Hey everybody,
Just wanted to answer a question I get all the time;
“When’s the best time to hog hunt?”
Answer;
I get this question on a very regular basis and to be honest anytime is the best time to hog hunt, it’s just a matter of how you hunt under certain conditions during each time of the year. Weather and vegetative conditions determine how all animals move, feed, and act, which in turn determines how you hunt them. There are many different techniques I use to get my hunters to harvest these rootin’ machines.
Let me first describe the hunting techniques I use (one technique I do not use is tracking dogs, because the dogs hunt them and not the hunters, even though there is nothing wrong with using dogs):
1. Hunting over corn or feeders. (this includes using scents and lures)
2. Spot and stalk.
3. Spotlighting.
4. Driving around in a truck or on a 4 wheeler.
5. A combination of all these during a package hunt.
All of these techniques are successful ways to harvest an animal, but don’t always work doing just one, that is why I use a combination in order to achieve the best success possible. Some techniques I use more than others depending on weather and vegetative conditions and the hunters physical ability and hunting experience.
Weather and Vegetative Conditions (this is the biggest factor in determining in what hunting technique I use):
1. In hot and dry conditions when all the ground vegetation is dried up, the best hunting technique to use is hunting over a feeder. Hogs are looking for food because there is not much out there and will actually camp out next to feeders waiting for them to go off. I’ve even had hunts where we would shoot a hog under the feeder and 5 minutes later the same or different group would come back in because they are so desperate to eat. I’ve taken hunters on a spotlight stalk into feeders and set them off and have had hogs come in before the feeder stopped throwing. This is when I usually have the most success.
2 In hot and wet conditions when the ground vegetation is growing like crazy the best way to hunt them is spot and stalk and sitting on feeders after dark with a spotlight. In flooded conditions driving around with a spotlight is a definite winner. Use your ears, you can hear them from a long way off, and if they are making a lot of noise, you can usually sneak up on them pretty close.
3. When its cold and dry, spot and stalk after dark with a spotlight is definitely the way to go, but I always start by sitting on the feeders till a little after dark.
4. When it’s cold and wet sitting on a feeder is your best bet even if it means you have to stay there till midnight, they will eventually come in.
Note: You don’t have to be that quiet when you’re in the blind, but you do when you are stalking. What you wear doesn’t make a difference, especially at night, hogs are pretty much blind, but what they will pick up on when you’re stalking is movement so move slowly when you’re close to em. Scent doesn’t matter much, if the wind is blowing in their direction it doesn’t matter what scent elimination you use, they are gonna smell ya! When you’re stalking at night use a dim headlamp to see where you’re going and to get a an idea of where the hogs are, when you’re set up to shoot then turn on your spotlight. Thermacell’s are God’s gift to a hunter.
Sometimes it’s harder hunting than others and it seems just when you’ve got them patterned they become smarter than you. You just have to adapt to the conditions. And sometimes it seems like you don’t have to do anything and didn’t bring enough ammo. I’ve had hunters out in the worst conditions imaginable (flooding and 14 inches of snow with limited hunting spots) and ended up having the best hunt I’ve ever had shooting 14 hogs and a few coyotes to boot. You just never know how things are gonna turn out, the thing is to be diligent. These tips and ideas are just from my experience and may or may not work everywhere or for everyone, it’s just what works for me.