EAST TEXAS HOG DOGGERS FORUM

I live in Va, there are two small established herds in the state. I have access to one of them, the other is on a state run wildlife preserve and hunting is by draw only and no dogs. I have read and heard for years about how devastating hogs were to native game and land. They are awful on the turkey and quail and so on. Aren't there A LOT of hogs in Texas, Alabama and Georgia? The same states that boast some of the best turkey and quail hunting in the country! There hasn't been a huntable population of bobwhite quail in my neck of the woods in damn near 40 years and hogs have never been in these woods.
 Even the hog hunting shows on tv portray hogs as demons and the only reason for hunting them is to get rid of them. I mean really!?! If you got rid of them all, then what? Sell their dogs and take up crocheting? Bullsh@#! Isn't the love of the hunt the reason we do it? What else can you hunt with dogs 12 months outa the year?
 I guess what I'm asking is if you could stop the hog from ever being brought to this country and released-would you? Or would you be like me and get the settlers to bring more and turn em loose in ever state? Lol

Really depends on what side of the fence you are. If you enjoy hunting them then obviously you like them and want them around.

If you are the farmer or homeowner who has just woken up to find all your crops ruined, or your lawn turned from green grass to tilled dirt you probably hope they are eliminated soon.

They cause a lot of damage they can change the landscape through their rooting, consume lots of acorns and other foods our native creatures need.

The reality is though they are here to stay until we develop all the land into subdivisions then the hogs will have no place to live and BAM hog problem solved.

Also wanted to say on my rural property there are tons of hogs, and turkeys, and quail.

I think coyotes, racoons, bobcats, and opossum are far more devastating to the bird populations then any hogs would be.

Your talking a double edge sword.  I love hunting them but hate hogs.  Yes they can be hard on native wildlife aand horrible on farmers.

I understand about the crops and the yard, but I can't wrap my mind around the food competition thing, I've raised butcher hogs for years and I do realize how much a sounder can consume but are native species really starving because the hog are eating all the mast?

why do you hate em? Just curious

Might be a dumb question but what are we calling native wildlife.  Wild hogs came with Columbus right?  theyve been around a long time.  I understand there was deer and other animals here before,  just wondering.  How about cattle?  Would you call them native?  Look how they've changed North America.

I know this isn't natural for deer or other wilddlife but I had a corn trough and we put about 200 pounds of corn in it every 3 weeks. Deer raccoon's turkeys ate off this corn for three weeks and there was still some corn left in the trough. Then a group of about 10 sows and piglets and 1 or 2 large boars came through and within 5 days the corn was gone and they had dug holes and ruts under the feeder. The ground couldn't be walked on it was so beat up. It was horrible. And most of the brush had been beat to nothing to.. and 200 pounds of corn isn't cheap!!

all these hogs need to go end of story  , yes those states do still advertise bountifull populations of turkey and quail . what would you expect them to boast of ? the truth . so that everybody will run to their states to hunt turkey that are on the decline . or small skinny deer that haven't been able to sustain themselves on what the hogs left . come to texas and see the truth about what hogs will do to the eco-system . the more hogs you have competeing with the native species for the mast crops the less native species will survive , thats just mathmatics 101 lol as far as georgia goes check out the pen raiseing and release programs they have on the quail plantations for people to come and hunt . if you still have a chance to wipe them out where you are at do it . then go back to coon and rabbit huntin like we used to do , just as much fun just a little less meat for the freezer . hogs be damned if i could kill em all tomorrow theyed be dead .

I wouldn't mind at all if every damn deer in this country was eradicated so the hog population could grow some more!

Why do I hate them.  The fences they tear up the hay fields they tear up they springs they durn near ruin the deer protein they eat have even been known to open gates taken them off the hinges kill and eat fawns and any thing else they can catch making durn rattlers not rattle these are just some of the things I hate about them.

I love'em can't imgine what I would do if there were not hogs !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bring'em on dump'em right here in Texas !  We'll thin them out and grow some more!

i wish they would come around my place and root up my yard..  >:D

I dont think there that bad I have the prime habitat for them but they just dont seem to want to hang around we got bottom land good acorn crops and I start feeders in August I just cant see how some areas are over populated the deer hunters here masacre them I kill a few but I have been Barring some only killing the ones tore up to bad to let go hell I even Vacinate and worm them but I have yet to catch the same hog twice coyotes now thats my problem. I love to chase them suckers good or bad.

X2

LOL I have hunt deer just about every way you can, a lot with dogs and I've taken a lot deer and not one of those hunts was as exciting as hog dogging. I still coon hunt and have rabbit beagles. Just ain't the same, I've walked to hundreds of trees and wished there was something bigger and badder in the top, thank the good Lord we've got a growing bear population but  limited to only a month of chase and a month of kill season.
 maybe if we were over run with hogs I'd feel differently but I get more turned on by tusks more than I do antlers nowadays.

I hear ya about the coyotes, they have been making a strong comeback here in the east and they are playing hell on everything from rabbits to house dogs. Turkeys don't even want to gobble because of em, had 5 different birds this past spring sneak in silent, or they gobble in the tree and not say a word once on the ground. Calf crop is hurting too.

I love watching my dogs work on hogs an the thrill of not knowing how big it is as much as the next guy ... But when you make a living off the land as I and many others do you can't help but not want them gone when you tear up high dollar equipment and lose crop which in return means less money for my family then yes I hate them have you ever spent days plowing and planting something only to come back a few days and its ruined? It's a pain il tell you but I do love the sport just not as much as my livelyhood

i agree with you. to me a deer aint nothing but a goat it wouldnt bother me if they was extinct it would be way more places to run dogs.

I see where you are coming from, I'm a cop and if it weren't  for crackheads and hoodrats I'd be out of a job.  I've got cattle too and I guess I'd be pretty turned off by em if the tore my pasture up. Maybe

X100 i much rather hunt hogs !!!

I love to  hog Hunt and want more hogs around to Hunt but at the same time they ruin my land and make it harder for my cows and horses to stay in good shape like I said I would love to have a lot more hogs to Hunt but the ranchers like us end up losing a lot of money

Let me clear this up, its not that i don't like deer, its that i absolutely despise the new breed of deer hunters, the Matthews shootin', scent lock wearin', little rich city boys. I do like to kill a goat, actually murder in cold blood is a better word to describe it ;D

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In one of the place I hunt the owner is a farmer and he gets mad when we stop hunting it for a little bit he hates every hog but loives to see a cought one lol  ... But me I love to hunt with dogs to see something you train start finding and baying a pig by his self is amazing just watch a dog work is fun even if you don't catch one

"But me I love to hunt with dogs to see something you train start finding and baying a pig by his self is amazing just watch a dog work is fun even if you don't catch one"
And thats what its all about
as far as the new breed of deer hunter i couldnt agree more, i know that to defeat the antis hunters need to stick together no matter how they choose to hunt. but this city "weekend warriors" have cost me lots of hunting land because they believe its an abomination to hunt anything with dogs.

Yes they are bad and if they were all gone I could spend my money on other expensive things.

Or you could spend your money on something else and let someone else hunt your places

Hog have never done the damage to the envirimont that humans do.Thangs would get awlful boring in areas with low deer populations if it werent for hogs.If you hog haters hate hogs so bad theres more effeniont ways to control hogs than dogs.Enjoy them while you gotem your goin to miss them when there It dont matter how you huntem thier fun ,I guess Im one of those new type hunters been bowhuntin since 85 an I shoot a matthews,One more thang the antis are destine to win because hunters are always bitchin about whatever kinda huntin they dont do.I know this to be true because I used to bitch about hogdogers sometimes it takes awhile to see the lite.

We will never be able to get rid of the hog problem in Texas and surrounding hog packed states! I don't care how many hog hunters, dog runners, helicopter shooting people we got they breed terrible and are steadily getting worse!

If that was an option I would do it, but I know it isnt so I am going to keep rolling.  Believe me, folks have tried and failed horribly! haha

I agree about humans being more destructive 100% I dont care how a person hunts or what they hunt, the problem i was refering to was the transplants that move in lease up all the land and dare good ole boys like me to step foot on it because i run dogs. kinda like a slap in the face when you been hunting a place for 30 years and have it bought by a yankee, puts a million posted signs up, wont even consider leasing the land to hunted because he hunts and then he only hunts 1 or two days outa the year. but im probably preaching to the chior, the way i here it damn near all the land in Texas is leased.

 we will win this war on hogs . the govt. will come up with a bio weapon . in fact they allready have one just need to tweek the delivery system to keep the passavist and tree huggers happy .  then all you hog huntin adrenalin junky's can go get your skateboards back outta the closet . lol  i luv killin hogs as much as anybody but would not miss it when it's gone . i've grown up huntin and killin and will be huntin and killin something the day i die   huh maybe democrat stew , i allways eat what i hunt lol

i dont know what you do for a living but alot of my friends down here in Texas are rice farmers and hogs destroy thousands of dollars worth of crops every year !  thats taking food off the table for their kids and even you too if you think about it ! yes its fun to hunt them but you gotta look at it from a farmer/ rancher perspective !

Cliffhanger understand the land deal 100%been on both sides of that fence it sucks when your on short end.Im on the short end now.Thought you were bashin bowhunters, in Texas about the only thang your going to hunt for free is hogs so we better be glad we gottem.   

Only if the Ranchers or Farmers that have problems are not willing to implement a plan to "control" them ;)

Agree with you 100% warrent, most of the time you get a call when the hogs get out of control. If they would've had someone out there catching a few here and there, they never would've had this out of control problem.

sorry bout the misunderstanding Cat, I'm an avid bowhunter, our season starts in less than a month! Can't wait to climb a tree!

Eliminate all the deer and hog will become the new deer. Getting rid of the deer won't get rid of the hunters. It will just make hog hunting even more crowded and then add commercialization to the mix. Great idea. The deer are the only thing keeping your hogs from being the most sought after game in Texas.

Like others have said If hunters will learn to be a team and accept their differences then we have a chance. Unless Halfbreed is right it will be a long time before hogs are hunted to extinction in the US. They are a burden on Landowners and farmers and to those who think we should be releasing as many as we can then you are selfish. The 'I don't give a crap how much it hurts others as long as I keep my hobby' mindset is selfish. I enjoy hunting hogs as much as the next guy but if i could hunt em out of this area I would. My brother planted a whole field and the next day it was all eaten. Thats $$$$$. If you need the adrenaline rush of dangerous game then join the army or move to Africa and be a PH.

You havent had the right people

I can say I will do all I can to see that they are not killed out

Not really sure what this has to do with this topic but....
if they put me in charge of Welfare I would make plenty of changes and fix a lot of that. The first change would be random drug testing. But unfortunately I can get rid of hogs or fix welfare. I'm not opposed to the idea of welfare but what we have is not my idea of welfare.