Hunting Wild Hogs

[Pep in CA]

Let me say first that I'm not a hunter. Not yet, anyway. I live in an area where hunting is not a prominent pastime. However, when I retire in the future, hunting is appealing to me, especially hunting wild hogs.

Why wild hogs? Well, as I understand, wild hogs are not particularly welcome creatures. They destroy crops, attack people, and breed incessantly. Not to mention I happen to like bacon and pork chops.

So help me out. Where are good places to retire to and go hog hunting?
Just curious at the moment.

[Blindstitch]

Texas. And other southern states.

[Old Stony]

I looked all over the western states for a place to retire and finally ended up in east Texas. It is a lot different from the northern Ca. area where I lived..both in terrain as well as the other obvious social differences. I hunt and trap hogs on a daily basis...lots of fun and it keeps my old body moving better than the alternatives...such as sitting in front of the tv.

[Pep in CA]

That's two recommendations for Texas so far. Seems fine, but I was thinking Boise, ID. Anyone from the Boise area have an opinion to offer?

PS -- Old Stony, that's awesome. Hunting seems like a great activity for retirees. I glad you're enjoying your retirement.

[rodwhaincamo]

My understanding is that there's just not a large population of hogs up north. I'm in TX as well and can say we have plenty!

Hogs aren't generally aggressive unless you are after their young, are cornered, or they are injured. They'll usually run if they can.

Sows and the young are the best eating. Smaller boars aren't too bad but the bigger ones can taste a bit off.

Unless you are hunting from a blind or some sort you'd be best to have a large caliber sidearm. A hot .44 Spl or .45 Colt/ACP is all that's needed, but it certainly doesn't hurt if it has Magnum after it. Wide meplat and not a HP unless it has Magnum after it.

[Scorch]

I have lived in 11 states during the past 40 years. Here is my version of the western states.

I lived in Boise for 7 years. It's a good enough area to live if you like hunting, but there are fewer big game opportunities than in some other states. Elk, deer, antelope and sheep are about it.

I lived in NV for 7 years, and the hunting there was awesome. Mulies, antelope, elk, and all the coyotes and jack rabbits you can kill. Cost of living is moderate, and you can hunt varmints pretty much any time you want.

CA is actually pretty sweet for hunting opportunities (yes, I know that there is more to living in CA than hunting, but we're talking about hunting here). Hog hunting in CA is a year-round proposition, and you have deer, antelope, and lots of bird hunting opportunities. I loved living in CA for the hunting. I hunted virtually every other weekend, and killed pigs regularly. The biggest drawback to living in CA is that you have to live in CA and put up with crowding and the goofy laws.

AZ is pretty sweet, with javelina, deer, mountain lions, coyotes, elk, various exotics, you name it. Of course, you may want to check the weather there, it gets a bit warm.

UT is nice and still relatively unspoiled, but the SLC/I-15 corridor area is a bit crowded. Lots of deer and elk to hunt, plus coyotes and jacks, good bird hunting, and the weather is pretty good.

CO, what can you say about CO? Elk country, get a good set of boots and wear them out. Elk, antelope, deer, lots of small game hunting. Pretty darn nice is what I would say.

NM is a good place to live if you like hunting, and the weather is nice. Deer and antelope are common, and elk are there for those willing to work for them. And it's about the only place this side of the Atlantic that you can shoot a blackbuck or an oryx.

WA and OR are not especially great places to hunt due to crowding, but if you live on the east side or are willing to travel it is still pretty much a good place to live. Elk and deer are pretty common, plus moose, sheep, and pretty good fishing.

TX may be the best thing this side of Hades, but it's close enough to the front door that you can still feel the heat. Count me out on TX. But there are deer and hogs. And aoudad.

[979Texas]

Well I live in Texas. If you want to retire and hunt some hogs and soak up a great culture while your retired then you should come here. I hunt hogs as about my only pastime these days, besides cooking but I'm a Chef so I cook for a living too. The hog hunting here is great over most of the state, so you will experience a huge diversity of hunting settings and experiences, all the way from the Piney woods, swamps, rivers, and the Big Thicket in East Texas, to the more hardwood forests, river bottoms, swamps, and open cow pastures and hay meadows sprinkled with hardwood trees in the east central part of the state, to the coastal plains and swamps along our huge Gulf Coast line, to the more open and hilly fertile farmland of the Blackland Prarie and Crosstimbers in central and north Texas, to the canyons, cedar and live oak thickets and lots of Hills in the Central Texas Hill Country, to the mesquite and live oak jungles and open cattle pastures and cropland of the Brush Country in deep South Texas all the way to Mexico, all the way up to the vast treeless wide open plains in the Panhandle. I dont know of West Texas having to many hogs. And all of totally different climatic, hardiness, and geographical zones are all in just one state, Texas. And all of those areas have huge pig problems. So if you feel like hunting in the Deep South just go bust some pigs in East Texas. If you want to hunt close to the ocean go to the vast Gulf Coast of Texas. If you want to go hunting in the wild west part of the country, just go to the Hill Country and West Texas and you will feel like your in the far southwest of the U.S. If you feel like you want an experience in Mexico, just go to South Texas. If you feel like hunting in the wide open plains like in the Central U.S. and the Midwest, just go to the Texas Panhandle.
All these different experiences, one state, Texas.
Plus all of our other hunting is great too, not to mention we have the largest Whitetail population in the country.
And we have absolutely no laws restricting hog hunting in anyway, shape or form. You can bait them, use dogs, use any kind of lights, use vehicles, use supressors, use night vision, use any kind of weapon period, no minimum caliber reqs., no seasons, no bag limits,no daylight or after dark restrictions, just no restrictions period on hog hunting here. People even use helicopters and fully auto ARs to hunt here and also some people hunt em down with dogs and kill em with knives. And you dont need any sort of hunting liscence to hunt hogs here or tags or anything.
I know I sound like a nativist, but hey there is also WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYY more to Texas then hog hunting.

[Pep in CA]

Thanks for the replies, everyone. And Scorch, that is one of the best replies I've ever received. On topic, with plenty of information from actual experience. I can't expect more than that. Bravo and thanks.

[TimSr]

I think a major factor that is missing is whether you expect to own enough land to hunt, or if you will be relying on public hunting land. Texans can correct me, but while Texas has lots of hogs, I get the impression that public hunting land is there is hard to come by.

[Dufus]

And we have absolutely no laws restricting hog hunting in anyway, shape or form

There is one: you must own and have in your possession a valid Texas hunting license.

Texas has over 1 million acres of public land for hunting. But, it is a toss up to get on some.

Nearly all of the land suitable for hunting purposes is privately owned. Therefore, permission is needed from the land owner, hunting is big business in the state, and it usually requires a hunter to pay for access and sometimes it is not cheap. Granted, hogs are the land owners enemy, but they are also his friend in a way.

I have never understood how an animal could cause so much damage to land and the landowners will not let legitimate hunters help control the populations with out payment....big business again.

The state is proposing a plan to poison them with some sort of nitrate. The pigs eat it and die. Go figure.

[FITASC]

Anywhere from CA to FL. We have a ton of them in FL.

[TimSr]

Texas has over 1 million acres of public land for hunting. But, it is a toss up to get on some.

Please explain this. That's a lot of land. What makes it so difficult to get on it?

[mxsailor803]

I love hog hunting and I'm on the east coast. I've done quite a bit of it in FL and SC. Florida has a crazy population of hogs but its not Texas. I will only recommend Florida over Texas only because Texas has too many tornadoes for me.

[979Texas]

@ Dufus, thanks for pointing that out and correcting me, that was my mistake for leaving that out about the liscence. I've just never had to worry about that because I only hunt on my parents ranch that I grew up on and on other friends private property. But I have no experience hunting on public land anywhere. I deer most years but not all years so I always get a permit for them.

And as far as tornadoes in Texas, it's a huge state and certain areas especially in the Northern part and the panhandle have problems with tornadoes. But other parts don't have hardly any problems at all with them. Where I live in Grimes and Brazos Counties we only have one every blue moon and the few that we ever have will just knock down a few trees and blow a few shingles off a couple of roofs, nothing serious at all where I'm from and I've lived in Texas since I was barely 3 years old.

[Pep in CA]

TimSr, you're right. Hunting on public land or private land is a major factor. I expect that I would probably be hunting on public land. Another major factor for me is weather. I've lived in an arid climate my whole life. Adjusting to a humid climate could be troublesome.

That's why I mentioned Boise, or more generally, Idaho. The problem with that is it isn't an area that seems to have a lot of hogs, although the Internet has stories about invasive hogs in the southern part of the State.

Maybe when I do retire several years from now, Idaho will be another state inundated with wild hogs. It's a wait and see proposition for me at the moment.

Thanks for the advice, everyone, and happy hunting.

[Double Naught Spy]

And we have absolutely no laws restricting hog hunting in anyway, shape or form. You can bait them, use dogs, use any kind of lights, use vehicles, use supressors, use night vision, use any kind of weapon period, no minimum caliber reqs., no seasons, no bag limits,no daylight or after dark restrictions, just no restrictions period on hog hunting here.

@ Dufus, thanks for pointing that out and correcting me, that was my mistake for leaving that out about the liscence.

Well, he isn't right and neither are you. There are plenty of laws surrounding hog hunting in Texas and plenty of ways to get into trouble if you violate them. They are just less restrictive than the laws for hunting game animals.

You don't need a license if you are hunting depredating hogs on private property, as the owner, lessee, or acting as the agent for the owner or lessee. You do not get to harvest the meat, hide, etc.
http://articles.extension.org/pages/...for-feral-hogs

You must have a license for hunting public lands.

Unless otherwise noted, you can't hunt at night on public lands

There is no baiting of hogs on public lands.

You can't capture and then release hogs into the wild for the purpose of hunting.

It is illegal to use poison on hogs.

Plus then there are all of the laws related to general hunting that pertain to hog hunting such as no shooting from the roadway, across property lines, etc. You cannot trespass for the purpose of hog hunting.

The idea that there are no restrictions on hog hunting in Texas is just plain wrong.

[Dufus]

Well, he isn't right and neither are you.

Join the club, Dude. You are not 100% right either.

[Double Naught Spy]

Where is the error?

[Double Naught Spy]

Texas has over 1 million acres of public land for hunting. But, it is a toss up to get on some.

Please explain this. That's a lot of land. What makes it so difficult to get on it?

Over 1 million acres sounds like a lot, no doubt. In fact, it is a lot bigger than the entire state of Rhode Island (~.67 million). However, that total is only a tiny fraction of the entire state and the hunting lands are broken up into many pieces spread out across the state and not all of them are available for all types of hunting. There are places you can hunt birds, but not deer or hogs, or the timing is limited, for example, yet they are in the total for huntable public lands.

Here is a map showing Texas public hunting lands. Note that many of these localities are quite small and that they are not evenly distributed across the state. http://tpwd.maps.arcgis.com/apps/One...676c21a336fe32

[johnwilliamson062]

I used that map to pull up info about a reserve in an area I frequent. No kidding on the regulations. I won't be planning a side trip to hunt.

[979Texas]

Well I guess I should be way more specific in my posts. What I was speaking of earlier about restrictions was only for hunting on private land ONLY. Also I was speaking ONLY about direct hog hunting restrictions, I was IMPLYING the more common sense GENERAL hunting laws such as roadways, trespassing, and such. But forgive me, I will be sure to go into MUCH further depth when explaining such matters in the future.

Also if you are sensitive to humidity then parts of Texas won't be very good for you to live in. But we do have some pretty arid places here in this state also. The humidity is always through the roof where I live and am from. But there are plenty of arid locations here also.

[Sport45]

Originally Posted by Dufus

I have never understood how an animal could cause so much damage to land and the landowners will not let legitimate hunters help control the populations without payment....big business again.

Not big business. Landowners typically have quite a bit invested in their land. In Texas we pay property taxes which are high enough to offset the income taxes other states may impose. If a landowner has the opportunity to profit from something on his land I say more power to him. As long as he's charging a competitive fee I'd say all is fair. If he charges too much the feral hogs will destroy his place. If he doesn't charge enough the hunters will.

[thallub]

Where are good places to retire to and go hog hunting?

Oklahoma is pretty good. Buy some land in southwest or south central OK that's on a flowing creek; the hogs will be there. Marginal land is still pretty cheap here. Look for land that's in the Wetlands Reserve Program.

1. Hunting license is not required on private land.
2. Baiting hogs and deer on private land is legal. Baiting turkeys=illegal.
3. Trapping hogs on private land is legal.
4. Presently we are not allowed to hunt hogs at night. However, a bill to allow hog hunting at night has passed both houses of the legislature. Soon as the senate fixes a couple mistakes the bill goes to the governor for signature.

Hunting hogs on the OK WMAs is a problematic thing that's not really worth the hassle.

[alex0535]

Current Georgia regulations. We have 750k acres of national forest in North Georgia, and almost a million acres in WMA areas scattered through the state, but they are regulated independently, usually hunted by lottery. They are reported in like all but 2 counties, not for long.

Private Lands
No closed season; no limit. Feral hogs may be hunted at night with a light (no voltage restriction), which is carried on the person, affixed to a helmet or hat, or part of a belt system worn by a hunter. No hunting from a vehicle. Hunting over bait is allowed. A resident Hunting License is required to hunt feral hogs for all resident hunters 16 years old or older, except when hunting on land owned by them or their immediate family (blood or dependent relationship) residing in the same household. Non-residents must possess a non-resident hunting license. Exemptions to many of these restrictions for agricultural producers are available by permit, contact your local Game Management Office for details

National Forest Lands (outside of WMAs)
Hogs may be taken with archery equipment during archery deer season, with deer weapons during firearms deer season, with turkey weapons during turkey season and with small game weapons during small game season. Feral hogs may be hunted with dogs with appropriate weapons restrictions while training dogs during dates when training season coincides with small game or turkey season. No limit. No night hunting. No hunting over bait. Hunting license requirements must be met. Hunter orange is required during firearms and primitive weapons deer seasons.

[TimSr]

Here is a map showing Texas public hunting lands. Note that many of these localities are quite small and that they are not evenly distributed across the state. http://tpwd.maps.arcgis.com/apps/One...676c21a336fe32

Thank you for helping me to understand that. looks ridiculously complicated to say the least. the small parcels of a couple hundred acres, or far less are complicated enough with having a different set of species and regulations for each one! We have a lot of public land in Ohio, but its mostly large chunks that are connected, and with few exceptions, they all carry the same regulations.

I hope I'm not hijacking a thread, but I think it would be of interest to the OP as well to know what states have the best hog hunting on public land. I think everyone knows Texas is the hog capitol, but looks like it would be tough for a non-landowner without a lot of local connections.