Hog Hunting in Texas

[Prof Young]

So I'm playing with the idea of a road trip to Texas to hunt hogs on public land. I've just started my search for info. I'm finding lot of guide hunts and hunting lodges etc. But not too much about hunting on your own on public land. I'm sure there is info out there that I'll eventually uncover but thought I'd make inquiry here.

What can you tell me about going to Texas to hunt hogs on public land?

Life is good.
Prof Young

[Fla_dogman]

I suggest you join Lone Star boars. It's a forum about hunting in Texas

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[JohnKSa]

There is some public land in TX.

http://tpwd.texas.gov/huntwild/hunt/public/

[jfruser]

Hunting hogs on public land in Texas is a low-probability game. The hogs mostly go nocturnal after being hunted...and hunting public land at night is prohibited. Better luck early in the season and make sure you are in position well before sunrise/sunset.

Also, some small critter seasons or youth seasons you can carry only shotgun with non-lead pellets or rimfire...but you can still take feral hog with what is legal for the small game.

Private land is a better bet to encounter a hog.

[rickyrick]

Yes I agree, private land usually has all the goodies that pigs want. They'd rather much on agricultural products than a truck tire tread in the desert

[Unique]

A lot of good public land very close to me. Davy Crockett National Forest and plenty of hogs.
There's also type 2 hunting land on Hwy 7 just North of Marquez, Texas with so many hogs.

Plenty of places and plenty of hogs.

[langenc]

WOW-quite the different, last few posts.

I would have said "not much state land in TX" from my experience of the mid 60s.

I hunted hogs then--javelina. Feral hogs were unknown then. A BIG javelina is 60#.

[Sure Shot Mc Gee]

Could ask Old Stoney. He seens to have life time supply of Texas feral pig available to hunt and needing culling. Buddy up and have a good time as Stoney knows the how too's and not too do's. "I certain of that."

No harm in asking P/Y.

[Old Stony]

Finding places to hunt in Texas can be a many faceted endeavor. For instance, the area where I live and hunt has very dense cover and hunting has to be done mostly at night as they can be very hard to locate in the daytime. We occasionally see some during the daylight hrs, but it's not too common.
For someone looking for a spot and stalk or similar hunting situation, I would have to recommend west Texas where the hogs don't have the cover to hide in.
I hunt at night using a night scope, and trap them on a regular basis but it can be a real crapshoot in my neck of the woods.
Your best bet would probably be on private property, but some folks hunt them on public property too.
Right now, the heat is really effecting hog movement. I have a good friend that comes down and spends a couple months with me during the summer to shoot, hunt, and generally have a good Texas time. Last summer he shot 40 hogs while he was here....this summer he has been here two weeks so far and only shot one small one so far.

[JohnKSa]

Right now, the heat is really effecting hog movement. ... Last summer he shot 40 hogs while he was here....this summer he has been here two weeks so far and only shot one small one so far.

Interesting. Dunno exactly where you are, but in the DFW area, it was actually (a little) hotter last year than this year when you compare June/July of both years.

[Double Naught Spy]

Right now, the heat is really effecting hog movement. I have a good friend that comes down and spends a couple months with me during the summer to shoot, hunt, and generally have a good Texas time. Last summer he shot 40 hogs while he was here....this summer he has been here two weeks so far and only shot one small one so far.

That is a really specific conclusion being drawn from a very non-diagnostic criterion.

[Old Stony]

Non -diagnostic criterion??? Very interesting opinion. In all honesty I have never considered myself an expert in the hog hunting field, and as such I can only rely on my experience to draw conclusions. At this point in a hot summer, I find that hogs are mostly found in my area in the soggy bottoms in the dense cover, so I naturally assumed they were staying where it is cooler and wetter.......if you are offended by my lack of knowledge and experience in this field, please accept my apology.
I shall defer to your education in this matter and continue in my ignorance to kill hogs in my own manner.

[zipspyder]

LOL exactly where in TX is it not hot in July? Hunting wet and or heavy cover seems quite obvious to me.

[Dufus]

LOL exactly where in TX is it not hot in July?

Natural Bridge Caverns is prolly 72 deg right now.

[zipspyder]

Natural Bridge Caverns is prolly 72 deg right now.

Don't go giving all the hog hunters your secret spots now...

[Double Naught Spy]

No offense was taken.

Yes, the number of hogs shot is not a diagnostic criterion of whether or not the heat is the cause for not shooting more hogs this summer versus last summer, particularly given that this summer is not significantly hotter than last summer. In fact, in surveying various east Texas towns, it would appear that the overall averages run from comparable levels to this summer being 1-2 degrees cooler to 4-5 degrees cooler than last summer. So it would be hard to blame the heat for the change in hunting success between last year and this year when this year isn't significantly hotter. Therefore, there must be some other factor(s) influencing the change the number of kills.

Interestingly, dew points have been comparable to slightly higher, but that usually comes with more rain, something seen as a good thing for hog hunting. Variability of temperature has been wider with the highs being higher and the lows being lower for this year in some areas, but overall, the temps have been lower on average. On average, the winds are up over last year in several places. From the 5 towns I am surveying, wind is up in all 5.

Aside from these influence, there is everything else going on in the area such as hunting pressure, human activities, food availability, water availability, and natural patterns. It is hard to say that the heat is reason for less hunting success this year over last year when there are so many other things going on that cannot be controlled for and when the heat doesn't appear to be significantly worse.

[Old Stony]

Very analytical, but hot this year....hot last year.... really doesn't resonate with me in the broad scope of things. In fact I think I probably shouldn't have gotten into this discussion in the first place as things like this seem to morph out until they are dissected into tiny bits of mostly irrelevant information. I'll keep shooting hogs in the manner that has been successful for me and I hope you will do the same.

[JohnKSa]

...continue in my ignorance to kill hogs in my own manner.

I'll keep shooting hogs in the manner that has been successful for me and I hope you will do the same.

Right. You shoot a lot of hogs and intend to continue to do so using the methods you find work for you. And you aren't trying to get anyone else to change their methods. That's very good--nothing at all wrong with any of that. However, I don't believe there's a need to continue with that mantra, since no one is contesting your methods or success or stating that they believe you are trying to get them to change their methods.

Very analytical, but hot this year....hot last year.... really doesn't resonate with me in the broad scope of things.

I guess I don't know what you mean by that.

You brought up the topic of heat affecting hog movement and provided an example comparing last year with this year. The problem is that if the heat is the same this year and last (or as it seems from the temperature records, actually worse last year than it is now) then it doesn't make sense to blame the heat for either the lack of success or for the reduced movement this year compared to last year.

...things like this seem to morph out until they are dissected into tiny bits of mostly irrelevant information.

I don't really understand this either.

Isn't a discussion about hog hunting supposed to focus on the details of hog hunting? And isn't hog movement and the things that affect it EXTREMELY relevant information in a discussion about hog hunting?

[Old Stony]

It appears the dissection continues. Sometimes it seems I should just stay out of discussions like this as I guess I mention things that can be controversial, or at least can be interpreted as such. Bottom line is.....it's hot here (without comparison to other years!), I don't find hogs moving much out of the cover in this heat, so they are harder for me to find at this time.
Perhaps west Texas would be a more productive area right now as they have more areas without the heavy cover for the hogs.

[thallub]

Hogs are hitting our feeders at zero dark hundred in the am and i'm not a night owl. i've killed several at our lease by wading the creek and going into the swamps and thickets. Other day i jumped one that dove off the creek bank. Zapped him as he was floating away.

[JohnKSa]

It appears the dissection continues. Sometimes it seems I should just stay out of discussions like this as I guess I mention things that can be controversial, or at least can be interpreted as such.

A group of people continually in full agreement isn't a discussion, it is--well, I don't know what it is. Maybe a group singalong or something similar.

Worthwhile discussions virtually always involve at least some level of controversy. And dissection is not a bad thing, in fact it's an important learning method. Pulling things apart to see how they work, or looking at situations in detail to isolate differences and their possible effects, can be very enlightening.

Bottom line is.....it's hot here (without comparison to other years!), I don't find hogs moving much out of the cover in this heat, so they are harder for me to find at this time.

If someone shot many times more hogs last year than that same person was able to shoot this year even hunting over the same area and in the same heat then it sounds like there's at least one other factor involved.

Obviously, anyone interested in hunting hogs will be very interested in being able to better predict when they will/won't be moving. Along those lines, can you think of anything else that might account for the significantly reduced movement of the hogs this year as compared to last?

[Unique]

Buffalo, Texas here and area here is half oak trees and other half fields. Yes it's hot here and you can catch hogs coming into open areas just before dark and usually around 7 am or so they usually head back to the woods. And hogs In Summer usually don't stray more than 1/4 mile from a creek.
If you like spotting and stalking in daytime hours you're better off in woods close to creeks. Night time get out there in them fields, especially that bottom land where it stays moist.

[Old Stony]

http://imgur.com/QX2M1JC
This last batch from yesterday morning sure had a lot of mud on them. They obviously have been spending time in the mud/water which is in dense cover near where they met their demise.

[JohnKSa]

That makes perfect sense. I think it's a given that hogs like to stay near water when it's very hot. It also seems reasonable to assume that hogs would move around less when its very hot.

That makes it all the more interesting that, based on your comments and the weather data for the past two years, we have two periods where the heat was similar and the hogs were actually moving around MORE during the period which was slightly hotter.

[thallub]

Stony: Congrats on a big load of hogs.