Wild boar!!!
 

Well I have confirmed some wild boar sign on my land. I found a wallow. How is the best way to hunt these critters? Will they revisit this wallow? Food for them is everywhere, so there is no pinpointing a feeding area so much. I assume the are quite nocturnal, and so I am not sure where to begin, other than set up my game camera, and go from there.

These would be escapees from a couple of former boar farms, but they are wild as they come.

Thanks for any info. Googling helps, but I trust you folks to know a fair bit.

Dale

fd,
I read a report that wild boars are now an invasive species in
Saskatchewan and spreading into Manitoba. They are hairy
winter hardy critters. Might provide some wild game hunting
action, though I suspect many farmers won't want them around.
I know nothing about hunting them, just interested in reading
other comments on this thread.

............Watched a video on youtube , guy built a 40'x40' pen with an electric drop gate , didn't activitate the gate until the whole herd was inside ! Once gate was dropped , those pigs became cruise missiles , but fence was made out of galvanized steel panels attached to Tposts .
............The fun part was when he took his 12ga. and sent them to pig heaven . Lotsa dead pigs . , fordy

Trapping is the best way, they will get trap shy,then take a little one put it in a pen inside the trap.

If I was farming Iwwouldn't like them but as a hunter they are fun and good eating.

big rockpile

Can't help you either, but they are becoming a problem, more so in Western NYS, so the state in all it's wisdom (???) passed a law that prohibits hunting them period and bans in-state hunting preserves from even having or importing the pigs as of 2015.......

Seems they (the state) thinks that the DEC can control and/or eliminate the problem of wild pigs better then all the hunters within the state sooooo therefore the law.
Of course those preserves and all the money brought in to the state don't count cause they of course, according to down-staters, the preserves are the root of problem anyway.

Oh and that's the same "down-staters" that gave us the SAFE Act...... don't figure?????

traps , I have a co-worker in tx that successfully traps several each year

he does nto weld so he uses a t-post inside and outside with hog pannel between to make his cage putting tposts every 4-5 feet and double and wired together at each spot for his door he pulled back the corner of a pannel and held it open with a block of wood so they enter through a 24 inch opening in a sort of tear drop shaped cage made from 4 panels 16 feet each he overlaps the pannels by a foot and wires them together
he then places a bucket of corn on a cinder block standing upright the get used to knocking the corn over for a few nights and bringing their buddies then he sets the bucket up there is a pipe that runs across teh top of his cage that the bucket is tied over then back to the block of wood that holds the door from wanting to close the weight of a bucket of corn falling 16 inches is enough to pull the block of wood and they are trapped the door is reinforced with angle iron and when they push it pushes into a t post and lock into the other side of the fence where the 2 ends come together

he waits till the butcher opens calls them tells them how many he has coming then a 22lr behind the ear , load them in the truck and off to town to the butcher

he isn't much of a hunter except by necessity of protecting his orchard but he gets enough this way that everyone in his family is set for pork each year they just need to cover the butcher bill

here is a university of Missouri info site about hogs one trap can be seen toward the bottom of the page http://extension.missouri.edu/p/G9457

a Mississippi State page explaining traps and single catch door vs multi catch door http://wildpiginfo.msstate.edu/types...eral-pigs.html

there are a number of multi catch door designs but basically they want to push their way in to be with their buddies chowing down so a one way door that still opens when pushed on from the outside but that closes and won't open from the inside

Trapped three last week, two big ones at the same time, 8 or so in the last two months. MOst in the 150 to 200 pound range.
Ed

I would think a 12ga loaded with a deer slug should do the job.
I would try to track their movement, see if they visit the same area every day, and what time of day.
Figure that out, then sit and wait.

It don't even take that much I have killed them with 22-250.

My Son says I'm crazy using a Muzzleloader.

The reason they pass Laws not allowing hunting is because some will turn Hogs loose then charge people for taking them hunting. They tried getting me not to hunt them here because they said it messed up their Trapping, when in truth they messed their own Trapping up.

Here they passed a Law not allowing Importing Wild Hogs. I hunted one place before they would bring in Russian Boars from Austria. Whole different Hog from Feral Hogs. Very Bad attitude and would actually hunt a Human.

big rockpile

Thanks folks. Yeah these are wild boar, not feral hogs. I dunno about trapping, as I do not think there are very many, and I do not have them patterned yet, and they have so much food available here in farm country, that it may take forever to bait them in.

Rained a bit overnight, maybe I can find some tracks this morning.

My game cam batteries were dead! grrrr.

go pick up buckets of acorns , and keep some corn ,save some apples build the trap , wait till the ground is frozen hard and all the good eats are under a few inches of snow and i think you will lure them in better

Are you saying you have Russian Boar? Feral hogs don't look like the hogs that got out of the pen long ago, only takes a few years to revert back to wild looking state, and only a few weeks to become wild in nature.

Some places the local feral hogs have had some Russian introduced and those rascals are pure meanness. One of the hogs I trapped last few weeks was a light grey color, most are the wild hog "mud" color.

I strongly suspect you have the "normal" feral hog, possibly with some Russian in the bloodlines.

In any case, these are smart and dangerous animals, so be careful out there.

Ed

for hunting in the north unlike the south tracking snow especially a deep snow will likely lead you right to them , wait till the snow gives you the edge then slip on the snow shoes and track them , if you go looking the day after a snow with the snowmobile once you find their tracks that can't be to far

.............The amazing thing for me is that they can survive -30 to -40F below zero temps in southern Canada ! I would've never believed that such is possible . Surely , there is no rooting in frozen soil . , fordy

Supposedly part of the rational in outlawing shooting hogs in ny is it supposedly scatters the groups. Has anyone found that to be true? The ones around here do have russian bloodlines. Coming north from downstate. Either feral or Russian, they can he dangerous. Tusks are sharp. They are prolific. They can damage acres at a rip, are you seeing much damage?

This one is Feral

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...ing/004-27.jpg


This one 100% Russian

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...000_1349pg.jpg

big rockpile

Bait before

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...000_1349pg.jpg







http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...ing/006-13.jpg







After

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...g/001-70-1.jpg

big rockpile

Feral Hogs

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...g/000_1678.jpg

big rockpile

Corn Field damage

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...hot/004-23.jpg

A Wallow

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...hot/001-54.jpg

River Bank rooted

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...hot/002-37.jpg

Hog Trap

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...hot/001-34.jpg

big rockpile

In the 1990's in western Canada, the farm economy was failing. So diversification was encouraged strongly. Ostriches, emus, wild boar (these are not feral hogs), were all raised by farmers searching for a financial boost.

These hogs are escapes from a couple of farms 20 miles away, from one of these diversification ventures. They are not feral hogs. They are european wild boar.

Good ideas regarding baiting once there is snow cover/frozen soil. They LOVE field peas, and I grew 200 plus acres this year so I have bins of them. That may well draw them in...

Had me another one in the trap this morning, I use deer corn for bait btw.
Ed

Ferals would probly not winter well that far north, Russians are WAY tougher, bred in the North Country... Dale, any grain you can sour will also help as bait... Sour like when a bucket of ground feed sits and goes so bad flies swarm it...

I ALWAYS have a lot of that around, let me tell you... Thanks for the tip.

A pink domestic hog will have reverted back to a bristle covered black or brown feral pig in three to five generations.

Most don't realize this, I've had Guys try saying if Piglets was Chipmunk colored they were Russian. Which in truth they was Domestic that reverted back to Feral.

Around here in Winter Feral Hogs will hole up in Caves.

I have hunted Russians they are so different they will hunt you. not only do they like mud but they really like actually swimming. Altogether different than Feral Hogs.

big rockpile

can you use hog snares in Missouri

Not sure we can for some Fur Bearers but most use Traps here. They set them though where they can get in with Pickups, I'm thinking bring Traps in with Boat would be better where I'm thinking.

big rockpile

These are Russian, eh?

Don't know. This one is Feral, not a bit of Russian in it.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...00_1162ht7.jpg

big rockpile

I'm chuckling. Hog is hog regardless of where the bloodlines come from. However, Russian hog bloodlines come from the Siberian forests where it is cold and snowy 8 months out of a year. The Russian hogs have to contend with grizzly bears, wolves, and tigers. Yep, tigers. That's why they've evolved to be super aggressive. Feral hogs have been called the poor man's grizzly due to the fact they can and will stalk you or do a revenge charge to try to kill you. Bait corn by itself will not always get what you want in a trap. Best to soak corn in beer til it's fermented and smelly. Some folks actually stir in koolaid in that crap. After fermenting, put it in the trap. Pretty much guaranteed they'll go for it. Don't trap them the first time out...let them get used to the trap and eventually you can set it to go off. Traps only get the young and the dumb. The experienced mature boars/sows will see the screaming young in's and steer clear. Best way to hunt them is with dogs. Preferably dogs descended from hog hunting blood lines: catahoula, blackmouth cur, mountain cur, and various hounds such as the plott. Not every hound is cut out to be a hog dog. Either they're too slow or they have a really low pain threshold and once they're hit in the chest or leg by a charging hog, they'll quit. The plott hound won't. The cur dogs definitely won't if they come from hunting parents. Here is my dog working feral hogs in a pen.

Austria was where I was involved with Russian Hogs, they would hunt you, different critter than I was use to.

I'd like to have some Bay Dogs, bring them to the Hog area by Boat. Could keep track of them from the Boat. Thought about Catch Dogs but was told they are too much trouble.

big rockpile

The supposed logic here is that if hunting is allowed, then people will import them to help the sport. A better way to handle this would be to pay a bounty (bring in a body part) with the money otherwise spent - this would reward hunters, make use of the meat, and get rid of them in a hurry. Meth-heads would put aside their scrap-metal pilfering and pick up their rifles - the pigs would be gone shortly.

They did the bounty thing in Texas. Ran out of money in less than 6 weeks. The hunters were to bring in the ears cut off. Problem is you can cut the ears off the hogs and let them loose...they can survive without ears! They should've said ears have to be attached to the hog's head. The bounty wasn't much. I think anywhere from $2 to $5 per pair of ears....