My place is torn UP!

[Land_Owner]

The pigs are back.  At least the ones the neighbor has not captured yet.  Half-a-dozen or more.  Evenings and throughout the night.  We've shot 'em up a time or two.  The pigs have decided that every deer plot I disced in September is their starting place for rooting and they have uprooted EVERY field, throughout the woods, EVERY roadway edge, and EVERY plotted strip that I made.  My place looks like a rototiller went through it.  Not that these planted areas were performing well.  We've had no rainfall on them since late August/early September.  It has been either too wet (May through September) to disc and plant, or too dry (September till present) and no germination.  There is a lot of latent seed in the ground awaiting rain. 

Oh, the doves and turkeys are having a field day!  I got a Tom last Sunday and so did my hunting Partner.  We've overseeded these areas once with 100#'s of Australian Winter Peas on top of the 300#'s of Cowpeas, Sorghum, Buckwheat, and Sunflower mix that didn't get the chance to germinate.  I still have 150#'s of AWP's and 150#'s of Wheat, Oats, and Rye to overseed if it will every start to rain again.  I can thank the pigs for rototilling so I don't have to worry about seed to soil contact.

One of my hunting Guests walked to within 20 feet of a group of six (6) 85-100 pounders late Sunday.  He called me on the radio and I drove slowly to a poisition 90-degrees from his location.  It was O'Dark-30 and in the headlights of my truck he sighted through the scope and promptly put his round into the dirt (from 20-FEET!!!!!!), which spooked the whole group right back to where he was standing.  His hair raised a bit at that.  He could not take another shot as the truck would have been the backstop.  It would not have been a good plan for him to shoot the Host's truck (period!), and particularly when the Host is still in it.

[Dee]

Sounds like you need to stop taking him hunting, and take him to the range.
As far as the hogs returning, careful what you wish for huh? Not too long ago your missin them. I think we discussed the fact that feed they follow, and pressure they flee.

[BBF]

Rain is on the way for this weekend.

[jmayton]

Dee, sounds like we need to make a trip.  Got my clutch fixed.

[Dee]

Yep! Sounds like the "A TEAM" is needed for a mission.

[jmayton]

Dee, I like that.  Maybe we need business cards and a website.

Land_Owner, your story reminds me of so many of our out-of-state hunters that have invaded our area right now (mostly from LA and FL (no offense)).  They're pitiful when it comes to actually shooting an animal.

[Dee]

I been thinkin. Maybe "Hog Busters Inc." would be better.

[Land_Owner]

My former "bidness card" read MR HOGS, my name,and  phone number.  ON the back was the following message:

MR HOGS.
MR NOT HOGS.
OSAR HOGS.
CDEDBD EYES?
LIB MR HOGS!

If you don't "get it", send me a PM and I will 'splain it to you.

"Have Gun Will Travel" has been used, but is still a savy calling card.

My 19 y.o. wants to "shoot 'em up" with his new AR15 M4 clone in 223 Remington.  With 30 round clip I bet he could turn a bunch of them into a pack of individual gut piles dispursed somewhere and unretrievable from the Deep Woods adjacent to my place. 

That really isn't the way that I want to take them out though.  As the son of one of our regular posters says, "Let's turn 'em into meat!"  I love my cajun sausage.

I can tolerate the shooting opportunities, provided I get a few opportunities at deer.  If no deer are seen, then the hogs are too thick and only intense hog eradication and a lot of BBQ and sausage are on the menu.

[Wynn]

They were moving early today at my place of employment here in central Florida. I got to the gate at 4 PM and drove about 100 feet before I spotted a sounder of 5 adults and about 35 yung'ns ripping up our pasture. I stepped out of the truck and popped a young 80 lb sow at +- 100 yds right behind the ear. The rest fast trotted west and I had a good idea where they were going. My hunting partner got there a few minutes later and climbed in my truck and we circled around to the west side. Sure enough, they were grouped up with several more adults in that pasture. My buddy jumped out and popped another. Young boar about 100 lbs. Drove out at dark and a entirely different group crossed the road in my headlights, going into the citrus grove to feed on tangerines. These things are multiplying at a rate much faster than we can shoot or trap them and we have been hunting them 12 months out of the year for 4 years on this property.

If the boss can get liability insurance, he says I can start a guide/hunt service. May as well turn them into a asset rather than a liability because they are definitely here to stay. We took those 2 up to the lease and hung them in the walk in cooler. Butcher them after our deer hunt in the morning.

[mechanic]

I read that a sow starts producing at 9 mos. of age, has 3 litters a year with 6-8 per litter.  It don't take a calculator to know that will soon add up to a lot of pigs......

[Dee]

I read that a sow starts producing at 9 mos. of age, has 3 litters a year with 6-8 per litter.  It don't take a calculator to know that will soon add up to a lot of pigs......

they can start producing a "6 months", and if a wet sow gets killed, another wet sow will let her pigs suck.

[mechanic]

I read that a sow starts producing at 9 mos. of age, has 3 litters a year with 6-8 per litter.  It don't take a calculator to know that will soon add up to a lot of pigs......

they can start producing a "6 months", and if a wet sow gets killed, another wet sow will let her pigs suck.

Truth be told, we're probably lucky we're not overrun everywhere....

[Dee]

Two years ago the farmers raised a lot of cain because no one was doing anything about the feral hogs, and they had gotten bad here. Of course the farmers weren't doing anything themselves either. They want the money from the crops and hundreds of thousands of dollars in farm subsidies, but not the aggravation of helping solve the hog problem.
They demanded and got a meeting with the local Ag people at the Court House. Answer from Agricultural Office? Get used to'em boys their here to stay.
These guys won't pay anyone to hunt them, but want people like me to do it free, which I am gland to do for the sport and occasionally the meat, but if some rogue hunter happens by, they raise hell if he gets on their winter wheat, or leaves a gate open, and some city boys that moved to the country don't want a bunch of hog dogs in their yard chasin a hog thru. Many of the farmers here are also anti 2nd amendment. I have been told strait up, that no one has any need for a handgun, and most vote Democratic because they say the Democrat is better, and friendlier to the farmer than the Republican in the way of "FARM SUBSIDIES". This is another problem, though not as big. Get rid of the hogs on my land, but be damn careful with them damn guns. Go figure that one out.
But, the hogs ARE HERE to stay, as they multiply themselves according to conditions. Good pecan & acorn mast, and corn crop, equal big pig litters, and more pig litters. The new harvest methods used to shell corn leave a lot on the ground still on the cob, and it just lays there waitin on the next bunch of hogs to find it. We have a lot of timber surrounding the fields with bogs, and abandoned farm ponds in the timber. Everything they need to breed and prosper, in other words. It's a hog huntin paradise. Sometimes.

[mechanic]

Dee,

Two years ago, I had made arrangements with an older fellow down south of me to come and thin out the hogs on his place.  He wanted to wait until he had harvested peanuts, and offered the use of his tractor with front loader to haul out or bury as I wished.  The plan was to set on a piece of plywood on top of the cab, and shoot them from there, etc.

Long story short, he died.  His son in law called me up, and told me it would cost me $300.00 per day per hunter if I wanted to come on down.  About six months later, they called and asked If I would come for nothing.  I told him it would cost $40.00 per dead pig..............

[Dee]

Makes sense doesn't it? I look at the hog hunting as a dual appreciation deal with the farmer. The hogs cost him money, and I don't generally eat the damn things but, I do enjoy huntin'em. It's a win-win for both of us. But some of these guys think their doin me a favor in regards to hogs.
One told me he would like to have a good size eatin pig if I shot one. I did, and called him. He wanted me to butcher it, and take it and have it processed, and bring it to him. Why would I do that? I told him I would HELP him butcher the hog. He didn't want it that bad. I left the hog laying as usual. Their so many here, their considered pests.
I have lots of private land to hunt and in that I am blessed but. If I see cattle out, I usually know whose cattle they are and put them up. Ninety-nine times out of hundred I never mention puttin em up. I just do it. Always have, and they know it. If I see a gate left open, I close it. It all works out, but the farmers that think their smarter than me, and know more than me, I stay away from them for the most part. I talk to them because I want to hunt on their land. But I visit as little as possible. That way there is no chance for conflict and loss of hunting land.
When I get back from thanksgiving in the Panhandle, I am going to take my tent-cot out, and stake out a bottom. I can sleep comfortably and just raise up occasionally and check the bottom land with a spotlight and shoot from the cot. Ain't life grand?

[jmayton]

The rancher I hunt for is very thankful that I come out and thin out his hogs.  No one else hunts there and he lets me take a good buck each year and all the doe my tags can handle.  He also compensates me occasionally for ammo and gas.  It's a great situation and I'm blessed because of it.  But around here, people will pay to hunt hogs.  The ranch that I drive through on the way to his place will charge you $500 for a hog hunt and that is after you've already paid the $1500-$2500 for a trophy buck.  The problem with that is there are not enough hunters to take care of the hogs so they continue to increase in number. 

[BBF]

His son in law called me up, and told me it would cost me $300.00 per day per hunter if I wanted to come on down.  About six months later, they called and asked If I would come for nothing.  I told him it would cost $40.00 per dead pig..............

That was gerous of you. Considering what he wanted you should have asked for 200 bucks a piece.

I am thinking more and more that those farmers are not hurting enough.