Anyone got any advise for me as to the best calls to use to get a hog within 50 yards or so for pistol hunting? I've never hunted them before, but I've been given the ok to clear out as many as I want.

Griz78,
Can you bait hogs in Louisiana. If you can, set up a demand feeder, fill it with say 300 lbs of corn plus 50 lbs of roasted soybeans Feed a small amount 3 times a day, say 20 minutes before shooting light, about 45 minutes after that. Feed again say an hour before you lose shooting light in the evening. Do this for a couple of months before you start your killing and you can sometimes shoot hogs both morning and envenings on consecutive days.
Or you can build a hog pipe out of 6" pvc. Glue a cap on one end and a threaded collar and threaded cap on the other end. On the end that is threaded, drill a hole and put a 1/2" eye bolt in and attach say 1/4" aircraft cable to this for tying to an anchor or tree. If you can find a swivel, do so cause if you have big hogs they will worry the pipe and cable till it breaks. Anyway, drill 7/16 holes along the pipe in rows along the length of the pipe. You can put strawberry jello or hog wild inside with the corn. Once a hog finds this he will worry that pipe till he gets all the corn (hours) or till you shoot him or it gets too hot.
Or you can just dig a hole in the ground, pour in some corn, top it with strawberry jello. and shovel dirt back over it to make the hogs work for the corn. Probably be more profitable than calling.
GWB

GWB's advice is -- as usual -- right on the money.

I have had hogs show up to a predator call, but that's rare. And the grunt calls work better for stopping a hog than calling one.

There are a couple calling versions out there of "hog feeding frenzy," but I wouldn't bank highly on getting one in via that method. But it WILL get a coyote's attention...

Forgot to add: Unlike deer, hogs are almost impossible to pattern unless you add a degree of regularity into their schedule, such as a feeder.

Even if unpressured, hogs move about freely from one food source to another. They may be in an area today and completely gone tomorrow.

Rest assured, though, that others will take their place...

This strawberry jello tip has me interested. A couple of questions- Only strawberry?
and how the hell did someone come up with it?
In all seriousness, how do you rate it as an attractant?

Shankspony.
I'd like to claim credit but its something I picked up on over the last twenty years or so of shootin' porkers. Seems they like the smell. I would imagine you could use grape or rasberry. You can also soak corn in diesel for a couple of days, drain off the diesel and use that corn. Cows and other critters don't seem to care for it but the hogs do. You can also soak burlap sacks in burnt motor oil and wrap them around a tree or pole and hogs will come up and use it as a rub. If you have any corn that has gotten wet and soured, hogs like that, or a gut pile or other offal. Being omniverous, you can get the leftover food from a school cafeteria or go and get vegetables that have been thrown out at your local feed store etc.
If it stinks or smells you can use it for hog bait. Any of the above methods work but I really like a demand feeder that I can feed from two to four times a day with corn, green peas, roasted soybeans (smells like peanut butter) and maybe some protien pellets. After a couple months of nobody hasseling them, they get it in their piggy little brains that this is where the groceries are. I have had hogs come in , I'll line up a couple and nail two or three with one shot. The others will run off, but come back 15 to 30 minutes later. I've shot as many as five hogs off one stand shooting doubles and singles in an afternoon. My best is 10 hogs in two stands on consecutive afternoons. Here are a couple pics. Five on thursday and five on friday ( one made it a ways on thursday and two ran about 50 yds. on friday, and I didn't drag them back for the photo).
GWB


GWB

Cheers GWB, the main bait I use over here is offal, ie dead stock or goats shot hunting. But I might have to try some of the others when I'm in short supply. The oil on burlap will be a deffinate trial.

I would use bait or attractants like these guys suggest. I have used calls, and it might just be my technique -- or lack thereof, but they haven't really worked for me. I am not completely convinced there's no merrit in calls, I just haven't found them to work - yet. But, I will keep trying and keep y'all posted.

I know folks that say they have had luck calling hogs, but I never have (and I have tried), nor have I seen it done. The advice above is all good.

+1 on the strawberry/rasberry jello on top of some corn/soured corn. (Don't spill a bucket of soured corn in your truck.....spill it in your buddies.)

Bob

quote:

Originally posted by griz78:
Anyone got any advise for me as to the best calls to use to get a hog within 50 yards or so for pistol hunting? I've never hunted them before, but I've been given the ok to clear out as many as I want.

I've seen Griz78 shoot, and he needs to get big hogs in to about 10 yds or so to be sure not to miss.
No griz, I am not putting the sour corn in MY truck.

I too have had poor luck calling hogs. I have tried like crazy with all kinds of different stuff with very limited success. I have had hogs in my area come in to rabbit in distress calls 2x in probably 200 days of predator calling, but the biggest hog I have ever called in came in to rattling antlers!!! I had just gone through a rattling series and I saw a good sized boar stick his head out from behind some mesquite scrub. He stuck around for a few min and would pop out every once in a while to look around. It was weird, and as I was out for venison I let him saunter off.

I would go with the baiting. Hogs have an excellent nose and if you find something that they fancy in your area they may show up in shocking short order. What I commonly bait my traps with when we are not catching them with corn is dead rabbits..jacks or cotton tails. I take the legs and back straps out and throw whats left into the trap...excellent results.

BOB.. I have done this on the property where you are doing the posse hunt with really great results!! You might bring a .22 and shoot a few of the rabbits there to use for some extra bait!! There are lots of rabbits around the field where the shooting range is. If you bring a light you could probably bag a few your first evening to use for bait.

Griz,
Daniel ain't cuttin' you much slack.
Daniel, payback can be a bitch, watch your back, your bud might be lurkin'
GWB

PS:You boys from the coon ass side of the Sabine don't happen to know where St. Francisville, in West Feliciana Parish is do you. Got a life long friend that lives there. He is wont to make the statement that in the 50's and 60's, when we were growing up, he lived so far back in the boonies that it wasn't till he went to high school that he knew there were any other white people in the world other than my brothers and him.

quote:

Originally posted by Geedubya:
Griz,
Daniel ain't cuttin' you much slack.
Daniel, payback can be a bitch, watch your back, your bud might be lurkin'
GWB

PS:You boys from the coon ass side of the Sabine don't happen to know where St. Francisville, in West Feliciana Parish is do you. Got a life long friend that lives there. He is wont to make the statement that in the 50's and 60's, when we were growing up, he lived so far back in the boonies that it wasn't till he went to high school that he knew there were any other white people in the world other than my brothers and him.

I lived in New Roads for a little over a year, which is just across the Miss. River from St. Francisville. Great place to live. I can assure you that some of the old men living in that area were hunting for the family table when they were boys. One old man I know says he was fifty before he knew about seasons other than salt and pepper. He still shoots rabbits at night.

Griz and I are great friends and I didn't want to miss an opportunity to give him hell. I do flinch a bit as to the payback. Truth is he is an Olympic caliber skeet shot (or trap, whatever) (really, he made it all the way to the Utah training camp). We shoot pistols mostly these days and I think I can hold my own with him there. I wouldn't bet on the hog if he gets a clear shot out to 75 yds or so.

We are taking our boys camping this weekend in fact. Didn't want ya'll to think I was being a jerk to some random guy. I was being a jerk to a good friend as is right and proper.

He was an accomplished hog caller in college. "Can I buy you a beer ma'am, or would you like the buffet?" was his favorite call as I can remember.

Daniel,
then you may know the Griffins. My friend is Charles Griffin. We hunted in the Cat Island Swamp.
In my teens when I would go over there, they hunted deer with dogs. The house that was kind of the informal meeting place was the residence of a family that had been there since before the "War of Northern Aggression. They made a living by felling cedar and cypress and making "shakes" and floating them down the Mississippi for sale. The old man had records on calendars of all the deer, hogs and ducks that they had killed over the years. It was like stepping back through time a hundred years.

I knew you were poking fun at your friend.

In college we called it "humpin buffalo" and I'm sure you've heard the term, "coyote ugly"

GWB

I know of the Cat Island area, though your friend's name doesn't sound familiar to me. I'd bounced around a fair bit after college and I think I made more friends in that area than anywhere else. Hunting is still good to this day, though heavily dictated by the rising of the Miss. River.

Daniel,
best to you and yours.
Gotta earn my keep for the next little while
GWB

When I used to live in Shreveport this was an oft quoted joke....

What's the difference between a Coonass and a Horse's Ass?

The Sabine River.......

I have also heard that everything's bigger in TX. When I lived there, you couldn't find a single tree over 30 ft. tall.

Lots of good advice on the calls, I have never talked to anyone that has had one work.

Baiting, if legal is the best option, but as one person said, hogs come and go at will.

One thing some of the folks in part of North Texas are discovering this year, is that even if you are putting our bait, if there is not any open water where the pigs can drink and wallow, with in a reasonable distance, they will stop coming in.

Best of Luck with your oinker hunting.

keep talking daniel, ya bastard. i might just duct tape ur sleeping bag zipper and get a "hog" to come sit on ur face. not quite the morning bacon you had in mind.
as for all the advise, i'm truely impressed and grateful. i've got a lot to think about. the area floods very easily with lots of canals and ditches. i think i'm liking the filled pvc idea to try out first.

Here ya go Grizz,

Hog pipes, they work, they're cheap and easy to make.

GWB

awesome pics! I was thinking of a smaller size pvc. those pics helped a lot. thanks again GWD.

I'll join the ranks of those who have had no luck with calling pigs. However, the PVC pipe rig is a great invention and works very well. I've used a couple of them, and the pigs really work them. The only downside to them is that several pigs working at them will empty them pretty quickly and you need to secure them well or the pigs will move them quite a distance.

If you've got pigs in the area, try throwing some cheap dog food out a few hours before you hunt. The smell is pretty pungent compared to plain corn, and they love the stuff. Even the cheap Ol Roy from Walmart is too expensive to feed regularly, but for specific hunts it will work well if the pigs are in the area.

LWD

The only reliable call I have seen is the sound of a feeder going off, whether one that is on a timer or a tailgate or receiver hitch feeder.

Works like a charm when they are used to it.

Of course, some places sell a device that sounds like a feeder going off. I guess that qualifies as a call too...

quote:

Originally posted by Charles_Helm:
The only reliable call I have seen is the sound of a feeder going off, whether one that is on a timer or a tailgate or receiver hitch feeder.

Works like a charm when they are used to it.

Of course, some places sell a device that sounds like a feeder going off. I guess that qualifies as a call too...

You are absolutely right -- the virtual dinner bell!

i've used the an electronic call, for some success, and I want to use the one i got LAST SUMMER (shesh) to try in 2 weeks..

and old roy aint a bad deal

Which gun are ya gonna use to miss shoot the pigs with Grizz78? I think you could whip up some of those feeders pretty easy. Are you gonna take Griz Jr. hunting with you? Just watch it on the "boat ride" in.

lol. you right about the "boat ride". i might could get a pirogue and paddle along the levee when it floods. griz jr will be coming one day, but i gotta get a stand for two first. we shot some turtles and birds the other day. i'm sure he's gonna enjoy his first camping trip too.

i'll be using the 629 of course. i bought some 225gr hornady ftx.

When's the pig roast?

Hey, be sure and bring him a gun when we go camping. A BB gun would be perfect. Mine will have his cap gun and I'm sure we'll "hunt" a bunch.