Hunting & Fishing Day Walker Hogs

[diggler1833]

I usually post my hog shooting stuff in the thermal section, but these were killed during the morning hours.

Don't see many hogs here during daylight, but these pigs were without a mature adult and didn't know better. I've killed off all the adults with thermal hunting, so I expect to see some erratic behavior out of the remaining piglets.

Sat down to a bowl of cereal this morning and looked up just in time to see all the piglets down in a pasture 150 yards away. Ran out in my undies and boots and snuck around some trees and got within 30 yards.

First shot was a success, and then I realized that I was trying to shoot running piglets on 8X magnification. Yanked that down some (looked later, it was about 3.5x) and picked up three more before they made it into the trees. I had cattle all around me, so I wasn't going to take a chance.

I think I fired six shots in total. The 64gr Speer Gold Dots (discontinued) did a great job, but the shoats were small and I mostly got broadside opportunities. However I did hit one with a Texas heart shot...that bullet exited up by the front shoulder, so maybe 16 inches of penetration.

Two also had maimed feet...one was completely severed clean and healed pretty well. I'm guessing somebody is putting out some old foot traps nearby

 

[acudaowner]

mmm bacon , pulled pork , pork bellies ,pork chops and ham and cabbage , ham and bean soup and a lot of barbecuing to do lol looks like you got some eating ahead of you ..

 

[Fig]

Meh, or the ditch.

 

[diggler1833]

Meh, or the ditch.

They feed my resident Bald Eagle population in the winter, and make great coyote bait the rest of the year.

 

[Burning sensation]

Hopefully you don’t mind me showing my Jesus sandals in your thread, diggler.
I wouldn’t say it happens to me all the time, but I see hogs in daylight enough that I almost always bring something with day glass on it. I knocked this guy over at about 6:30pm this evening with my old beater 300WM. Hopefully I can get something good with the Pulsar once the sun goes down.

 

[diggler1833]

Hopefully you don’t mind me showing my Jesus sandals in your thread, diggler.
I wouldn’t say it happens to me all the time, but I see hogs in daylight enough that I almost always bring something with day glass on it. I knocked this guy over at about 6:30pm this evening with my old beater 300WM. Hopefully I can get something good with the Pulsar once the sun goes down. View attachment 7360297

Don't mind at all. I've seen daylight hogs a total of three times over the last two years here. Twice I got lucky and managed to kill one with my pistol.

Hogs rarely come out before midnight here. It makes me pretty jealous of the guys that are always killing between 8-10 PM. I run about a 10% success rate before midnight unless I'm getting help from the weather (hunting fronts). That success rate jumps to about 50% between 1-4 AM. Unfortunately for me I've got a couple of little ones and a whole lot of work to do during the day, so I'm only out during the witching hours about once or week.

 

[Burning sensation]

I don’t believe the hog behavior in my area is typical. In the middle of the Summer I get them moving around in the middle of the day sometimes even when it’s over 100F. That’s always the sounders. The mature boars are always out at night. Of the 33 hogs I’ve killed this year, this is the 5th killed in daylight. I work a 2 week night then 2 week day rotating shift, and I have a 7 & 10 year old. That throws some variation into my hunting schedule, which I think is good.
I’m fortunate to have a tolerant wife who appreciates an evening or early morning without me home tuggin’ on her shorts, so I make it out 1-2 times a week.

 

[diggler1833]

I don’t believe the hog behavior in my area is typical. In the middle of the Summer I get them moving around in the middle of the day sometimes even when it’s over 100F. That’s always the sounders. The mature boars are always out at night. Of the 33 hogs I’ve killed this year, this is the 5th killed in daylight. I work a 2 week night then 2 week day rotating shift, and I have a 7 & 10 year old. That throws some variation into my hunting schedule, which I think is good.
I’m fortunate to have a tolerant wife who appreciates an evening or early morning without me home tuggin’ on her shorts, so I make it out 1-2 times a week.

I'm actually in a quasi-state of seasonal retirement. Trying to cut and bale hay while roaming the pastures at night is too much for my old ass. I assume as August/September rolls around and I start scouting for deer while also thinning out the coyotes that get near my calving herds that I'll see more hog activity.


Congrats on the body count!

I'm at 35 recovered hogs for the year with a thermal with 40 shot (5 made it off property). These four little ones I guess make it 39 total killed...but I also hunt 5 other ranches in the nearby area for friends from time to time.

My goal is 50 hogs per year, and 25 off of my place alone. There are guys who kill way more, and I enjoy watching their work. For me to keep up with it though I can't make it feel like work.

Keep slaying them in sandals man!

 

[Burning sensation]

I'm actually in a quasi-state of seasonal retirement. Trying to cut and bale hay while roaming the pastures at night is too much for my old ass. I assume as August/September rolls around and I start scouting for deer while also thinning out the coyotes that get near my calving herds that I'll see more hog activity.


Congrats on the body count!

I'm at 35 recovered hogs for the year with a thermal with 40 shot (5 made it off property). These four little ones I guess make it 39 total killed...but I also hunt 5 other ranches in the nearby area for friends from time to time.

My goal is 50 hogs per year, and 25 off of my place alone. There are guys who kill way more, and I enjoy watching their work. For me to keep up with it though I can't make it feel like work.

Keep slaying them in sandals man!

The nocturnal hogs got the best of me last night. I had 4 come out in my clearings, but all 4 times they went back into hiding before I got close enough for a shot. One looked like a big’ol boar. The wind was perfect and everything went as planned. I even snuck within 30 yards of a deer, the hogs were just more careful than usual. My success rate always slows significantly around July, so my best hunting for the year is close to over.
50 is an impressive number, hell, 39 is. That’s way more than most guys I know of that still work for a living. Great work.
I’ve done a lot of work the last 3 years, mostly cutting & dragging trees, that has had a big positive impact on my body count. I know they’re out there, the trees are so thick I just can’t see them a lot of times.
I have 2 that I know were hit correctly that were not recovered & I don’t count, and 1 that I gut shot. For me, I really need them to drop, or I need an exit would so they bleed. Without one of those, my recovery rate is low. The trees and brush are just too thick. I’ve been going to bigger guns in hopes of being able to consistently get full body penetration. We’ll see how the 338 Federal does. Just got the can for it out of jail this week so it’s ready for action.

 

[Simonsza1]

If your in Texas it’s probably guys putting out snares for coyotes

 

[checkmate101]

Nice shooting, haven't been hog hunting yet, but looks like it would be a blast!