They're back...

[Land_Owner]

After a 22 month hiatus, the hogs have returned with a vengeance from the flood plain of the St Johns River (it also helped that the river stage crested to a height that forced them off the flood plain due to high water).  However, they remain nocturnal.  We restarted the corn feeder again yesterday in order to entice them to come out in the early morning and late afternoon.  They have taken a toll on the upland on both my property and the adjacent State land by turning the earth in huge divots that "eat" tractor axles.  So far, they have stayed out of the planted fields and the turkeys are loving that.  Turkeys have been plentiful (14 at a time) and something to watch across the daylight hours.  None with beards however. 

The hog is in the left edge of the picture.  He was nearly out of the field of view when the camera "woke up" and his coloration is black against a black background at night and almost out of range.  Zoom in and you can see his porker butt...I am adding another camera so I will get some better photos hopefully.  Perhaps too, I can show you how he looks on the meat pole!

[hillbill]

nip it! nip it in the bud!

[ratdog]

your eyes are a lot better than mine i must be blind i don't see any hog.

[Land_Owner]

With some image brightness and contrast correction, here is the SAME photograph.  See him now?

Also added to this thread is proof that this one burgeoned into 15!

[SHOOTALL]

Good luck with getting them. The one I ate was good. BTW can ya'll hunt them at night ?

[Rock Home Isle]

I would so enjoy trying a night hunt...that's a bucket list item. 

[bilmac]

I'm starting to see ya'lls problem, I used to think folks that live with wild hogs just had more stuff to hunt.

Have you thought about traps? Wildlife mangers use them all the time to catch some pretty healthy critters. I even saw a trap for wild cattle. Most are strong corrals with a drop gate. The trigger for the gate is on a line run to bait in the center or far side of the corral. An advantage you have over what wildlife people use is that you can make something permanent on your own place. You can improve and perfect over time.

[Rock Home Isle]

Pigs and whitetail do not mix. Pigs move in and the whitetails move out.
 
 

[52bagman]

You're on the St Johns aye. Lived in Tittusville and Port St. John. Hunted Bull Creek and Tosohatchee, did alright too, back in the early 80"s. Fished at Jetty Park Cocoa beach and Sebastian Inlet tons. Matter of fact if I were homeless I'd be living under Sebastian pier. lol

[ratdog]

see him now thanks.

[swordfish]

Good to see them back Richard.
Great to see you have turkey also. Post pics of dead things when you score.   
 
Good hunting

[Land_Owner]

Stewart,

45-70.gov and his gal came for two night hunts on the 2 coldest nights in 2012 so far.  The pigs DID NOT participate.  There is little current evidence that the sounder stayed in the neighborhood.  I was up there yesterday afternoon.  No new digging.  The corn feeder was, and has a tendency to bridge.  I don't go every-day or -other to check.  Apparently these pigs are hungry and when they don't find corn on the ground, they find other places to forage, which is to be expected. 

Right now, there is no consistent hunting opportunity there for pigs.  The place they forage today are at the whim of Mother Nature.  In years past, pigs could almost be predicted to be under my feeder in the AM and PM each day.  The number of pigs has been significantly reduced by the State Trappers, which isn't all bad.

On another note, the deer didn't participate there AT ALL this past season.  I continue to have Iron and Clay Peas, rye grain, and clover in abundance.  This is an immediate indication of the lack of deer present as they ordinarily wipe me out within days of plant germination.  I wonder if the Trappers are harassing the deer and/or the Poacher population on State land is high, but "trained" not to wander through my place!?!

[swordfish]

Strange, you would think the deer would be back with the hogs at a minimum.
 

[kingj]

I'm glad to hear your pigs are back. Here in Columbia,Madison and LaFayette counties it is so dry that the pigs have disappeared in a lot of places.

[clum sum]

Hogs are back , destroyed 1/4 of my front yard. Wish all wild hogs would get some kind of plauge and wake up dead.

[swordfish]

Wish all wild hogs would get some kind of plauge and wake up dead.

Round here a lot of them die of lead poisoning.   

[rickt300]

Been dealing with hit or miss appearances by the hogs myself. Last fall was so dry I only took three hogs and one deer. Just about to switch from hunting to fishing for the spring and summer.

[Land_Owner]

It is tough, following DECADES of high incidence of hogs, when they disappear (or are seriously trapped to depletion) and take the deer with them leaving nothing in their wake to hunt.  I spent a lot of time in the woods seeing birds, squirrels, and turkeys.  That was nice but not as satisfying.  I used to be able to go there at say 4:30 PM and find one to shoot within about 15 minutes.  I got greedy I suppose...nothing like a good dose of man-made reality.

[SHOOTALL]

Can relate , but with deer. We now have yotes , and way fewer deer. At one time it was not odd to have 12-15 deer come by on a drive , now 3 are unusual . Now 10-13 yotes are often seen. Add the Mt lion that don't live in VA. but keep getting seen, and deer are hurting.