Author Topic: Update on "need advice" (Read 1198 times)

Doesniper · « **on:** January 05, 2010, 05:13:35 PM »

We went to east TX over new years for a wild hog hunt and had a blast. We had a hunt over feeders set up, but it fell through a few days before we got there. My friends cousin got a bunch of local good ol boys to take us out with them, to hunt over dogs. Due to the high water we chased several hogs but only caught one, which I dispatched with my knife. I will be back next year. We made some good friends, and some great hunting contacts. Thanks for all the info. Long live the pig.

Land_Owner · « **Reply #1 on:** January 05, 2010, 11:50:53 PM »

Ooh! I wish you wouldn't say that. If you had pigs (like a lot of us have pigs), you would be wishing for a blight, Chronic Wasting Disease, or some other malady to wipe them out.

Don't get me wrong, I am doing my part to kill as many as I can and am enjoying the opportunity and the experience. However, they are so destructive! They tear up the land, uproot the food plots, drive off the other wildlife, eat all of the available forage, kill snakes, ground nesting birds and other beneficial wildlife, make holes the tractor can not negotiate, and in general make a hugh mess.

I would PREFER to see (and kill) deer in season. I don't because the hogs drive them away. So I shoot hogs 24/7/365 (or I could). Pretty quickly it becomes KILLLING HOGS and not hunting. Kind of takes some of the fun out of it and ALL of the adrenalin. However, I have introduced more kids and Fathers to hunting through those hogs, so it is not all bad. Plus I am pound sheavier due to PORK. A lot of pork.

There are days that I feel like a farmer and the adjacent woods are just where the livestock is mingling. You want that one, that one, or the grey one over there. Yawn...

Doesniper · « **Reply #2 on:** January 06, 2010, 05:12:51 PM »

I'll be back year after year to try to help out. I'm hooked.

rockbilly · « **Reply #3 on:** January 11, 2010, 10:48:24 AM »

Landowner, I am with you, I shoot all I see, latel7y I have been trying to gut shoot them so they will run off and die, I might shoot a small one for the table once in a while.

I have noticed a decline in the number of deer we have since the pigs showed up, the turkey and quail are all but gone, every fence is need of repair and the beautiful spring that I would have drank out of several years ago is now so bad that nothing comes near it but pigs.

I wish I could come up with something to kill all of them!

Doesniper · « **Reply #4 on:** January 11, 2010, 04:22:42 PM »

My friends and I would be willing to help out, if we had an invite.

Land_Owner · « **Reply #5 on:** January 12, 2010, 12:42:40 PM »

Doesniper, it is not so much about needing an invitation to hunt my land. Several of the gentlemen here have done that. It is only 20 acres and I would like to host you. The drawback is about the frequency and participation of the wildlife. You're coming a LONG way. You would see sign, lots and lots of sign, but whether or not you see wildlife could be discouraging at best during your stay. Those piney rooters go noctornal after a good shoot, we stay on them all the time, and predicting their participation during daylight is just not in the crystal ball. Now, we could leave them alone until they get sloppy and returned regularly during daylight hours, but the land takes a beating under those conditions. The neighbor has even taken to trapping them and as a result, for a while we didn't see ANY over MONTHS.

Doesniper · « **Reply #6 on:** January 12, 2010, 04:35:41 PM »

Do you ever use dogs? I understand the chance that is taken in seeing or not seeing hogs, that's hunting. I still love the sport, whether or not I take something. Good luck in your pursuits, and thanks for sharing your knowledge.

Land_Owner · « **Reply #7 on:** January 14, 2010, 12:48:56 AM »

The lands adjacent to mine are private and State owned. Neither adjacent lands are hunted. As dogs don't mind fences and can't read the No Trespassing/No Hunting signs, using dogs on 20 acres is very limited. In a way, you could say that I am situated adjacent to a giant "Wildlife Pump". The wildlife roams freely across the borders. I caretake my oaks and pines with fertilizer and lime. I plant food plots for wildlife. There is plenty of cover on the adjacent lands and I provide what I hope is a quality food source. The hogs seems interested in rooting everywhere the disc has plowed. Must be easier pickins for them. They also go through the pines and uproot all of the needles on the ground. Same thing in the leaves under the oaks. They do not root much around the palmetos or palms that are peppered throughout the property.

rockbilly · « **Reply #8 on:** January 14, 2010, 11:52:47 AM »

I am pretty much in the same situation Landowner is, I have 275 acres but it is remote, you must cross the property of three others to get there. Adjoining me to the North is a 6000 acre plot that does not allow any hunting PERIOD! To the East is about 3000 acres full of deep ravines and very thick with cedar, only family are allowed to hunt, South of me is 220 acres, the owner day leases, you don’t get on his land without paying. (and it AIN’T worth what he charges.) I am not sure who owns the property to the West, but it is so thick you can’t walk through it.

I don’t have any hogs living on my place; they cross from one protected area to the other and come in on the deer feeders mostly at night. In order to see them one has to spend a lot of time in a stand, or just happen upon them as they are passing through (tearing up fence!). Hunting with dogs would be out of the question, I wish we could!

Swampman · « **Reply #9 on:** January 14, 2010, 12:11:27 PM »

Since deer are so scarce here in NW FL I wish we had a ton of pigs.

yukondog · « **Reply #10 on:** January 14, 2010, 05:19:26 PM »

Swampman what part of NW FL are you in I'm in Santa Rosa county.

Swampman · « **Reply #11 on:** January 14, 2010, 11:26:42 PM »

Okaloosa

rockbilly · « **Reply #12 on:** January 15, 2010, 03:31:36 PM »

Swampman. Six-seven years ago I had never seen a “wild hog” in my area. Deer were plentiful; it wasn’t uncommon to herds of doe that numbered 20-30. I have seen herds of young bucks running together that number as high a 14. Since the hogs moved in the deer numbers seem to be declining, the largest herd of doe I seen this year was 7, I have seen several young bucks hanging together but not like it use to be. Of course some of this may be related to the owner south of me that day leases, allows his hunters to kill whatever they see and doesn’t have any management goals for the wildlife.

According to an article published by Texas Parks and Wildlife the population of wild hogs in Texas exceeds 2 million, at their rate of re-production it could hit 3 million by next fall with no controls. They have proved that the hogs do affect the deer herds by destroying habitat; they also eat young fawns as well as young cattle. They destroy the quail and turkey and all water sources. Plainly and simply they are a real menace to the survival of other species…………..so be careful what you wish for!

Swampman · « **Reply #13 on:** January 15, 2010, 03:35:47 PM »

We might see 6-7 does during the entire 2 1/2 month season & maybe one small buck every 2-3 years. The pigs couldn't hurt our deer hunting.

yukondog · « **Reply #14 on:** January 16, 2010, 08:27:23 AM »

I agree with swampman in my area santa rosa co. just a few miles west of okaloosa co. you might see one a year, are problem is no deer at least not much anyway.

rockbilly · « **Reply #15 on:** January 16, 2010, 08:58:37 AM »

Maybe it is time to petition your Parks and Wildlife folks and insist there be a TOTAL statewide restriction on hunting deer for 4-5 years. At the same time insist they import deer from other areas (states) to increase herd numbers. You might be surprised at how quickly a herd can increase in numbers with a little help.

I understand a similar program in Mississippi has helped bring their numbers back and plenty of deer are being seen in places where deer had not been seen for generations. Numbers is strictly a management game; if an area is over hunted it doesn’t take long to deplete the herd. Could that be the case where you live?

Kentucky has been very successful in bring the Elk back to their state, I think a program along the same line they used would work on deer in Florida.

Land_Owner · « **Reply #16 on:** January 16, 2010, 09:33:19 PM »

I bet there is a big tie between the Insurance lobby and the FWC that prevents FL programs as rockbilly describes. With hunting licensure numbers down, and the trend is also down, the appearance is that fewer people are hunting. An increase in the herd would equate to greater auto-deer collisions.

bobg · « **Reply #17 on:** January 17, 2010, 02:18:42 AM »

Land Owner. I think you are right about the insurance companies. There was an article in the local news paper a few years back stateing the insurance companies were asking for an increase in doe permits because of the auto-deer accidents. They got there way. When i first started deer hunting, in my area it took five people on an application for one doe permit. Sure isn't that way here any more.
bobg

Swampman · « **Reply #18 on:** January 17, 2010, 02:23:07 AM »

The FWC takes our money and does nothing with it. It's just a tax we pay without benefit. You never see an officer in the field. There are plenty in town though.

Land_Owner · « **Reply #19 on:** January 17, 2010, 04:46:02 AM »

Sheesh...try ramping your boat at the inlet or Marinas near the beach. There are FWC vehicles, FWC Officers and FWC boats galore on the water all day every day. They are "generating revenue" giving tickets to boaters, an easy target. Bleeding the Cash Cow like State Troopers on the highway.

I have had pretty good experience with FWC Field Officers and hunting when I have done the hard work, keeping my eyes and ears open, observing violations that directly and indirectly affect my hunting opportunities, and call FWC about it. They have reacted with authority and a quickness that surprised me.

Once, they showed up at my place in thirty minutes with three Officers and two blood hounds when I call them to say we observed several armed men on the State's land adjacent to mine and they were moving south to north to intercept their "catch car" along the State Highway.

Another time I told them about the rude and threatening behavior I observed between another duck hunter and a fisherman (who probably knew the hunter was there). The hunter, at first really shooting at a duck, fired his last shot on purpose in the direction of the fishermen who were not 120 yards from the decoys and shouted at them, "Yeah you! Get the hell out of here!"

That really pissed me off. I told the Refuge Biologist, gave him enough data about the other guys as I could get, boat hull number, vehicle and tag numer, etc., who in turn told the FWC. When I saw FWC Officers not an hour later at lunch that same morning I inquired if they were aware of the situation and they were well informed and working on it.

Stuff happens if we are on our game.

swordfish · « **Reply #20 on:** January 20, 2010, 06:44:02 AM »

Quote from: Swampman on January 17, 2010, 02:23:07 AM

The FWC takes our money and does nothing with it. It's just a tax we pay without benefit. You never see an officer in the field. There are plenty in town though.

That's a load of BS.
Got 'em at most boat ramps in South Florida. Maybe it's different up there. They are all over Flamingo and the Keys. Checked in with one at the WMA I hunted 2 weeks ago up by Seabring. I never see them just hanging around town. I get checked by them often, usually just a chat to see what I'm up to. Mostly a good bunch with an overwhelming job.