Input needed for efective hog managment.

[Wolverine]

I have been asked by the President of my hunting club to write up some laws and bi-laws concerning effective hog management in regards to dog hunting on our lease.

The situation is we allow dog hunting but we don't want the herd whipped out, now I know that might sound crazy to some people but the deer hunters also like hog and the variety they offer in the off season.

So what would be your suggestions? I plan on starting a "Barr and release" program. Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[Circle C]

The sows are the ones that need to remain on the property if you want to continue to have a viable hunting population. 

I would barr the hogs, bob their tails so the shooters know when they are looking at a barr through the scope, and leave the sows to breed.    If you are looking to keep some hogs you catch, keep every other boar, and let all sows go....If you find a unique boar and you like some of his traits, let him go intact.

[elliscountyhog]

If you have hogs u can CONTROLL there population but u will NEVER whip them out specially if your feeding, the biggest factor into running pigs off is a food source, if u stop feeding them they will leave but return once u start feeding again.

[Circle C]

    There is another aspect to keeping hogs on a property.. Pressure - run the dogs on it too often and the hogs will move on out to find a place that has a food source without the pressure.  Of course the larger the tract of land, the less this matters.

[elliscountyhog]

I think we need to call national geographic.. But question i have a place that is bordered by 2K of deer lease that feed yr round, and wont allow me to hog hunt, i have a 1K acres next to it that feeds, i have hunted that place from end of january to end of april atleast every weekend and caught hogs everytime yet the land owner quit feeding once summertime gets here bout may and i cant seem to get a hog but when i do get on one it leaves to the nighbors place but once he start feeding for the deer and planting bout september it is on again they are everywhere??? Lots of pressure but it seems they left when the food source stop, yes i have ran it alot thinner over the years where we used to catch 4-8 every other hunt we now get 1-2 until the feeding stops then we are lucky for one.?

[shawn]

size of the place does make a huge difference, we have hunted a 1500 acre place regularly for 6 months and have had one dry run there (last weekend) I dont think you'll ever get rid of them totally, you'll probably leave a few for the deer hunters to shoot, they'll be dog spooked but should still take a bullet...

[Jeff]

you'll never catch them all. keep the feeders going, and limit the amount of pressure as already mentioned and you'll have no problems.  like shawn said we hunt one place real regular, like at least 2 times a month and we still catch hogs almost every trip.  usually 3 pigs a trip - not 2, not 4 but 3. dont know why it works out that way.

be picky about who you allow to run dogs, and don't let anybody dump a semi load out at one time. more dogs = more chaos = too much pressure. depending on the size of the place, you'll probably not want more than one group of doggers there at the same time either.

[Bump]

I dont think you can effectively manage hogs using dogs. I doubt there is any true data to back this up....just my opinion.

Hogs are not deer. You can kill everyone you catch and still probably not ever notice a difference. Running dogs may cause them to change their feed pattern and temporarily relocate areas. I dont know if the combination of dogging, trapping, shooting or using a helicopter can even effectively reduce the numbers. They reproduce too fast and adapt too quck.

And unless you have a very large area to hunt....you more than likely cannot do anything. Barr the boars and hope they will grow and hang around the area for the deer hunters to shoot as trophies. I was told by a TPWD biologists that hogs may travel 10 miles in 24 hours to feed.

My two cents

[elliscountyhog]

I dont think you can effectively manage hogs using dogs. I doubt there is any true data to back this up....just my opinion.

Hogs are not deer. You can kill everyone you catch and still probably not ever notice a difference. Running dogs may cause them to change their feed pattern and temporarily relocate areas. I dont know if the combination of dogging, trapping, shooting or using a helicopter can even effectively reduce the numbers. They reproduce too fast and adapt too quck.

And unless you have a very large area to hunt....you more than likely cannot do anything. Barr the boars and hope they will grow and hang around the area for the deer hunters to shoot as trophies. I was told by a TPWD biologists that hogs may travel 10 miles in 24 hours to feed.

My two cents

Agree! Hogs can adapt to whatever u throw at em. Tell your doggers to cut a few a release and they will grow into trophies and better eating too