Woooo, Pig, Sooie! The hunt is on!

[Eric Gregg]

Here is a fact:
1 sow will give birth to two litters of piglets every year. At least 4 of those out of each litter will survive to reach reproductive maturity.
They reach reproductive maturity at 9 months.......which means they will reproduce like crazy.
Ok, did i mention they will wreak havoc on your turkey population.
The best thing you can do is go John Rambo on these things. The delta is full of them and they are an economic and ecologic problem.

KILL EM ALL

[lightsoutcalls]

   O.k. Here's the scoop on the pig property.  My buddy and I have hunted pigs on local public ground for several years.  We hunt them to put meat in the freezer and for the challenge of hunting something other than deer, turkeys or squirrels.  On public ground, game laws limit how, when and what you can hunt the pigs with to the point that it is very difficult to score a pig.  (I've taken 2 in the past 4 years - he has taken 2, one having 5 piglets- caught 2 of them and gave them to a guy to raise to butcher)  That said, we have been hoping to find some private land where we could hunt pigs. 
   Fast forward to last November.  My dad had knee surgery and was in the hospital for several weeks.  In talking to one of his nurses, he got me a number of a lady that has 120 acres just out of a small town about 45 minutes south of me.  She raises goats, chickens and ducks (uses milk from the goats and eggs from the birds). She used to have a good number of wild turkeys on her place, as she is just about 1/4 mile from thousands of acres of national forest (Ouachita National Forest).  She has stated as my buddy and I have... when the pigs showed up, the turkeys left.  We have long suspected they eat the eggs and break up nesting.  The landowner has given me rights to hunt the property as if it were my own for hogs and deer (with the exception of one deer with reported very large rack - have only seen does so far).  She has given the green light to trap or shoot coons, bobcats and coyotes as well.  She basically would like us to help control the population of anything that might harm her livestock or birds.  She does express the hopes of seeing turkeys return in numbers as a result. 
   Given the opportunity to hunt the pigs year round with an caliber any time of day or night and trap if desired, we have had trail cameras running for 6 weeks and have only had evidence of these 2 pigs, and that only since 1/1/12.  A local young man told me a few weeks ago "there ain't no hogs down here right now... they's all still up in dem mountains eating akurns."  Well, it looks like a couple of pigs have come back down to the bottoms.  We are trying to use trail camera pics to "pattern" the pigs... find out where they are coming from and where they are going.  There is no evidence they have been on the hay meadow past or present.  We are trying to "bait" them in the thickets solely for the purpose of killing them in any way possible.  The hunt from the blind last night was unsuccessful.  We feel that was due in great part to the 20-30 mile an hour wind gusts that were quite frequent.  Between the wind and the 2 nearby gas wells pumping, you wouldn't have been able to hear them grunting or crunching corn at the 25 yards or so away where we setup in another thicket.  I am hoping to try trapping them with a coral trap.  Right now they are completely nocturnal from trail camera pics.  I'm going to have to invest in a better light setup if we try the blind again, and prune some more weeds, scrub brush to be able to have a clean shot. 
  Living 45 minutes away limits my ability to come and go and hunt it like I would like to.  My work schedule is pretty limiting as well.  I have only 2 evenings off per week and then work 8 hrs. a day M-F as well.  With callmaking season hitting, that limits my hunt time even more.  We are doing what we can to try to score some pigs, but I don't feel pressured to hire a helicopter or set any claymores in the woods yet.  Within 1/4 mile of this property, there are 2 box style hog traps sitting in pastures.  There is another home-brew box trap sitting on the main street of town (don't blink, you'll miss it) for sale.  Hogs are not new to this area, and the landowners have traps to try to catch the ones on their own property.  That said, the pigs are probably going to stay nocturnal.  Baiting can only improve our chances of drawing them to a particular part of the property, which is thick with sawbriar, scrub brush, cedar thickets, honeysuckle.  It is the least usable piece of her property, and the part she prefers we use to draw and kill the pigs.

[Eric Gregg]

Glad you are getting to do some help.
Maybe that will help get things back in order for the turkeys

[customgunsocks]

We like pigs, our collar and vest is a big hit in florida and texas.

[mcgruff1533]

Load up the AR and take care of business.      Don't stop killing them until they're all gone.