since moving to south of austin we have gotten several hogs but just in a trap we check daily. son is fine with that but i wanna set up somewhere and pop em as they come to the bait. since we have never done it that way before, any basic advice/methods/ bait etc appreciated. thanks

Hogs love corn and can hear the "dinner bell" of a feeder going off from several hundred yards away. You can also ferment corn in a sealed bucket using water, yeast and -- for extra attraction -- a few packets of strawberry or raspberry jello.

They are not as easy to pattern as deer can be and can disappear for weeks or months at a time.

Just pay attention to the wind (their sense of smell is incredible) and other details like you would with deer.

Helps a lot with scent if you can get your blind abouve ground.

will do that. also, i read some nonsense, unless its not, about pouring diesel fuel on the corn and burying it and they will stay there a long time trying to dig it up. yes/no?

Diesel is supposed to keep the deer and coons off the corn. I am about to try it in a trap. Its best to pay attention to your scent. Stay up wind and try not to stink up the feeder location. A lot of the time them could care less, sometime just the exhaust off a ATV will spook em. Put corn in a hole and you will have a great big hole after they are through. Corn from a broad cast feeder is my main stay. If they want to beat the deer to the corn they will!

Did forget to mention, they will come to all the stuff you pour on the ground, but they come when they want not when you want them to. With a broad cast feeder you set the time! Some may show up early but few. Some may show up later but you know when to start looking

thanks all. we have a tree deer stand but its about from 300 yds from feeder. only reason feeder is so far away is that its in an old unused corral and keeps the cows away. we have had good luck taking deer on their way to the feeder. they generally go w/in 50-100 yds of stand. theres an old 3 sided blacksmith shop about 50 ft from feeder with a small hole cut in wall and a stool there to hunt the feeder but we have been so busy moving (and building me a 700 sq ft auto repair/reloading shop) that we have only been hunting the stand once. from what u guys are telling me i guess theres no point in pig hunting the deer feeder from the old blacksmith shop though, too close? i was also told today that in other countrys they paint diesel on trees as the pigs like to rub up against them to keep vermin off.

John:

I'm not playing the game like these
other guys. I've only hunted hogs
one trip, two early mornings in a row
in Fla. At a put n take outfit.

I shot both mine from a half assed fenced
in blind with chairs. I think the fence
was to keep the hogs out of it.

It was about 50-60 feet from the feeder.
and when it went off we got some corn
hitting us too. Both my hogs were shot at
about 30 feet with a .243 to the head
while staring each other down. I had a
6x Weaver, dark timber, dark shadows and
black hogs. Way too close for the scope
to focus. I had a real hard time making
out where to shoot until I finally located
an ear both times.

The owner said someone nearly everyday
killed a hog from the same stand and
most next to the same tree mine were
feeding at. Seemed like lots more corn
had hit the tree and fell near it than
scattered around. Whole lotta hogs were
there at the same time too.

Bobby has a whole lot more experience than
I do with those fancy scopes. I've
replaced most of my varmint scopes and this
Weaver with Simmons 6.5-20x. Two big
reasons. Focus down to 30 feet, and cost.
I got five of 'em at just over $100 each.
This gives me one spare at least if and
until I get another rifle.

IF you're going to be shooting from that
shed, get something that will focus well
at that range. These do, but, they're not
going to be good in the dark like those
Dr's Bobby has. Nor will they cost as
much either. I got lucky as a friend
was selling things for a late buddy for
the guys wife and I bought three, resold
one. Seems like the first three from Midway
were $120 each shipped. All mine except the
.243 are on .17, .20 and .223 varmint rifles.

Wish you the best with it.

George

quote:

Originally posted by Bobby Tomek:
Hogs love corn and can hear the "dinner bell" of a feeder going off from several hundred yards away. You can also ferment corn in a sealed bucket using water, yeast and -- for extra attraction -- a few packets of strawberry or raspberry jello.

They are not as easy to pattern as deer can be and can disappear for weeks or months at a time.

Just pay attention to the wind (their sense of smell is incredible) and other details like you would with deer.

Bobby has just ticked off the list of the top advice you have have .. allow me to toss in a few more

1.. they can both hear and see VERY well .. i've stalked them, with the wind right, and even moving as quietly as my bigfeets allow, I frequently see ear twitches as first observation, so spot and stalk is an amazing time - if you have a blind, even if you have the wind, they CAN see you, and can hear you - note, they can't lift they heads very high, so sometimes altitude helps

2 they are SMART, and even though they usually move in patterns, once they find the corn, they'll be back, but also once they realize that corn hear, at this time, means death, they won't be back for a awhile... so, don't go to the well too often ... put the corn out, a cheap plastic feeder and time from acadamy will work for 3-4 weeks, let it feed them a week or so .. with you blind setup... then go hunt a weekend when the wind is in your favor .. pop em... let it set 2-3 weeks, .. etc

4: diesel has it's place .. deer won't eat it, but that's not a big draw.. pigs like rubbing against posts to get the bugs off, and diesel smells like creosote - which also keeps the fleas off .. i've poured diesel on trees to make a rubbing post, as I don't care if the deer eat the corn

5: feeders .. oh boy, pigs are DESTRUCTIVE, and frequently will knock over feeders .. the cheap plastic feeders come with metal legs as Timers.. it's a trick to know how deep to drive in the first segments into the ground -- don't be too upset if they knock it over, corn is cheap

6: other stuff -- trails cams are nice- cheap ones are fine - baling wire helps many things, if a sounder comes, the first ones has usually been pushed out to go test if area, wait for it.. if it's a largish boar or two, then it's likely to be all of the bachelor troop .. sows taste WAY better, might have a midday feeding point on your feeder, especially until it's <70 in the day time .. pigs are SILENT when wary, grunty and noisey when content/safe .. and all this leads to night vision scopes - i recommend the digisight products

good hunting

i have been thinking about a midway feeder for months now as you suggested. just a lotta work putting a perimeter around it to keep the cows out which translates into time, which is short right now BUT should slack off in the next two months. we got one in the trap the other day, a big boar. son and buddy, an ex butcher from mexico, did the honors. wife refused to eat any that was cooked in a slow cooker for hours. i ate the crap out of it and finally convinced her to try it. now she keeps bugging us to go shoot another. think another feeder is gonna be the next project though.

i've used these, with various names on them
https://www.academy.com/shop/p...epChildCatid=7203015

whats really messing us up is the damn calves getting under the wire and eating the corn.
the consensus seems to be that they can smell you and thats a bad thing. so...is there any kind of human scent killer? maybe slosh some diesel on the boots? i know theres so called scent killer for deer hunting but we seem to have the same results with or without it.

Eventually the pigs will not worry about any scent you leave with the corn, just make sure the wind is in your favor when hunting.

Cows can be a big problem...you can leave cubes for them somewhere away from the stand you will hunt. Or fence them out more securely.

I gave up on feeders cause little matter the cost I am replacing them often now I just dig a hole with the FEL and toss corn in there. Most the time it gets to some point of moldy before the deer keep off it but once moldy I toss a bag of jello mix (5#) in the hole and they leave it for the hogs besides they do not eat nearly as much as a sounder coming in night after night. I have an old car parked back in the brush with a lane cut to the feeder around 100 yds away, I climb in there recline the seat and get comfy most evenings within 1/2 hour of full dark hogs show up and my AR300 Blackout barks a few times...then the vultures and coyotes eat good for a days.

quote:

Originally posted by 2th doc:
I gave up on feeders cause little matter the cost I am replacing them often now I just dig a hole with the FEL and toss corn in there. Most the time it gets to some point of moldy before the deer keep off it but once moldy I toss a bag of jello mix (5#) in the hole and they leave it for the hogs besides they do not eat nearly as much as a sounder coming in night after night. I have an old car parked back in the brush with a lane cut to the feeder around 100 yds away, I climb in there recline the seat and get comfy most evenings within 1/2 hour of full dark hogs show up and my AR300 Blackout barks a few times...then the vultures and coyotes eat good for a days.

jello mix #5?
sounder?

You can buy restaurant size of jello mix at most restaurant supply houses but some bulk grocery stores have it too...I pay around $6 for a 5# bag of strawberry or grape mix.
Around here we call a group of hogs a sounder

The nice thing about a feeder is if they want the corn - they will have to show up when it goes off (If you have deer in your area).

I've tried the piles of corn for bait in the past and it wasn't productive because they could come in at 2am or 2pm or whenever they wanted. Right now I am chasing a hog that shows up around midnight 1 night out of the month to my feeder. Truly a smart boar. I love checking my game cameras.

one of the guys baited and set our homemade trap sat with corn and molasses and didn't tell anyone. we were all around the trap since sun working thinking the trap wasn't. no pigs in it cause we glance at it as we drive by. its kinda in a bushy area. went by today exercising the dogs and had 4 small pigs in it. they are now hanging up in this cold weather. gonna be xmas tamales galore. will post pics, if anyone cares, if i can text em to someone that knows how to post pics.

If your trap caught the pups.
The grown one's got away or
didn't get in there before it
was tripped.

Good start at least.

George

we were deer hunting the feeder from the old blacksmith shop and 10 hogs appeared out of nowhere around it. added 2 more to the tamale list. the 4 we got last week were hanging and one of the hands from down south went and started a fire under an old heavy steel grate he put on top of some old bricks then cut ribs and backstrap off one a the pigs. slow cooked it over mesquite for an hour and a half. i have NEVER eaten pork that good. little salt and seasoning was all he used with corn tortillas. this was for lunch at the job site. i couldn't eat again till the next day i stuffed myself so much.

I used to + still do build galvanized caps for deer feeders. Started when John Turner ( an old friend + gunsmith from south Austin) asked me to make some for his feeders in south Texas as the wets coming over were knocking his feeders over + using the slit rings as a griddle to cook the corn. Even a wet know not to cook on galvanized. I was on the Steen ranch in Gonzales several years ago + heard the story of some guys that shot some hogs + commenced to boil them down in a galvinized pot. He said We buryed them right over there.

Hmm, buried the hogs or
the wets?

George

i surrender! no more piggy advice! just shot 7 more in our homemade trap. now they are wanting me to buy a freezer to put in the new shop for xmas. and i was gonna go stake out the deer feeder around 5 pm with a 45 colt for shits and grins this afternoon. now i get to go sharpen knives while the cutting commences by the youngsters. be careful what you wish for? oh, btw, we had puerco enchiladas for dinner last night. good stuff. this makes 11 hogs in 10 days.

Right now the feeder where I hunt hogs exclusively has a three-strand barbed wire fence around it--a triangle shape. It also has a light on it at night. The feeder is set to spin at 6-7-8 PM. When their numbers are up, they are there 8 or 9 nights out of 10. I have a .22-250 with a 3-9 Leupold with a heavy duplex reticle that I use to snipe from 125 yds away, and with the light, hogs make good targets. I also have an AR with a thermal scope on it. I can see critters as far away as 600-800 yds and can tell the difference between a skunk and an armadillo out to 250-300 yds. The areas I hunt are brushy so not likely to get multiple shots though.

I also bowhunt for hogs at this feeder, sitting in a 15' tripod about 18 yds away, and have killed a bunch with the bow as well.

Come on John, you just as well
get that freezer now. Sooner or
later you will anyway.

Teach 'em well how to butcher and
sharpen blades and you won't need
to do it for them much longer.
Put YOUR time in doing the shooting! ha!

George

45 colt, and the right wind, .. that's a good time!

quote:

Originally posted by georgeld:
Come on John, you just as well
get that freezer now. Sooner or
later you will anyway.

Teach 'em well how to butcher and
sharpen blades and you won't need
to do it for them much longer.
Put YOUR time in doing the shooting! ha!

George

going freezer buying this morning

I didn't read all of this. If I repeat someone else's comment, I apologize.

I have whacked a lot of hogs. Well, over 1,000 when I quit counting. I have shot 38 on my place this year and about 25 on another place. Given this , let me give you my observations:

1- Bobby gave you some good advice.
2- Hogs are a lot smarter than many people give them credit for.
3- Their sense of smell is outstanding. Perhaps even better than a deer.
4- One thing we use around here is raw molasses. We put it in tubs. If hogs are around, they flock to it. They absolutely LOVE it.
5- I do not think their eyesight is very good.
Regardless, don't do stupid things like wear bright clothes or move when they are close.
6- Hogs can wipe out feed in the ground quickly, real quickly. To avoid this, I take some post hold diggers and dig a hole. I fill the hole with corn or whatever I am using. I then throw some on the ground . When they come to it, they can't wipe out the feed in short order.
7- I also take a piece of PVC pipe and drill a bunch of holes in it big enough for corn to fall out. I glue a cap on one end. The other end has a screw on cap. I fill it with corn and throw some on the ground. While hogs can eventually empty the device, it takes them a while. This keeps then around longer.

Good luck!

Larry-

Yes, digging a hole to make them work longer for the grain works very well. I failed to mention molasses. Been getting raw molasses jugs from TSC. Since this summer, it's been on sale for $7.99 (Evolved Habitats brand). Not sure if there are better deals out there, but Tractor Supply Company is the only place in our area that carries it. Of course, with my luck, one of the jugs purchased recently was leaking and make a heck of a sticky mess in the bed of my truck.

Raccoons love it, too, and setting up a bait site for hogs will afford one the opportunity to eliminate some of the smaller corn thieves as well.

Also, you can use the smaller molasses-based protein tubs. Put them out in hot weather. When the surface softens, drizzle a couple pounds of corn on top of the tub. It will imbed itself into the molasses and make them work for it. While seemingly expensive, these tubs last a LONG time if cattle aren't on the property. The last one we had went over a year before being finished off.

stop! i had to buy a damn freezer this morning! that makes 3 freezers between 3 of us. i've been using the vacuum food sealer/saver thing all day. and thats w/out even deboning em. got 2 more ice chests to do tomorrow. my son had me leave backstrap on some of the ribs to be cooked and eaten one handed. they call em popsicles. i call it more work for me. we laid out where we're gonna build a smokehouse so we can just hang em up whole. my lower back is in knots.

Bobby:

Don't know what else there is in your
area. Here: TSupply is way out of reason
on their prices.

I looked at mower tires: $79 each.
Big R: $49.

I got the same size and brand online for
$50 delivered for two.

Hell John, you need to teach them how to
use that vac too! "hey you want things
that way? Do it yourself!"

Still not enough freezer space! hehe!

Hope you all have a great Christmas.

George

George, the people. cooking on galvanized with poison you with zinc oxide.

quote:

Originally posted by Bobby Tomek:
Larry-

Yes, digging a hole to make them work longer for the grain works very well. I failed to mention molasses. Been getting raw molasses jugs from TSC. Since this summer, it's been on sale for $7.99 (Evolved Habitats brand). Not sure if there are better deals out there, but Tractor Supply Company is the only place in our area that carries it. Of course, with my luck, one of the jugs purchased recently was leaking and make a heck of a sticky mess in the bed of my truck.

Raccoons love it, too, and setting up a bait site for hogs will afford one the opportunity to eliminate some of the smaller corn thieves as well.

Also, you can use the smaller molasses-based protein tubs. Put them out in hot weather. When the surface softens, drizzle a couple pounds of corn on top of the tub. It will imbed itself into the molasses and make them work for it. While seemingly expensive, these tubs last a LONG time if cattle aren't on the property. The last one we had went over a year before being finished off.

Bobby:

Do you have a picture of one of these tubs or a name? I think I know what you are talking about but I am not certain. I think I have seen these in a local feed store.

Some people around here say that if a hog has been on the molasses 2 weeks, it will change the flavor of the meat. Seems logical but I cannot swear to it.

Larry - The molasses tubs the local feed stores carry have options of 200 or 125 pound tubs. Here is a link, though not the brand I buy. And the tubs I get are 125 pounds and black.

If I am remembering right, the last 125-pounder/30 percent tub I got cost about $60 or thereabouts. They also have one with around 22-24% protein for a good bit less $$ than that.

Here's a generic pic to show the shape/type of the tubs

Molasses tub

Thanks Bobby. That is exactly what I thought you were referring to.

Get a feeder, a blind and fill the feeder with corn and set the timer for 6 in the morn and 6 in the evenng or there abouts and you will have hogs out kazoo..

If not up to expense, pour a sack of corn and slat on a cleared mound, make a tree stand...

Thats what every ranch in Texas does...Its not rocket science, some even use the front porch for the blind, with beer and nuts to entertain. Some even have spas and drinks served by waiters..then you have the drive by, a pile of corn in old wood coke boxes stated ground level, horses and cows can't get into thoses coke holes..Drive by in the evening and take your best shot..That was how I did it at my ranch, it works on deer also..