOL.....

Are all free roaming hogs fair game?

I'd love to be close enough to get in on some of that! The best we can do here is clear out ground squirrels and coyotes.

All are fair game in Texas. I don't think you will ever shoot them out. They reproduce too fast. It has opened up the hunting season year round. In my opinion, it taste much better than venison.

If you're lucky enough to kill a sow with babies, there is no better eating then a 3-5 lbs piglet. Sounds kinda mean, but there are so many of them.

Keep killing those coyotes so more don't migrate down here.

Good Luck
Tom

Are all free roaming hogs fair game?

I'd love to be close enough to get in on some of that! The best we can do here is clear out ground squirrels and coyotes.

TPWD says that all feral hogs are wild game. This is defined as "Depredating feral hogs, if a landowner (resident or non-resident) or landowner's agent or lessee is taking feral hogs causing depredation on the landowner's land."

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/publications/annual/general/hunt_licenses/


I've heard that Tarrant County is legal to hunt hogs and coyotes as long as your not within like 1000 yards of housing. Never seen that writen out though. If you call your local sherif department or the TPWD they'll be happy to tell you the local areas to legally hunt hogs and may even give you tips on what to plan for.

In Texas, counties can restrict the discharge of a firearm on tracts of 10 acres or less in unincorporated areas. Other than that I do not believe that counties have any ability to restrict hunting.

The state reserves the right to regulate all other aspects of firearms ownership / use and I am not aware of another other exceptions. If so please let me know....

Hi we are from southern utah and have never hunted feral hogs before . One of my buddys ,my son and myself are planing a roadtrip to go hunt hogs somewhere in texas on public land .I think it would be the trip of a life time sometime we would all remember for a long time.If anyone has any info about were or when is the best time to go or any contacts that could help us on our adventure please PM me

Thanks for your time
IrishBilly

Contact Texas Parks and Wildlife for information on public lands that have hog hunting. You can find them with a search engine quickly enough.

Time.... anytime, they are vermin, and can (and should) be hunted year-around.

Not a good idea to post your email address on the internet - all kinds of spammers look for such things. As a member of this board, the wisest thing would be to have folks send you a PM (Private Message), located in the upper right of this page, for contact information. You can edit your post to remove the addy, or request a Moderator to do it.

Texas hog hunting is a blast, I am going in a few weeks down around Goliad
I grew up hunting that area, Refugio, Berclair, etc...

here's a pic taken recently
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s233/dkred5854/Pigs.jpg
this time out I am taking the 6.8 SPC
http://lh6.ggpht.com/HammerheadbikesInc/SF74PO9TsbI/AAAAAAAAATY/V5E9dQ0-rKQ/coker-6.8.jpg?imgmax=720

That looks like an effective hawg getter, CC - might get the whole herd with one magazine! :eek:

thanks
I am loading up the Barnes 110g and getting a sub MOA group with the 3x ACOG
We will actually be doing a lot of testing for 60forums.com that weekend
a bunch of different uppers and ammo testing
the guy who runs the ranch has been doing a lot of hog hunting with his 6.8, he runs night vision and a silencer :)

http://www.snipershide.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=634682

Yeah, you can do that in Texas. Would be going to jail, here! :p

Sounds like fun to me!!!!!

We hunt hogs between Pawnee and Peggy Texas. They are currently rooting up the costal bermuda grass on the property. I prefer something a little more powerful than a 6.8 with light bullets. I hunt them with heavy bullets in the smaller calibers and normal weight bullets in 8mm and up. I will try for one this year with a Contenter in .45 Long Colt with 300gr. Hornady XTP hollow Point bullet at about 1150 fps. This will assure adequate penetration on the thick gristle plate over their vital area.

We hunt hogs between Pawnee and Peggy Texas. They are currently rooting up the costal bermuda grass on the property. I prefer something a little more powerful than a 6.8 with light bullets. I hunt them with heavy bullets in the smaller calibers and normal weight bullets in 8mm and up. I will try for one this year with a Contenter in .45 Long Colt with 300gr. Hornady XTP hollow Point bullet at about 1150 fps. This will assure adequate penetration on the thick gristle plate over their vital area.
If you like the .45 LC then you should pick up a Marlin 1894. The rifle barrel adds some serious velocity to the .45 and I've used mine to take large hogs and deer with it.

a 6.8 with the Barnes 110g will punch clean through a hogs shoulders...
I have a 45/70 guide gun as well loaded with 405g hardcasts

Yes, hogs are coming to town; literally. We took 4 of them out in Taylor, a small farming town 15 minutes east of Austin, whereas 5 years ago you'd have been laughed at if you posted hog hunting on your unfenced crop land, but they are here and no farm is safe, as they are chewing and rooting to the tune of $100 per day per acre damage. Some land owners are still asking nice folks to come and shoot as many as they can for free, but there are plenty more 'trophy" shooting ranches that somehow turn out huge hogs for every hunter willing to pay big bucks.
Still, they've provided me with some of the best sausage I've ever had, and hopefully next weekend I'll have some more sausage to grind.

My sons and I have done some feral hog hunting in south Texas and around Lockhart. What a hoot. As we live in the Austin area, do you know of any landowners that allow hog hunting on their properties? We are not "gun nuts", but responsible hunters with years of hunting experience. We just love to hunt critters, especially those like hogs and coyotes that do so much damage to livestock and crops.

My sons and I have done some feral hog hunting in south Texas and around Lockhart. What a hoot. As we live in the Austin area, do you know of any landowners that allow hog hunting on their properties? We are not "gun nuts", but responsible hunters with years of hunting experience. We just love to hunt critters, especially those like hogs and coyotes that do so much damage to livestock and crops.
I think the best way to find out such things is to make friends with the local game warden as well as the county extension agent. They will know where the hogs are and might be able to put you in touch with land owners who want them gone. Keep in mind that those kind of situations aren't set up for hunting, there won't be any feeders and such that the hogs frequent to set up at, but if you are willing and able to hunt hard and safe you might find a place to go regularly. Also keep in mind that property owners face less liability issues if they charge even a small fee rather than invite you onto their land for free.

Welcome. Have you looked into the Corps of Engineers hunts on Granger Lake? Also, there are deer hunts by drawing in Balcones Canyonlands, probably too late for this year, but I know there are hogs in the area.

I trapped some hogs last spring for a landowner outside of Lockhart. So far they haven't come back, but if I need help, I'll post on the forum.....

Hi:

My name is Brian Patrick. I'm a professor at University of Toledo, knowledgeable and safe concerning guns and hunting (been at both for decades), and am looking for information on feral hog hunting in Texas. I want to hunt them. What does one have to do to get an non-resident license in Texas. Are there public lands upon which to hunt? Does anyone want a cigar-smoking PHD who writes books about American gun culture as a hog-hunting partner?

Thanks!

You need a 5-day, non-resident small game license for hogs. Last I knew that was about $45 or so. Contact the Texas Parks and Wildlife for info. You can even buy the license on-line.

They can also point you to public land opportunities. To be honest you may have better luck checking out classified ads in the major newspapers (Dallas, Houston, Fort Worth, San Antonio, etc.). Best of luck to you.

<cite>www.tpwd.state.tx.us

</cite>

All are fair game in Texas. I don't think you will ever shoot them out. They reproduce too fast. It has opened up the hunting season year round. In my opinion, it taste much better than venison.

If you're lucky enough to kill a sow with babies, there is no better eating then a 3-5 lbs piglet. Sounds kinda mean, but there are so many of them.

Keep killing those coyotes so more don't migrate down here.

Good Luck
Tom

I was hunting a ranch in central CA about 15 years ago, as a friend of a friend. Sitting on a little ridge I watched a sow and 6-8 little piglets feed below me for a minute or two. I didn't shoot because she had piglets...and I wasn't thinking straight. The landowner had showed us a winter wheat field where several acres had been tore up so bad you could hardly walk across it without turning an ankle. Later that evening, when I mentioned seeing the sow and not shooting her, I was surprised to find that I was not invited back and told, in no uncertain terms, that I should have shot the sow and as many piglets as possible. Knowing what I know now, that is exactly what I should have done.

Great eating aside, hogs are a feral nuisance and should be treated as such.

Since the original post 6 1/2 years ago, we have at least twice as many pigs as before. Any feeder that is left alone for about 2-3 weeks ,will have pigs come back in on it to feed. I hunt mine as much as I can. We don't always kill pigs on these feeders because they have a long memory and don't forget where danger lurks.
Nearly walked up on a big wad of them that were bedding down in high grass. And me with a hammer in my hand and a 38 snubbie in my pocket. If I had more ammo, I'd still be shooting, big or little doesn't matter.
Fixing to set up another hog trap, and try to kill some that way.
Good Luck

Good luck with the hog trap, Tom.

Hunted one ranch down in Bracketville years ago that had a couple of portable traps made out of fence panels welded to an angle iron frame. The rancher would move them around to various parts of the ranch and bait them with corn. Always seemed to have one in them the first day of the new setup. He was glad to give me the carcasses to skin, cut up and bring home. Mighty good eating, as I remember.

I spent some quality time in the Uvalde and Gonzales areas this last December. It was my first time hunting in Texas. I used a local guide who is well known in the hog hunting world and had a great time. I unfortunatly did not have a chance to shoot any hogs. We ran them with dogs and used knives. I was suposed to do some spot and stalk and stand hunting for them but the rains that preceded my visit submerged many of his stand areas. I still had a great time. I would like to get to know some ranchers in Texas and do some more pig hunting with out a guide. Do any of the members know where would be the best place to start looking?

Well, tpv - The weekend has come and gone. We need to hear of the great North Texas Pig Hunt from the newly placed shooting stand. Looks like your weather finally broke where you can get out and stand on top of the ground for a few days.

OINK!

Burned an old deer blind. That was about it! Think Clay saw some pigs by the cabin, but no reports of fatalities.....

Sheesh, Mike - you're supposed to put them up - not burn them down! :eek:

I think I'll make this my new avatar! To give you an idea of the scale, the fire pit is about 6 feet across. The angled line in the lower left corner is a t-post.

Ah, yes - the old oil patch pressure vessel end cap fire pit - remember it well as Jake, Alex and Mason would load it up with dried oak leaves and get it cranked up like a sludge pit burning off! :D