57 Million in Hog Damage in Georgia

[Guest TankerHC]

So I have been wanting to go hunting Hogs.Last night I read TN has banned Hog Hunting on public lands. Hogs are out of control, I recently read that every State but one (Rhode Island) has a Hog problem, but that they are even migrating towards Rhode Island.

 

I might not be hunting hogs in TN, but Georgia looks like a go.

 

http://www.alloutdoor.com/2013/07/12/video-57-million-dollars-crop-damage-wild-hogs/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_content=2013-07-16&utm_campaign=Weekly+Newsletter

Edited July 17, 2013 by TankerHC

[DaveTN]

Here is Tennessee’s explanation of the problem and their fix for it; doesn’t make much sense to me.

http://www.tn.gov/twra/wildhogs.shtml

[ShaunM]

I wanna go to Florida and hunt hogs.

[rugerla1]

Here is Tennessee’s explanation of the problem and their fix for it; doesn’t make much sense to me.
http://www.tn.gov/twra/wildhogs.shtml

When I first heard about this, I couldn't believe it. Their logic, or lack of, makes no sense.

[Guest TankerHC]

MS did the same thing in making it illegal to transport, but you can still hunt them and it has been highly successful. For example, I was going to hunt hogs at Pearl River WMA, until I was told no one hunts there for them any longer, they had all been hunted out. Seems like a pretty successful plan to me.

[gun sane]

Here is Tennessee’s explanation of the problem and their fix for it; doesn’t make much sense to me.

http://www.tn.gov/twra/wildhogs.shtml

 

Yep.  The pig problem's gotten so bad that they have to stiffen restrictions.

Edited July 17, 2013 by gun sane

[Dolomite`s Breezy]

I go riding at Tremont in the GSNP ... each side of the trail is just rooted up by  wild boar

. we are going to end up like GA and FL and TX... soon..

[DaveS]

Yes, don't hunt hogs, they go away all by them selves. What's so funny, I can set in my deer stand on a certain WMA deer hunting and see hogs about all day long. Can't shoot them because they are considered destructive pests. For being a destructive pest, they have more regulations on them than a worthless dirt scratching turkey! Give it about two more years and TN will let you kill all you can!

 

DaveS

[DaveS]

I wanna go to Florida and hunt hogs.

Here Shaun, check out these Florida hog pics. I will be moving to Florida around March and I'll certainly invite you down for a hunt!

 

http://www.tngunowners.com/forums/topic/66462-florida-vacation/

 

Dave

[Dennis1209]

Go back and re-read TN. TWR site.

 

They got flamed and changed their stance by popular demand and public pressure and consider hogs a nuisance and are no longer regulated as a game species.

[DaveS]

Go back and re-read TN. TWR site.

 

They got flamed and changed their stance by popular demand and public pressure and consider hogs a nuisance and are no longer regulated as a game species.

Yes, and since they are considered a "non game species", only a few select lucky people are allowed to hunt them here. Public hunting of hogs is not permitted!

 

Dave

[Troutburger]

Land owners can kill hogs at will. The rest of us serfs are left out...

[Dane]

It does make sense. There were guides that were charging to take people on hog hunts. To promote their business they released hogs. Hence why TN has hogs in areas they never used to. Now they are a nuisance animal there are no more guides and thus not more profiteering from hogs.


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[Guest TankerHC]

If you read all of the Outdoors posts and articles, they all mention no more hog hunting on public land, but Dennis is right, I only read the first two paragraphs because it appears (The way it is written) that the writers are right, until you get to the third paragraph. If I read that right, you can hunt Hogs for example in Region 4, in August during Squirrel season. (Region for ANY hunt including small game) and in some areas year round, but I dont know how TN classifies some of the hunts, but it does say in certain regions you can hunt hogs during ANY open season. Looking at hunts, for example, bobcats are open year round, so does that mean in the regions (which appear to be all of them) when bobcat are open year round, you can hunt hogs year round? I dont know, dont know how they classify bobcat or some of the other 3 or 4 animals on that list. Someone in the know let me know how that works. If it sounds the way it reads, night be out in August. (After I call fish and game)

[DaveS]

You can hunt hogs on private property where the "landowner" has placed your name on a list that he provides TWRA. There are a few WMA's in East Tennessee that provides limited hog hunting opportunity's, and certain regulations do apply. Other than that, the hunting of Ferel Hogs is prohibited. There are still some good guide services here that provides good hog hunting opportunity's, from cheap to very expensive. Many of them have their own breeding programs, plus Sus Scrofa needs abosolutely no help dropping 4 to 8 babies every six months, then her babies repeat the cycle.

 

When the regs state that hogs may be taken on any legal hunt with weapons legal for the species being hunted I.E.: If it states that feral hogs are legal to harvest on XYZ WMA during the squirrel season, that means you may take a hog with the weapon that is legal for harvesting a squirrel on that particular WMA, which usually means with Rim Fire and/or Shotgun

 

Just be very careful about heading into the local woods to hunt pigs. Special regulations do apply. Your firearm, truck and future hunting privileges isn't worth that piece of pork your going after.

 

If you know a landowner that has a hog problem, get him to put you on a list.

 

We had a property owner here who never had a hog problem on his property. He allowed just about anyone to hunt his property. When the state stopped all hog hunting he seen dollar signs. Now he has a hog problem and "Leases" his land for big dollars to those wanting on his list to kill hogs.

 

The Hog problem here is not going to go away without an aggressive hunting program. Biologists may say it's working, but I'm seeing hogs now in places I've never seen them in before. Yes Sir it's working alright....

 

Dave S

Edited July 18, 2013 by DaveS

[Wiljo05]

They are already getting bad up near Monterey, and will continue to expand. Best advice is make friends with a few farmers that have them and get added to their list

[Luke E.]

They are already getting bad up near Monterey, and will continue to expand. Best advice is make friends with a few farmers that have them and get added to their list

 

 I was actually on a Minonite farmers list with the TWRA. His farm was outside of Sparta and guys if you have never seen a corn field that has had at least a handful of hogs living in/around it, you need to find somewhere to check it out! One field in particular was about 75-80 hillside acres of corn and he showed me a 5 acre patch of it that the hogs had completely flatened in the previous 24hrs! Now as we kept riding along he showed around a field that they had just shelled within the previous week and i would guess it to be about 35 acres and close to half of it was trampled down so low that the combine wouldn't lift it back up.. The guy was frustrated beyond belief and the TWRA had come out at some point in the last 2-3 years and showed him how to build traps, well he had built 3-4 traps and he said that the trapping went well for a little while until the hogs learned to stay away from the traps. He said he started placing them in the tall grass along the edges of the fields or camouflaging them with cut limbs and what not, but again they learned that trick and now they know what a trap looks like from some distance away.

 I say all this because what i learned from this gentleman is that "hunting" the hogs will NOT work, you have to "hunt down" the hogs like they are an enemy to you and you can't stop until you have killed every last one of them. You have to learn everything about the group(s) you're are going after and know what they are doing and why. Now if you are just wanting to hunt a hog or two for the meat then by all means, hang out in your tree stand and wait until one comes by but if you have someone put you on their list, chances are they want that spot taken by someone that will track and kill as many of them as possible.

 I lost out on this particular property because he wanted to lease his whole farm's hunting right to someone and as far from the house as he was I couldn't see paying what he was asking. I hope he found someone as interested in killing hogs as they are in hunting a few deer.

[Guest TankerHC]

 I was actually on a Minonite farmers list with the TWRA. His farm was outside of Sparta and guys if you have never seen a corn field that has had at least a handful of hogs living in/around it, you need to find somewhere to check it out! One field in particular was about 75-80 hillside acres of corn and he showed me a 5 acre patch of it that the hogs had completely flatened in the previous 24hrs! Now as we kept riding along he showed around a field that they had just shelled within the previous week and i would guess it to be about 35 acres and close to half of it was trampled down so low that the combine wouldn't lift it back up.. The guy was frustrated beyond belief and the TWRA had come out at some point in the last 2-3 years and showed him how to build traps, well he had built 3-4 traps and he said that the trapping went well for a little while until the hogs learned to stay away from the traps. He said he started placing them in the tall grass along the edges of the fields or camouflaging them with cut limbs and what not, but again they learned that trick and now they know what a trap looks like from some distance away.

 I say all this because what i learned from this gentleman is that "hunting" the hogs will NOT work, you have to "hunt down" the hogs like they are an enemy to you and you can't stop until you have killed every last one of them. You have to learn everything about the group(s) you're are going after and know what they are doing and why. Now if you are just wanting to hunt a hog or two for the meat then by all means, hang out in your tree stand and wait until one comes by but if you have someone put you on their list, chances are they want that spot taken by someone that will track and kill as many of them as possible.

 I lost out on this particular property because he wanted to lease his whole farm's hunting right to someone and as far from the house as he was I couldn't see paying what he was asking. I hope he found someone as interested in killing hogs as they are in hunting a few deer.

 

 

I know someone who had a shoot, invited friends over and killed nearly 200 in one weekend on his farm. My question would be, if the farmer wants them hunted down and exterminated, what happens to all the dead hogs afterwards? Just curious because I would be interested in eradication as well.....would have no problem wasting boolits. I just couldnt haul off 30 or 40 hogs.

Edited July 26, 2013 by TankerHC

[Luke E.]

I know someone who had a shoot, invited friends over and killed nearly 200 in one weekend on his farm. My question would be, if the farmer wants them hunted down and exterminated, what happens to all the dead hogs afterwards? Just curious because I would be interested in eradication as well.....would have no problem wasting boolits. I just couldnt haul off 30 or 40 hogs.

Well if the farmer has somewhere he hauls dead cattle carcasses to, I would drag them to that spot and split a couple of them open to draw the coyotes and let them have a meal or two then the buzzards will finish cleaning up.
It would be tuff to shoot that many in the short of a period so a man might find a handful of folks that would welcome the meat.

[DaveS]

I know someone who had a shoot, invited friends over and killed nearly 200 in one weekend on his farm. My question would be, if the farmer wants them hunted down and exterminated, what happens to all the dead hogs afterwards? Just curious because I would be interested in eradication as well.....would have no problem wasting boolits. I just couldnt haul off 30 or 40 hogs.

Buzzard and Coyote food. Then comes the smell!

 

Dave

[Luke E.]

Buzzard and Coyote food. Then comes the smell!

Dave

You must have some piss poor coyotes and buzzards in your park.
If you are able to drop them where the farmer drop dead cattle then its prolly not somewhere that it will bother anyone.
The dairy farm that I pretty much grew up on and the farm next door to me both have a big flat rock on the rougher parts of the farm that they dump carcasses. Since its the rough areas, they don't get around them very often anyways.

[DaveS]

You must have some piss poor coyotes and buzzards in your park.
If you are able to drop them where the farmer drop dead cattle then its prolly not somewhere that it will bother anyone.
The dairy farm that I pretty much grew up on and the farm next door to me both have a big flat rock on the rougher parts of the farm that they dump carcasses. Since its the rough areas, they don't get around them very often anyways.

We don't have such luxuries. We shoot them by the dozens (sometimes 50-60 at a time) and leave them lay. Every once in awhile the helicopter (pork chopper) will land and we'll remove a head or two to be tested. What the coyotes and buzzards don't eat...STINKs after awhile. Then we shoot the coyotes! Win, win situation! Varmint control at its finest!

 

Dave

[Luke E.]

We don't have such luxuries. We shoot them by the dozens (sometimes 50-60 at a time) and leave them lay. Every once in awhile the helicopter (pork chopper) will land and we'll remove a head or two to be tested. What the coyotes and buzzards don't eat...STINKs after awhile. Then we shoot the coyotes! Win, win situation! Varmint control at its finest!

Dave

I like a good "win win situation"!! Actually just had a few fine TGO'ers offer to show me the coyote hunting ropes and I'm looking forward to it!
What area of the state do you live in that has such a large hog problem? I'm on my phone and can't so I apologize if its says on your profil.

[DaveS]

Clarksville, but the problem is Stewart County and parts of Montgomery County. I'll post a picture later of two "freezer pigs"  that went in my freezer.

 

Dave

Edited July 28, 2013 by DaveS

[DaveS]

As promised, here is a couple pictures for your pork chop appetite!

 

This 250 pound Feral Sow was taken last week on a controlled hunt at a local Refuge.

 

You can't see them, but she has 2 1/2 inch teeth.

I pit BBQ'd a shoulder and it was some KILLER BBQ!! Made a lot of sausage too!

 

This 62 pound "Baby Bacon" (what I call little feral hogs)  met it's demise the other day.

Taken on a controlled hunt with 3" 00 buckshot. Got put in the freezer and the Ribs were BBQ'd yesterday....They were AWESOME!!!

 

I'm all porked out now!

 

DaveS "Hawg Daddy"

Edited July 28, 2013 by DaveS