Hey Howie

[shooter444002]

I will be home tomorrow evening and out and about in the morning trying to hustle up some new tracts of timber to buy. Yes have been doing a little hunting and trapping here and there. Caught 10 in the trap about 2 weeks ago, most were in the 30-40lb range. If it will stop raining long enough and stay cool enough not to run the dogs and hogs to death then I will go back down on the river with it out of its banks and try to mop up on them again, caught 37 in 3 days last time we got all of this rain. Had 5 shoats in the trap yesterday but they got out by the time came back to get them. See ya tomorrow. Mike

[howie1968]

wow  this  east TX hunting is  great  isnt it!!!1  i tried  calling   ill  keep  checking  cant  wait  to  look at  that  44 mag

[oso45-70]

Howie,

You have been awfully quite today, I guess the thoughts of that 44 has got you in A TIZZY. Are you flooded out in the piney woods Howie, do you have a row boat to get you to town ? Take care..............Joe

[howie1968]

hey  Joe,   yes  i  have  been  quiet   today   Mike  lives  very  close  to  me  and  i  was  looking  at  a  44   for  sale   but  i  bought  a  remington 7400 308  from him instead    this  is  one  sweet  shooting  rifle,   yes  we  have  been  getting flooded   but  i spent   some  time  at the  lease  re baiting  and  all   came  in  and  was  going  to  hunt  last  night  but  the  rains  came  again   so  i  will  try  again  tonight  to  see  if  i c an  hunt   that  big  one

[shooter444002]

hope you get one tonight with the 7400, I went to get those hogs out of the trap yesterday evening and somebody else had took them. left me some brass so I know that they didnt get out. should have got them yesterday morning I guess. Oh well there are plenty more, they are tearing up the IP nursery out by the reservation and thats where we are trapping them. Later
Mike

[howie1968]

im heading out at 7pm  it  is  a mad dash to get  scope mounted sighterd in  i still  have  to  grap a  cheap scope  at wal-mart  and  get another box of power points  this gun is  a  blast to shoot no recoil at all  ive  been  shooting  it  at 50  yards  i  just  got  the  base  and  rings on  i  had  to  drive out of town  to get a base,  I  also  heard  they are tearing   the place up around IP seed orchard  my place borders  that,  the  pigs  were in again last night  and  the  big  boar  was  right  by the  box  stand  i  baited  all  the  way  up  the  box  stand  ill  let  ya  know  what  happens

[howie1968]

thanks  for  a  great  gun   It  shoots  as  well as  any bolt action  i  have im using winchester 150 gr power points  3  shot  groups  are  avering   1 inch  to 1 1/4 inch at 100 got  her sighted in  at  1 inch high  this  should  cover  me  for  anything  i  am  going  to  do  with  it

[shooter444002]

I was refering to the nursery which is on the other side of the reservation, I dont think they really care if they root up the orchard there in woodville, just as long as they arent in the young trees that they are growing to sale out at the nursery, it is at Indian springs. Seen you scored with the 308, glad you are happy with it, I am happy with the deal as I got to keep a bulgarian Makarov and a Marlin 39m by selling it. Will be using the Marlin as my coon trapping rifle this year. I stayed out way to late and drank to much this weekend to think about hunting and I missed a good weekend on the river because of it. But it was to hot to be running dogs during the day anyway. Later Mike

[TomD]

All this Hog talk is getting me fired up for our trip to visit the kin in TX on Saturday...Although our mid-summer trip is more family oriented than it is 'My hunting time' my son & I will be staying out at the family ranch for a couple of days toward the end of the trip.

I intend to setup a feeder just off a big wallow under the power lines where I shot my first hog a few years back. There is a permanent stand there that goes back quite a few years that noone uses these days, so my son & I are going to trim the shooting lanes once we set-up the new feeder. I'll use this stand when we go back out for Thanksgiving (which IS 'My hunting time'  :-D  ). Hopefully the Hogs will not go too nocturnal (like last year) as it will be Deer season.

We'll also have two evenings and one morning to hunt over a couple of other active feeders that my Brother-in and Uncle keep full of corn year round. Hopefully the rain will cooperate! I'll bring my wadders as I'm sure the mud is as thick as the bugs are. There's this old, ugly black & white Boar that I've been trying to take ever since he & I did a little dance around a Mesquite bush  :eek: !! I sure hope to see him!!

[howie1968]

good  deal  as  i  will  be hunting next  week  do  not  worry  about  noctunal  order  you  a  optronics varmit blaster and you canhunt all  night  i like  the  compact 100  yard  for  up  lose  but  i  own  2   nuight blaster 250  set up  on my rifles  along  with a  harris  bi-pod  on  the  270  i  have  the  optronics 100 on  my 30-30  and  now  the  308  wears  one  i  also  carry  along  my  12  guage  which  has  the  velcro  on  the  pump  to  easily  mount  it  when  people  see  my  guns  they  wonder  why  all  the  velcro  lol  i  have  it  genrally  on  places  that  if i  am  walking  kneeling  layind  down  or  iin a box stand  that  i  can  hit  the  switch in comfort from any position  also  i  have  at  least  4  wal-mart  3.97 6 volt lanters  that  i  use  to use  i  always  keep  2  with  me  they  are  bright  and out  to 50  yards  or  so  you  can  see  well  enough open sighted   to  shoot  hogs  i  used  them  when  i  first  got  the 45-70

[TomD]

I'm hunting in Medina county. Is nite hunting legal there?

[TomD]

Just found the answer to my question;

Restricted Methods
Artificial light of any form that casts or reflects a beam of light onto or otherwise illuminates a game animal or bird may not be used as an aid to hunt, except that battery-powered scoping devices that project a light or dot only inside the scope and pin sight lights on archery equipment are legal devices. Nonprotected nongame animals and fur-bearing animals may be hunted at night with the aid of an artificial light on private property. If hunting at night, please make a courtesy telephone call to your local game warden.

[TomD]

Hey Howie, et al,

What's different about nite hunting from daybreak/night fall hunting.

Do I still hunt over my feeders, or should I look else where?

If not over baits, I'd assume that I'd be listening for the squeels and heading in that direction..a great way to collect pricly pears in my boots  :lol:

I know that the adjacent property cultivates hogs for pay-for-hunt hunters. And, our hogs have run clear paths along those fence-lines looking for females in heat on that property. Maybe I should set-up on those trails.

Me & that black & white boar may do another dance in the dark if that's the case  :lol:

[howie1968]

when  you  first get  there  go  to  the  feeder  opr  wallow  and  look  for  positive  fresh sign if  you  find  fersesh sign  hunt  that   id  almost  bet  they  are  coming  to  the  feeder  after  dark  as  mine  do   but  i  put  tons  of  pressure  on  these  hogs almost  to  the  point  that  it is  extremely difficult  to  hunt  them set  up  in  a  box  stand  or  ladder  stand  as  being  off  the  ground  is  a  plus,  i  have  still  hunted  pigs  with  some  success  and  i  am  sure  there  are  much  better still  hunters  then  me   but  my  success  come  from  scouting and patiets  if  no  luck  on  the  feeder  find  those  trails  you  were talking about  and  bait  with  either  sweet  feed  or  corn  to  be  honest  sows  and  shoats  are  very  noisy  when  roaming  the  woods   but  a  big  boar  other  than  hearing  a  crack  of  a  twig  or  stick   is  next  to  impossible  to  hear  coming  through  the  woods  they  are  extremely quiet   you can  hear  big  boars  bellow   it  sounds   extrely  load  and  is  quite intimidating.  i  am  not  much  of  a  still  hunter  so  my  best  advice  is  to  get  up  off  the  ground   hunt  the  feeders  during  the  early  morning  and  late  afternoon   check  on  the  water holes  during mid day  but  i  do  most  of  my hunting  at  night  when  the  pigs  are  really  out

[howie1968]

i forgot something,  if  walking along  those  fences  look    to  see  if  there  is  any holes under  the  fence  or  through  the  fencen  if  so  look  for  fresh sign  there  and  bait  that with  corn  as  they  do   go  under  and  through  fence,   for  a  female  a  boar  hog  will  do  about  anything   to  achieve  his  mating  goal

[shooter444002]

If you do have holes in the fence that they are coming through you can also set some snares in those holes and have some real excitement when you come to check it and have a mad hog in it. Set with a drag, or have tied to the fence on real strong new wire fences.

Mike

[howie1968]

i did  that  at Tolars  ranch  and  caught  several  hogs  that  way   i  have  some duke  coils springs   and  some  long springs  over  at  tolars   if  i  get  a  chance  i  will  get t hem  to  you  im  done  trapping  coons  out  there  and  dont  want  to  mess  with  the  coons  at  the  ranch  at    the  little  cypress  creek  hunting club  i  have  thinned  them  out  pretty  good

[TomD]

I've only found one hole in the fence. The neigboring land owner makes sure that the fence is in good shape because he charges to hunt his property and buys pigs to stock his land. The one hole that I found has a trail that leads to two feeders that I hunt over. I've taken my last two pigs from there. There is a deer blind set-up 100 & 125 yds respectively from the two feeders.

The trail goes through the fence, past both feeders, through some brush, past a third feeder in a bottom (fenced in to keep pigs out), into a huge wallow, and then into the brush. I'm going to try a set-up by the wallow as well.

During deer season, these blinds are used for deer hunting. So, I'll use the stand with my new feeder that I'll set-up next week for the Thanksgiving trip and these other blinds this week.

I agree with the quite Boar theory. I always hear the sows before they arrive. The big Boars just slip-in and surprise you. There's nothing like seeing that huge shadowy figure come slinking into your sight path before the sun comes up and you can barely see.

[shooter444002]

I will sure get them from you if you want to get rid of them. We are over run with coons on several of the properties we manage and we are going to try and put it to them this winter, I am trying to get ready while I still have plenty of time. I have a market for them in lufkin and there is a place in Liberty that buys them along with other animals.